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Do you remember a time when you cracked open a fortune cookie and read a fortune that would soon come true for you?

Tempted by Fame and Fortune

There are lots of distractions on the internet on any given day. This week, I’ve been distracted by a couple writing competitions

$5000/month for six months.

The folks who make Sam-e a natural mood enhancer are looking for a Good Mood Blogger. It’s a promotional thing, of course, designed to get the maximum number of people to visit their website. You must apply, then get your friends to go and vote for you. The top 20 will then be judged by their writing, again with public voting, and the top person is offered a six month run blogging.

250-500 words per day, five days a week, $5000/month for six months. $30,000 is more than many writers make in a year! Hard position to get because you must harness your social network to get the votes. And no guarantee that the best qualified WRITER gets the gig, just the most popular, fairly good writer. Great promo idea, not so great for writers to apply for. If you want to, though, hurry: It closes October 23.

Prestige and $200/week for 13 weeks.

Or, if you prefer, go for the Washington Post’s promo campaign, and become America’s Next Great Pundit. That’s right, if politics is your thing, here’s your “reality show,” newspaper version.

You get only 400 words to impress the editorial staff at the Washington Post. This time, the writing comes first as the Post staff chooses the top 10 entries. Then, there is a three-week test of skills needed to succeed as a pundit today, including working to deadline, holding your own on video, and field questions from Post readers. (Clearly – any children’s book author could do this! Consider our deadlines; the need for book trailers today; fielding questions from kids at a school visit. We’d all be great at this!) Contest entry due by October 21.

The prize is a 13-week column, paid at $200/column. The real prize, of course, if the fame. Heck, you’d probably get a book deal out of it, if you played it right.

Tempting?

Of course. My husband hopefully asked, “Does the Good Mood Blogger have to be in a good mood all the time?”

Well, the regular income would certainly help that vacillating mood.

About the Post gig, DH asked, “Are you sure you’d want to be on video?”

A cameo, I could do; thinking-on-my-feet debating would be unthinkable. Literally.

All of which brings me back to why do I write and what are my writing goals? Fame? Would I want to be the next Pundit (Hindi word for a learned man)? Would I want to be the Good Mood Blogger so I could encourage others to live a happier life, or would I just be doing it for the money?

Why do you write? Do things like this tempt you? Fame? Fortune?

Related posts:

1. Appreciation

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