Every few days or so I look for freelance writing gigs in the various cities on Craigslist. A couple of jobs caught my eye today. This one from L.A. in particular:
“Short exotic story writer needed.”
Of course, I had no way of knowing by looking at the headline whether they wanted someone who is short in stature to write exotic stories, or someone of any old height to write short, exotic stories. I also couldn’t tell just what they meant by “exotic.” I suppose they mean “porn.” But since I am neither short nor am I very good at writing porn I just skipped that one right on by.
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UPDATE: After looking at the ad caption again, I realize they did want a “Short erotic story writer” instead of “Short exotic story writer.” Okay, then. Why do they want someone who is short writing porn? What kind of freaks are they?
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I also was not sure what was meant by this caption from New York’s Craigslist:
“Clinical ghost writer.”
Perhaps they were wanting someone who writes in a clinical setting, or maybe someone who is dispassionate. A dispassionate ghost writer. So, that raises the question: Do they want someone who writes in a clinical setting about ghosts? Do they want a dispassionate person who writes a story for someone else, as in a ghost writer? Or do they want someone who is a dispassionate person who will write about ghosts in a clinical setting for someone else? Please choose one.
I’m not really sure what either of the ads had in mind. Had I decided to actually take a look at them, then maybe I would know what they were talking about. But, after all, what fun would that be?
Oh, and here is a hint I thought I’d pass along. If you are looking for writing jobs on Craigslist or in other classified ad venues, you might avoid those who are looking for writers if one or more words in the ad are misspelled. This is especially so if it is some new, wonderful magazine that is being published, which can’t afford to pay you right now other than in copies, but it’s a good way to get your name out there and you’ll be famous once the publication takes off, yadda, yadda, yadda.