Monday, September 27, 2004

Manuscript Submission Season!

Or MeSS!!!

"Furious Lullaby," my second manuscript, has been on the contest cycle for about a year and a half. In that time, I've spent over $500.00 on contest fees alone. So if you can imagine including postage, photo copying fees, envelopes, etc., it wouldn't be shocking if you spent close to $1000 per contest year. That's a lot of dough! That's three 40GB iPods! That's a quick trip to Europe (if you live cheaply)! That's a full set of luggage!

Anyway, it's about time to send your manuscripts out, folks. Especially if those journal subscriptions you get by entering a contest are starting to expire.

Since graduate school, I've had a separate savings account designated just for publishing enterprises. So, from that account I draw out the money to pay for stuff like this.

Also . . . I think you can write off all this stuff in your taxes if you keep receipts . . . right? Does anyone know? I'm pretty sure you can if your profession is "Writer" or "Education," but I better leave that for the CPA's.

2 comments:

Brian Campbell said...

Good for you! That's called putting your money where your mouth is!
No, seriously. It's a sign of self-respect, investing in yourself that way. There's a certain vision in that. It makes me interested in your work....

Oliver de la Paz said...

Hey Brian. Thanks! The savings account has gotten a lot of use over the years. I highly recommend starting an artistic account. I know, many artists think it's weird to think of their artistic endeavors as investments, but I know far too many artists who are broke and live from gig to gig/paycheck to paycheck. Afterall, if you're too busy worrying about paying off debts, you're too busy to write a poem.