DOES IT MATTER?

I'm asking that question today as it is my birthday and the year of Sandra.

Yes, I am making an entire year the year that I celebrate leaving my 40's. 

I always thought it mattered what people thought of me, or what people said about me. I have only begun to realize that it does not matter what they think or say of me.

Half of what people say and think about me, isn't true. However if they choose to believe it, that's on them.

Today as I celebrate my 49th birthday on this earth, I realize that I can't change the minds of anyone but myself. I can't stop people from thinking or saying negative things about me because they are going to do that anyway. All I can do is maintain who I am. I can only change the way I think, the way I act and the way I live my life.

No one will do it for me.

So today, I ask all of you.

Does it matter what people think they know of you? Does it matter what they say about you? In the end, it doesn't because only YOU have control of yourself. No one else does.

APRIL 15 ...IS IT THAT TIME ALREADY

Well on Wednesday either you are going to be sighing with relief or scrambling to find receipts.

Which one will you be doing as a writer? Did you keep those receipts for all of the events you paid for in the past year? Did you log in mileage and if you paid with a credit card, did you keep those records. Did you purchase a new computer for your writing? What about supplies? What about that website that you paid someone to develop and put together for you?

Yes, all of those things need to be written off. What? You didn't know that? Well you are a small business you know.

Being a writer also means you are a business owner. Yep; you, the writer...reading this...is a business owner. in fact you are a small business owner. 

If you didn't know that; than you didn't do all of your research. So Wednesday is right around the corner and if you didn't keep all of the receipts not to worry, there is always next year.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way.

1. Get a small notebook that you keep in your car. Log in your miles every time you go to an event. From start to finish.

2. Ask for receipts. Especially for gas, food and lodging whenever you go to a book event. 

3. Pay for events with a debit card and print off that receipt to keep for taxes.

4. Create a spreadsheet in Excel for easy tracking

I hope that helps in a small way. So, off I go to get all of my tax information to my tax guy. Hopefully I get a little something back or at the very least; don't owe any taxes. That's always a good day.

WHEN TALKING GETS YOU IN TROUBLE

While I am a great talker, I'd like to think of myself as a better writer. I talk because I can't live without talking; well no one can really.

But I have found out that I am a great talker. I was told last week that I am a "great interviewer" and "you are so good at this, why aren't you doing it full time." 

Who knew?

I knew I could write and that will be another blog but who knew I was also a great interviewer. Not my words but a guests.

So being the talker that I am; I always ask questions hoping that the answer is one that I want to hear. I was once told, just ask and all they can do is say no. So I asked. I asked this great novelist to be on my show and he said YES.

Wait, what? Yes...what am I suppose to do now? I didn't expect a YES! So I do what I do when I'm unsure; I go shopping!

Shopping for shoes! That is what calms me when I'm stressed. And trust me, I was instantly stressed. How else did I talk this great novelist into being on my show? 

So as I shopped I found some great shoes and it came to me! I'll just ask questions that I want to know and I became very confident in that moment. I got some really cute shoes and some really great questions came to mind.

So I hope you caught the interview with R.L. Stine and if not...please check it out here. R.L Stine Interview