BOOKSIGNING WITH SHERRILYN KENYON

Saturday, June 14, 2008
5:00 to 7:00 PM
The Desmond Hotel & Conference Center
Free Admission

Participating Authors:

♥ Frankie Y. Bailey
♥ Linda Bleser (Romance) w/aL.B. Milano (Thrillers)
♥ Roberta C.M. DeCaprio
♥ Jean C. Gordon
♥ Sherrilyn Kenyon
♥ Jackie Kessler
♥ Dianna Love
♥ Colleen Reilly w/a K.A. Mitchell
♥ Christine Wenger

It’s been a while, but as the title says, I’ve been busy with our newest family member. Meet Xena, age two months.

And, I’ve been writing, too, hoping to finish my first draft of Mara’s Move by the end of the month.

And win an electronic copy of My Lady Viking. E-mail me your answer from my homepage and I’ll draw a winner from the correct answers. Alternatively, comment below and tell me what you did this weekend. I’ll draw another name from those commenting.

Baby ducks and bunnies. We have them all, just in time for Easter and the arrival of spring.

Here’s what’s new at our house.

Spotty’s latest litter. Just in time for Easter.

Daddy Snowy.

What’s new at your house?

Dru’s third grade class is learning division. His teacher gave his this problem. You have four people in your family. If you have ten muffins, how many muffins will each person get?

Dru’s answer (relayed from his teacher to his mother): We would probably bake the muffins at night. Daddy would eat two after we went to bed. So, in the morning, there would be eight muffins, so we would each get two. But Daddy would have already had two, so he would get four total. Then, Dru went on to say that Daddy also eats ice cream after he and his sister go to bed.

Dru later told his mother that if they really divided up the full ten muffins, they would each get two and a half.

This is really cool. I heard about it
on Wine on the Keyboard.

It’s a blog party for women bloggers. You put up a post introducing yourself. Tell a little about yourself and go back over to the 5 Minutes for Mom blog and add your link. Check it out and meet some new-to-you women bloggers! 

About Me Basics
I’m Jean. I write romance novels for Avalon Books and Cerridwen Press and tax and financial planning publications for a financial publisher in Albany, NY. If you belong to a 401(k) retirement plan, I may have written the education section in your plan enrollment book. My husband and I live on a 12-acre farm in Upstate New York. I post here now and again about that and anything else that catches my fancy. Hence my blog name.

About Me — Ten Facts
1) We have a daughter and son-in-law who own our house with us and a son who doesn’t.
2) We are the doting grandparents of an almost eleven-year-old granddaughter and an eight-year-old grandson.
3) Both my daugher and I were child brides.
4) Most of the books I’ve written are traditional romance with what I like to call a twenty-first century twist.
5) I love history and reading historical novels, but don’t like writing them.
6) In all, my family has four cats, a dog, three ducks, five pigs, six rabbits, and a flock of chickens. All but one cat lives with us.
7) I hold the Certified Financial Planner designation.
I love Excel, numbers, and doing tax returns.
9) I was once runner up to the Wyoming County Maple Sugar Princess
10) My car’s name is Elana. My last one was Celeste.
 

READERS! Here’s the information you’ve been looking for!

Here are the rules for the First Annual Cerridwen Spring Giveaway.

The Grand Prize winner must be a United States resident (due to mailing and custom costs, we cannot ship the grand prize out of the country).

You must be a member of the Cerridwen Chat Yahoo group to participate in this contest. All clues and contest information will be posted on that loop. To subscribe, send a blank email to: cerridwenchat-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You cannot share information about the contest with other readers. All participants should act independently.

Every day, starting on March 1 and ending on March 15, a clue will be posted on the Cerridwen Chat loop. This clue will lead you to a specific web site or blog location. You must find the hidden/special word on that web site or blog. There will be fifteen words to find, one for each day of the contest. The word will be in a special font, something like this so it will stand out and you should be able to see it easily. If you want to be eligible for the grand prize, you have to find these words. Note the word and the location where you found it.

You also need to find a tree icon and note that location. Beginning on March 1, look for the tree icon on the web site or blog of the participating authors (see the author list at the end of this page). Make a note of the location of the tree icon or blog.

The contest ends on March 15 at 5 PM. The tree icons and the ’secret words’ will be removed from the author locations at that time.

Assemble the words you’ve found into a sentence. Send the sentence and the location of the tree icons you found in the following format in the body of an email to GreenBookFriend@yahoo.com.

Sentence: write your sentence here

Location of Secret words:

1st word: http://www.websitename.com/website page.htm
2nd word: http://www.blogorwebname.com/date (if blog)
3rd word:
4th word: and so on ….

Tree Location 1: http://www.websitename.com/websitepage.htm
Tree Location 2: http://www.blogspotname.com
Tree Location 3:
and so on …..

You will need to find 15 words and 13 trees for a total of 28 entries. Sound like a lot? It is, but the prize is pretty big, too!E-mail your response by 5 PM (central standard time) on March 16. No entries will be accepted after that time. The grand prize winner will be chosen from those who submit correct responses.

Winners will be announced on the Cerridwen Chat loop on March 20, the first day of spring, at 5 PM (central time). Winners will also be notified by email.

Prizes

Grand Prize: A Rocket 1200 Ebook reader with 7 downloads already loaded. A picture of this model is at the end of these rules. Complete instructions will be provided for using the reader and for transferring books to the reader.

