Category: Support

In a perfect world, we would all become billionaires from publishing our work–or at least we’d be able to pay for rent, food, and a computer. Unfortunately, we live in a far-from-perfect world. Most writers can’t quit their day jobs after the first, third, or even fiftieth book. Some are fortunate enough that they love their day jobs or at least tolerate them. Others, not so much. And some, myself included, can’t catch a break with getting a traditional 9-5 job. That’s why I wanted to do a post on side-jobs, (relatively) easy ways that anybody, writers and non-writers alike, can make extra cash.

The Penny Hoarder: I’ve heard about this one for a while but only started using it recently. In addition to tips on handling debt and saving for your future, there are tips for “side-jobs” ranging from recycling to writing slogans for small businesses. Take a look and I’m sure you’ll find a money-making/saving/debt-reducing scheme that works for you without taking too much time from your writing. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for their newsletter to receive tips every day.

Swagbucks: I’ve been using this site significantly longer than any of the other side-jobs I’m discussing–two years, I think. For that reason, I have a lot more experience with them and a lot more to say, both good and bad. On Swagbucks you earn “Swagbucks” in exchange for taking surveys, shopping on certain websites through Swagbucks, using their search tool, and so on. One hundred Swagbucks equals about one dollar. Eventually you can exchange these Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards, iTunes gift cards, even PayPal gift cards, which are as good as cash.

The downside is that Swagbucks is not the most reliable source of payout and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Some surveys and offers don’t pay out and it can be like pulling teeth to get Swagbucks to help you when that happens. Some users have been told by customer service that they won’t help them anymore even though the users have done nothing wrong and haven’t violated the terms of service. I’ve seen reviews which said that multiple users had their accounts deactivated for no reason.

Mind you, Swagbucks isn’t always that way. Overall, despite multiple problems with payouts, Swagbucks has been incredibly helpful for me as an extra source of income and I think it’s worth a try. Just proceed with caution when contacting customer service and always be prepared to prove that you completed a survey or offer.

Ibotta: Ibotta is an app which gives you money through rebates on your shopping. Mind you, it’s only certain stores and certain products, some online and some not, and which rebates are available change constantly, but I’ve already made $20 in the past month just from my usual groceries and a couple iTunes purchases. You can’t exchange them for PayPal or other gift cards until you reach $20 but it adds up quickly. Just be sure to keep your receipts; sometimes you have to scan them to claim the rebates.

Foap: Foap.com is particularly interesting. Basically you download the Foap app, register on the site/app, and upload photographs you have taken. Hopefully someone will buy the rights to your photograph ($5 a piece). You can sell the rights for the same photo as many times as you like. Right now you can only upload photos from your phone but I’ve heard they’re working on a way to upload from your desktop. It’s not a guaranteed way to make money and you’ll definitely have to read all of the terms and conditions before posting but it’s an easy way to try to earn money. Not to mention it’s fun to look at all the photos and have your photos rated by other users. Even if you take horrid photos or can’t hold your phone still to save your life (guilty to both!) it’s worth a try. Besides, you never know which of your pictures people might like.

Etsy: I haven’t tried to sell anything on Etsy yet but the concept is pretty straightforward. If you make things (ex. sew mittens, create personalized drawings, etc.) or have antiques you want to sell, you’ll find buyers on Etsy. Etsy takes a certain percentage and you have to remember to account for taxes but if you have a unique product, you’ll probably make some extra cash on this site.

Fiverr: I just started Fiverr so I don’t have experience with payment yet. However, Fiverr is one of the best-established sites for exchanging services. I wouldn’t be doing this list justice if I didn’t mention it. You register on the site and post your “gigs”, anything from freelance editing to having “Jesus” make a personalized video message. (I’m not even kidding; there’s a user who offers that.) The prices start at $5 and you can provide three different “packages” per gig.

Warning: You must word your gigs very specifically and carefully. I didn’t make it clear enough that I would edit and give feedback on essays, not write them, so that gig was denied and removed by Fiverr. Fortunately that was all they did and I’ve been able to put up more “appropriate” gigs since then. Just be careful how you word things, don’t forget the terms of service for even a second, and always remember that you must exchange payment through Fiverr and you’ll be fine.

Again, Fiverr takes a percentage and you’re responsible for your own taxes but that’s the norm with these sites.

Freelancer: Freelancer is pretty much just a site where registered users can find job opportunities based on their skills as well as post jobs for other freelancers. Just like with Fiverr and Etsy, you have to use their payment system so that Freelancer can get its cut and you have to remember taxes, but it’s a simple enough system to use.

