The most profound thing about being paid to write is suddenly seeing your work appear in a public place. 

For years I wrote ad copy and support copy for clients such as HP, ExxonMobil, Baker Hughes, Aggreko ... all of whom have national and international campaigns. And as I travelled, even in other countries, I would occasionally spot something I wrote — on the palm rest of a laptop or in a product brochure or on a billboard — and I'd have that sudden spark of recognition followed by an odd sense of vertigo. Seeing words I labored over to get just right, now on display in this strange place instead of on the screen of my laptop, was a little disorienting.