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The Talent of Writing

by Jitendra Bhojwani
(Jaipur, India)

"Great" He exclaimed! He had already earned $650 today and more than half of the day was still yet to be unfolded. Jim looked at the clock and took a sigh of relief. It was just 11'O Clock. He took a short nap, was up within 20 minutes and now crooning in the bathroom. Life was great and clients were superb.


Never did he feel such a satisfaction at any other job he had done so far. Public Commuting was something he hated from the depth of his heart. Long working hours further added to the wound and then there was always that nagging boss who would poke his middle finger into his wound, shouting every now and then.

It was last year that he decided to re-start his career as a freelancer. Writing was something he had always liked, so that was a natural choice. He wanted to become Shakespeare of modern time but the magazines and publishers whom he approached weren't the knowledgeable lots. They would ponder more over the wrong use of a modal or just a “or ' going here and there. His heavy weight synonyms seemed to scare those people who wanted some simple commoner's language. It all disappointed him until one day he was approached by a SEO guy over the net who would need SEO content on glass. Glass? What did he know about glass other than that it was fragile, could break easily and...ummm...was transparent? What's more? But the guy told him that he "just" needed the content within 24 hours and any content would do till it meets grammar rules and uses correct spelling. He would pay $500 for a mere 700 words. That was not a great deal for our "budding writer" who could write a full length story within 20 minutes. So Jim started writing and succeeded in completing within half a day.

The content was mailed to the eager SEO guy along with account details and within 2 hours Jim was richer by $500. That was the beginning. The SEO guy got impressed and started giving him the regular work. Gradually, the chain of clients increased and now Jim, our "Shakespeare in making", was Jim the SEO writer. He had changed all his profiles too.

He was great at his talent. A hotel deprived of WC and forced people to squat if they were really serious about unloading their last night's contents was described
as "an old world charm unaffected by vices of modernity. A professional's fancy quack's untested medicine was depicted as “excellently prepared organic medicine using age old traditional method". Rest of the matter would just use point’s headings and subheadings to give a "fee good factor" to the audience that he is really reading something valuable.

His client list increased and bank balance too. Now the pay was not too much but it was never pathetic either. Besides the quality required would keep him occupied for just 20-30 minutes. So he could not complain. Another positive thing was that minor mistakes of "a: and "the" were easily overlooked.

As soon as Jim came out of shower he again took rest and was up by 5 PM. He logged on to the mail and saw the request from another SEO guy promising a fixed salary along with monthly bonuses etc. That was super great for him. He wrote "Dear candidates, I am Jane from Texas. I have checked various sites and have reached to the decision that you writers are really superb. I have selected only 5 of you. I am in need of good writers who can write superb SEO articles without compromising with the real objective of writing: spreading knowledge. Never will I ask for spinning already written articles. You will have to be original in approach and I am aware that it requires too much hard work for the brain. So I will pay well. A decent monthly salary along with 15% bonus on completing 20000 words every month."

He looked honest. Jim started working right away. He would work day and night. He cornered all his earlier clients including the SEO guy who gave him the break. "I am occupied with an important assignment and would like to take a break. Would continue your work as soon as I complete the same." He had almost stopped working for anyone else.

The month ended and he had delivered 48500 words. Great. He calculated the total pay and was amazed. That was really huge. He mailed the completed work and the invoice. The next day he did not get any response. Several weeks passed and still no reply. He reminded on mail and tried to call up upon the given number. But the phone would not work.

The content he read in the mail was also written by some content writer who was as "talented" as him.

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