advice needed and perhaps options too

[Mr. Hamrick]

Okay... taking a chance with this.

As many of you know, I have been trying to make some headway into the film and tv business in recent years.  I've had a little bit of success but nowhere near what I would have hoped to have had at this point.

In early 2009, I began having some health issues which required both surgery on one occasion and a stay in the hospital on a second occasion.   As a result of this, I was out of the loop a bit in the work stuff.  I have yet to get "fully" back in.  I'm not going to get into all the details but I'm not a happy camper on the matter.  Some of it would violate various forum rules.  It's safe to say that I have been getting a lot of conflicting advice both on the medical stuff and the professional stuff.

In December of last year, I began doing some blogs for the Zombie Cat Productions website (http://www.zombiecatproductions.com).  They are a local outfit and while I am not a perfect fit for them, it's at least keeping me active somewhat locally.  This has led to the idea that I could possibly get paid to write for some other sites while I am trying to get the health issues (which are still plaguing me) in order.  It may or may not help me out with the issues I have been having with these couple of scripts but it will at least be a start.   My own searches on the net have not yielded many decent results.  I found one site that is basically wanting you to pay to get their writing stuff before they allegedly pay you and another site called "Associated Content" that I am not sure of the validity of.  Anyone who knows of any legit sites, please let me know.

The other issue is relating to Facebook and Twitter.  I have had a Facebook page and Twitter page since before it was cool to have them.  (Other than incident where I accidentally deleted my Twitter page and restarted it five minutes later.)  I prefer Twitter for various reasons.  

As for Facebook, I currently have my page deactivated.  I was examining a function on there to "make my profile my page" and realized that I would have to create a "fan page" again to utilize it.  My problem is that my facebook friends list is part industry professionals (some of whom I very much want to keep in touch with) and one part friends i know from high school, college, and further back than that as well as family.

I created a fan page originally to try to separate the two but that didn't work.  Right now, I have what has been called "some insane privacy settings" that still hasn't quite eliminated getting random friend requests from people who I do not know but have mutual friends with.  Suggestions?  I mean a few of the professional contacts I have are legit friends.  And I don't want to delete certain acquaintances in other industries who I have mutual friends with either.  What's a good way to let other people know the situation?

Thanks for any help and advice in advance.

[Tawodi Osdi]

For the Facebook thing, you could just get two accounts: one for friends and family and one for professional associates.  You'd have to sign up under two different email addresses, and it might be a hassle toggling back and forth, but it would be one solution.

For the entertainment thing, I'd go for the cash paying gig to build a resume and maintain a positive cash flow until something else breaks open.  Truth is I am getting close to final revisions on writing a short story and was wondering about different options about shopping around for a publisher.  If I find something useful to you in my research, I will steer you towards it.