5 Tax Tips for the Freelance Writer

If you are like me, it's tax season and you're sitting on numerous 1099s. Chances are you didn't even receive some of them, so hopefully you kept records of them or an invoice -- because even if they don' t notify you they probably notified the IRS.

I decided to write a few tax tips for the freelance writer because I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information when I first started. I am not a tax professional, and you should consult one for better information than I have, but here are some tips that have helped me in the past.

1. Take a home office deduction. If you're like me, you have a space in your home or apartment where you were and it serves as your office. This square footage is considered your home office and may qualify for a deduction.
2. Deduct all supplies. If I buy pens, notepads, paper and toner, it will all go on my taxes. I deduct water bottles I buy, plants or anything I've used to furnish my home office and make it a good work station.
3. Invest in a decent tax software. I use TurboTax, but I will say that you likely do not need the most expensive versions. I buy Home & Business and each time I think I should have just gotten the Deluxe version and been fine. Even so, it makes doing taxes a breeze.
4. Keep track of receipts. I practically use a shoe box, but if you're very disciplined there's Evernote, a free note-taking app, which lets you take photos of receipts and place them in a notebook. The technology is there for anyone who wants to use it.
5. Don't worry about an audit. If you're off by a few dollars, don't panic. I was off because I forgot to add  revenue from a publication who didn't send me a 1099, so the IRS sent me a note to pay $45. I did and that was that. No home visit, no panic, no scare tactics.

Enjoy tax season and remember to relax!

Will Be in Ireland, Freelance Enterpreneurs?

Mostly Northern Ireland, and a short trip to Glasgow. It's a vacation and we hope it's calm, relaxed and rainy.

While most people don't like rainy, if you're from a place where it's sunny 11 months out of the year, rain is a pleasant change.

I saw this blog post from Marci Alboher at the New York Times, which talks about how journalists must be more enterpreneurs because they have to be. You can also find a link to the 90-minute podcast which coaches freelancers on "how not to stalk an editor" and other pieces of advice, but I just read the transcript. Some good advice from Ann Marsh, a freelancer:

Networking is really important. If you are trying to freelance, you probably know other people in the industry. So much of my work has come from people I know or people they know. Also, I have had a lot of work from cold pitching. If you are going to cold pitch, know the contents of a publication well. If someone rejects your cold pitch, treat it as if you are a step closer to getting work with that editor or publication. Use that established relationship and cold pitch again.

How did I get started?

OK, pretend I haven't been neglecting this blog. Fine? Fine. Now we can go on.

Someone asked how I got started freelancing. Hmmm, there really was no rhyme nor reason to it. I guess if I had known how hard it was I may not have started.

I'm a journalist, a newspaper reporter by trade, and my first freelance pieces were sold to CitySearch.com, on a city I knew. I sent a e-mail cover letter and a few sample pieces. I did a few assignments for dot-coms during those days (that dried up in 2001, however) and in 2001 I also no longer had a job. So I started stringing for the regional paper. Every time I had a story I ended up having to "pitch" it to the editor so he would buy it. My queries are similar to these, although the years have since polished my skills.

Long story short, I started freelancing fulltime from 2004-2006. Did I know anyone? Not really. You end up making contacts and it took me about a year to find steady clients. (And after about a year, they leave and you have to do the same thing over again!) If you network in a place like NYC, you are probably going to do much better than I ever have. Like anything, freelance writing is 50 percent marketing yourself.

Introducing yourself, going to writer/publishing events, making contacts, schmoozing -- it's all part of the game. (Also reading industry info on who's the new editor and who just left where ...!)

Rejection is very common. I think I probably got a YES on maybe 30 percent of what I sent out and I never said no to any assignment, which was probably stupid -- but that's something you also learn.

So if you want to be a freelance writer, you need to write. You need to be curious and you need to entertain. You should also read. When you find a publication that you would like to write for, you send them a query outlining the story idea with a couple of writing samples and mention briefly where you wrote before (if you were published before, if not, don't bother.)

Don't make it long because most editors will pretty much read the first couple paragraphs before they toss or keep it. So put the good stuff up high, the credits and clips at the end.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for reading!

Sorry, been a while

The SO's been in the UK and the days are getting shorter, it feels like I should just hiberate. Oh, that sounds so good right now!

Life's good, slightly strange and surreal (isn't that redundant?) and I wrote this for my workshop class. Hope it sings (at least a little.)

Jason was ESPN2’s prime audience. Into heli-skiing, rock-climbing, extreme anything that involved creative facial hair, sports drinks and male-bonding. I invited him to go hiking with me, we got rained out and he ended up heading back to my apartment for what became a romantic interlude of sorts. I think Jason would have called it “messing around.” I imagine he still does.

We broke up (could I even call it that after the four months we absentmindedly saw each other all of eight times?) because some sports-loving girl-Jason gave him the time of day and he wanted to date her. While multi-person dating isn’t a bad thing, I didn’t like the idea of anyone exchanging bodily fluids with me exchanging them with anyone else. He was on his own.

There's more, but you get the gist.

A new freelance assignment, but I'm really gearing down for December/January when I can do more. Wish me luck!

Don't you hate when they make it your fault?

I do.

I turned it in a month ago. And he wants to do a quick and dirty edit before it runs this Saturday. Couldn't he have looked at it a few weeks ago and we could have ironed this out rather easily? Nope. Last minute and I can't answer all the questions in the few hours I have from work.

I really wanted to write about travel and he's the editor that can decide that. I hope I didn't screw up my chances. Wish me luck!