Writing professionally is a business. Even if you are only writing as a hobby or pastime, once you sell even one piece, and get paid for it, you are in business. You may be a full-time freelance writer, be employed as a writer by a company, or you may hold a completely unrelated job and write in your spare time.
2010 is coming to close and a new year is about to begin in just another week. This is a time to review the past year, prepare your tax records and set goals for 2011.
Using a professional tax consultant/preparer is the best advice anyone can give to any freelancer or self-employed individual. Circumstances can change depending on whether you have income on a W-2, 1099 or a combination. If you are earning any reasonable amount of money as a self-employed writer you are probably paying quarterly taxes; this is the type of information a professional tax preparer can help you with.
You should have the following records available in order to prepare your taxes: a record of postage every time you mail a query, manuscript or promotional material; cost of any advertising you do including the purchase of business cards or ads; a ;list of all expenses associated with volunteering your services as a writer; travel expenses including mileage if you attend author events; books and publications that you use for research; membership and fees for writing associations, phone and internet costs that you use as part of your writing business; and business supplies like paper, pens, computers and software.
The end of the year is also the time to review your writing habits, skills, discipline and accomplishments. Looking over the past year, did you start AND FINISH projects or did you allow yourself to get distracted? If you were distracted, think about why and what you can do to improve your focus. Did you send queries or wait for work to drop in your lap – if you didn’t work or earn as much as you wanted, then plan to send more queries and follow up each one. Did you collect all payments due you? What is your bookkeeping system for submitting invoices and pursuing payment?
No one system is perfect for everyone. Part of your creativity is your individuality. You know yourself best. Plan regular writing time when you feel most creative. Some people will work better with paper calendars, others with electronic or online calendars with reminders, but you should have a reliable method for recording and meeting your deadlines. Do you lose your steam if you receive a rejection? Learn to get over it and move on. If the rejection came with helpful suggestions, consider them (this doesn’t mean you have to use them), and submit your query or manuscript to another potential market.
What do you want to accomplish in 2011? While you may not be able to control all of the factors involved in your potential success, you can increase your chances of reaching it. Work smarter and organize your projects. Use time management and prioritize your activities in order to get more work done. Even if you are working out of a home office, understand that you ARE at work – you may have to make that clear to other family members and friends as well. Use a timer and a to-do list to keep yourself moving along. Set realistic monthly goals for word counts, queries, rewrites and promotion; check your actual results against these set goals, see if you can improve on your performance.
Writing exercise: Choose ten people (they can be people you know in your personal life or even television characters you are familiar with). Write one to three opening lines of an obituary for each of them.
Writing prompt: What is YOUR biggest secret? Imagine how four fictional characters might deal with it.
