I’ve spent years contemplating on submitting my articles to online magazines but I never got the courage to do so. I always thought, who would want to publish the kind of writing I do? I mean, no fancy words, no long sentences, no impressive idioms, etc. It’s like anybody who completed first grade can write the way I do.

But because this deep conviction to bring my blogging to the next level can’t be suppressed anymore, I signed up for ODESK and looked for some writing gigs. I have to tell you that I wasn’t so impressed at first because some buyers offer really cheap compensation (I mean REALLY cheap). That’s disheartening but I told myself that if I really want to do this, I must not concentrate on what I will earn. I should concentrate on getting jobs and starting my portfolio as a freelance writer.

So I started applying for jobs. I sent out nine applications and from these applications I got one rejection and three interviews. And from these three interviews, I got one job and I refused the other two jobs because the job I accepted requires 16 hours per week and that’s already more than I can commit to my writing. I want to be able to do quality jobs and since I am just starting and learning the ropes of freelance writing, I avoided quantity (As you know, I don’t enjoy pressure).

I rescinded my application for the other six jobs I applied for. I didn’t wait for buyer’s response anymore because I already accepted an earlier job offer.

Now, I want to talk about the job I got.

When I got a notification from ODESK that I am invited for an interview, I was ecstatic and of course, nervous. In my mind, I immediately reviewed possible questions that might be thrown at me and the corresponding answers.  To my surprise, all I got was this:

Hi Vienna,

Thanks for applying. Do you have any blogs or writing samples that I can take a look at? It would be really helpful.

Thanks! S

So I directed her to this blog while thinking… oops, I should have updated my blog and written a better post.  I was sure I won’t get this job but I was surprised to see her reply:

Hi Vienna,
I took a look at your blog and I love it! I like your writing style, its reflective and gives the glimpse into your personal thoughts through your writing. I also really enjoy that you write casually and not forced (some people write like they have to prove something!) and that you also include photos with your entries.

I think you’re a good match! You can write about anything under the sun that is Wine, Food & Travel related. You can stretch the topic since it doesn’t have to be literal and can be interpreted in so many different ways. For food, you can write about your own herb/vegetable garden. For travel, you can write about past experiences, going to some place in town, or dreams of future vacations. For wine, heck – whatever floats your boat.

You can combine the topics or write them individually. Again, its completely up to you. There are no rules! You’re hired.

I’ll set you up with an account on the website, which is WordPress based. You can post the articles, I’ll review and publish them when ready. Just as a note, all articles also need to have a companion photo, which is located on the right hand side of the article page. This image will also be used as the thumbnail image on the homepage and throughout the site. You can also add multiple images in the body of your writing, just like you do in your blog.

Let me know if you have any questions. I’ll also need some time to set up your account… in the meanwhile, welcome to the team and I look forward to your writing

Cheers, S

Look at that! Somebody likes my candid way of writing. I was all smiles when I finished reading this message. I am really happy that one of my many dreams is about to come true.

I won’t tell you where my articles will be published yet. I’ll have to wait until at least one of my articles goes live.    c”)

The reason why I am doing this is because I want to be able to manage all of my blogs well and with the day job coming this September, I’ll definitely have lesser time for blogging so I thought that it is better to keep fewer blogs but manage them well than to keep all my blogs and leave most them unattended.

So anyway, I like my old theme and it worked well for me but I’ve been using it for a long time so I thought of using a new one for a change.

I think my new theme is great! ElegantThemes.com has some really handsome themes and I particularly like this one because of it looks clean. The photos, if you noticed, are not related to the blog posts but for aesthetics’ sake, I placed one photo on each post. This theme looks way better with the photos and in the future I will try to put photos that are related to my blog posts. There’s one thing though… and I would do it if I could but I my PHP knowledge is very limited. It is actually not even enough to place the “recent comments” and “random articles” on the bottom of the page instead of displaying them on top.

And then there’s also the reminder from Sterndal that since I merge some of my blogs, I also have to fix some links. She’s right but I’m not sure if I would like to go through all that hassles. This blog alone has almost a hundred posts and I after putting photos on each of them, I don’t like to imagine going through each post to check if the links are linking to deleted blogs. But maybe I’ll do it someday. Who knows? It’ll definitely make my blog better.

My writing is so plain. I myself feel bored when reading my entries. I want to and have to write better. I’ve embarrassed myself long enough in the whole World Wide Web. It’s time to stop writing and publishing crappy blog entries. It’s time to work on my writing skills.

But where do I start?

That means I will have less time for my blogs.

I still have nine blogs and I am thinking of merging some of these blogs together.

Initially he said that he’ll only give it to me on my birthday but he gave in to my constant request to be allowed to use it earlier.

I am actually using my iPhone now to write this entry and it is just so cool! I am still learning and trying different iPhone apps but I so far, I can say that this Apple device is great!

Momentan ist Blogging ein perfekter Job für mich, aber in der Zukunft möchte ich wieder als Lehrerin arbeiten. Kinderunterrichten ist meine erste Liebe deshalb wäre ich glücklicher, wenn ich in der Zukunft unterrichten könnte.

Who are you to tell me I should mind my own business? Who are you to tell me I should shut up?

Am I not allowed to say what’s on my mind? Is it a crime to give an opinion? If so, all people should be jailed because I am sure that at some point in our lives we all gave opinions.

