Livin' by my pen...er, laptop

Schedule is one of the most salient issues I deal with in my career as a full-time freelancer. Ever since my early teens, I've been a night owl; during summer vacations and weekends, I'd stay awake reading until 2am, 3am, even 4am, and then wake up in the late morning and pick up my book again. During the four years between high school and college, my "partying years" you could call them, I was often out and about late into the night - when nothing except the local Amoco gas station and convenience store was open. And as a college student, I learned very quickly never to schedule a class earlier than 10am, as I was often awake late into the night, reading or working on papers.

I spent the first 10 months after graduation working a regular 8-to-5 job; for a year, I went to bed at 10:30 or 11pm, practically every night. When I quit to freelance full-time, however, my schedule quickly changed. Now I'm often awake until 2am, working after Michael goes to sleep, and I don't wake up until late morning.

It's Michael's presence in my life that keeps my schedule as regular as it is. Without him, any regularity would quickly disappear and I'd probably be losing track of the days before you knew it. There are nights (like last night) that I feel tired much earlier than 2am, and shut out the lights early; and then there are nights where I feel motivated and inspired, and would probably keep working until I dropped from exhaustion.

Yesterday, I had an idea for a little snippet I wanted to write; however, we were in the car, and the inspiration was fleeting. Perhaps I could get it back if I really tried, but if I'd had the luxury to do so, I would have written it right then and there. Visions are so much richer when you first conceptualize them, rather than after they've spent days or weeks on your to-do list. If it weren't for Michael - my anchor to the real world - I know that I would soon be living by my laptop, catching sleep between visions, with no regularity to my schedule whatsoever. In some ways, it's good that Michael is here to continually remind me of the real world and keep me somewhat sychronized to it; but in some ways, I also know that a normal schedule can be like a cage to me, preventing me from flexing my creative muscles. I guess my current schedule is a compromise to that: one foot in the real world, one foot in the next.

One mogul at a time

I had a very good weekend - relaxing and noticeably freelancing-free. Although I had several small projects I wanted to get done, I didn't get much of it done. Oddly enough, however, I did lots of writing this weekend.

The financial situation has gotten a little more serious, so this weekend I started going through my doll collection and selling off what I don't want anymore on ebay. Taking pictures and writing item descriptions kept me busy a lot of the weekend. And so, even though I didn't do any freelancing, per se, I still did a lot of writing.

I can already feel that emerging from this weekend is going to be a struggle. I don't really feel like writing, but I have several obligations to fulfill in the near future, as well as some side work mid-week that's going to claim a considerable amount of my time. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

When I was a kid, my family and I went skiing quite a bit. Whereas my younger sister was a daredevil skier, fearlessly imitating my dad's expert moves, I was more cautious. My mom used to say that when I stood at the top of the slope looking down, she could almost see me planning it all out. My dad would warn me to just take it "one mogul at a time," so that I didn't feel overwhelmed. Well, right now I'm making the usual mistake of trying to take in all the moguls at once, and my dad's warning comes to mind. However, I'm afraid that if I don't try to plan it out ahead of time, I'll forget to take a mogul into consideration, and it'll trip me up.

Well, enough lamenting, I guess - I have some reading to do for one of my assignments, which will give me a break from writing at least. I'll tackle the next mogul tomorrow.

My hero

I don't know about other people and their dreams, but as a writer I've found it's helpful to have a hero, someone in the business that I admire and strive to be like. Judy Blume is my hero, partly because she wrote controversial books and partly because she kept writing them. I always joke with friends that if I have half as many banned books as Judy Blume, I'll be happy. The truth is, though, I admire her for saying what she felt needed to be said, for telling stories that needed to be told, despite the opposition. And the happy side effect is that banned books actually sell better than non-controversial books. (I don't think the book-banning camps realize this, or they wouldn't draw attention to the books they hate.)

It's funny how when I was a "young adult," the last thing I wanted was for my books to be classified as YA. Now I want to write some young adult and juvenile books, as well as adult novels. In time I'll make it into authorhood, and when I do, I hope my books touch as many hearts as have Judy Blume's... and fire up as many conservatives. Really, you can't say anything important without doing both.

Filing taxes as a freelance writer

Well, it's getting to be that time of the year again: time to start thinking about filing your taxes! Oh, I know, most people aren't thinking about it yet. (Of course, they're also the ones likely to be still having to think about it on April 15th.) However, I have a lot to consider this year, so I thought I'd better start early. Besides, it's easier to check out tax books from the library right now.

