In Which I Need A CPA

I have an appointment today with a CPA.

Which, is kind of scary.

Only because I don't like doing new things that I haven't done before, and seeing a CPA is one of those things. I mean, you can't even imaging the drama I invented just to set up the appointment (which of course, ended up being fine and easy and then I feel dumb, but there you have it)

I know it will be fine. I'm a social person. I do well in social situations. But this is a business situation, so therefore me = nervous.

But, I definitely need to have this appointment. With money coming in now from my writing, I know I need to pay estimated taxes and some such stuff and the idea of handling that myself gives me all the NOPES

So, yeah. Not much else to say today. Just trying to get some papers in order before I have my appointment.

How about you? Ever had to use a CPA for writing income?

Friday Fun

Friday, Friday, Friday!

 

 

I begged for the weekend, and it showed up!

 

 

We've made it to the weekend, ape-friends. Which means it's time for some Friday Fun!

Let's get this show on the road

 

 

 

 

 

 

frozen Minnehaha falls, MN

 

 

 

Reasonable response

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tree camping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Wednesday Weird: Rudoph Fentz

In April, 1951, a man appeared out of nowhere in the middle of Times Square. He had mutton chop sideburns and was wearing Victorian clothing.

Witnesses said he looked shocked and startled, and then a moment later he was struck and killed by a car.

Morgue officials searched his body and found the following things:

• About 70 dollars in old banknotes
• A bill for the care of a horse and washing of a carriage, drawn by a livery stable on Lexington Ave, which was not listed in any address book
• A copper token for a beer worth 5 cents. It had the name of a saloon which was unknown, even to elderly residents of the area
• Business cards with the name Rudolph Fentz and an address on Fifth Ave.
• A letter sent to this address in June, 1876 from Philadelphia

All of the objects showed limited wear and age.

Captain Hubert Rihm of the NYPD missing person's unit, tried to use these objects and clues to identify the man. He was able to find the business related to the business cards, but the owner didn't know and had never heard of a Rudolph Fentz. Fentz wasn't listed in the address book, no one had reported him missing and his fingerprints weren't on file.

Continuing his investigation, Rihm finally did locate a Rudolph Fentz Jr in the phone book. Unfortunately Fentz had died 5 years earlier but Rihm was able to get ahold of his widow. He learned that her husband's father had disappeared in 1876 at age 29. He had left the house to go for a walk and never returned.


When it gets twisty. In 2000 a researcher concluded that the tale was a work of fiction, though he couldn't find the original source.

In 2002 someone else claimed that the original source of the tale was a Jack Finney story, called I'm Scared published in 1952 in the Heinlein anthology TOMORROW, THE STARS.

Where it gets turny:

In 2007 a researched for the Berlin News Archive supposedly found a newspaper article dated from April 1951 reporting the story almost identically to how it's reported today. The article was printed almost 5 months before Finney's short story was published.

So, what do we think?

In Which I Got Nothing

I spent the whole weekend at a local con (4th Street Fantasy (I maaaay have spoken to Scott Lynch more than once, this year)) and so I've got nothing for today.

So instead, you get this.

 

Friday Fun

Friday! Friday! We made it through to Friday!

Garlands and flowers for all!

Time for some Friday fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Weird: The Dighton Rock

Sitting in the riverbed of the Taunton River in Berkley Massachusetts, facing the bay, rested the Dighton Rock.

Discovered nearly 300 years ago the 40-ton boulder is covered in puzzling petroglyphs, primarily made up of lines, geometric shapes, and schematic drawings of people. There is also writing on the rock, some of it verified and some of it not.

And English colonist first described the boulder in a writing:

Among the other Curiosities of New-England, one is that of a mighty Rock, on a perpendicular side whereof by a River, which at High Tide covers part of it, there are very deeply Engraved, no man alive knows How or When about half a score Lines, near Ten Foot Long, and a foot and half broad, filled with strange Characters: which would suggest as odd Thoughts about them that were here before us, as there are odd Shapes in that Elaborate Monument

Even before that another colonist drew a picture of the boulder (the drawing is preserved in a British museum), though is picture was not overly accurate since he couldn't see the whole thing due to the tide.

In 1963, due to dam construction, state officials removed the boulder and kept it for preservation.

No one has been able to solve the mystery of the writing on the rock and theories abound about who could have carved the petroglyphs, the more popular theories being Indigenous peoples of North America, who have historically carved petroglyphs in Vermont, ancient Phoenicians, the Vikings, the Chinese or the Portuguese.

Still, after 300 years, the mystery still remains.

Any theories?

In Which THE MASKED SONGBIRD Starts Its Tour!

Woo! Today is the Tour Kickoff day for Emmie Mears and her book THE MASKED SONGBIRD!

 

 

I luuurve this cover

 

 

Emmie and I met on QueryTracker Forum so I'm happy to have her here today on my blog.

Take it away Emmie!

 

 

 

 

Writing is Cheaper Than Therapy

...But sometimes I think it might cause me to need a shrink.

When I wrote the first draft of THE MASKED SONGBIRD, I didn’t realize how cathartic it would be.

The initial idea came to me in a flurry of inspirational indignation when I saw that the still-warm Spider-Man franchise was getting rebooted. I wanted to write a novel with a female superhero. I always loved the messy ones, the Logans who had people issues, the Peters who grew from being stomped on, the Rogues who struggled to combat things they didn’t understand.

A lot came out in that first draft, which I wrote in a measly six weeks. It was the fastest book I ever wrote. Some things (like Gwen’s spandex-y tutu) survived to the final product. Others (like a scene I wrote while processing my own recovery from sexual assault) did not, and for good reason. Yet other things I’m only noticing now as possible manifestations of my own subconscious.

It wasn’t until the final readthrough of the manuscript that I started realizing how much writing the book had allowed me to work through some of my own issues. Writing (and creative endeavors in general) has always been a cathartic process for me, whether it be journaling or fiction. While I didn’t base Gwen Maule on myself, she does have some traits with which I empathize. My whole life, I’ve struggled to assert myself, and Gwen, at the outset of THE MASKED SONGBIRD, is very much treated like a doormat.

In some ways, writing Gwen’s character helped me realize my own assertiveness and confidence. If she, a nobody from a croft in Sutherland, could become a hero, maybe I could at least manage to get through the next year -- and maybe others who struggled with fighting a learned tendency to let things slide would learn to stand up for themselves too.

How does writing (or reading) teach you things about yourself? Which characters have you read or written who have brought out latent traits in you?



You can preorder THE MASKED SONGBIRD here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JD7TWZK)! Released in a box set, you get four great paranormal and urban fantasy books for less than $4!

Follow Emmie on Twitter @EmmieMears and join her on Facebook!