Paying taxes on your published books

Had a great meeting this month with a very informative workshop. It was all about paying taxes and your published books. Someone asked this question: If I give my book away as a gift, do I still have to pay taxes on it? The answer is YES! Without any further discussion (we sure had plenty of that with the above stated question), you can hear it from the direct source as to why, etc. Simply call the Dept. of Florida revenue at 1-800-352-3671. You can speak to someone who can clarify your books taxation. Please be aware that when you publicize your book and your mug shot appears in any Florida newspaper you will be noted by the Fla. Dept. of Revenues. You might even get a phone call asking about your book. This actually happened to one of our members when the member first became a published author. Bottom line is - you could be heavily fined if you don't follow standard tax paying procedures. Fair warning!

Member news: Congratulations to Raul Jimenez who rec'd Honorable Mention for his story "Beisbol Days" on the internet via Glimmer Train which is a well known venue within the writing industry. Out of one thousand entries, his story was in the top 5 percentile. Raul was previously a finalist in another short story contest with his story "Story of A Kiss" on G.T. Raul gives the reader a slice of life with a Cuban flair which we always enjoy at our monthly meetings.

One of our in-house poets, Dorothy Leyendecker who's lyrical poetry appears often in the Sunday edition of The Daily Sun also belongs to The Villages Poetry Workshop. The VPW group recently distributed 75 booklets filled with poetry written by The Villages Charter Middle School students. Kudos to Dorothy for being involved in helping our youngsters learn about various forms of expression through poetry.

Thank you so much to Dan Griffith for his hand of guidance once again as we struggled to find a second meeting place for a new FWA writers group. Dan has always been prompt and positively encouraging during our rapid growth while Chris, Ray and others actively sought a new meeting place for our swelling ranks. We appreciate all that he does along with his hard working staff.

The new FWA local evening group - Oxford Writers, is all set to start in February. Meetings monthly third Thursdays at the Oxford Community Center. This will give our local writers options to fit into their busy schedules. We hope to advertise via both our group blogs on this main FWA Group site as time goes on. Name: Oxford Writers - Place: Oxford Community Center (corner of 2nd and Main Streets), Time: 7:00 P.M. - Group Leader: Chris Coward. Chris can be contacted at chriscoward@comcast.net for further info.

Stay tuned for more news from our members. In the meantime, please share your writing news with me so we can all celebrate with you as you reach your various writing goals. Share your writing challenges also. It's all about writing and helping one another. Email me at cocowriter@yahoo.com with your latest news, publications, etc.

This weeks writer quote: The person who says it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it - Chinese Proverb