Every year around this time, I dread opening my mail. In between the junk and the magazines, there are tax forms galore. Royalties, 1099s, expenses, and worse. From time to time, I’ll dream about writing “return to sender” on all of them and leaving the country.

I don’t think that Mr. 1040-EZ really ever knows exactly what the IRS puts a writer through. I’ll spend at least two weekends, entering tax data, counting up drinks at the conventions, miles to the booksignings, and all the other expenses of being a writer. I’ll lose time and money (as I could be writing) getting all of these thing together and adding up the results. It’s about that time when I start thinking of killing off a CPA in my next book (I think Rex Stout did this in The Final Deduction — I wonder if it was written around April 15th!!)

I’ll go buy TurboTax, enter all of this data, and then cringe at what I owe. I’m not really good at estimating taxes. I’ve gone years with owing thousands and years where I get back thousands. I liken it to trying to hit a fish with a golf ball. I can’t do it. For starters, I get 3-5 new gigs a year that occur in the last 1/2 of the year. I often don’t know about them until I get that first call. In other years, gigs fall through and leave me having paid more than I’ll make.

Anyway, this year is likely to be an “owe” year, as I had a very good 2007 in terms of my writing. But I can handle that as we’ve been saving some money for a future move. And the good year has continued into 2008.

Best of luck with your taxes. And have a HAPPY GROUNDHOG’S DAY, which I consider a much more fun holiday than Valentines Day.

I’m currently reading The Case of the Curious Bride by Erle Stanley Gardner.