Once again I’m contemplating leaving Helium. First, though, I got my Marketplace Approved Writer badge in just 3 days. This is for writers they feel do a better job than most and they give them this so that they stand out to publishers. This is quite a compliment as I know some people can’t even get one star and others aren’t even allowed to write for Helium in the first place.

But when I saw I still had two stars yet still $0 I was like whoa! I’m working for free. Then I delved more into the payment and earnings and how it all works. Now it looks like I have to get “selected and published” to get any money if I’m reading things right, and the most I could earn from an article is $2.50 but that’s only if I have 5 stars, something I can’t imagine I’ll ever have. Only the best of the best achieve even 4 stars. My articles are only worth a buck with two stars.

Some girl on ripoffreport.com said that before they made it a rule to pay only those with at least one star, she wrote for them for a year but could never achieve a star. Then she tried to cash out at $20 saying she couldn’t achieve a star but wanted to cash out anyway and close her account, but they wouldn’t let her and so she could never get her $20 or the articles removed. They just kept telling her to get that star she could never get.

So I’ll really have to think about whether or not I want to keep writing there. Praise isn’t something I care about, but money is. I’d rather 100 people tell me I was lousy while I at least got paid for my time and work, rather than 1 person tell me I’m great and not receive a penny.

Marie unblocked me on Facebook but hasn’t added me back. If she tries to I’m not going to accept it this time around. I wish her well, but I think we’re better off just getting on with our lives.

Later…

Tom and I read up on Helium some more and clearly, I can make more money on MT, but I decided to give it another month just to see what happens. This is because they select, publish and pay their writers on the 24th of every month. So I won’t know for a while if I’ve made any money yet.

Jesse’s been amazingly quiet despite the warm weather we’ve been having. Just heard the motorcycle a couple of times today and that was it.

We’re going to have to bomb this weekend since the creepy-crawly count is on the rise.

Let’s see… what else? Not much other than receiving 19 views from my stalker today. But I got an extra one from someone special.