In The Mornings

My normal morning routine;

The baby wakes me up, she's hungry. Still half asleep I walk into the kitchen and switch on the kettle, prepare baby cereal, walk into the living room turn on the television blah...blah...blah...

While I am trying to wake myself up the news is blaring out about the latest death toll in Afghanistan, the latest death toll of swine flu, the latest death toll of domestic violence victims, the latest death toll of a suicide bomber and the short prison sentences handed out to murdering yobs and child killers.

Wouldn't it be much nicer to wake up on a morning, eat breakfast and drink a cup of tea without being told about the ever increasing violence in the world.

Is it any wonder that I worry so much and am verging on the brink of paranoia. At the moment the world outside my little house seems like such an ugly place. Will it ever improve?

Freelance Writing

Finally the day has come and I have officially announced myself to the world as a freelance writer.

I know I have been writing web content for a while now, but things really seem to have taken off recently.

Always a little unsure of calling myself a writer (I will explain why soon) I have seen sense and told people that this is what I do for a living. Nobody, not even my own mother or sister knew until today that I write content for websites and get paid for it. After all, how can I ever expect to earn a full time living from writing if no one knows that I exist?

So, with a little apprehension, I have set myself up a little free website that you can take a look at here. You have to bear in mind that it is not as comprehensive as I would like, but hey... it has not cost me anything yet and it's my first website.

Well, why has it taken me so long to admit to my career choice?

The story starts way back when I was a young teen; I told my mother that I wanted to be a writer and, being the supportive parent, she told me to 'get real' and that nobody ever made money writing. Mmmm, and as a shy girl who was enveloped in self doubt I left that idea behind with my Barbie dolls. Leaving college with a respectable amount of qualifications I walked into one of the most tedious office jobs in the world - in a law firm.

Only now, some thirteen year later I have finally felt brave enough to tell people what I do, and have been doing, for almost five years. Somewhere along the way I got lost and felt somewhat ashamed of myself. Over the last five years I have been getting paid for writing all manner of things and have never told anyone that I am a writer. I never thought of myself that way, after all writers are Oxford university graduates and a little bit eccentric...aren't they? Both of these things that I certainly am not!

Today I am thrilled to be launching myself officially as a writer, though I have no ambitions to write a novel yet, I am at last happy and comfortable with my career choice, and who cares what my mother thinks!

Need a writer? Contact me or visit my website for more information.

June Caption Competition

I have just realised that we have not had a caption contest for some time (since April) so I thought it was about time we had another one here at The Daily Gripe.

This time one lucky winner will recieve a gift voucher to spend at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

The rules are just the same as last time; take time to look at the photograph below, leave your caption quote in the comments section by the last day of this month and the winner will be notified within the first week of July.

Try to make your captions original, and I look forward to reading your entries.

Good Luck!

What Is It With You People?

I honestly do not know what to say!

I don't want this post to turn into a rant about Ebay, but it will probably sound that way.

In my search for making money online I thought I would try and jump on the Ebay band wagon. Like any sensible person, I did my research first and realised just how unprofitable working Ebay was going to be. I know it's a huge marketplace, but that is it's major disadvantage. Selling prices have been driven so low that I have no idea how anyone can afford to sell anything, let Alone make a significant profit.

So this is why I am asking what is wrong with you all. As far as I can see Ebay is a non starter for generating an income. It's too expensive and a new seller just cannot compete. So why is it that there are so many other auction sites that are cheaper but are not popular?

Buyers are looking for bargains and sellers are looking to make maximum profits, so why are they not choosing to go elsewhere?

I know it has to do with clever branding, but I think Ebay really has lost it's novelty. From a sellers perspective it's not economically possible for me to sell at a profit, so how is anyone else managing it?

Answers on a postcard to......

Anyway, I found lots and lots of Ebay alternatives but they are not as busy as ebay, but by far the best alternative is 121bid.com but if you go take a look at it you will see it's not the busiest of places, but it is FREE to list. Infact it's just FREE.

I just wish more of you bargain hunters would look on other auction sites, and that more sellers would perhaps build yourselves a second shop just to give it a try.