Writing pays off, co-founder of this blog matches the money: $1551 total

By Kathleen Kenna

Tromping through the woods on a dry afternoon yesterday, we were discussing this venture and trying to decide how much of our limited funds we would invest in it.

“Sometimes, you just work for a good cause, and the money comes,” I said, with surprising confidence.

Sunshine in Portland has that effect.

Then we stopped at the mailbox, and voila! (this is a French term for, ‘will you look at that!’).

There was a direct deposit note from Canada for $741.99.

(The Canadian dollar, for once, is at par with the beleaguered American buck.)

This is important money, the kind a writer lives for — royalties!

Look at me, Mom! I get paid for writing!: Kathleen Kenna

I wrote a non-fiction book once.  Look it up, you can snag it new, hardcover, for $15 or less.

Used? Paperback?  Only a cent.  No kidding — check it on Amazon.com.

A People Apart has paid a modest sum in annual royalties, about $12 or so, for years.

Honestly, it made so much money at the start, when it was co-published in the U.S. and Canada, that I rewarded myself with a long-coveted possession — a big, blue kayak.

Full disclosure:  It’s not the money;  it’s never the money, for most professional writers (i.e. those fortunate to get paid for their words).

This is a good thing, because the direct deposit note shows my share of the royalties, shared with photographer Andrew Stawicki and our agent, Nick Harris, is down to $1.32.  For a year.

Writers are such humble, grateful wretches, this seems like a queenly sum.  (They’re still reading my little book!)

The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency knows this.  It has fought for years to get schools and libraries and other entities to pay writers and artists for the privilege of “lifting” their work.  It’s fighting the education system still, on our behalf.

Photocopy our stuff; use it in your classrooms; paper the walls with it; and we’re grateful, truly grateful.

But many writers live below the poverty line, so access, as it’s known, distributes the fees to its ever-thankful members.

I collect because I’ve written so much for decades for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation paper.

On occasion, some kind teacher wants her students to read my old stuff (you won’t be surprised to learn that U.S. sex laws were a big draw during Bill Clinton’s presidency.  Sex scandals:  the journalism gift that keeps on giving.)

It’s nice to know there’s payback — literally.

My access payback is $741.99 this year, covering a few magazines and other papers that have published my freelance work.

It makes me proud to be a writer.

It made Hadi Dadashian so proud, he matched the payback by donating $810.01 from his savings to Hire Your Neighbor.

That gives us $1,551 to spread our  job-creating message, and encourage Americans to have a national conversation about hiring their unemployed neighbors:  Get Occupied!

Watch this blog for a regular accounting of how that money is spent.

TOMORROW:  Why I blew $3 on a chance to have dinner with First Lady Michelle Obama and the President of the United States of America