UPDATE: Getting back to work at Essays.PH

So, it's been roughly two months since I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I haven't been active online for some time — to be frank, I have quite lost interest in Facebook and other things my friends are currently doing. Checking FB has become a tiresome habit for me.

In fact, the only times I go online is to work. Yes, I'm a stay-at-home-but-working-mom for Essays.PH, a local online writing community. If you missed my earlier post in my other blog, I've already shared how I discovered EPH several years ago.

I started writing for EPH officially during the summer (I was 5 months pregnant). I got promoted from the red team to the green team in May, I think.

(For the uninitiated, the EPH features a team system to group the writers. Black team used to be the entry point—when you're still in the application process, and red team is the team of new writers who can claim assignments. After some time, you can get promoted to the green and blue teams according to your performance.)

I stopped writing around the second week of June because my EDD is June 22. Unfortunately, my son did not seem to want to come out of my womb because he was born nearly two weeks later on July 2. It was a caesarian section because my water broke without labor signs. I was induced to labor from 1pm of June 1 to 1am of June 2, when the CS was finally performed.

Anyway, because of my difficult delivery, I did not go back to writing for EPH for nearly two months. I also had a mild case of postpartum bleeding 2 weeks after birth. Suffice it to say, I only checked back at EPH once in July, and I discovered that I had been promoted to the blue team.

I was pleasantly surprised, but worried. I thought I could not put in as many hours to take assignments because of my son. I sent messages to my editors to inform them that I will be taking assignments again as soon as my bleeding stops.

I resumed writing exactly one month postpartum--August 2. Since then, I've managed to take a lot of sets in between feeding Ili and getting some sleep. It works for me because I get to earn and still take care of my son for the most part. I don't need to worry about traveling to work and entrusting my son to someone else, nor do I have to resort to formula feeding. And if only for that opportunity to stay focused on raising my son while working, Essays.PH is the perfect job for me.

Best of all, writing for EPH doesn't really feel like real work because I enjoy writing. I love the drill of research-write-edit-proofread. I love that I learn something new with every new assignment that I take. I love the challenge of a difficult set and the rush I feel when the deadline nears. And, of course, I love getting compensated for all that "hard work."

Are you a writer like me? If you are, I'm inviting...no, I am challenging you to join the EPH community and see for yourself if the kind of work fits you.

I'll be waiting. :)