The Freelance Dance in Ghana

It's been a while, hasn't it? Things had gotten busy here, so I've had little time to post. As Ghanaians like to say, "It's all part of life."

The Africa Cup of Nations is finally over (with yippees from me and sniffles from Sean). Ghana's Black Stars won the Third Place for the Bronze in a decisive victory over Ivory Coast, by a score of 4-2. And poor John Mensah, the Rock of Gibraltar, showed the world that "real" men do cry, by shedding some tears over misplaced guilt. You see, two matches earlier, he'd fouled a player who was no doubt on his way to scoring a goal, for which he got a yellow card (meaning, he'd have to sit out the next game). Well, in the next game (the semi-final) Ghana lost. Would "the Rock" have changed the outcome, I don't know. But had he not fouled that player, the Black Stars might not have even made it as far as they did. So, John, dry your eyes, no one blames you. Or maybe I don't get it, but my in-house experts think he did the right thing.

So, over the past few weeks, I've been working. Yes, you read that right. I got a job! You know, I just knew that somehow this internet writing gig could be profitable. And I don't mean merely "enriching," as enriching as this blog is for me. I mean real cash. Hard currency. Big bucks. I love you all, but it don't pay the bills.

I tried posting for "situations wanted" over on Craigslist, but never got a hit. So putting my not inconsiderable research talents to work, I key-worded "freelance+paid+writing+ editing" and found a great website. Scanning through the postings, it looked promising, so I went ahead and posted my profile and paid my monthly membership fee and started bidding for jobs.

And then I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Before you know it, 48 hours had gone by, and I thought, "Damn, I wasted $10." But all of a sudden... Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Four jobs, right in a row! When it rains it pours. Two for editing and one for writing 20 travel articles and one that was a real stretch for me... 50 Ways to Add Romance and Fun to your Relationship. Come on. Like I have anything new to add to a relationship after being married for 18 years. Fortunately, a round-robin note to everyone on my email list garnered me a dozen ideas.

Right now, I'm "in-between" jobs, and bidding like crazy in the hope that I get a couple of new assignments real soon. It can be addicting, you know. It's like when I used to sell stuff on eBay, I'd wake up at 3:00 in the morning, just to check the auctions.

So, now you know that if you don't see me for a while, it's not because I've moved back to NJ or anything like that. I'm still sitting here in the heat and dust of the harmattan, listening to the hawkers selling their tomatoes, toilet paper and tilapia, chasing goats out of the yard, and typing away on the keyboard, only now I'm getting paid for it.

You see, life is good here. No, scratch that. Now, it's even better - $624 better. Not bad for a week's worth of work in Ghana.