Taxes. Say what?

My tax bill was way bigger than I expected.  Much bigger.

"Where's the money?" I asked.  "I don't understand how that's possible."

"Everyone says that," Gary says.  "Hey, look at the bright side.  It will make your Social Security payout bigger..."

I'll have to pull money out of retirement savings.  I swear, no matter what I do, I can't seem to add to what's there.

"At least it's there," says Linda.

So here's my brightside take on it.  At least the store is showing it can provide a 'living wage' if I ever want to sell it.  Especially considering the amount of time I take off.  So...

Nothing I can do about it.  I owe the money.

We had a discussion about whether I should include my writing expenses or treat it as a hobby.  "You'll have a couple of years to prove that it isn't a hobby.  Frankly, most people hold off."

"Let's include it," I said, thereby probably proving that I'm as delusional as anyone.  What I'm saying here is that I have the faith that the revenues will be enough in the next couple of years to turn the "hobby" of writing into the "business" of writing.  That my income will exceed my outflow...




Went for my walk yesterday.  It seems like it's getting harder, not easier.  After a couple of weeks of walking, I felt so much better.  Now after five weeks of walking, I'm feeling tired.  I think it's because of the higher temperatures.  It seems to take it out of me.

I ate rice crackers again last night.  I'm scrupulous about calorie counts, but it seems like everytime I have a snack of any kind -- even if it is within the limits -- I don't lose weight.  So either the crackers have more calories than they're saying, or something else is going on.  Back to my four small meals a day...

I'm on track with my writing, but not feeling inspired.  I've decided not to write unless I feel some 'spark.'  I can put words down without the spark, and that can be okay sometimes, but not for most of the book.  For me, good news can be motivation.  Strangely, bad news is usually motivating.  No news, not so much.

Everything is in limbo.  Waiting.

Writing isn't for people who need instant gratification -- unless the writing itself does it.  Even then, it takes a huge effort to write an entire book and get the full measure of satisfaction.

Oh, well.  Stick to the program. Three years left on my pre-schedule.  When I step back, I realize I'm actually ahead of myself so far.

Carry on.