WRITING MY WAY - Part 2 Balancing Home Life with Writing

 Good morning!

Another hot day in the Ozasrks. I am so over the heat. However, the heat does give me a good reason to park my hiney in the office and get real work done.

Last week I talked about finding your best writing time. I suggested Sarra Cannon's videos to help in your search. I mentioned that my best 'novel' writing time is from about 4-6 p.m. So, what do I do the rest of the day?

I can manage writing shorter pieces, like this blog post, during the day when my 1950s housewife brain is focused on taking care of my home and family. I can write a blog post or outline a short story then get up and work a load of laundry, set the robot sweeper to run, prep dinner; you know, the general household duties. Since Bob retired that might also include a game of Triple Yahtzee or a card game. I'll explain why that task is important in a future post.

This is also a great time for the administrative side of my business such as posting to social media, buzzing through the email, or other tasks involved in running a successful writing business. Maybe I need to write a blurb, order a cover, line up beta and ARC readers. Am I successful? Not even close. Another topic we'll dive in to another time. But I'm learning as I go. 

Sarra's Publish & Thrive course was an eye-opener and to be honest, scared the crumbs out of me. I have so much to learn about this business and I hate the fact this is one more facet of my life other entities feel the need to get their claws in. 

The key is in KNOWING your best writing time for whatever you need to do. Writing also includes the business tasks, not just writing the book but the entire profession you have chosen. 

So how do we balance our writing business with our personal life? Sarra has some great tips in the video below.

Next week, I'll talk about deciding what is most important to me, and figuring out yours.

All my best!

~ Angela

WRITER TIP THURSDAY - Time Management - Part 1

This is what my creative desk looks like most of the time. Always something going on... like the rest of my life.

Over the years I've tried different Time Management methods, a variety of day planners and every other way imaginable to get the most out of my day without feeling as if I were still behind.

When not writing fiction, I am a entertainment writer and promoter. On any given day I will:

Go through email for business and writing
Check and respond to FB feeds for both business and writing
Quick check of Twitter for both business and writing
Plug artists and authors through social media - as well as my own stuff
Check in with radio stations or other promoters
Schedule blog guest for this blog and send them the appropriate form
Set up or transcribe entertainer interviews to post on the music blog
Review a new CD and post on the music blog
Review a book from either a Texas author, about/ by an entertainer or both & post to blog/ amazon
Street team a chunk of about 300 musicians - meaning I promote the heck out of them
Check the music charts to see how specific entertainers are doing
Work on contest entries
Research my current work in progress via internet or pinterest
Work on edits of another project
Work on freelance articles in various stages prior to submission
Get a couple hours in on actual fiction writing

Somewhere in there I hope to get some art time in to keep the other creative juices flowing - and fodder for freelance articles
Try to make the house look less like a hoarder lives here.

Are you exhausted yet?
Keep in mind... like many of you, I have a day job. That is the music and freelance work that I do. And like you, I fit my fiction in the best I can afterwards - usually in the evening after supper (during if I'm home alone)

Initially, I was up by 7 and firing up the laptop as I went past enroute to the coffee pot. While my coffee heated and the laptop warmed up, I would check on the outside doggies, give the inside cats their treats and fill the hummingbird feeder (I go through 3 C. of syrup in about 10 hours!) and make a double batch of feed for the next day.

By then, my day began on the computer and with housework and a quick meal if I remembered, my day didn't end until about 11 p.m. or later. This was a 6 day week!

The problem?
I was tired
I still didn't feel as if I were keeping up
I wasn't getting any creative time in
I wasn't having any fun.

Before I share my enlightened solution, let me educate those who do not know me. My husband is a riverboat Captain - trust me, not as exciting as it sounds. He works hard and is gone 21 days at a time. Those days I am home alone. I work long hours so I don't have to work any more than absolutely necessary when he IS home the next 21 days. He is my life and nothing is more important than spending the time we have together. And with him driving from south central MO to Chicago to get on the boat - let me just say there are a lot of crazies on the road. You just never know.

Then I found a FREE book on Amazon. But I would pay for TIME MANAGEMENT 2.0- 15 Secrets of a Self-Made Millionaire for Getting Things Done in heartbeat! This is part of H. Reardon's 'Coffee With a Millionaire' series.

For instance, did you know that Successful business people only check their mail twice a day? Once when they first get into the office and again at the end of the day.

Did you know that we are the saboteurs of our destiny? How? By letting OTHERS dictate how we spend OUR TIME. It's okay to do nice things for people once in awhile during 'office' hours. But keep in mind, that is time out of your paycheck.

I'll leave you with that. Come back next Thursday to see how my life has changed since incorporating H. Reardon's book into my life.

In the mean time, tell me how you spend your day.

 

WRITERS TIP Thursday

Thanks again to Gae-Lynn Woods guesting for us last week. If you failed to email me a request for a copy of her Excel Sheet, please do so.... AngelaDrake (at) webname (dot) com  She has put a lot of thought into it both from a CPA perspective and a writer's needs.

Our Tip for today is:


BUSINESS: Log Everything.
Keep track of your time spent writing, research, networking
Expenses such as conference, travel, meals (if more than 50 miles
from home) hotels.

I keep a 5x7 spiral next to my mouse pad. Whatever I do that is writing related, I write it down. This not only lets me know if I've taken care of something or not, but at the end of the day, if I've spent all day at the computer, I better have something to show for it. This is a BUSINESS, after all.

The Expenses part gets a bit trickier. I'm following Gae-Lyn's guidelines for keeping receipts. I know that not ALL of my meals are deductible. Neither are ALL my book purchases (darn-it) unless I can directly link them to a project I'm working on. So I make note of WHAT I bought and WHY in my little notebook so I have the documentation should the IRS ever have questions about a deduction. 

