All Business

Posted by Lisa

Well, this won't be the most creative post I write. Or the most heartfelt. Or reflective, or probing, or curious. But, it is important, because I'm thinking about taxes. Arrgh! Yawn! Yowza!

I spent the better part of yesterday morning tallying receipts, checking credit card statements, flipping through my checkbook, and getting organized in general. I came up with seven categories of the dough I spent on writing in 2006, but I'm wondering if I'm missing anything. Here's what I came up with:

1- Postal Fees - all those query letters from my agent search, the SASE's, the partials, the fulls.

2- Books I bought on writing craft.

3- Fiction books that help me hone my craft - this is deductible, right? (Michael Lowenthal's Charity Girl was like a weekend seminar on character.)

4- Seminars, conferences.

5- Travel to conferences.

6- Parking for Grub Street courses I attended.

7- Office expenses (paper and ink).

The total of what I spent on my habit was ... astounding. Though I'm thrilled I can deduct this, I've been bitten by the write-it-off bug. Please, you more experienced writers out there, is there anything I'm missing? I thank you and my family thanks you!

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Michael Lowenthal, he's speaking at Porter Square Books in Somerville Thursday night at 7:00 PM.