Tag Archive for: Being an Author

“Use Your Imagination”

Like many authors, I have a day job that keeps me far too
busy. Right now, I’m scrambling to handle everything that was deferred due to a
giant deadline. (Said deadline meant 12+ hour days for weeks and weeks – ack!)
One of those deferred items is making sure all the slides
for my teaching assignments (next week’s adventure) were appropriately timed, logged, approved, and all
the jazz that goes with having your class qualify for Continuing
Professional Education.
And because clearly I don’t have enough to do, I was assigned
a presentation about another service line (to present, fortunately, to just our
group rather than all partners and managers). I say ‘fortunately’ because the
partner who assigned this task made the mistake of saying, “Be creative! Think
outside the box! Use your imagination!”

Those clichés should give you a clue – tossing out phrases like that is throwing down the gauntlet for an author.

So instead of developing a wonderful blog post for you, I spent the afternoon on The Extremely Unlikely [Service Line Redacted]
Case – a Murder Mystery.
 

There’s a dead accountant.
And cops.


Lots of cops. 

   
Suspects.


Several suspects. 

And the boring stuff about the Service Line.
Tune in next month to see if I still have a job. 
Have you ever done anything completely silly or off-the-wall
for your day job? Please share!!

Cathy Perkins
started writing when recurring characters and dialogue populated her day job commuting
daydreams. Fortunately, that first novel lives under the bed, but she was
hooked on the joy of creating stories. When not writing, she can be found doing
battle with the beavers over the pond height or setting off on another travel
adventure. Born and raised in South Carolina, she now lives in Washington with
her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd. 
Currently she’s employed in a financial day job. 

Oh, Boy, Doing Income Tax Makes Me Wonder by Marilyn Meredith

I’ve always done my own income tax even back when I had to do it by hand on all the forms.

No I do it using Turbo Tax, much easier. I have to admit, I keep up with my income from writing and what I’ve spend at least montly, so it’s not such a chore at the end of the year.

No matter what the ease may be now, when I’m all done it does make me wonder why on earth I’m spending so much time writing. My income for all my efforts certainly doesn’t make up for how much I’ve spend on traveling and promotion.

So, you might ask, once you’ve had this proof why do you keep doing it?

As any writer will tell you, even the ones in similar shoes to mine, it’s not possible to quit. Writing is a powerful addiction.

I write two mystery series and if I didn’t keep writing, how would I find out what happened to my characters?

As any writer knows, traveling around to do promotion or going to conferences or conventions is not only fun, it’s a time to visit with other writers and meet readers. Writers lead fairly solitary lives while working.

(Me at last year’s PSWA Convention.)

Now, I have to share that I do have balance in my life because I have a big family, and there’s always something going on. We have lots of weddings, and of course the babies follow.

 I’m blessed to live fairly close to most of my family members so I do get to spend time with many of them.

Our three daughters in the middle, me and hubby on either end.

 Wow, I do digress–back to the income tax situation–who cares if I’m not making lots of money, I am doing what I like and have a full life.

Anyone else have any of these feelings?
Marilyn