It’s that time of year again. When KDP sends me an email asking if I want to view my tax forms.
I don’t actually.
I don’t want to know that a book it took me two years to write, edit, and publish is languishing unseen, unsold, and unread. I especially don’t want to know that the three books I’ve written have met the same fate.
Truths I avoid like Covid the rest of the year are ready and waiting for me now. Nice and neat, gift wrapped for me by the Internal Revenue Service.
I don’t have to look. Except, of course, I do. How can I not?
Hope springs eternal for the deluded, a.k.a self-published authors. If it didn’t there wouldn’t be so many of us out there.
The question is how much power do I allow these 1042-S forms to wield? Do I let my lacklustre sales determine whether I finish the book I’m working on now? Do I say, “Hey, I’m no J.K. Rowling. Let’s pack this dream up and call it a day?”
I could.
And I would, except for the fact that I’m stubborn or, as I prefer to think of it, determined—to finish this last book. And maybe, just maybe…
There I go with that annoying hope again.
AimerBoyz 
I’m not making a killing off poetry either. 🤪 Also, with all the nonsense here and no readers, I first read the title of your post as “Texas and Other Truths.” Yeesh.
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LOL! Love it. Can totally see why you read it that way 🙂
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I’ve never made a penny from anything I’ve ever written. I’m lucky if I get a copy of the anthology or magazine I was published in.
Filing taxes irritates me these days. I get a monthly benefit from Social Security. Then I have to pay part of it back in taxes. Goofy.
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But someone liked your work enough to publish it. That alone is something to be proud of.
Taxes. Yeah. What the government gives with one hand they take away with the other 🙂
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Keep writing, keep publishing, keep being stubborn and determined. Just don’t quit!
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Thank you. Just what I need to hear right now as I’m only half-way through my WIP and running out of enthusiasm.
Keep Calm and Carry On. Yes, Ma’am 🙂
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