Like the Bishops in the early days of the Church, I gladly receive payment in kind for my literary efforts. Replying to a friend's poem about her use of a green mask to improve her appearance, I wrote the following in response to a lotion sample I'd received in the mail:

A couple of months later I e-mailed it to the PR lady at Gloves In A Bottle™. They put my poem on their web site the next morning. I wrote them again to say if I'd waited two hours to send it to them, I would have heard about an Oil of Olay™ contest, changed the title, and sent it to Olay, perhaps to win $2000. A rep e-mailed back that they couldn't match $2000, but he'd be glad to send me some product.

Wednesday I got a box containing at least $125 worth of Gloves In A Bottle™! You never know how your writing will pay off! In this case, I strengthened my year's (three-years'?) supply of a great lotion, and had a lot of fun besides. AND I'm published on the Internet. Go to www.glovesinabottle.com, click on "testimonials" at the bottom, then on "dry skin" in the right column. My poem is in the left hand column. It's signed D. A., and tells you it's a poem, in case you wondered.