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Showing posts from August, 2015

Freelance writing lessons learned in the Fiverr trenches

One of the great things about the Modern Era is that you can work as a writer in English from anywhere in the world.  The downside is working for a range of clients, all over the world, some of whom – you’d swear – are the laziest human beings that could exist on the planet. If Hashem made them any lazier, they’d simply stop breathing.  Don’t believe me?  Don’t worry; I came prepared with examples. In case you haven’t made its acquaintance yet, Fiverr is a site that connects freelancers and clients around the world.  The premise is simple:  what would you do for five bucks?  In my case, I’ll write 300 words for 5 bucks . Heck, I can write 300 words before I actually start to think about what I’m going to say.  I’ve written 300 words already in this blog post – and I’m just getting started.  (Okay, that’s only 156, but hey, I’m halfway there already.) But on Fiverr, that $5 is just the BOTTOM LINE.  From there, you can charge extra for research, longer pieces, rush orders, those k

The fish, the diamonds, and me, here in Canada

Here in our last 24 hours in Toronto, I am living out the mashal of the fish and the diamonds. Maybe you've heard this mashal (parable)?  For sure, my kids have: many, many times. In the story, a man leaves his home, somewhere normal in Europe, and sets sail to seek his fortune in some exotic island, perhaps near Africa, where it is rumoured that the streets are paved with diamonds. He arrives at the island, and discovers that the rumours are TRUE.  Diamonds are everywhere!  He scoops them up to fill his pockets and rushes into a restaurant to order a lunch fit for a king.  Of course, he discovers when he goes to pay with the diamonds at the end of the meal, that they are utterly worthless on the island.  What the restaurant wants in payment is... fish.  Bleakly, he wanders from store to store, discovering that the only currency anyone will accept is fish. (Don't ask why; this is not the most realistic story, okay?) So, okay.  The guy stashes the diamonds in his pocket a