Why not start your own blog? So you have somewhere to air your opinions about what I wrote because your hateful comments are not welcome in my blog. I think am sure that you have something against me personally and that the reason why you so attack me through my blogs. That is so Kindgarten so pluuhhhhlease, leave my blogs alone!

I arrived at Shanghai’s Fudan University’s main gate at around 12:00 noon. I went to asked one student which building/conference room it’s going to be held but he doesn’t know what I’m talking about and so he referred me to the guard who doesn’t speak one word of English. I stood there for a bit hoping to see any sign of Wordcamp like a banner or people wearing wordpress shirts but I didn’t see any of that. So I grabbed the next “I-can-speak-English” looking person and ask about Wordcamp.

Laura and her friend, Heidi stopped by and offered to help me. Their English were not good but they seem to be friendly so I continue explaining what I came there for. They seem to understand because they told me to follow them so I did. We walked for about 30 minutes but when I realized that we are heading to the students’ residence part of the campus, I stopped and ask them again if they know what I was talking about and they nod in assurance. But they took me to this small office—the kind where incoming freshmen go to ask what courses are offered in the university. They thought I want to enroll for a course!

I started to panic because Wordcamp’s registration is supposed to start at 1:00 at it was already a few minutes to 1:00. I kindly asked one the clerks if I can use his computer so I can show them what Wordcamp is because it seems that the words like “blogging”, “blog”, “bloggers”, “wordpress”, “meeting”, “conference” are not part of their vocabulary. When I got a nod from the clerk I immediately googled “Wordcamp China 2008” and showed them the site.

The site is written in Chinese. There was an English information page but it was not sufficient. Fudan University is huge and we were totally clueless because it was not mentioned which building or which road the Wordcamp will be held. After showing them the site, they still didn’t know where it is so we went out of the building without anything. I continued to walk with them while wishing to see a sign of Wordcamp but there’s none. I’ve seen a geeky white guy who looks like he might be interested in blogging and asked him about Wordcamp but he doesn’t have any idea what Wordcamp is although he blogs, he goes to Fudan University, he can speak Chinese, and such conference is something he would be interested in. He said he’s sorry and left.

I was almost crying because of desperation. Heidi was quiet the whole time but when she noticed my disappointment she brought her cellphone out and called one of her friends. She said that this “friend” works as a student assistant in the university’s computer department (that is what I understood from her broken English). Luckily, her “friend” knows about it and told us to call a number. That’s how we found out the exact place and from where we were, it would take another 45 minutes walk. It was already 1:15 so I told the girls that we should get a taxi instead. I got there at exactly 1:30 pm. It was scheduled to start on that time but it took a few more minutesbefore they finally started it.

I didn’t finish the whole thing. After Matt Mullenweg finished his part, I took off. I would have stayed if I can understand Chinese. The rest of the conference is in Chinese and I would certainly feel a like a big bother if I stayed and asked my seatmate to translate everything.

The keynote of Matt Mullenweg was worth it but I am still utterly disappointed about the fact that  the conference was so (in my point of view) unorganized. No fliers, no banners in boards within the campus. When I got in the conference room, there were like 2 banners there plus two on the hallway… it wouldn’t hurt if they would have placed one somewhere where people can easily see it….like the main entrance of the University. There’s one big banner outside the building but who goes to that building? The banner is not even visible from the road. It’s really no wonder why there were only 40 or so attendees.

I will write about Matt’s speech in my next post because it is something worth sharing. But right now, I just would like to say that those of you who experienced Wordcamp Philippines 2008, consider yourself lucky. I so envy you guys. Looks like you really did have a lot of fun.

]]> http://www.viennalopez.com/2008/09/22/wordcamp-what-do-you-mean-wordcamp/feed/ 6 http://www.viennalopez.com/2008/08/05/short-update/ http://www.viennalopez.com/2008/08/05/short-update/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:09:46 +0000 vienna http://www.yeth.blogleafs.com/?p=33 I am so sorry about not updating this blog for a long time. As you know well, I was in a vacation for a month in Europe and after that, I got busy here in Shanghai.

We got here about a month ago and it we moved in to a few flat just recently. I got busy with unpacking our things, finding a school for me to continue my German course, and other stuff. I am actually STILL busy and I don’t think there is going to be a slow down soon.

Because it seems that life in Shanghai does not allow me to stay in front of the computer for hours like I did when we were still in Changchun, I am giving up some of my blogs. Penny Wise will be the first and My Take on Things will slowly follow. The Last Thing I Am will be turned over to a friend and as for the rest… hmm… I haven’t decided yet but I will more likely keep them.

I gave up with the Gallery. The new WP doesn’t have that much options with its gallery. Sure you can upload multiple photos at one time but after you put the gallery code in your editor and set how many columns, rows, etc you like to display then that’s it. WordPress will just display a thumbnail of all of the photos. Boring! Then if you click a thumbnail, the full size will be displayed in another page—that is so uncool!

Then there are plugins like Lightbox JS and the others for WP gallery but I guess they are intended for coders themselves and not for common WordPress users like me. I am sorry but I have tried to install this plugin (lightbox JS and the likes) several times following different approaches but all failed. It just doesn’t work.

So I settled with Pictobrowser. It’s neater and you’ll be able to see the photo’s full size in the same page. I wanted to host my own photos but Pictobrowser only works if your photos are hosted by Flickr. By doing so, I am not using WP 2.5.1’s gallery which is so bad because the gallery is supposed to be what WP 2.5 is all about (schade!)!