I'm giving. Are you?

The holidays are coming up fast and, as usual at this time of the year, many of us are thinking of the less fortunate. For my part, I’d like to make a quick plug for my charity of the year:

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research

They are still the only national research charity solely devoted to blood disorders in both adults and children. 24,500 people in the UK every year are diagnosed with a cancer of the blood and leukaemia is the most common form of cancer in children in the UK. They rely entirely on voluntary donations.

My mother died suddenly of leukaemia about 18 months ago, which is why I’m plugging them (instead of Cats’ Protection who I’d normally opt for).

They have a webpage here and tons of auctions on eBay.

Thanks for listening.

If you’ve checked out the info page, you’ll have seen that it’s about being a freelance writer without doing any marketing.

If all goes to plan, in a couple of days I’ll reveal a lot more – the title, what’s in it, who it’s for… and I’ll also start looking for proofers to get an opinion from the fledgeling freelancer public. Stay tuned and make sure you don’t miss it!

Yahoo news has an article today about an amazing therapy that has wiped out leukemia in two of three test subjects and greatly improved the condition in the third. This could be a big step forward in the search for a cancer cure.

Of course, it still needs extensive testing and the long-term effects must be evaluated (it’s only a year in at the moment but the patients remain in remission) but it’s great news.

Something to brighten your day and bring hope to millions of cancer sufferers around the globe.

I’ll be posting another excerpt from my upcoming release in my next post, so you can expect something extraordinarily useful (as usual, of couse!).

Watch this space!

Please click here to go straight to the post.

Justin Bieber, teenage heart-throb whose hairstyle is popular with young lesbians.

A mere month after the frighteningly androgynous, look-like-an-eight-year-old Justin Bieber¹ signed his Island Records deal, another great event occured. Yes, in November 2008, I started working online.

Three years later, one of us is a teen heart-throb millionaire, plastered on young girls’ walls throughout the world. The other isn’t.

Despite the obvious lack of world fame, it’s been a good three years with some unexpected bonuses – new skills, regular work, better earnings and meeting some really cool folks.

Anyway, back near the start of my online saga, I produced a four-part HubPages hub called “Making Money Online: A Guide For The Absolute Beginner”. It received some nice comments and was useful enough that I turned it into a PDF file and made it available for free download here on ScrawlBug.

The 2011 version is now available from the Free Stuff page!

Updated with even more useful info, another job category, up-to-date views and a much, much bigger list of resources, the 2011 edition is a must-read for anyone who wants to get started earning online.

It costs nothing, of course. Feel free to donate if you feel guilty about downloading a document that took me many hours of hard work and a significant number of paper cuts to produce.²

The guide should help you avoid the pitfalls, spot the scams and – most of all – choose how you want to make money.

Feedback is gratefully received, as always!

¹ I know nothing about him really, apart from all the hate directed at him and the stupid haircut that all the yobs round here try to copy, much to my amusement.

² I’m lying – there were no paper cuts. And it didn’t take that many hours to produce. Enough with the guilt, already…

While ScrawlBug is directed primarily at the fledgeling freelance writer, I occasionally come across a nice little earner that can bring in some extra pocket money in return for a few minutes of your time.

Just the other day, someone introduced me to Microworkers. A rather neat concept in the field of online work, this site posts up jobs that only take a couple of minutes to complete – sign up somewhere, Digg an article, comment on something… that sort of thing. I thought I’d give it a go.

The money’s small – usually between 10 and 40 cents for an activity – but it’s international (most jobs aren’t limited to particular countries, though some demand US, UK, AU or other residents) and it takes up so little time that it’s easy to fit a couple of jobs in when you’re bored.

Not at all in the vein of primary income but I’m not going to complain if someone throws me $5 for a total of half an hour’s clicking, while I’m drinking coffee. I’ve been assured they’re reliable by several people, too.

If you’re interested, pop over. I have a referral link if you really feel like signing up under me or you can just go to the main site.

Note: this is not a paid or sponsored post. I honestly just thought some of you might be interested, especially if you happen to live somewhere where a couple of extra dollars makes a real difference.