How to Make Your First Twenty-Five Dollars as a Writer
The key is to think small.
When I was a kid, we were pretty poor. Not quite living-on-welfare poor, but my mother was a single mom raising four kids on her own and working as a school cafeteria lady. We didn’t have much, and what we did have was spread pretty thin to make sure that all four of us girls got what we needed.
In order to get anything special — a candy bar, or a new book — I had to learn to save money. If I wanted to buy a new book, then I would have to fight my urge of instant gratification to hop on my bike and ride down to the tiny gas station on the corner to buy a Cherry Mash candy bar.
As important as saving my money was, collecting it was even more important.
My mother didn’t believe in paying children for chores but sometimes would offer me a dollar here or there for extra work like watching my siblings or helping with yard work. I cherished those dollar bills as if they were hundreds and tucked them away in a coffee can I used as my savings account.
But because money was always so tight, it wasn’t often my mother would offer to hand out extra dollars, so I was left to my own devices. Too young to get a real job, I walked our neighbor’s dog, picked up cans discarded along the roads of our tiny town, and made a…