I'd been told by other writers that there are a lot of deductions you can claim as a freelancer. I checked into it, and sure enough, there are plenty of ways to get around owing taxes at the end of the year, particularly if you didn't make very much (which beginning freelancers generally don't). I bought a new laptop when I decided to quit and pursue my freelance career full time, since there's no way the old laptop could have handled it - I can claim that as office equipment. I can also claim a percentage of my rent and utilities as office expenses, since I operate from a home office. I can claim any mileage that I accrued on my personal car through driving back and forth from interviews for profile articles, plays I reviewed, etc. I can also claim any office supplies I buy - such as printer ink and paper - as well as a portion of my internet service (whatever percentage I decide is used for freelancing and not personal uses).

Now, this isn't about being sneaky or trying to get out of paying taxes. It's about finding out what your real income is. Income taxes are based on how much you make at your job. However, when you are working at an actual job, you don't need to pay for certain expenses, such as office space or supplies - the company takes care of that. (Well, that's the way it's supposed to happen, at any rate.) Therefore, your salary is your actual income. However, if you are a freelance writer, then you are covering your own expenses, such as office space, equipment, and supplies. Therefore, to find out what your real income is, you have to subtract these expenses from what you've made. Since taxes aren't deducted from your payments as a freelancer, your goal is not to have to pay taxes for income that you aren't actually making (i.e. income that goes toward paying your business expenses). While deducting part of your rent as office space may seem like cheating, consider that were you not working out of your home, you might not need as much space, and therefore would have a cheaper monthly rent. So you see, it's not actually cheating - it's just accurately assessing how much of your income you are actually keeping, and how much of it is going toward sustaining your freelancing.

I think this information is valuable for other freelancers. I will post more specific information as I gain a better understanding of how to file.

Resources for writers (Reprise)

I wrote an updated version of "Resources for Writers" and posted it on the How-To Blog I write for. "Finding Freelance Work" mostly contains the same information, but the posting is organized slightly differently, and has a little bit of new information about querying that other writers might find useful.

The financial reality of freelancing

Unsurprisingly, money is the biggest issue that I have had to face as a freelancer. Although I do have the advantage of not having to be the primary breadwinner, I still find that my income - or lack thereof - bothers me. Mostly I feel guilty because Michael has to cover so many of the bills himself. He insists that he doesn't mind, but nonetheless, I feel like I need to resume paying my own way as soon as possible. Luckily, I do have babysitting and other outside work as a supplement, which should pick up again now that the holidays are over.

Besides not being able to pay my full share of the bills, I've also had difficulties with buying for pleasure. This issue is two-pronged. One one hand, I've always felt that in a relationship, women who make less or opt to be a homemaker shouldn't have to ask before buying anything for themselves. On the other hand, if I buy anything for myself I end up feeling guilty, as that is money that could have gone toward my share of the bills. Michael hasn't seemed to mind when I spend money on my hobbies, but I still feel that I need to be more cautious about spending money until I start generating more of an income.

Of course, I have hopes that the next month or two will see increases in work and income for me. And I am aggressively seeking to make my hopes realized.

Speaking of which, I need to get back to my to-do list...

New Year's resolutions

I'm not usually a big fan of making New Year's resolutions. I think it's too tempting to make completely unattainable resolutions, instead of remembering that it's just one year, one step in of many in your life, and that you shouldn't expect to perform miracles. This year, however, I have a couple of significant resolutions that I want to put into writing:

1. Publish at least one piece of fiction,

and,

2. Start working on a novel.

Although I enjoy writing articles, and I realize that pieces like that are much easier to publish than fiction, my dream in its original (childhood) form was to make my living by writing books. I view all the other writing as working toward this dream. Writing for internet databases got me the experience I needed to start writing for more "serious" publications, which will hopefully help me publish some short stories, and eventually a novel. Like I said, when it comes to writing I enjoy it all, but there is naturally one kind of writing that I enjoy above all others...and that is fiction or imaginative writing.

My New Year's resolutions reflect my ambitions as a writer. I don't have delusions of grandeur; my resolution is to get one piece of fiction published. I have a number of short stories finished that I've been sending off from time to time, but I'm going to step up those efforts. I also plan to put the finishing touches on a couple of other short stories, so that they can make the rounds as well. I also have a number of plots for short stories and novels floating around in my head, that I need to get to. That is why my other New Year's resolution is to start writing on one my novels.

I'll set my plans for fulfilling my New Year's resolutions in motion in just a few days: I plan to look through my Writer's Market and make a list of everywhere I can send my stories to, and start sending them around! Once I finish a couple of assignments I'm currently working on, I'll work on a few short stories that I want to fix up or simply commit to paper, and once that's done I'll start work on the novel that I want to write first.

I'm hoping that my resolutions will be as simple to fulfill as they were to plan out. :o)