A watched inbox never...

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the methods I use to chip away at my $11,000+ loan is to do a bit of freelance writing. Mostly articles for women's websites and magazines. They aren't groundbreaking exposes on crack babies who grow up to run sweatshops or anything. Generally they are about health and fitness. Or food. Or beauty and fashion stuff. Not Pulitzer material, but they are fun to write and it's the sort of stuff I spend a lot of time reading, so I don't find the process very taxing.

Recently most of the commissions I've received are for the web, which is fine by me, except that the web just doesn't pay as well as magazines. If a big consumer mag picks up your idea, they're going to pay you $1 a word or so, but a website is only going to give you 35-50 cents per word. So lately I've been concentrating on trying to sell some stories to magazines. I have written several query letters on fresh ideas and sent them out into the world.

[insert sound of crickets here]

Nothing. For almost two weeks now, my little gmail icon has remained faint and unobtrusive in the bottom corner of my screen. I'm getting NO emails. Well, okay, I am getting a few odd emails, but nothing to do with any of the fabulous article ideas that I have pitched. And I'm getting frustrated.

There's one magazine in particular who followed up with me first thing in the new year and asked me to send writing samples. Like the good little freelancer that I am, I sent them off promptly. Less than a week later - too soon, really, but I couldn't take the anticipation anymore - I sent a follow up email to ensure that they received the samples. The only response I received was a very short one - yes. No indication about whether they liked the samples or if my story is still being considered. Just yes. Sigh.

Anyway, I suppose the only thing to do is step away from my computer for a while, so that I'm not being mocked by the stupid gmail symbol.

I was about to end this post by boasting that I managed not to spend any money today, which isn't really surprising since I worked from home and only left the apartment to pick up my mail, but the truth is that I ordered Harry Potter V on pay-per-view. So while I didn't spend any of the $3-ish that I have left in my budget until Friday, I did manage to spend future money. I have no good excuse - I just love HP.

Total debt: Just over $11,000
Spent today: $5.99