This Business of Writing: Setting Up Accounts

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This is the second in my series of articles on the business side of being a writer. Originally I planned to use this series as part of a book on this topic, until I discussed the book with a CPA/Registered Investment Counselor/Author. He thought the book was a needful thing, for many authors seem under-prepared to deal with the financial side of their chosen career, but he suggested that I market the book as a sleep aid. Bookkeeping just isn’t exciting (unless you’re writing fiction about a bookkeeper who is a sex-addicted, vampire/zombie, who goes around murdering people. That, people might buy.) To see if he was right I decided to try out a series of articles here on my blog and judge your reaction to them.

As I was preparing this series I was contacted by Brigitte A. Thompson, President of
Datamaster Accounting Service, LLC and author of Bookkeeping Basics for Freelance Writers. Brigitte offered me a series of posts on accounting for authors in exchange for the opportunity to promote her book. Since she is an accounting professional and an author, her advice would be more accurate and probably more valuable than mine. So, starting with my regular post on Monday we’ll launch into Brigitte’s series on bookkeeping for authors. But first, I’m going to slide (most of) the post I had written for Monday in here today because I think it has some things to say that some of you may need to hear and don’t seem to be covered in detail in the upcoming series. Brigitte’s series starts on Monday. Continue reading “This Business of Writing: Setting Up Accounts”

About This Business of a Writing Business

I have a friend, a retired aerospace engineer turned artist, who hates bookkeeping. He sells his art at local art shows, and from his home. When he makes a sale, the money goes into a steel cash box. When he buys supplies the money come out of the box. When he wants to know how much money he has made from his art, he counts the contents of the cash box. This is elegant in its simplicity, but would be a nightmare should he ever be audited. Are you a hobby writer or a writing business? Continue reading “About This Business of a Writing Business”

Authors Learn to Embrace the “B” Word

budget, accounting, calculating, finance One of the best business management tools you can learn to use is a budget. Oh, I know; “budget” ranks right up there with IRS, death benefit, hemorrhoids and goiter as words we want to avoid associating with. But, this word does not have to be something vile and filthy. You don’t need to wash your hands after writing it. It can, in fact, be an excellent tool for helping you improve your peace of mind and your quality of life.

While it is an extremely valuable tool in getting your personal and family finances in order – thus getting the money problems monkey off your back, I’m not going to go into all of that. This time we’ll look at it specifically as a means of helping you run your business more efficiently. Continue reading “Authors Learn to Embrace the “B” Word”

Boosting Your Blog’s SEO in WordPress

SEO, blog, spiders, I’ve never cared much for all the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) machinations that many of the top bloggers say everyone must do to become really popular. So I’m not going to talk about those. There are some basic things that we should all do to grab a reasonable amount of search engine spider attention. And if you want a really quick way to learn to improve your blogs SEO – and if you have a self-hosted WordPress blog – snag the WordPress SEO by Yoast plug-in and install it. If you have a WordPress.com blog, it appears you can not use plugins at all.

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No, no… don’t panic, it’s really easy to do. Continue reading “Boosting Your Blog’s SEO in WordPress”

Listening Ears

Communication is one of life’s most necessary events. The ability to convey our thoughts to another person and to receive their thoughts as well is indeed a blessing. Words, whether written or spoken, become the vehicle by which we express what is on our minds.

Words beautifully arranged in perfect composition or in eloquent speech, however, do not necessarily mean communication has occurred. We may write or say what we really mean, but unless the one reading or listening is on the same frequency we may not accurately communicate. Words sometimes fail us because of the human tendency to misunderstand. How frustrating when our best attempts to communicate are misinterpreted. Good communication occurs when we work hard at giving and receiving the same signals.

It is not always other people’s fault when they misunderstand what we think is clear speech. We may need to sit where they sit and listen with their ears to what we are saying. Seeking to understand another’s misunderstanding is one of life’s most loving expressions. We all have an emotional as well as a mental vocabulary. Some words have an emotional meaning which is not found in the dictionary. The cultural and psychological circumstances which birthed us have a lot to do with what we hear and what we say. To grasp this reality is an aid to good communication. Continue reading “Listening Ears”

AVOID LITEARY PRATFALLS

Ken Consaul is, like many writers, a man of diverse backgrounds. He has been a custom home builder, general contractor, cabinet shop owner, restorer of classic cars, waterbed salesman, loan officer, and several less savory vocations we will not discuss. He is a painter and writer and makes reproduction antique furniture as a hobby. He blogs on occasion at bonnershouse.com

Ken Consaul is the author of Bonner’s Road West, a family saga about two young people, their fortunes joined by the tragedy of a cholera outbreak. Together they decide to continue on to Oregon with another party of emigrants. They marry and, at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, hear tales of the discovery of gold in California. They split from their party and form another, determined to make their fortune in the new territory. Serialized into five segments, Bonner’s Road West is available at Amazon.

It’s the middle of the night when inspiration jolts you awake. What a great idea for a new writing project, you say. Leaping from bed, you start writing down ideas so you don’t fall asleep and then forget everything by morning (BTDT). The words line up effortlessly. The sentences are concise, clever, and lead effortlessly to the next gem. Finally, with notes appended for future scenes, the muse departs and you return to a self-satisfied rest. Continue reading “AVOID LITEARY PRATFALLS”

7 Things I’ve Learned About Writing

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