I've decided that I will no longer be contributing articles or essays to third-party websites without monetary compensation. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. I've been neglecting my own website and forum to an alarming degree over the last one year and I intend to focus more in building up content on LiteraryForums.org and this blog.
2. I don't think I have the motivation necessary to write really quality articles (which takes time and effort) for third party websites. It's not fair on myself and it's not fair on the website owners who expect me to deliver quality material. Without motivation and inspiration, results can be pretty poor in spite of effort.

This decision of mine is probably a long-term one and I do expect that I can focus better on my goals and objectives if this policy is implemented properly. Of course, I will continue participating in third party forums as well, but only in a strictly limited manner. As it is, I've seriously cut down my forum activities in the last year and a half and I want to continue along the same direction this year as well.

I don't think of this as a way of earning money. Far from it. I hardly expect many offers and I'm sure there are better writers than me who write for free. But if I allow my energies to fritter away without proper compensation, I do feel that I'm not doing justice to myself or the people who read my articles. That is the crux of the issue - I need the time and I need the motivation to write better. I also need freedom from the pressure of a serious writing commitment without a feeling of getting something in return. A well-written article eats up a considerable amount of my time - going through several revisions in a period of time before I deem it fit for publication. So if I do ask for payment, it's for compensation for that effort and not for any perceived quality in my writing. However, I do expect that this sort of focus will actually help me write better, thus benefitting everybody involved.

I'm pretty sure that most people wouldn't want to pay for articles, which is just fine with me because that'll mean less work, but if somebody does want to pay me for writing, it'll have to be on a per-article basis as I'm not willing to commit to anything long-term.