Constant Content

Hi, I'm Mark and I have recently joined this site. You must have heard this many times, but I want to thank the site for ease of use and dexterity between sections. I do have one question though, at what point (precisely) are payments made within the month?

And as I live in England, am I able to change the site settings so that times are displayed in my timezone?

Hi Mark!

I don't have any answers for your questions. Just wanted to welcome you and wish you luck.

Also, I echo your praise of this site. I don't have time to figure out the glitzier, less intuitive sites. I could do it, but I'd rather be writing.

Anyhow, nice to meet you.

Thank you Kmd, whoever you may be. Nice to get a swift reply from another author. x

I believe you can change the forum time settings in your profile.

Payment is made the first week of each month, however there is a $50 threshold, meaning you must have $50 in your account by the last day of the month to receive payment to your Paypal account. Any monies lower than the threshold simply carry over to the next month. I started writing here in November of last year, but didn't go over $50 until the middle of December, and was paid January 1st.

Hope that helps, and welcome to CC, where questions are always welcome, and quality counts! (Finally!)

Good luck, and peruse the forums, it's the BEST way to learn.

Hi Mark. Just wanted to say hello to a fellow Brit.

Thank you Elizabeth Ann West, that's my questions answered! And good stuff Jak, we need more British on the site. Is it me, or do you find it quite a challenge writing articles on this site? Especially as the target audience is mainly the American Market... Are we at a disadvantage? Or perhaps our perspectives are more sought after?

Good to have a fellow Brit on board....still consider myself to be one after 7 years in France. This is a great site, I've recommended it to fellow writers via the Writing Magazine message board. That's where I first heard of C-C. Still on cloud nine after selling 3 articles after only a couple of weeks of seriously getting my head down. Site's a doddle once you've got the hang of it, and Ed and the team are always on hand...don't think Ed ever sleeps
Only niggle? The euro to dollar conversion which I've just been made painfully aware of when accepting my first Paypal today. But that's out of everyone's hands. Let's blame the international bankers!! It means that I set my fees a bit higher to compensate, so the downside is maybe I don't sell so many, but happy all the same.
Jo W

Man I wish I had cool sounding slang like "doddle" and "niggle."

I am probably exposed slightly more than most American to Britishisms, since I am an avid reader in the Harry Potter fan fiction community (it's a pure guilty pleasure, but there's actually some great writing there too).

Is there any American slang out there even remotely interesting to the UK dwellers?

At first I had a problem trying to write for American markets. Now I think I have less of a problem with that, since I have managed to sell. Though I'm sure there are still lots of British turns of phrase that I'm not aware of.

Here's a little tip for American spelling: copy the whole of your article into the long summary. Then look for the red underlining - I nearly always have to change as 's' to a 'z' or remove a 'u' between an 'o' and an 'r'. (And here I see I'm using the quote marks the British way). Afterwards you can cut out the bits you don't want to showcase.

EAW - how about posting a tutorial on American slang for us poor UK dwellers?

If you type in Word and set the language to English US it will let you know where you've gone wrong. Sometimes I find I have to highlight the whole text after having completed the article, and then set the language and then spell check. (Jak, sorry if that's what you were saying!)

Unfortunately, it won't let you know if you've included a British idiom that will be completely lost on the Americans!

Jane

Don't fret too much over learning American idioms. To be honest, most writing with it in there is rubbish. Not because the idiom is in there, but because they change so often.

For example, there was a huge phase of "fo' shizzle." Thank you Snoop Dogg. The sad part was to see this actually pervade the nightly news, and most often casual style writing. To be hip and cool, everything had an "izzle" on the end of it. I actually saw a blog post once titled "Legiizle my Eggizzle (Leggo my eggo, the frozen waffle commercial)" Now, if one used it, a reader would be turned off thinking it completely outdated!

Same thing for the words "bling," "scene kid," "ice," etc. Most American slang, to use another outdated phrase, "just a flash in the pan."

Though there are some funny, and potentially troublesome translations that don't work so well. My grandmother-in-law lived in England during the 60s and told me the funny story of "knock your wife up." I guess it was said in reference of her, to her husband by another man, and meant "knock on the door and wake her up." In the States, it means "get a woman pregnant out of wedlock."

An English translation problem I had myself occurred in Australia, part of Great Britain if literally the furthest removed. I was at a rugby match in Brisbane, and I was speaking to a man about the differences between rugby and American football (Basically we are total wimps to need all those pads, and such sell-outs since our professional players can take endorsements). He was really interested, as he had traveled in the States, but no one ever explained the rules. At any rate, I made what I thought was a nice gesture to his teenage daughter by trying to include her in the conversation. I leaned over, and quite loudly said "Which team do you root for?" She didn't answer, and when I thought she hadn't heard me I said it even louder (After all she spoke English, and it was a loud stadium). Now, other parents were turning around and staring at me like I am some kind of monster.

The gentleman I was speaking with, her father, is experiencing a gut-busting laugh. He can't even speak, and breathing is a bit of a chore. When he finally calms a bit, he tells me I just asked his daughter which team she wants to shag! I was SO embarrassed! I explained, root in America means cheer on, wish to win. We have a kid's song called "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" where kids sing "Root, root, root for the home team."

After that, I never take for granted words in English mean the same thing in English.

Yes, it's the same language but different! In another thread, I posted that in an article I once wrote I included the phrase, 'suck it and see', which is perfectly fine in England. However, on reflection I thought it probably wouldn't work for the American market.

Living in Canada now, I have to 're-word' quite often. I used to use the word fag (to mean something being a bit of a chore), but have dropped that completely from my vocabulary now. I used the word Biro (pen) the other day, and someone (who's originally from Wales and has been living in Canada for years) told me that she hadn't heard that word for a long time!

Jane