First "paycheck" for being a writer

Okay, not a paycheck, per se, but a prize in a Valentine's Poem writing contest at Elgin Community College. I had shown up with nothing in hand but, underwhelmed by the competition, I had borrowed a pencil and paper and wrote up a joke poem on the spot that not only won me second prize*, but the poem was published in The Spire, ECC's literary magazine that year. 

*I remember it being first prize in its category, humorous poems, but it's possible it was considered second prize because the serious poem category was considered more important.

When I was 20, I figured I would be making enough to live off of from my writing by the time I was 25. Little did I know how little more I would be making for my writing by 50!