I could title this, or I could just write it

I could probably sit here for an hour coming up with a clever and descriptive title for this post, but I've already wasted enough time today.  This is going to be one of those posts that I don't quite know what it will be about until I've finished it.  Random.

Justin left this morning.  He'll be gone for 3 weeks.  You can hear me whine read more about my feelings on this here.  Suffice to say, I'm already feeling a little lonely.  Plus, I'm back on the kick of trying to take my diet seriously, so the usual perks of his absence (like having ice cream for breakfast and not worrying about someone seeing me be a total pig) are a no go.  I neglected my blogs, and my bidding on freelance sites, and my article submissions, and all those other fun, lovely, non-profitable writer-y pursuits yesterday to spend time with him before he left.  I'm not always good at pulling myself away from a project I feel passionate about, so I'm glad I was able to see the forest for the trees here for once.  (Is that an appropriate use of the metaphor?  I have a terrible habit of mixing my metaphors.  My family still tease me about 'throwing salt on the fire.')

Last night we went to Chuy's (yummy Mexican) with a bunch of friends from Justin's nav class.  Class ended for them October 10th and now everyone is starting to go their own ways.  One family is leaving for Florida today- another leaves in less than two weeks for Little Rock.  A number of our friends are already long gone.  It's the way of life we signed up for, but it can be a little depressing. 

I have a big long list of blog post ideas to tackle, now that I've got tons of lonely free time ahead of me.  So hopefully, I'll be updating this pretty often in the next few days.

Do you have to spend money to make money?

In light of the abrupt end of my best gig and the fact that

1) writing clients aren't stumbling onto my website and booking me in droves (darn it- was hoping things would just fall into place like that), and,
2) The income from my personal blogs doesn't seem likely to bring in any more than could buy me a few cups of coffee . . .

I've been thinking seriously about other ways to find writing and editing work.  And I'm starting to think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay for the privelege of even being considered for projects.

There are a number of freelancing sites out there that charge a membership fee in order to bid on projects.   The two I'm considering are Elance and Guru.com.  Elance seems to be a popular site, and a good friend recommended Guru, saying one of her friends gets a lot of good work from it.  It just seems a little counterintuitive to take a chunk of what little I've already earned and spend it already. 

The main reason I've been hesitating on this is something I touched on a bit in an earlier post.  It's a little disheartening to be competing for jobs against seasoned veterans, on the one hand, and low-balling outsourcers on the other.  I know there's got to be other freelancers out there like me- hoping to get a chance to overcompensate for a limited resume with overenthusiastic service and attention to detail.  But then again, there's just another category of competition for jobs!  It's just a little scary to be putting money out with no guarantees of getting it back, much less making some sort of return.

I think I'm going to do it though.  Husband says I should.  The logical, non-cheap side of me says it's a necessary expense if I'm serious about doing this (which I am).  Mom (whose advice I usually, though not always, take) says to do it, suck it up, pay my dues, and work some low-balled jobs to develop some experience and a reputation.  So yeah.  Maybe I'll do it tonight.

I'm curious though- anyone reading this have some experience with these sites?  Any advice?  An opinion?  Reassurance that I won't be throwing my membership dues into a black hole?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments section.  Thanks!