H-h-help! First "real" assignment in my mail this morning!  

I honestly don't know how I managed to discover this gem: www.wordsofworth.co.uk They are darn near impossible to google up by accident, so I think it must have been via a recommendation on another writer's blog page. This is a superior writers' agency - very, VERY different to AC or Helium. The deal is, they have a cache of specialist clients in various sector industries. When a client asks for copy for their website,ezine or company blog WoW select a specialist writer from their lists and give them the job. They expect a minimum of 80 short articles a month if you're accepted - but they pay damn well. I mean, DAMN well. Like, the taxman would have to know about it. Quality, rather than keyword driven. No plagiarism-must-pass-copyscape here. This is the real McCoy.

The site requests submissions from good writers, and I was interested enough to apply. One of the things you have to do, is type up a short paragraph about yourself saying why you think you'd be perfect for their team. Evidently I made a good impression, because back came an email at the weekend requesting I submit a "sample article" on the subject they have assigned me. I made the rather rash decision of ticking "art" as one of my specialist fields, because the link was to a canvas screen printing company - a subject about which I know nothing! Worse still, neither does my art student daughter.

Despite the fact I am having to type this in manually, here is an extract of the mail. Any SPAG errors are mine, not theirs:

"The first step is to complete a trial article for us to see if you're what we're looking for. Could you take a look at [this website] and see what it is they do? They have a news section here ..."

The mail follows with a request for a single article, which I select from a range of possible headings. Anything from 200 - 500 words. "We're not looking for anything that is a sales pitch or an advert ... we're looking for unbiased news or articles, similar in tone to the BBC website, so we are not looking for anything in the first person."

It follows with a request I thoroughly understand their TAC. Then I am to send them the article as a word doc. If the article is of an acceptable standard, I will be added to their waiting list until a client contract becomes available.

Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I'm really looking forward to this - so why do I have butterflies each time I so much as think of going onto the BBC home page?

I am going outside. I may be some time ...