I got my first payment check yesterday for words I've written. It's an amazing feeling. So many years of practice, workshops, flattening my butt on at least a half dozen different computer chairs. Novels, shorts, stories long since lost or abandoned, hundreds of thousands of words of fantasy that will never see the light of day because I needed that million words of crap before I could begin to make real progress. Learning to connect with a reader. Learning to find a balance between my internal editor and my dreams. Learning to educate myself, because so much of the education of a writer happens either entirely from the inside or by deliberately, through an act of will and trust, separating the ego from the written word long enough to accept a professional opinion. Learning who trust and when, especially myself (and when not to trust myself.)
The kewlest part of all this? It's a beginning. A long road to travel to begin, but that's the nature of this, and many other crafts.
4 comments:
I still remember the first time I got paid...I mean really paid, not just a measly share of a cover charge...for a music-related project. That was pretty wild.
Of course, it was probably the only time to date that I've been professionally hired by someone who wasn't a (relatively) close friend and paid me a convincing rather than token amount, but anyway...
Congratulations again!
Thanks! It it definitely high on the scale for the kewlometer.
Cash it, quick. (Scan it and print out a copy to frame for your office wall, but get it converted to money. With any kind of writing payment, you never know ...)
Deposited today! And I've got a copy for my wall too, the image set properly askew over a copy of the signed contract. Gee, I'm such a cliche'! My other alternative was cash and get a dollar, but I actually like the check image. It turned out really nice with my color scanner.
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