Writing Resources

I've written in the past of being a writer, in fact apart from blogging, writing is my other main source of income. A Shakespeare or Goethe I am not, in fact the vast majority of my writing tends to be fairly short, between 250 to 1,000 words, however my clients are only requesting blocks of writing this long.

What do I write I hear you ask? Well quite simply, anything I'm asked to write about, but typically my writing is for people who need content for websites, you'd be surprised just how many people have great ideas for websites, and I really mean that, but for whatever reason they don't seem to be able to put together great content.

This is where I can help, and I'm sure many of my readers feel the same way. Breaking into the writing business isn't the easiest in the world, often clients need to see portfolios or positive written references.

So, here's where I'm going to go out on a limb and try to help any of you who plan to get into writing. I was lucky when I started this career, a few people really helped me out, now it's my turn to help someone else.

If you're interested in building your profile, and getting a written reference, I'm looking for content for this blog (www.carlgallowa.com) and for the Serendipity Users blog (s9y-users.com). I can't pay for content but I think some of you might be interested in a written reference to get you started in the industry. At least I hope some of you might be interested.

Write me two or three posts of 400-500 words on one of the following topics, just leave a comment below and I'll email you to get your details, then when the posts have been published I'll write up a reference for you, sign it, and pop it in the mail to your place of residence. Yup, I'm talking a real signed reference you can use in your CV.

Speaking from experience, getting an independent reference for your writing skills is very difficult to do, so, what are you waiting for? Here's the list of subject areas I need posts on.

DIY solar powered items for around the home
DIY energy self-sufficiency
Local customs where you live
Learning to write in English for non-native speakers
Top 10 downloads for learning to speak [any language]
Interesting Italian phrases
Basic tips for travelers, backpackers etc
Getting to know Wordpress
Backing up Blogger or Wordpress blogs
Basic HTML or CSS for bloggers
Using social networks to build traffic
Top 10 list of social networks
Making money with affiliate programs

That's just an idea of what I'm looking for, but if you have any other ideas feel free to suggest them. Remember, this is about you getting a written reference in the mail. Thanks, and good luck.

Over the last year or so my other half and I have slowly, and a little nervously, been dragged away from doing web design using Serendipity, and over to the dark side of Wordpress design. Unfortunately we had no option since we were being paid by the client and they wanted Wordpress.

Don't get me wrong, Wordpress is a great blog engine however my first love was always Serendipity because it is designed to do the job of blogging very well whereas Wordpress always seemed more like a CMS with blogging as it's main drawcard.

Well now we're being tugged in another direction altogether, yup, another engine which is even more CMS and less blog. Can you guess? It's Joomla, a CMS I haven't had a lot to do with in the past but now have to work with on an almost daily basis. Read More

The goal should be to answer the question: Is StoryMash.com "The Future of Collaborative Fiction"? Whatever the answer may be, the author should examine the site to answer this for themselves.

Its strange, I earn 100% of my income from being a webmaster, which I hardly ever talk about, yet a significant amount of the traffic I get from search engines on this blog has terms in it like 'make money', 'becoming a fiction writer', travel writing, etc.

I don't know why I'm ranked for these terms, but since so many of my daily readers want this info I might as well provide it. And since so many of my online friends love writing and are torn between remaining true to their creative spirit versus making a bit of money from their writing, here's a site worth joining.

Storymash is a profit sharing site for writers with a twist. What's the twist? Storymash is a collaborative writing site for fiction. Writers join, then add to existing stories, or start new stories which other writers will then help complete.

In todays Internet its an exciting medium that I think will catch on with more and more of these types of sites. And refreshingly Storymash doesn't try to be a social network either. Sure you can add a comment to another writer's work or vote for the quality of their writing, but essentially this is a site for writers to practice their writing.

Now getting back to earning some money with Storymash, they pay 50% of all revenue to their writers, and regularly hold writing contests with prizes of $500 or more. The current contest expires 20th June so I know a few of you might be interested in checking out what they have to offer.