This is just great, Paul! I love how you worked Stephen King in without quoting from On Writing. (If I see one more story about his writing advice lifted from his book, I’ll lose my mind.) It’s mighty clever of you to come up with this twist on an all too familiar theme. I salute you. The last quote is so true. The first writing “income" I got was for a story in a 1980s Apple computer newsletter. They gave me a pen with the Apple logo on it. No cash, just vendor graft. It’s still around here somewhere. There’s one for sale on eBay for about $200.