You know you have fibro when your cell phone seems heavy. I’ve recently been lamenting the weight of my phone both when it’s in my purse and when I’m just carrying it around the house. Yes, I’m just that weak.

Since I switched to a more technical job from a writing job I’ve been worrying about my hourly pay. I’m still working on my own sites and blogs because I love residual income. When I first started working from home I just wanted a job. I was sick of scams. I wanted to make minimum wage even, anything that would help me to actually work with fibromyalgia.

Over the years I guess I’ve kind of gotten sucked in by the internet mentality: just work a few hours and make lots of money. Granted, that never worked for me, I was putting in crazy work weeks for mere pennies. Now I’m back to the hourly wage, it’s more than anything then I’d make in my area. Plus, it is a job that I can actually handle with my disease. However, I still wonder why other people seem to be able to make a full time paycheck for part time work and I can’t? Maybe they are all just myths. It seems like with every make money online site there will be one or two superstars who rake in the cash and write the ebooks about how to do it but most other people can’t replicate it. Anyways, I’m just glad to be able to make a living.

It’s been about a year since I very first started writing for other companies. I’ve worked with blogging companies and affiliates in the past, present and future but I’ve never sold my writing to someone else. It started out as a new experiment and it turned into a living; although a meager living at that. Sometimes I wonder if I’m underselling myself. However, I’m able to pay all of my bills without vexing my fibromyalgia and that’s really all I can ask for.

It’s been a year of ups and downs. I have switched companies that I’ve worked for several times trying to find a low stress situation that will still pay the bills. I started out writing for residual sites, and I’ve also switched which residual sites I’ve worked for several times. I’ve wanted to quit more than a few times. I’ve cried over the editorial comments. I’ve rejoiced when it was time to make the move to a warmer climate, all made possible by my writing gigs. I’ve learned a lot about SEO. I’ve wondered if all of my SEO learning has impeded my ability to really write something that matters. I’ve read thousands of forum posts. Maybe soon I’ll even be able to find health insurance with my writing income. I envy everyone who has health insurance whether it’s NC short term health insurance or something else. I know that the next year of writing web content will be just as volatile as this one. I’ll continue to peruse residual and upfront payment sites. It’s not the perfect gig, but for now, it works.