A Year With Scripted: Part-Time Writing to Pay Off the Mortgage

Scripted writer Elizabeth T. tells her story of working with Scripted for the past year and why she continues to use the platform today.

My name is Elizabeth, and I'm a Scripted addict.

I've set the dashboard as my homepage. I click on Unclaimed Jobs and Available Edits during commercial breaks in my favorite TV shows.

Is there a cure? I don't really care. I'm having a blast and making bank.

Who I Am

I'm a full-time teacher and a parent of two middle schoolers, and I write for Scripted in my spare time. Though I'm not sure how I would have managed it when the kids were little or when I was a new teacher still learning my craft and stressing about lesson plans, it dawned on me at the beginning of this school year that I actually had time on my hands.

After a quick review of my marketable skills - Organic gardener for hire? Musical theater director? Spanish tutor? - I settled on putting my English and Creative Writing degree to good use. I knew I wanted to be able to work from home, as my natural introvert tendencies lead me to shun human contact after a long day in front of students. I found Scripted, and the rest is history.

Why I Write for Scripted

Why work instead of learning the trombone or taking up painting with all that free time? Well, I'm absolutely obsessed with paying off my mortgage. I've spent the past year making adjustments to our household budget to cut our spending, and I applied those savings to our mortgage each month to pay it off early. Once that experiment was done, I was ready to earn some extra income to keep bringing that mortgage total down.

Like most freelance writers, I have my eggs in more than one online writing basket, but Scripted has quickly become my favorite. I really enjoy the Lifestyle/Travel category, and it feels like Scripted has many more opportunities to write how-to articles and home decorating blog posts than other outlets. It also pays much better than many other content platforms, so it's become my go-to place for work.

I really appreciate the steady editing work at Scripted. As a former high school English teacher, I can put my nitpicking to good use on a variety of articles. I actually find reading them quite interesting, and the pay is more than fair.

I appreciate the friendly tone of the editors when I get a revision request; it's nice to feel like part of a team working toward a common goal instead of being berated or belittled, which can sometimes poison the writer-editor relationship.

How I Do It

I write about 10,000 words per month, which works out to about one standard blog post per day. I devote about an hour per day to writing, and I typically do this in the downtime between school and dinner, when my kids are doing their own homework. For bigger projects or additional editing work, I wait until the kids are in bed and can get in another good hour then if needed. To maintain a healthy balance, I observe "screen time vespers." This means that between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., I turn off the computers, TV and phone like it's 1979.

I also stick really close to my goal of writing one article per day. Even if a deadline is distant, I like to spread it out. I find that this makes it feel more like a voluntary hobby and less like a high-pressure job.

For What It's Worth

Between the 10,000 words I write per month and as much editing work as I can get my hands on, I make great money on Scripted. Every dime of that goes to my mortgage, and at this rate, I'm on track to have it paid off in 10 years instead of 30.

When it's paid off, I can quit my job and click that Unclaimed Jobs button all day long like a happy Skinner box rat.

How does Scripted help you? Tell us in the comments below.