That first paycheck is mighty nice. The first pay you ever receive from writing might be a small amount, but the point that you get paid to write is certainly something to celebrate. You may want to take your first paycheck and do something special with it. While the money may not be enough for you to take all your friends out for dinner, you may get enough to pay for a dinner out for you and a pal. You never know though…maybe you will land a fantastic project for your first writing job and get a nice big, fat paycheck the first time around. If that happens, count yourself as lucky because that is not the norm for first-time writers.

Tip: My first paycheck from writing was forty dollars. It was the first time I had ever made money from writing, and as far as I was concerned it was a veritable fortune. More than the money, I was enthralled with the idea of making money from doing something that I adore. It felt powerful, and it gave me real hope that I could make it as a writer. My writing fees have gone up considerably since my forty dollar assignment, but I don't think that I can say that any pay has ever felt as good as that first paycheck did. Relish that feeling when it happens to you, because it is a great moment in your career.

Seeing your work in print is great. Perhaps even better than making money for your writing, at least in the beginning, is seeing your writing in print. Whether it is online or in a print publication, the first time you get to see something you wrote displayed for the general public to see it feels really good. Eventually it will become old news to see your work in print, but in the beginning it is one of the most rewarding aspects of being a writer. Relish it while you can, because if you are able to secure one writing job after another then you may get a little less excited each time you see your work in print.