Warning: Beware of scammers! I cannot emphasize this enough. Specifically be wary if they send you an offer in your inbox when you didn’t bid on their job first. Repeated job posts, job posts with bad grammar, and anything asking you to contact them outside of Freelancer are all things you must take as red flags. Look them up and, most importantly, trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

Upwork: Upwork is essentially the same as Freelancer. However, there’s a reason why it’s at the bottom of my list. I had incredibly bad luck on Upwork in an incredibly short amount of time.

Within my first month I almost fell victim to a scam. (If you come across a posting from someone claiming to be from Natco Pharma, REPORT IT IMMEDIATELY. The company name is a real company but they just use the name to make you think it’s legitimate.)  Then I had a very unprofessional potential client. We scheduled Skype interviews but both times I couldn’t get a hold of her via Skype. I checked and nothing was wrong on my end. The first time she just didn’t answer and the second time she kept pushing it off on me in the chat and wouldn’t answer any of the questions I had for her. I finally contacted the company she claimed to work for, giving them my email address to respond to, and she responded to me on Upwork thanking me for contacting their website and telling me that they had already given the job to someone else. Mind you, that was the SAME DAY as the second scheduled Skype interview.

The final issue was my fault. I had a lapse in judgment and I offered to take the first payment from a client without an Upwork contract because he was new to the system and didn’t know how to use it well. Otherwise I insisted on an Upwork contract and offered ways for him to get help with the system, but my account was deactivated just for the suggestion. No warning, no second chances, my account was just deactivated. Fortunately I was able to contact that client outside of Upwork and still got the job. Overall, with the problems I had, my boneheaded mistake may have been a blessing in disguise.

I don’t want to discourage everyone from Upwork. Others have had problems like I did but others have had success. All you can do is try. My advice is this: be vigilant and don’t forget their terms for even a second because, unlike the more user-friendly Fiverr, they aren’t big on second chances.

As with everything I say, take this list with a grain of salt. Some things may work for you and others may not. I still think that all struggling writers should give these side-jobs a look. You never know what doors these sorts of sites will open for you.

Shameless plugging: I offer freelance editing, proofreading, critique, and writing services on Freelancer and Fiverr. I also provide book reviews and personalized Disneyland tips on Fiverr. My username on both sites is dragonet07, so be sure to look me up.

Do you have any ideas for writers struggling to make ends meet? Help out a fellow writer by leaving your recommendations in the comments.

Warning: This article is about a controversial issue that women writers face. People may not want to read about it and that’s their decision, but I highly encourage everyone to continue. Even if you don’t personally relate to anything, you may gain a better understanding of other people’s struggles with this business. My language is probably not politically correct and I apologize for any offense I cause. I did my best but I’m only human.

Women writers, especially Women of Color (WoC) writers, are often given a hard time in the writing/publishing world. As a white woman writer, I have not experienced any negative bias based on my gender identity, let alone race. However, I’m just starting my writing career. Being a woman may, at one point or another, through obstacles my way in the future. I know for a fact that women writers still experience discrimination despite how far Western society has progressed. (I really cannot speak for anyone outside of Western society.) Perhaps the most notorious example is J.K. Rowling using initials so that boys would read Harry Potter.

Don’t believe me? Think it’s women whining about rejection or that it’s just “victim mentality”? Let’s look at two hashtags that have been making the rounds the past few days: #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear and #WhatWoCWritersHear.

According to Book Riot, #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear started with Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat.  L.L. McKinney, a.k.a. @ElleOnWords, created #WhatWoCWritersHear. I followed the hashtags out of curiosity and what I’ve seen has made me furious that this still happens in 2017:

"Aren't you lucky, having such a supportive husband?" #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear

— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) April 17, 2017

https://twitter.com/KatyBadMum/status/854682192508837889

"I'm so glad I didn't know you were a woman. I never would have picked up your book." #thingsonlywomenwritershear

— Victoria/V.E. Schwab (@veschwab) April 18, 2017

My favorite:

#ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear "You women writers steal our chances because you're all supported by husbands–you don't need the money."

— Elizabeth Moon (@emoontx) April 17, 2017

Among other things, that last one acts as though single women, career women, lesbians, generally women who don’t rely on husbands aren’t writers (or don’t exist).

The things WoC writers have heard are no better. I can’t imagine what it’s like to hear what these women have:

https://twitter.com/ElleOnWords/status/854384056003330048

Imagine if someone said that to a white writer because their character was white.

