So, here’s something cool–I just did my first work for hire. An opportunity came via a friend to write the Alberta Ballet’s version of the Nutcracker (based on the synopsis in their program) for oral story telling at their children’s parties, so the kids would understand what what happening when they saw the ballet. The length was to be 15 minutes, and man, oh, man, is the plot complex–and some of the motivations are extremely unclear. But two of us collaborated with a 4-day turnaround to create a text that we are both proud of, and which the ballet company loved. Cool, eh? The payment is in tickets to the dress rehearsal, so the equivalent of $24, or $0.75/word. Not bad, eh? Unless I get there early and scoop the $800 seats.