Anything new?

Almost to the end of the first week of July, and I have to say, it's been a productive week. A lot of planning going on.

Firstly, I've got to start organizing things and figuring out for next year how to deal with taxes. They get kind of convoluted when you are living overseas, and the US is anal-retentive about how you have to deal with it. Technically you can make up to 87k a year overseas without having to claim it, but you have to first "prove" that you fit all the criteria for working and living overseas. I didn't worry about last year, because we lived off our savings in 2008 and I didn't make a red cent, but this year I most certainly have been making money, and while 95% of it has been from non-US sources, I still have to worry about filing next April. So I need to call the Embassy and figure out the ins and outs of how to deal with accountants and filing from overseas. I also have to figure out about a driver's license for Bulgaria. I haven't worried about it to-date because we live in the heart of the city and use public transportation, but we are talking about buying a car next year, so I have to look ahead to that eventuality. We have no plans to go back to the US, not even to visit (at least not for the foreseeable future of 5+ years) so it's not like I can go back and get another International Driver's Permit (mine expired back in January; they are only good for a year)

Secondly, my wife's Etsy shop. I think we are launching this weekend. That was our initial plan, although that might be backed off till next weekend depending on how much crafting we get done this weekend. She is waiting on a bunch of tea cups and plate sets from a friend of the family who has had them stashed in the attic for 20+ years, and we are possibly getting our hands on those tomorrow...we'll see. Evy also informed me she is taking the first two weeks of August off work to focus 100% on crafting for 8+ hours a day, in order to get a bunch of hand-made items up for sale and see about making her crafting business a viable business, and not just a part-time hobby. If she can make enough money off of it, she'll quit her part-time job and work from home, like me, while she finishes up school. She has quite a large reader-base now, and it's not just people from the US and the UK who we are targeting. Her mother's business means that we have significant connections to the wealthy, ritzy people within Sofia, and a great many of them have expressed interest in Evy's hand-crafted goods, and her mom has been helping promote the idea, so we may get an unknown bonus set of clients from here in Bulgaria as well. Not to mention all the girls Evy deals with at work have been oohing and aaahing over all the things she has been making and then taking in to work for them to see. I think she's going to do just fine.

What else? Hmm. Paying off the last credit card. I thought that would be done a couple months back, but things got sidetracked a bit with some RL expenses. Still...the first of those is paid off next week once I get my next client's payment, and the last 2k worth of debt will be paid off at the end of August when I get paid for the work I'm doing this month. Then, it's ship our last boxes out of the States, see about closing down our US bank account (which will be interesting considering Wells Fargo won't even let you do a simple wire transfer without physically being in the office to sign the paperwork, despite the fact that a court of law considers a digital signature legal and binding), and sever the last of the ties we have back there so we can show the IRS that I have, in fact, "moved on" and am not still using the US as a base of residence while living abroad in a tax haven. My wife's family is here, the family business is here, her school is here, and she doesn't even have a green-card, nor have we applied for one (thinking about it, but haven't gotten around to it when we have no plans of heading back anytime soon), we have a bank account here, the apartment is in our name and it's here, we have our cell phones here....etc. etc. etc. It's amazing how the first thing the IRS looks at when a person files from overseas is whether or not you did so just in order to use one of the many loopholes that exist. You aren't ever allowed to have an actual, viable reason to move overseas that has nothing to do with taxes (like, oh, I don't know...a WIFE?)...everyone is immediately presumed guilty until proven innocent, which is bassackwards from the way it's supposed to be, which is innocent until proven guilty. Needless to say, while I have never been paranoid about dealing with the IRS before (I had a kick-ass accountant in Colorado), I have to admit I'm a little irritated with the amount of paperwork I'm going to have to do in order to prove that I'm not here simply to avoid paying taxes. It's really stupid. Meanwhile, people like Madoff and AIG are ripping American taxpayers off for hundreds of billions of dollars and I have to sweat simply being honest. It's ridiculous. You can't imagine the sheer number of hoops I've had to jump through in order to transition to a foreign country, and the amount of money we had to spend getting everything taken care of, but knowing that I have to deal with even *more* hassles is just...ugh. Thankfully I really don't have to "sweat" any of this until next year, but I want to start looking into it now so I can have a gameplan when the time comes and give myself plenty of time to deal with the interviews with various accountants and paperwork and etc.

My cook-book is also on my "hot" agenda. Chapter work on the novel is on hold until September. I also have no plans to do any more short stories (for those of you just checking in) for the 2009 fiscal year. I have 5 in circulation. I had a 6th that I was requested to write for another publication, but I canceled it after a significant disagreement with the owner of the publication. One of those 5 has been on hold in Australia for 2 months, and according to their reading list the main editor should be getting to it in a week or two, and their slush editor said held stories usually have a 35-40% chance of getting "in", so I'll keep my finger's crossed. I pulled another one off the rotation list because I feel it needs a little more refinement. The other ones are good to go, and I've been getting favorable responses from editors, rather than just form letters, which is a good sign. The last two editors, in fact, have gone on to give me lists of their sister publications where they think the stories might fit better, and have been including their personal reasons for not accepting the stories.

One thing I've noticed is that as my freelance and journalism resume gets thicker and thicker (I include my background in my cover letter) editors are actually physically replying to my queries and manuscripts. True, 99% of my work isn't fiction, it's journalism and content creation, but when people see you are making a living doing this, it tends to lend some credence to your work, even if you haven't won any awards yet. The simple fact you are landing clients and keeping them long-term means you are a reliable, solid writer. That doesn't necessarily mean I've mastered fiction writing, and I'm not too arrogant to know that I have a long way to go in that regards. Still, I've sold 2, had positive replies on a few more, and I'll keep refining and circulating the 5 I have finished until they find homes. The other good thing is that I'm not a starving writer so desperate for a credit that I'll put up with haughty editors and hack publications. In the meantime, I've got my plate full with writing gigs outside of the fiction world, and I'll get back to work on the novel sometime in September, after I get this cook-book finished. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go the route of e-publishing or talk with a friend about getting it published in paper format. Just have to wait and see.

That's it for this Thursday's update. I've got some work to do, so I'll yap with you guys next time around.