I’m doing my paperwork, Patsy. This could be the least sexy thing about being a freelance writer.

I’m assuming (which means I’m probably wrong since I have zero expertise in the field) that when you become a published author, you get an accountant. Someone who manages your money, looks after what you’re pulling in, tells you what taxes you need to pay, and so on so forth.

You know. Adult stuff.

I don’t have that. I have a simple spreadsheet with a few rows: Who hired me, what I wrote, when it was published, how much I charged for it, and what my expected taxes are for it. I have a sheet for every month of the year plus one with totals (net and gross) to look at come tax season. It’s really simple but I don’t think you can be a freelancer without some sort of income management tool. I’m hardly an expert, but this is the system I’ve developed and it’s worked out really well for me when I need it to.

I have Project: GREY’s outline open in front of me, waiting to be added to. I’ve had to think of 8 new chapters to add on, totaling out to about 16,000 words roughly. Filling in blanks while trying to not take away from what was already working is proving tougher than I thought.

Thanks for reading,

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