April 15 is looming.
There aren’t many dates in American culture as big as this one. Once you get past the big holidays of Christmas, New Year’s, Halloween and the Fourth of July, April 15, tax day, is probably next up on the list. Of course, those other dates are celebrations.
April 15 doesn’t have many of us celebrating.
I’m a little different in that I do relish this time of the year. For me, it’s payday. When I decided to start writing (my first book was published in March of 2013), I decided I couldn’t touch my book money. You do get paid monthly, but if I ended up taking the money out of the bank, I would spend it on frivolous stuff: more lunches out with the work crew, more rounds bought at happy hours, new “iStuff,” etc.
There was some practicality to my approach as well. It wasn’t like I needed book money to live. Leaving it in the bank meant when I had a big expense, say a book getting published and I needed to order 20 copies and mail them out, the money to cover those expenses was there. If I spent my cash, I’d end up spending “house money” on those purchases. That clearly wouldn’t work.
Let’s not forget, I get paid 100% of sales money as well. No taxes are taken out. That doesn’t mean I don’t have to pay taxes, it just means I will be squaring up with the government on what I have determined is the fifth most notable date in the American lexicon.
Starting out in March of 2013, my plan became to leave my money untouched in a separate account unless I had to take money out for expenses. At the end of my fiscal year, April 1, I could then determine what I owe the government and the balance of the cash in the account would be mine (less a base of $100 I would always leave in the account to cover expenses).
Having just completed my third year, I have to say this has worked out great. On April 1, tax money gets transferred over to checking to help square up with the government. I take 1/3 of the balance and transfer it to my kid’s college fund. I like the idea of my books going to help pay for her education.
The next 1/3 goes to charity. I support Love A Cat charity in Hawaii. They help feral cats on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. I really like working with them because the people who run it are incredibly nice, the do great work and they are a really small charity. My book money truly helps them out.
I’ve written in the past about the support of my books in the State of Hawaii and I wanted to give back to the State because they were reading my books back at a time when seemingly no one else was. One of their Board Members had contacted me about my books and we hit it off and I’ve been supporting them with money from my book sales ever since.
The final 1/3 of my money, after taxes, goes to me. I’m big into not just spending it freely, though. I feel like writing is hard work and I want something to show for my effort. I decided to take a portion of my cash I get on April 1, and buy something cool. I do buy some iStuff, a few meals out to celebrate, a bottle or two of bourbon, that type of thing, but I wanted a portion of my cash to go to something special. Something that I could always have. Something that would be treasured even after I’m gone. It had to be something heirloom worthy.
I found it.
GOLD!
That’s right, whenever I write, I’m earning gold. Yep, I take some of my cash and purchase some gold which I keep in a simple jar. I only get to see it this time of the year since I end up putting it in the safety deposit box, but man, it’s cool.
My gold haul so far after three years of writing
Am I rich?
Nope.
This is just a small portion of my money, and I actually lost money the first year I was writing so this is only two years worth of “book money.” Still, I have 18 grams of gold. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams of gold so I’ve got a little more than a 1/2 an ounce of gold.
Why a jar?
I like the way those jars look and even sound on shows like Gold Rush. Gold has a unique clink when it moves around in a glass jar. Man, I love holding that gold in that jar.
I’ve got a long way to go to fill it up, but it’s going to be fun to get it out of the safety deposit box every year and add to my stash.
Shouldn’t it be that way?
Writing… it’s supposed to be fun, right?
Well, when you are filling a jar up with AU with every word you write, it’s pretty darn cool!
_______________________
Write Steve Write! is a weekly blog by author Steve Akley. Typically it is posted on (most) Sundays and features insight about his writing… though there is an occasional movie review or random thought post. It should be noted it’s posted as a live feed… no editing, no planning beforehand, it’s typed out on Sunday morning and the “publish” button is immediately hit. Apologies for any errors but you get this just as Steve thinks it!
Coming Sunday: I don’t know what I’ll be talking about on here next week, but something will come up I am sure.
In the meantime, follow check in on Steve in a variety of ways:
Steve’s Catalog on Amazon: http://goo.gl/kJpKcP
The OPUS Blog: steveakley.tumblr.com
Evan Haskill’s Blog: I am a contributor here: thebourbonguyandrye.com
Sign Up for Steve’s Newsletters: Email Registration
Twitter: @steveakley
Instagram: @steveakley
What’s App: Steve Akley
Untappd: steveakley
Home Phone: I’m not giving you that!
Write Steve Write! 