A Fond Farewell to the Merry Month of May

Hi June – what kind of month are you going to be?

May was indeed a Merry Month for me here in the Home Office. I hope everyone’s May was as abundant as mine, but from the statistics, it is clear that the recession is still dragging on for so many people. On the last day of every month I take an hour off working and run my business figures across my mental screen to see if I am still ahead of my creditors. The rest of the world is having a rough time and the number of small, medium, large and giant corporations going belly-up is still on the increase. General Motors has gone from the world’s largest corporation to the world’s largest failure.

My personal record for May

Loans

Number of applications to the Personal Money Store for a Personal Loan or a Cash Advance: 0

Sales

Article writing

Gambling articles: 4

Insurance articles: 35

Financial articles: 30

Translations

Assembly instruction page for gadget: 1 – (Hated every minute of it.)

Painting department

Watercolors: 1 started and finished

Acrylics: 1 completed

Income

When it is all paid it will get me through the month of June as long as there are no major surprises. These could range from a car break-down to a washing machine explosion, both designed to wreck any household budget drastically and immediately.

The client who ordered the translation probably won’t pay - I delivered the work in 2 days by email and I have received no response. This is one of the risks of taking work that comes from an unknown source –

• you are offered the work,
• you are excited at the prospect of a new client,
• you do the work in a rush to impress,
• you do a great job to impress even more,
• you send the work,
• you never receive a response,
• emails sent to the same address come back from the Daemon Mailer with a note that says ‘uh-uh, this email address doesn’t exist.’

Expenses

A home-based writer has few expenses. All the usual household expenses apply and unless one prints work, there is no need to buy ink or paper. I splurged and bought a new 22 inch computer screen and I am enjoying it. I figured that if sitting in front of the computer is my life, I may as well make it as comfortable as possible. On the painting side, I made the mistake of using my favorite watercolor brush to work in acrylics and that ruined the brush. So I bought a new one and an extra one in a different size. Buying good brushes is no joke-they’re expensive. I want to write it off on my taxes but I’m not sure if the IRS has me down as an Old Master or a Sunday afternoon painter.

June

Well, Hi June! Let’s take a look at the prospects. On the article writing front I hope everything will remain stable and maybe even increase. Some months I receive orders for extra gambling articles and news items but this sector is having a very bad time. I am psyching myself up into starting a new painting which requires some energy, time and small amounts of money in photos, prints etc. and getting my main model, a grand-daughter, to sit still for a few minutes while I take pictures.

I hope the recession numbers improve so that all will have a good June.

Age

I added 1 month. We all did.