Guest Blogger - Diane Kelly

I met Diane when I attended a great workshop she presented about writers and taxes. Then the next year I watched her win the Golden Heart Award for the book that's coming out NOW! She's blogged with us before about selling a single title without an agent, and her tax articles have appeared on the Playground website. So please make room round the fire pit so Diane can squeeze in, warm up and tell us her news.

My Debut!

Thanks to Marilyn Puett for inviting me to guest blog today!


My debut novel, Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure, has just been released. It’s such an exciting time!

When I first began writing seriously over a decade ago, one of the first pieces of advice I heard was to “write what you know.” But as a CPA/tax attorney, what I knew were the rules for itemizing deductions, who qualifies as a dependent, and a half dozen methods for computing depreciation. Not exactly fodder for an interesting novel, huh?

But I knew some other things, too. I knew about criminals. Not your standard burglar or purse-snatching thug, but savvy and sophisticated criminals who knew how to pull off a financial crime.

One of my first jobs after law school was working as an assistant attorney general at the State of Texas Attorney General’s office. Many of the cases I worked on involved white-collar crimes. Ironically, it later came to light that the state AG was falsifying documents in order to fraudulently divert tobacco company settlement funds to his cronies’ law firms. He later pled guilty to criminal charges and spent some time in the slammer. Sheesh!

My innocence tarnished, I took a job with a large accounting firm, proud that such a prestigious outfit would hire little ol’ me. After my experience at the AG’s office, I was glad to now be among nerds who were surely too straight-laced to engage in criminal activity. Then, lo and behold, one of the partners was indicted for tax shelter fraud.

Was there no one I could trust?

Worried I’d find myself in jail as an unwitting accomplice to my next employer’s criminal deeds, I decided self-employment would be a good idea. I also realized my experiences with white-collar crime made excellent fodder for mystery novels. My fingers hit the keyboard and thus began my “Death and Taxes” series, which stars a female criminal investigator for the IRS.

Ever worked with a criminal? Maybe been the victim of a financial crime?

We’d love to hear about it! Post a comment to be entered in a drawing to win an autographed copy of Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure, book #1 in the Death and Taxes series. The winner will be announced at 9:00 pm central time.

For more information about my series, please visit me at www.dianekelly.com.

Thanks for stopping by the Writing Playground!

P.S. Catslady is Addison Fox's winner from Monday. Please email Angel at readdaniwade@gmail.com to arrange for your prize.

Taxes and the Superbowl

I'm neck deep in the joy that is taxes. Don't get me wrong, I giggle at the thought of getting our refund check but...I've spent the last couple of weeks pulling together expenses. Scouring receipts, emails, invoices. Yes, I realize my life would have been easier if I'd done this on a regular basis throughout the year. I think we've established that I'm a procrastinator. :-)

It probably wouldn't be so bad except that I've been dealing with quarterly tax reports, year end tax reports, W-2s, 1099s....all for my day job as well. I think if I see another report containing a string of numbers my eyes are going to permanently cross. I am going to be so happy when April 15th rolls around and I can put this behind me until next year.

The question then becomes, what do taxes and the Superbowl have in common? Nothing really...except a commercial. One that I kinda liked. While seeing death make an accountant sweat was a little funny, that commercial wasn't my favorite. The Doritos crystal ball commercial was. It was brilliant - and apparently the winner of a contest. The spot - reportedly produced for around $2000 - has earned the brothers who made the commercial one million dollars. But they weren't the only ones to win, Doritos sure scored big with one of the most talked about spots from the game.

Always a staple of the big game, Budweiser didn't disappoint either. Their spot featuring a Clydesdale fetching a tree branch in order to earn a treat was a close second for me. But what was really amusing was the separation at my sister's house during the game. The boys were upstairs watching the game while the girls stayed downstairs hushing the children every time the commercials came on. The game was dang good! And I really did enjoy watching it. But the commercials are the highlight of the game for me.

Do you have any tax stories to share? Are you neck deep in numbers? Or did you watch the Superbowl? Do you have a favorite commercial?

Instigator

P.S. Susan picked Angel as the winner of her book. Please contact her with your snail mail info to claim your book.