three cents: chasin' windfalls

**three cents** is two things about money and one about love, and i'll send it to you about once a month

                            October 15, 2015

                three cents: chasin' windfalls

                        martinesque 
by manjula martin

                        three cents is two things about money and one about love, and i'll send it to you about once a month

1. a thing about money 
Because I recently sold a book, I recently received the biggest check I've ever gotten. And because I am so used to living in austerity mode when it comes to paychecks, I was afraid to touch it. I did manage to deposit it into my savings account, after staring at it for a few days. It's a common experience for writers — we tend to get paid not at all, and then, if we're lucky, in one big lump, once in a while. How do we deal with it? We ask the experts! I asked my agent, Kate "The Great" McKean, what to do with the money. She said:

TAXES. Put more than you really want to in a savings account for your quarterly estimated taxes or your tax bill at the end of the year. Don't know how much to put away? Contact an accountant in your state. Time to be a grown-up about money. 

If you really can't figure it out, put away 50% of it. Pay off some bills or sock away some of it to hold you over until your next advance payment, which could be a year away. And buy yourself something nice, maybe something that's 5%-10% worth of the advance-nice. 

But seriously, PAY YOUR TAXES FIRST.

You heard the lady. Another literary agent I know, Ted Weinstein, had similar advice. Ted's patented easy 6-step program for what to do "when a Brinks truck falls on you" includes gift-buying, which I kind of love:

1: take a walk
2: scan or copy the check as a memento
3: pay your quarterly taxes right now, even if they're not due this week or even this month
4: buy a small gift for someone else
5: put the rest of the money in the bank and don't even think about doing anything with it for a long time
6: get back to work - either you have to finish the book now (if that check was a signing advance) or your agent (me!) wants the next book to sell for you.

While my situation is a bit more Tonka truck than Brinks truck, point still taken. I sent a fat check (50%, because I also have a W2 job and other freelance income and my taxes are always jacked) to the IRS and the state of CA for my quarterly tax estimates. I left the rest (it wasn't much!) in my savings account, and will pay my contributors with it. (Fun fact: with an anthology, the publisher's contract is only with the editor. It's up to the editor to contract, pay, and otherwise transact with all the contributors. So my check is actually mostly not mine at all. Publishing!)

I also treated myself to a new tattoo, because I am a product of my generation, apparently. Then I walked around singing "Don't go wastin' windfalls" to the tune of TLC's "Waterfalls." 

2. another thing about money
This article pretends it's a profile of a chef, but it's really about class and money and capitalism. Jeffrey!
3. a thing about love
Something on the internet made me feel good. I know, weird, right?! It was epic.   

+ relevant to our interests:
Speaking of taxes. 

Writing is not factory work, but this essay is still really good. 

Alexander Chee for shop steward. 

Mira Jacob for Toastmaster.

Paul Ford for treasurer. 

What happens when coworkers talk about their salaries? 

Is there such a thing as a dream job? (Spoilers)

"Followers" ≠ power.

Burn it down.
+ stuff i wrote (may or may not be relevant to your interests):  

The Dough, my new(ish) series at The Toast.

Towards a slower descent into cultural gluttony.

ttfn, 

manjula

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