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kateelliot's LJ, the following bit of self-awareness that hit way too close to home...
"As for my damned literature, God knows what a business it is, grinding along without a scrap of inspiration or a note of style. But it has to be ground, and the mill grinds exceeding slowly though not particularly small. The last two chapters have taken me considerably over a month, and they are still beneath pity. This I cannot continue, time not sufficing; and the next will just have to be worse. All the good I can express is just this; some day, when style revisits me, they will be excellent matter to rewrite. Of course, my old cure of a change of work would probably answer, but I cannot take it now. The treadmill turns; and, with a kind of desperate cheerfulness, I mount the idle stair." -- Robert Louis Stevenson (from the letters of)
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Today is mostly given over to the freelancer side: I have to talk to a client, and write up some copy, etc. It doesn't sustain the soul, but it does feed the piggy bank. And it switches my brain around a bit, makes it look at the business from a different angle, which is always a good thing.
Speaking of which, looks like I'll be getting a semi-respectable check back from Uncle, between state and federal. Better not to have paid it at all, but that's the thing about quarterly estimated... everyone's just guessing, not only how much income comes in, but how many deductions you'll end up having.
(y'all do know about the hellish joy that is quarterly estimates, yes? If you have any desire to quit the day job and strike out on your own in these United States, you should factor that into your plans, oh yes.)
kateelliot's LJ, the following bit of self-awareness that hit way too close to home..."As for my damned literature, God knows what a business it is, grinding along without a scrap of inspiration or a note of style. But it has to be ground, and the mill grinds exceeding slowly though not particularly small. The last two chapters have taken me considerably over a month, and they are still beneath pity. This I cannot continue, time not sufficing; and the next will just have to be worse. All the good I can express is just this; some day, when style revisits me, they will be excellent matter to rewrite. Of course, my old cure of a change of work would probably answer, but I cannot take it now. The treadmill turns; and, with a kind of desperate cheerfulness, I mount the idle stair." -- Robert Louis Stevenson (from the letters of)
-------------------------------
Today is mostly given over to the freelancer side: I have to talk to a client, and write up some copy, etc. It doesn't sustain the soul, but it does feed the piggy bank. And it switches my brain around a bit, makes it look at the business from a different angle, which is always a good thing.
Speaking of which, looks like I'll be getting a semi-respectable check back from Uncle, between state and federal. Better not to have paid it at all, but that's the thing about quarterly estimated... everyone's just guessing, not only how much income comes in, but how many deductions you'll end up having.
(y'all do know about the hellish joy that is quarterly estimates, yes? If you have any desire to quit the day job and strike out on your own in these United States, you should factor that into your plans, oh yes.)
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 12:36 pm (UTC)Amen, sister.
And remember, everybody - they automatically penalize you for guessing too low! That's right, they don't give you any interest $ if you over-estimate, but under-estimating = underpayment penalty city.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 03:01 pm (UTC)If I thought that the money was being used wisely (even if I didn't agree with the distribution), I'd have far fewer gripes with paying taxes. Alas....
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 02:22 pm (UTC)It's just as bad when you go from a job that requires quarterly estimates to having a full-time job. It took me nearly three years of full-time employment before I could convince the IRS that I was no longer working as a freelance computer consultant. They continued to hound me for quarterly estimated tax payments when I wasn't making a penny from sources other than my first on-the-books, subject-to-withholding publishing job.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 04:13 pm (UTC)Did I mention feelin gbrain dead? It's either the 10 trees planted yesterday or the eigenvectors edited today. Could be a bit of both.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-12 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 03:30 am (UTC)What it's looking like to me is that there's really no way not to be penalized if your expected income changes dramatically over the course of the year, like, say, you get another major job after the first quarter. You can limit the damage of a variable income with the annualized method, but IIRC that still needs you to estimate your total income fairly accurately. (Fortunately, my state quarterly payments don't seem to penalize for that.)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-13 05:33 pm (UTC)*makes sound of cat gakking up a hairball*
eeeeeee!