#WhatWocWritersHear So your character is brown and Jewish and Yemeni and lives in India? It was too complicated. I couldn't follow. TRY

— Ayelet Tsabari إيلت صباري (@AyeletTsabari) April 19, 2017

I don’t know why anyone would dare tell a WoC writer something like this:

https://twitter.com/silviamg/status/854401144633688064

https://twitter.com/kmariawrites/status/854405129755389952

Yes, they’re so lucky that they’ve been so severely underrepresented and oppressed that their stories are now (supposedly) in high demand.

Why am I talking about this if I haven’t encountered it? I can’t possibly understand if I don’t go through it.

That’s exactly why I’m writing about it. Just because it hasn’t happened to me does not mean it doesn’t happen. As a society we need to get that through our thick skulls. Some women may not have heard such remarks but it doesn’t mean they won’t in the future and it definitely does not mean other women haven’t.

As importantly, white women–white people overall–shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the experiences of WoC writers. White people can’t ignore them just because those aren’t their struggles. We can’t brush it off or call people ungrateful because “things are so much better in the Western world now”. White people are part of the problem–actually, white people, myself included, are the problem. Yes, many of us don’t actively participate in it. However, we allow this attitude to continue when we don’t speak up.

I’m not trying to bag on white people or men, and I apologize if it seems that way. I think that bias against anyone for their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, etc. is unjustified and wrong. We need to acknowledge the bias and address it. Pretending the issue doesn’t exist won’t make it go away.

I also have to agree with one user’s Tweet about hearing about gender bias for men:

#ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear is a great tag, but I'm also interested in #thingsOnlyMenWritersHear, because gender bias affects both sides.

— Megan Tennant (@_Megan_Tennant) April 19, 2017

The only way we’re going to eradicate bias is to listen to both sides. I’m not saying that women’s grievances are any better just because men experience bias, too. Far from it. Rather than telling women “oh, we all have problems”, men should say “I understand the issue and I’ll do all that I can to help end it.” If we’re going to end this infestation, we have to work together, not tear ourselves apart.

I know I’m going to get grief for this. People get upset and lash out. It happens. Still, it’s my choice to talk about these Tweets and it’s your choice to ignore this post, if you like. I post plenty of articles that don’t have this sort of controversy, so you can stick with those. All I ask is that anything you say in response to this or any of my posts remains civil. I’m open to debate but only if we’re engaging in intelligent conversation, not pointless name-calling and bullying.

I’m not perfect. I don’t read as diversely as I should but I’m working on it. Please, if you have any recommendations for women and WoC writers, drop a line in the comments so I can check them out.

For the women and WoC writers reading this, do you have any stories like these to share? What do you think we can do to reduce the frequency of this issue? And to add some positive energy, do you have any stories of GOOD #ThingsOnlyWomenWritersHear (i.e. you inspired me, you helped me realize I wasn’t alone, you got me through a rough time, etc.)?

And keep an eye out for L.L. McKinney’s book, A Blade So Black, planned for release in Fall 2018.

Have you ever tried on a friend’s glasses? You know how they make your vision blur, you become disoriented, and your head starts to hurt? Imagine that happening when you’re wearing your own glasses or with no glasses at all (if you don’t need them). Then move the pain to the left side of your head, make it throbbing, and increase the pain, pressure, and disorientation to the point that you’re crying. Add nausea and the threat of vomiting. Now imagine trying to write with that feeling. That’s a bit like my strife when I write during a migraine.

For the past week migraine symptoms have plagued me. A migraine headache nearly prevented me from completing last Monday’s article. Other migraine symptoms forced me to postpone this post repeatedly. As I sit here typing my head still hurts and my vision remains blurry. At least I can sit up and read.

I’ve had these attacks since I was ten years old. While people have started to empathize with my situation, it’s still hard to find people who know where I’m coming from, even among fellow writers. No one wants to talk about it.

This latest spike in my symptoms has given me the perfect opportunity to address a very important matter: writing with chronic illness or disability.

Writing is never easy. Writing with a chronic illness or disability is worse. Blindness, deafness, paraplegia, autism, epilepsy, the list is endless. Writing and meeting deadlines are a fight with your body, and not everyone in the writing and publishing worlds are patient about the matter. Yet you have to manage somehow or you’ll have no career.

Unfortunately, society doesn’t like talking about that sort of thing. We’ve become open about discussing depression and anxiety–issues I also struggle with and will address in another post–because they are prevalent among artists. Other conditions, however, are often ignored.

