First, my apologies to those who came here yesterday expecting a blog about the conference and found I hadn't updated. I got back from the hospital later last night than I'd originally planned, so I didn't get a chance to get online.

Sooo, anyway... the ACFW conference! The American Christian Fiction Writers is holding their annual conference September 20-23 in Dallas. It'll be my first ACFW conference. For whatever reason, that weekend in September is one of those cosmically bad weekends. I usually have 4 or 5 separate events in different parts of the country so I always have to choose. This year, I decided that the conference had to be a priority. I keep missing out on seeing great friends. Plus, even though I attend a lot of writing conferences, there is something different about attending one specifically geared toward Christians. I found that out at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

So here I am, making a commitment to attending ACFW this year. And, because we know I don't do anything halfway, I'm also signed up to teach a course on taxes for writers. Those who read my blog regularly know that during the tax season, I'm an insane tax preparing machine. One of the things I've noticed every year is how little the average American understands about taxes. More importantly, I've found that the average self-employed business person (aka WRITERS) are doing their taxes wrong because they heard from their brother in law's second cousin's neighbor's best friend that they could do some weird thing on their taxes. When I mentioned this to a few friends at ACFW, they said, "Hey, you should teach that at conference." Well, alrighty then.

Actually, it was a good fit. I'm going into year two of teaching tax classes, so adding in a class especially for writers isn't a stretch for me. And hopefully, I'll be able to help educate a few more folks about doing their taxes right. Staying within the law AND getting the best deduction possible. I'll be teaching on the following:

Tax time can be a frightening and dreaded experience for a lot of people, particularly to creative writer-types. In this workshop, writers will learn some practical tips for making the most of tax time, including:
 1. Tax Basics
2. Keeping tax records organized
3. Is it a hobby, or is it a business?
4. Important deductions and expenses for writers
5. The Home Office-to deduct or not to deduct
6. Travel Expenses
7. Making the estimated tax nightmare manageable

If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time to do so! You never know what you'll learn! See you in Dallas!

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