A little bit about me. (Skip this post if you'd like)

I won't give you my real name. I'm sure to be a bit negative when discussing the content sites and blogging networks I'm writing for. But everyone needs some name, even if it's not real. How about this one: Dwrite. It's a handle I use on forums across the Internet. Should work well here.

Here are some of my credentials. I've worked as a freelance writer since the early 1990s. When I started in this business, I couldn't Google anything. I had to find information the old-fashioned way: by digging it up. Today, I honestly think I've forgotten how to do that.

My stories have appeared in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Business 2.0 Magazine, Phoenix Magazine, the Chicago Reader, BusinessWeek Online, CareerJournal, Home Magazine and a countless stream of trade magazines. Today, unfortunately, many of my favorite places to write for have gone belly up. Many others have put a temporary freeze on their freelance budgets.

I have turned, too, to online writing. As a freelancer today you have to. There's a lot about it I don't like. Mostly, it's the pay. Why does online writing fetch such dismal fees? Can it be because online writing is usually horrid, rehashed garbage that's been floating around the Web ever since Yahoo! took the world by storm?

I'm sure there's a relation there.

I blog regularly today, for both blogging networks and for business owners who want blogs but don't want to write them. The second group pays far more than the first. But this blog, Content Writing Madness, focuses on the first group, the blogging networks, along with the content sites, places like Suite 101, Associated Content, Demand Studios, Examiner.com and the like. (And don't tell me that Examiner.com is an online newspaper and not a content site. It's a content site. Believe me.)

My goal is to share my frustrations, rewards (I hope!) and challenges as I try to master the world of online content writing. I hope, too, that the readers of this blog -- and I hope to get readers soon! -- will chime in with their own experiences and, yes, success strategies for making actual money at places like Suite 101 and Constant Content.

Check back tomorrow. I'll start my online adventures with my experiences at Suite 101. Then there's the suddenly popular Examiner.com to tackle.