This post has been tough to write, and not just because of the symptoms. Many thoughts have rushed through my mind: how can I help other people understand this when I barely understand it? How can I avoid sounding like a martyr? I’ve been living this way for so long that it’s hard to tell what’s normal and what’s not unless I need to confine myself to a dark, isolated room. Even with a doctor’s diagnosis, how can I know for certain that I’m experiencing migraines and not overreacting?  Most importantly, will anyone care to hear what it’s like?

That’s exactly why I’ve decided to write about my struggles. We need to initiate a discussion about writing with chronic illness and disabilities. If nothing else, writers who live and work with such conditions will not feel alone. They will know that someone understands and cares.

Despite popular misconception, migraines are not just really bad headaches. Light, odor, and sound sensitivity; blurred vision and other vision alterations; pulsating headaches; nausea and vomiting; dizziness; vertigo; aphasia; hallucinations. That all sounds bad enough but those aren’t the only possible symptoms. They vary from person to person and from one type of migraine to another. Not everyone experiences every symptom. The ones you experience and how badly you feel them can change over time. On top of that, migraines are erratic.

It’s impossible to explain. You know that Excedrin Migraine commercial in which the mother wears goggles that blur her vision in order to experience her daughter’s struggles? That’s a nice start but it barely scrapes the surface.

Luckily there are  sites like migraine.com. A fellow writer/migraineur posted the link on Facebook and it’s taught me loads about migraine symptoms, triggers, and types of migraine.

Doing anything under these circumstances is difficult, if not impossible. Writing, an activity which relies heavily on the mind and the ability to construct coherent sentences? Not going to happen.

I would like to say that, after all these years, I’ve learned to successfully write with migraines but that would be a lie. I can force myself to write despite it and some things are easier to handle than others (social media posts come to mind). However, I beg for relief while I do it and I don’t remember a word of what I’ve written afterwards.

This week was not the first time migraine attacks interfered with my writing. I composed an essay about Moby-Dick, the one printed in the UC Davis Prized Writing Anthology, with a horrendous headache and puking. I could barely sit from the pain and dizziness. I don’t remember how but somehow the essay was written. I wrote many of my undergrad essays that way, actually.

Creative writing? I’d have a better chance at getting my father to stop cracking his insensitive jokes. OK, it might not be that hard but it comes pretty close.

So long as I nip the headaches and nausea in the bud with Imitrex, I can typically push past the visual auras, odor sensitivity, sound sensitivity, and dizziness. The work is crud and I have to rewrite it thoroughly but it gets written.

I never edit under these conditions. Focus is key and I can’t with any of these symptoms.

Even if you don’t get the headaches, you have to fight yourself to write with migraines. The aforementioned writer friend doesn’t often get the headaches. She does, however, experience dizziness, confusion, aphasia, and sometimes hallucinations. It disrupts her daily life and her writing.

Here’s the most important thing to remember: my friend and I aren’t giving up. We’re pursuing our dreams. We work through the symptoms when we can and, when it’s too bad, we’re not afraid to rest a day or two. One way or another, we write.

Chronic Migraine is debilitating and misunderstood. Many writers struggle with it and worse conditions, and yet they do not quit. As proof, I’m going to name some published writers who had/have chronic conditions and disabilities but still succeeded:

• Lewis Carroll (migraine): It’s believed that the images and sensations in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass may have been based on Carroll’s experiences with disorientation and light sensitivity from migraines.
• Virginia Woolf (migraine)
• Miguel de Cervantes (migraine)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (dyslexia)
• Octavia Estelle Butler (dyslexia)
• Lord Byron (epilepsy and club foot)
• H.G. Wells (diabetes)
• Christy Brown (cerebral palsy)
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky (temporal lobe epilepsy)
• Jorge Luis Borges (progressively went blind due to a genetic disorder)
• John Milton (blindness): Believe it or not, John Milton lost his sight sixteen years before completing Paradise Lost. His daughters read to him and helped transcribe his writings.

As you can see, writers with chronic illness and disabilities are in good company.

Migraine and other chronic conditions are difficult to work with but not impossible. You just have to put in more effort to overcome your challenges. It’s nothing you can’t handle so long as you persevere. After all, what is a challenge to a writer but a story or poem in waiting?

For more information on writers and celebrities with such conditions, including migraine, visit these sites (which are also my sources for the above list):

Celebrities Suffer Migraines Too

Famous Authors with Disabilities

25 Famous Authors with Learning Disabilities

10 Successful Writers Who had Disabilities

I strongly encourage anyone with chronic migraine or any other chronic illness/disability to comment on their experiences here. Have any writers to add to this list? Drop those in the comments, too!

If you’re looking for works with disabled characters by disabled writers, be sure to check out this article from The Guardian.