My tax preparer Ian Atkins, (Atkins Tax Service) gave me a mileage log book that isn't as big as a check register and fits in my wallet. I can write down Odometer Readings to and from, purpose, parking, etc. Easy Peasy to transfer to my log sheet at the end of the month (year) hehe.

If in doubt, write it down and keep the receipt. 

And that's your Writers Tip Thursday!

Angela

THOSE PESKY TAX ISSUES - with Gae-Lynn Woods

Gae-Lynn Woods

I don't know a single person who enjoys Tax time. I would rather write a synopsis than think about taxes as a self-employed filer. Okay, so that's not the best example since I don't mind writing the synopsis, but you get my drift. Last year I came across a blog by someone 'in the know' when it comes to taxes. Gae-Lynn Woods is a talented author and a CPA so she understands how this all works from both points of view. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section. Also, feel free to share a link to this and any of my posts.

Thanks so much to Angela for letting me stop by The Writers Studio to chat! Getting ready for tax season is a chore most of us dread. But as an author, you’re running a small business with all the privileges and responsibilities thereof. I know, I know! You’re an artist, not a grubby businessperson. But once you put your work out into the world for sale, you need to know how much income (or loss) you’re generating. It’s not as hard as it sounds. Really. All you need is a little discipline. And anyone who can produce a book can master the fine art of tracking income and expenses.

The tips I’m sharing apply to all sorts of businesses. We run four: my husband is a musician; we raise beef cattle; and I have an accounting business and a writing business. Regardless of your professional focus, there are two important reasons to track income and expenses during the year: the first is to provide you with a means to monitor your business performance. The second and most practical is to make tax time easier. If you’ve ever shoved your paperwork into a drawer only to cry when you dig it out during tax season, you’ll dance with glee when you pull your organized paperwork out!

There are oodles of ways to achieve these goals – this is my process, but use that creative brain of yours to massage it into something that works for you. Because we run four businesses, I try to update our records at least twice each month to keep the paperwork from getting out of control. You may find that monthly or even quarterly updates are frequent enough for you.

Confession time: this isn’t the most enjoyable part of my life. In fact, I whine a bit before getting started. But once I’m into the process – well, once I’m done – I feel great. I hope you will, too. So, grab a coffee (or something stronger), let loose with a few groans, and let’s get started!

Tools

I use a few simple tools to track our expenses:

1) We keep a small notebook in each vehicle. If we’re driving somewhere for business purposes, we note the date, purpose of the trip, and starting and ending mileage.

2) I transfer the details from each of our business related trips to a desk calendar and follow the same form in the notebooks: trip purpose, starting and ending miles, and total miles travelled during that trip. I also note any important work related events in our calendar (cow sales or purchases, hay cutting, gig income, etc.).

3) On each work related receipt, we note which business it’s for and then toss the receipt in a basket on my desk. When it’s time to update our records, I dump the basket and start sorting.

4) I enter all information into a spreadsheet to capture expenses by category. Each business has its own spreadsheet, but they all follow the same general format, explained below. This is the place where we keep an eye on how each business is doing, and come tax time, it’s a matter of ensuring each column adds correctly and then clicking the print button. Yes, it really is that easy!

5) I separate the receipts by business, clip one month’s worth of receipts together, and stick them in a legal sized envelope. This clears my desk and helps me keep track of what I’ve completed. It also keeps the receipts in the same order that I’ve used to enter them onto the spreadsheet, in case I have questions later.

The Spreadsheet

 One of the most challenging aspects of filling in tax forms is figuring out which number goes where. To ease the process, I follow the categories the IRS has set out on Schedule C, the form you’ll file at tax time (see it here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf). I only include the categories I use, and each has its own column. Each row represents a separate transaction (income, expense, and / or mileage with no related expense).

Some of your receipts won’t fit into the existing Schedule C categories. For example, if you subscribe to a writing magazine, you might need another column called “Publications”. Add it to your spreadsheet include these items on page two of your Schedule C.

Your spreadsheet will look like this:

NOTE From Angela: I was unable to actually put the picture in this post. But if you email me: AngelaDrake (at) webname (dot) com I'll email the attachment to you immediately. I am in the office all day (Tuesday)

I hope this has been helpful, and that the paperwork aspect of your writing business feels a little less daunting. Questions are certainly welcome!

Avengers of Blood (A Cass Elliot Crime Novel) – Blurb

A deadly game of cat and mouse is playing out in Forney County…

Detective Cass Elliot is still on suspension after killing a fellow officer and Sheriff Hoffner refuses to sign her release papers. But when four people are murdered in one night, one with the exceptional brutality of a lynching, the Medical Examiner side-steps Hoffner to hire Cass and loan her to Forney County’s overstretched police department.

As Cass and her partner investigate, they realize that three of the murders were committed by the same person but find no connection between the victims. Their frustration intensifies when another victim survives and disappears instead of coming to the police.

Sheriff Hoffner is frantic about anonymous letters claiming one of his star officers is dirty, and Cass suspects a link to the current crimes. The pieces fall together when she uncovers the true identity of the man who was lynched, revealing connections between the victims, the killer, and an unpunished crime committed nearly fifty years ago.

Author Bio:

Gae-Lynn Woods is a Texan who has traveled the world, lived overseas, and come back home. She and her husband, British jazz guitarist Martyn Popey, share a ranch in East Texas with a herd of Black Angus cattle and one very cranky donkey.

THE DEVILOF LIGHT and AVENGERS OF BLOOD are the first two books in the Cass Elliot crime series. When she's not playing the roadie, tending to cows, fixing fence, or digging post holes, Gae-Lynn is working on the third Cass Elliot novel.

You can learn more about Gae-Lynn at her WEBSITE and her BLOG

Thanks for stopping by The Writers Studio!
Angela