Deadlines keep you focused…

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Deadlines are all around us! We have deadlines for tax filing, bill paying, publishing our manuscripts, getting to work, the list goes on. Some days the deadlines seemed to crowd in and boggle our brains, but to put it in perspective, deadlines keep us on track!

As with my work, I’m an accountant which means I’m on a constant deadline. There’s payroll taxes due, sales tax due, income tax filing, and many more items that make your head spin. Maybe that’s why a lot of accountants are introverts, we don’t have time to be anything else!

With writing, you have deadlines for publishing, completed book covers, blurbs, contests, dare I go on. I heard that groan from the masses, yep, you know where I’m coming from. But the deadlines keep us focused. So, maybe we don’t keep up with our word counts and end up putting twenty thousand words in two days, but we get it done 😉

SO, do deadlines help you or make you crazy?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

By the way, I met my deadline for the finished manuscript for Lily with 24 hours left over. That made me give myself a high five.

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It’s that time of year…Are you ready?

This is a step away from my normal writing post, or is it? Well, this is a twofold post. As you may have figured this out, we only have three days left in 2014. Of course if you’ve been off work for the holidays you might not realize what day it is. Anyhow, this is a reminder post of sorts. I want to remind you of some tax deductions that might need to made in the next three days.

If you’re a published author then you’ll need to claim those wonderful royalties you hopefully received during the year. That means that you have income to claim and need deductions to help ward off a nasty tax bill. Since I’m an accountant as well as published author I’m here to help. So here’s a couple of last minute tax helps to get you on the right track…

1: Go through and add up your royalties to make certain of your income. Why is this important? Well, even a couple hundred extra dollars can put you in another tax bracket and that means extra taxes. SO make sure you know what you’re looking at.

2: After you’ve figured out your income level, then go through all those receipts to make sure you grab every expense. Even those notebooks you make notes in are writing expenses. Make sure you start 2015 off right by putting these in a folder marked ‘Writing Expenses’ and then next December you’re writing not searching.

3: Maybe you did really well on royalties this year, I’m hoping you did, but that means taxes. So, if you need a big item to help with taxes this is the time to splurge. It’s actually a good time to do this with all the end of year sales. You could purchase a new writing program, laptop, printer, dragon speak type of program, or any type of electronic/program that you use for writing.

4: Don’t forget last minute advertising. This could be a good time to get your name out to all of those new e-reader owners and get a tax deduction in the process.

5: Stock up on notebooks, pencils, pens, paper and any writing supplies that may be needed in 2015. It’s a mini shopping spree in the making.

I’ve mentioned only five things to help, but you get the picture. It’s important to your wallet to be tax savvy and get the best bang for your tax buck. So many authors don’t think about the little things, but you now have three days to think about it.

If you have questions, just message me and I’ll help.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The day after Christmas and all was…

It’s the day after Christmas and all is calm. The hubby and son have headed to the lake to fish out the day. I’m sitting watching Hallmark Christmas Romances and sipping coffee. It’s peaceful and serene as I sit here with a crackling fire and the Christmas tree twinkling beside me. I know the tree has to come down, but it’s always sad to see it. I love Christmas, but I do love the moments after everything is put back right and things are back to normal.

But for the Accountant in me, this is the calm before the storm. When I head back to the office after the first of the year it will be crazy as year ends are calculated, paperwork is sorted, tax files are put together, W-2’s are printed and the list goes on, but I love the rush and craziness. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.

The writer in me is hard at work with a deadline coming up really soon. I plan on writing away my days off which is fine with me. As I fill out the story of Ridge Cauthen I have to smile. He’s such a hard man with a soft core, but he struggles with nightmares and the memories of everything he’s seen in the last seven years. Always the toughest of the siblings, he’s turned hard edged and even harder to get close to. For me he’s put a challenge in front of me and I’m enjoying it. Most of my main characters are loving and a little softer hearted, but Ridge totally blows that away.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and also hope you were able to take some time for yourself.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Authors don’t forget to claim your royalties…

I know how gratifying it is when you start earning those royalties. You get all excited and look forward to checking your sites daily to see how much you’ve earned. Well their is something else to keep in mind.

As most of you know, I’m also an accountant and in the middle of the start of tax season. I’m reminded how easy it is to forget to claim those royalty payments. You may be groaning and going ‘why did you have to remind me’. Well as your friend I feel it’s my duty to nudge you just a little. It’ll save you lots of penalties and interest later.

But along with this don’t forget the expenses you’ve incurred over the year. They range from advertising, posting fees, software purchased to publish you work, yearly fees for your website, website set up fees, office supplies, and the list goes on. If you purchased a new computer this year to use to write you can claim it up to the percentage you use it for writing. Don’t forget those miles used to go promote your book.

Hope this helps some. If any of you have a tax question regarding your writing, just let me know. I’d be glad to help.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…