Finding order in chaos

Spent all day yesterday sorting through receipts. Things are fairly under control. Now I have to total things up and prepare the package to send to my accountant.

This is something that few of us think about when we dream of becoming a writer. If the stars do line up and you are making a living from your books, you need to transform yourself into equal parts creative person and businessperson. I’m self-employed, just like many hairdressers, carpenters, graphic artists, and musicians. It’s not a bad thing, not at all. I like being in charge of myself. I get to boss me all over the place some days.

I do wish that I could boss these receipts into marching into the proper piles on their own.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic My desk, looking MUCH better than yesterday.

There are bunch of new things happening here in the Forest. I’ll be blogging about them tomorrow, I promise.

Meanwhile, check out this article about getting adults to read YA literature.

You can also read a fun interview with me done for the teens of Palatine, IL.

6 Replies to “Finding order in chaos”

  1. The only way I manage to whip my receipts into shape is dealing with each one soon after I have it. I enter the receipt info on my spreadsheet of author expenses and then file it in a receipt folder (with sections). So by tax time, all expenses are recorded for my accountant and the receipts are already organized. It does mean taking a bit of time each week to stay updated, but that small amount of time spread over the course of a year means no major time needed now.

    I think you’re doing a fine job of showing the math who’s boss 😉

  2. About the subject of getting adults to read YA fiction–
    Unfortunately, I think it will always be a problem of some impact. It’s like when I ask some friends if they had seen the latest film and they say, “well, the wife wouldn’t go with me.”
    I wag my finger at them and ask “Did you want to see the film?”
    “Well, yeah.”
    Then I say- “Then you should go see the film. Everyone else in the theater isn’t going to see what a loser you are because your there without someone, their there to see the film. Besides, it’s dark in the theater and nobody is watching YOU–Why deprive yourself?”

    But then, it’s the same for many other things
    People won’t watch the Clone Wars because it’s a “cartoon” even though the writing is better than the last 3 “official” Star Wars films

    People won’t read a comic book because “It’s for kids”
    (and yet many, many people are buying up copies of Watchmen because many reviews are reminding people that the writing is just as good as most novels (you know, those books without pictures) Or in this case it might just be the peer pressure, which always works.

    Once in awhile, there is a librarian or bookseller who manages to convince a new reader to try something they normally wouldn’t touch and that author gains another book buying fan. But we (as authors and sellers) have a long road ahead of us, especially with this economic crunch. Personally, I think it’s worth fighting for. We should all go out and recommend things we love (books, films,TV shows)to others. They’ll thank you later for opening another world

  3. Yeah. I do that, too. Do it regularly and the piles of paper stay in shape. It’s horrible when you have tonnes of the stuff lying about to be sorted out.

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