A Productive Day

So, I have done my tax return, which was not a particularly interesting thing to do. But getting my royalties spreadsheet all up to date was very interesting, since it shows that my gut feeling of how I was doing is actually not an accurate reflection of reality at all.

When you’re a new author, everyone’s excited to see you, and to you it seems as if you’re achieving wonderful things and getting buzz and being recognised – and this feels like success (because it is, of course.) But then you become an old warhorse, and nobody seems terribly interested in the fact that you’re still writing, and if you’re like me you think “oh, well, I hit my peak and now I’m on the decline. Everybody hates me, there’s no point in going on, soon I’ll have to pay people to read my stuff… etc etc.” (Melodrama is built in.)

But fortunately the figures say otherwise – I’m doing better this year than last, and last year than the year before that. I would still make more money stacking shelves at the supermarket, but measurable progress is being made. Reassuring stuff!

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Also productively, I have combined all my short stories into one volume and made them all available in one place. That is “All At Sea – an anthology of short stories by Alex Beecroft.” They needed a bit of rationalisation!