THIS IS NOT AN EBOOKWISE ebook reader. You cannot directly download books to the Rocket Ebook reader. In order to use the Rocket Ebook reader, you will need to use GEB Librarian software or the REBlibrarian PC software. Both are available for purchase for a minimal cost ($20-$30).

You will also need a Compact Flash reader/writer device for your PC. These are available at any computer store for approximately $15-$30.

See http://www.chromakinetics.com/REB1200/ move.htm for an overview of the process used to transfer content to this reader. We will also provide instructions for device use.

This is a used device. The cover is slightly scratched but the reading screen is clear and unmarred. The device is in good working order. It will be shipped to you with the winning books already loaded and will include instructions for adding new content, a spare rechargeable battery, and a power adapter (to recharge the unit). This device operates for 5-6 hours on a fully charged battery.

Runner-up: 6 downloaded books, emailed to you
1st place: 5 downloaded ebooks, emailed to you
2nd place: 4 downloaded ebooks, emailed to you
3rd place: 3 downloaded ebooks, emailed to you

Here’s the tree icon you’ll be looking for.

This contest is sponsored by the authors listed here. It is not sponsored by Ellora’s Cave, Cerridwen Press nor affiliated with that company.

Authors 

These authors will have a tree icon on their web site or blog for you to find starting on March 1:

Amy Corwin: http://www.amycorwin.com
Charlene Leatherman http://www.charleneleatherman.com
Catherine Berlin http://www.CatherineBerlin.com
Dorothy McFalls http://www.dorothymcfalls.com
J L Wilson http://www.jayellwilson.com
Janet Miller http://www.janetmillerromance.com
Lise Fuller http://lisefuller.com
Liz Jasper http://lizjasper.com
Marianne Stephens http://mariannestephens.net
Ariana Dupre http://melissaa.com
Micqui Miller http://www.micquimiller.com
Vicky Burkholder http://www.vickyburkholder.com
Jude Atkins http://www.judeatkins.com
Jean C. Gordon http://www.JeanCGordon.com

These authors are participating in the Secret Word part of the contest (some authors may be participating in both: tree and word). You will receive a clue by noon on each day to find out where to find the secret word.

Amy Corwin
Jenyfer Matthews
Liz Jasper
Frances Stockton
Mary Ann Chulik
Vicky Burkholder
Sam Cheever
N.D. Hansen-Hill
Eilis Flynn
Terri Thackston
Terry Odell
Micqui Miller
Karen McCullough
Jude Atkins
Sharon Horton

Enjoy the hunt!

We thought it was time to put away the last of the Christmas decorations.

So now, we’re back to normal. My shot glass collection. One for every state I’ve been to.

When did you take down your holiday decorations?

Wearing my other —  Certified Financial Planner® —  hat today.

Make Writing Your Business 
As a romance writer, you’re not alone in taking advantage of a special interest, skill, or talent to make some money. Many people decide to give self-employment a try, often on a part-time basis while they hold down another job or after their formal “retirement.”

For tax reasons, it’s important to approach these types of ventures in a businesslike way. If you end up losing money for the year, you must be able to show you were operating a “for profit” trade or business — not indulging in a hobby — in order to deduct the loss against other income, such as wages or earned interest.  Losses from “hobby” activities, on the other hand, cannot be deducted against other current-year income and cannot be carried over to future tax years in which the hobby activity produces a profit.

Generally, the IRS will presume an activity is a “for profit business” if your gross income exceeds your deductions in at least three of the last five consecutive tax years (two out of seven for horse breeding, training, or racing). Otherwise, if you want to deduct your losses, you must prove under a facts and circumstance test that you are writing with the intent of earning a profit.

Facts and Circumstances
The IRS normally considers the following nine factors in determining your profit motive. No one factor is controlling and other factors also may be considered in judging whether you have a profit motive. The determination isn’t made on the basis of whether the number of factors indicating a “for profit” activity exceeds the number of “not for profit” factors — or vice versa.

The manner in which you carry on your writing activities. Keeping accurate records, as well as, separate checking and savings accounts for your writing demonstrates businesslike intentions.

Your writing expertise. Your background and willingness to acquire the knowledge to become successful is important in this area.

The time and effort you spend on your writing. Finish and submit your manuscripts. Business loss deductions will almost certainly be denied where you have little or no involvement in the activity.

Your success in carrying on other similar or dissimilar activities. It may be easier to justify losses in a profit-seeking activity, if you have had experience carrying on a similar type of business.

Your history of income or loss with respect to the activity. Significant losses extending beyond the start-up stage are a very negative factor. However, courts have been very sympathetic to taxpayers whose losses were attributable to illness or other forces beyond their control.

The amount of occasional profits, if any. This factor will be of little assistance if your writing has had very modest and infrequent profits as compared to industry averages. 

Your expectations that assets used in the business may appreciate in value. In certain activities, this can be a major factor.

Your financial status. Financially successful people are more likely to run into hobby-loss trouble than those without substantial income or capital from other sources due to the potential tax advantages of characterizing a hobby loss as a business loss.

Whether elements of personal pleasure or recreation are involved. You can overcome this factor if you undertake your writing in a businesslike manner and devote a considerable amount of time, energy, and money to it. (And it’s okay to like your job.)

These factors are simply a guide. If you have any general questions, post them as a comment. Specific questions about claiming a deduction for your writing expenses should be addressed with your professional tax advisor.