Tax Returns

Posted by Colin Harvey May 10, 2009

Today is my last day before starting to revise Damage Time, and I've been using the time to go through the paperwork for my tax return. My paperwork is such a godawful sprawl -despite my best efforts to keep it under control-- that I feel I need a weekend when I'm not preoccupied with working out the latest complexity in a story or novel to have enough focus to be able to tackle it.

It turned out to be as well that I did; checking that I've got every sodding receipt to send off to the accountant has taken most of a day that's grown progressively sunnier as it's worn on, and to be honest, I begrudge spending a lovely day like this going through reams of grubby bits of paper with 'A&P - Bristol SF & F Soc.' scribbled in the corner, or wondering what the hell I've done with February's mobile bill from Orange.

But it's got to be done because to paraphrase the truism, next to death, the only inevitable thing is taxation. Once it's finished it's out of the way for another year, and I can get on with the important things in life -- that is, anything else.