It’s been two weeks and three days since I received the confirmation that I’ve been waiting for since May 26 of last year. Now, I can proudly say that I finally belong to Essays.ph’s roster of writers! (See? I still have that “excited” feeling.)
But it wasn’t really a smooth ride. Before I became “EPH’s Self Proclaimed Crazy Writer,” I had to spend ten whole months waiting, hoping, giving up, (slightly) forgetting, resubmitting, then hoping again… until I finally got in.
Hopefully not hopeful
It was May in 2012. At that time, I was preoccupied with internship and other stuff. So when my sister encouraged me to apply in Essays.ph, I really had no intention of pursuing it. But since the idea of getting paid for doing what you love enticed me a bit, I decided to send an application. I got a feedback right away and after creating my profile, I immediately planned the sample work that I’ll be submitting.
Days later, I sent my 500-word sample article about “pregnancy over 40,” slightly hoping that I’d get in. After a month, Ms. CP Reyes informed me that there was no attachment in my message. Turns out, I wasn’t able to properly attach my article. It was pretty normal for a rookie, but also plain stupid.
Anyway, after I sent my attachment, I didn’t hear from them for almost eight months. I remember constantly checking my profile, but I’d always get disappointed because I never saw any confirmation. I tried sending them follow-up messages via PM, e-mail and even SMS, but there were no responses. All I got from my e-mail are the default “Where have you been?” messages from them, which got me confused for the first few minutes. Eventually, I grew tired of checking and by the start of the 2nd semester of our school year; writing for Essays.ph was not an option anymore.
Reconsidering (but still hopefully not hopeful)
With school duties which made me busy for the entire semester, I slowly forgot about Essays.ph… until I saw the “Where have you been?” e-mail again sometime in January of this year. Since I’m still a bit determined to become part of their team, I decided to resend my application by February. Since that was also the time of my heightened search for potential jobs post-graduation, my “forgotten” application barely crossed my mind.
Though I’d constantly check my e-mail for updates, my hopes of getting in wasn’t as strong as the first time I sent my sample article. There even came a time when I thought of completely scraping the idea off my mind, just because my self-confidence in writing decreased a bit.
For once, I thought I’m not really that good in writing as I thought I was.
The start of something new
March 26, 2013: the day the confirmation arrived. It was just a random checkup of my e-mail, then I saw it… a forwarded message from Essays.ph saying that my application was accepted. At first I thought it was a scam, but thankfully, it wasn’t. Upon reading (and re-reading) the e-mail, I literally screamed and ran to my mom to proudly share the good news. For the next five seconds, I was yelling random victory words just so I can relieve my tightened but super glad heart. After I was done, I read the sample work that I submitted and thought, “This article made it! Self confidence revived!”
After updating my profile and posting the usual “newbie here” thread topic in the forum, I began scouting for assignments. Since I was too excited to start, I chose a 1000-word product review to mark my official membership in EPH. I know it was pretty heavy for someone who was just familiarizing with content writing at that time. But trust me; I learned a lot because of that slight mistake.
From hopefully not hopeful to flawed hotshot writer
So far, I’ve completed five assignments already, and I’m just starting to learn the ropes of being an EPH writer. In a span of almost three weeks, I’ve used a total of three GCs (bad!), received my very first revision request, built my profile up from newbie to hotshot writer by participating in forums, obtained enough points for a rookie, and gained new friends. I’ve also learned to accept occasional FAs, though it makes me busier than the usual. In fact, now I’m willing to take FAs… as long as my schedule’s free (which it is, most of the time).
Aside from the things mentioned above, so far, I’ve also received a fair amount of constructive criticisms for the sets I’ve submitted. The assignment which has the heaviest comments to date is my first one, which is about SleepPro product reviews. It was acceptable because I only had 24 hours to write about it and I was still a fresh newbie then, but it made me realize that this is serious business already. I’m now writing for real clients, not just hypothetical ones. I’m now in the real world, and even though this is not an office job, this is a real one with salary. Right after digesting the comments given to me, I vowed to do my best and never commit the same mistakes again.
But that wasn’t the last time I received not-so-good comments for my works, and of course, it won’t be.
Moving (and looking) forward to greater things
For now, I can’t possibly write a longer tale of my life as an official EPH writer because I’ve only been it for less than a month. But I’m proud to say that I’ve already learned so much from every assignment I got and also from the experiences of other writers. I may not be as great as the others, but I can surely write good enough.
Web content writing is not as easy as it seems. It entails a lot of in-depth research, proofreading, sacrificing other stuff, and self-discipline. Some can say that I may have spent most of my vacation glued to the computer all day, but I couldn’t care less. Being accepted in Essays.ph is one of the things that I will never forget. Sure, it’s stressful and eye bag-inviting most of the time, but the perks and new knowledge make up for the not-so-up side of the job.
Besides, what kind of job doesn’t involve hardships and sacrifices, right?
Anyway, I had a new running buddy with me, so it’s fine. Lol.
Ice cream, coffee, donuts… we even got a burlap-like backpack from Puma. Yay!
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Photo: Kenneth Velasquez)
Etcetera 