A taxing time...

I haven’t had a file a tax return for a number of years. Why ? Because the New Zealand government did away with the need for everyone to file each year, requiring only those who had multiple incomes, claims, and deductions to file. So I never needed to file.

Until this year. Having earned some money (translation = very little money) from freelance writing here in New Zealand and overseas, I am now required to file a return. So I’ve been scrambling over the last week or so to collect all the relevant information for my accountant.

Turns out I’ve been pretty good at keeping track of my query submissions but not so good at the financial records. I had information stashed away all over the place which took time to find. But I’ve pulled it all together and sent it off to the accountant. Now all I have to do is sign the return and wait for a refund (I hope!!!)

Lessons learned:

- Keep the paperwork in one place and update the spreadsheet weekly to make life easier next year.
- Know what’s deductible and keep receipts.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing some reading about keeping track of my financial records and I’ve found a few useful resources worth checking out.

Kristen at Inkthinker has put together a great questionnaire to help you establish ’What is your financial picture?’

Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Will Write for Chocolate has put together a great collection of articles about freelance writing and taxes

New Zealand writers should check out ‘Taxing times’ in the February 2007 edition of Freelance Writer.

Travel Writers Talk on BBC Radio 3...

BBC Radio 3 has been all about travel writing this week. Check out the audio essay series featuring four travel writers discussing great works of British travel literature.

11 June - William Dalrymple discusses Fanny Parkes and her book on India

12 June - Tahir Shah looks at Bruce Chatwin’s The Songlines

13 June - Colin Thubron focuses on Robert Byron’s The Road to Oxiana.

14 June - Joanna Kavenna talks about Louis MacNeice and WH Auden's Letters from Iceland (check here for when available)

Each audio essay only available for seven days from it’s initial broadcast so you have to get in quick….sounds like the perfect way to relax over the weekend.

(this discovered via World Hum)

Top 5 Weekly Blog Posts for Writers...

1. Six Ways to Instantly Find the Right Words

2. Shoot Your Trip Like a Photojournalist

3. The Secret to Creativity

4. Green Writing for Green Writers Could Turn Your Keystrokes into Green

5. How to Find Free and Legal Content For your Blog

Interview with a Travel Writer…Barbara Sjoholm.

Today’s interview is with Barbara Sjoholm. Barbara's travel articles and essays have been published in the New York Times, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times, and Slate. And she is the author of Incognito Street or How Travel Made Me a Writer.

Hi Barbara. Thanks for taking the time to stop and talk with us at My Year of Getting Published.


1. Did you always want to be a writer? How did you get started in writing?

Yes, I wanted to be a writer from the time I was eight. I never wanted to be anything else in spite of the fact that everyone around me thought my ambition was fairly hopeless. I started by writing and writing and writing. Much of it was not very exciting. Eventually it seemed to improve. I had my first short story published when I was 25. Right around that time I also started writing for a non-profit biweekly newspaper, doing reviews and features. So then I began to be published all the time. It seems to take on its own momentum.

2. What do you consider your first "break" as a travel writer?

I wrote mainly fiction for years and also translated from Norwegian. I had a mystery series about a Spanish language translator named Cassandra Reilly, who was based in London, and I sent her all over the place. So I suppose I snuck into travel writing through the back door. I went to Transylvania and Venice taking notes for where Cassandra might go. Eventually it occurred to me that I could just write about myself on the road—or at sea, as it turned out. My first travel book was about my journey around the North Atlantic in search of stories about women and the sea.

Along with fiction I had started also writing essays and memoirs. I published essays taken from my book The Pirate Queen first, and then essays about Lapland, which was my next destination. It was relatively late before I considered doing travel journalism. Not knowing any better, I started at the top. I decided I'd like to be published by the New York Times, so I sent them a few pieces, and they accepted one. After that Smithsonian magazine sent me to Newfoundland and Slate to Lapland. However, much of what I write is still longer essays about travel and places for literary magazines and anthologies. I seem to need a lot of space to get into the story I want to tell.

3. What advice would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing? Any tips to breaking into newspapers and magazines?

You must be persistent in this field just as in any other. Probably the most important thing to do is read travel magazines and newspaper articles and attempt to copy the style of articles you enjoy. Literally copy! Write the piece out in your own handwriting and feel how the sentences work and what seems interesting. Notice the transitions, the way details are used. Pay more attention to your writing and less to getting published at first, but when you have a piece you really like, send it out over and over until it gets into print or online.

It doesn't hurt to get to know editors, go to conferences, and in general just get savvy about the business. But in general it's the writing that sells the story, not just the contact.

4. What do you see as the future for travel writers in the printed media and online ?

Electronic publishing and blogs have really opened up an avenue for beginning travel writers. On the other hand, there's more competition. More people travel, more people write well these days. The articles in magazines are getting shorter, and the fees aren't getting any higher. It's a very difficult profession to make a living from, I think. Literary magazines rarely pay much, though you have a chance to really tell a story that means something to you. Learning to be a traveler who has something to say about those travels in a thoughtful, fun, beautiful way is worthwhile in itself, even if most of your income is from another source.

5. As a writer and traveler, what are the biggest challenges you face on the road ?

Homesickness, weird food, strange people, uncomfortable beds, snowstorms, airports, and did I mention homesickness?

6.Finally, what is your favorite place and why ?

I am always very happy in Barcelona. I like the tapas, the coffee and pastries, the night life, the art and architecture, the little squares in the Barri Gotico. And it reminds me of my youth and being happy there long ago.

........

Previous interviews:

Mike Gerrard
Heather Hapeta
Thomas Swick
Leif Pettersen
Rolf Potts
Ian Mackenzie
Sheila Scarborough
Graham Reid
Candy Harrington
Terah Shelton
Rudy Maxa
Shannon Hurst Lane
Wendy Perrin
David Whitley

Follow up on the 2007 Lonely Planet Bluelist winners….

Remember the Lonely Planet’s Bluelist competition earlier this year.

Check out how the winners (Lisa Burns, Doy Quint, Baxter Jackson, and Sylvia Dubery) got on with their week long trip to Marrekesh with a Lonely Planets author. You can read their blog here…

And watch the travelogue here…

Travel Writers write about travel writing…

I have a list of books I want to read…some I can find in the local library or bookstore.

For some I have to travel all the way to the Amazon… Amazon.com that is.

What did I buy ?

Books about travel writing of course...


A Sense of Place by Michael Shapiro


Incognito Street by Barbara Sjoholm

By the way, Barbara Sjoholm is next up on the ‘Interview with a Travel Writer’ series. So don’t forget to come back in a couple of days…

The Zimmers show a new twist to ‘My Generation’…

Looking for inspiration ?

Then check out The Zimmers, a group of pensioners with a combined age of over 3000 who are heading up the British music charts. The youngest band member is 64. The oldest is 99. They live in old people’s homes and rely on carers to look after them. They are often overlooked by the younger generations.

And they are singing the old Pete Townsend song ‘My Generation’.

Their You Tube video has been seen by over 2.9 million and over 100 million people in more than 50 countries have seen clips of the band on television.



Here’s five thing we can learn from The Zimmers…

- it’s never too late to try something new
- it pays to be courageous
- always think outside the box
- don’t take no for an answer
- when you dream, dream big