How the Digital Revolution Exhibition can Inspire You to write

Hi everyone

If you read my last post, you will know that while I was in London last month, for the Success 2014 Seminar, I went to the Digital Revolution Exhibition.

I have more amazing videos to share with you.

Sometimes you may wonder how my activities relate to writing. Almost everything I do, I can connect to writing in some way. Some directly and others indirectly. I also feel it’s important for any reader to be able to understand what makes a particular writer tick, in order to better understand their writing and their nature.

From my own experience, this is how the Digital Revolution Exhibition, can help inspire you to write.

● Unlimited writing prompts

A good example of this, was seeing the original Altair and Mac designs. These can inspire you to write a drama set in the period they were produced. Alternatively, what’s the story behind those specifically. Why did someone buy each of them? What work is saved on them and why?

● The feeling of magic

The music, the atmosphere, things moving by sensor, touchscreen, special effects, create a feeling of magic. Can inspire you to create fairytales.

●Taking a behind the scenes look at films; Inception, Gravity and How to train your dragon 2.

Helps you to understand how a script can be brought to life.

●Fantasy becoming reality

Seeing things move by themselves and come to life. Such as a lamp like the one in the Pixar shorts, can get your creative juices flowing.

● Not believing your own eyes

Seeing yourself on screen; one minute with smoke coming from your face, the next stage, seeing yourself with wings and birds eating your body. Conjures up stories of illusion and fantasy.

● Future technologies

There is a solar powered dress on display which lights up. Couple that with the information that clothes in our future will be used to charge our mobile phone, makes you think up future Sci-fi adventures.

The Digital Revolution Exhibition, is at the Barbican in London until 14th September 2014.

If you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging on here quite as much lately, I am currently working on my new design www.beatredundancyblues.com site. As my web host no longer services the site builder I used to build the site on, I have to create a new site using WordPress.org. This has to be done before I finish the final formatting of my Break through the barriers of redundancy book, because I cannot update the site and it is advertised on the front cover of my book. Thankfully, I love designing and creating. To create a new one is hard work and very time consuming, but pleasurable at the same time.

Write as soon as possible
Sandra

When is it good not to think?

Hi everyone

I have so much to tell you.

I am back from my trip to the Success Seminar in London. While I was up there, I also visited London Zoo, I saw the film Anomaly and I went to the Digital Revolution Exhibition, that blew my mind.

On the day I came back, I had 4 hours sleep, then taught the Introduction to blogging course. I took so many photos and that much video footage of the Digital Revolution Exhibition, that my phone stopped working and I couldn’t call or do anything with my phone, until I got it fixed in the EE shop after teaching on Monday 7th.

On Tuesday 8th, I had an admin day. I also cleaned, tidied and cleared out some bottles of stuff from underneath my kitchen sink.

I have been working in my day job every day since, and trying to catch up with social media, emails and blogging.

As you know, I am a deep thinker and my brain never stops thinking. Sometimes it’s good not to think. I have so much to do that if I sat down and did the sensible thing of writing everything down that I have to, it would overwhelm me. Yes, I make written lists of things to do and set myself tasks and goals each day, but if I become too rigid and ‘work-like’ with everything I have to do, it doesn’t feel good. Instead of enjoying what I do, the opposite happens and I become unproductive. Yes, I have an overview of what must be done, but I have to do it the quirky way. If I schedule too much, it becomes a chore and that shows. Does that happen to you?

Things I need to do:

I have to create a new website for http://www.beatredundancyblues.com as my web host no longer services RV Sitebuilder that I used to build it. I have been unable to access my admin panel for at least a couple of months and now I can get into it, I can’t make any amendments due to constant Java script errors. This site is currently more popular than my http:// http://www.beatredundancyblues.co.uk site that is built using WordPress. I have no choice but to change it.

After making a few amendments to my Break through the barriers of redundancy book, I need to re-index and paginate it, within the interior CreateSpace template.

After being asked by businesses about training staff in blogging, I thought it best to set up a website to build a professional brand for my blog training. I have bought the domain name http://www.BlogTrainer.co.uk and have yet to build the site. I have a new @blogtrainerUK Twitter account and now need to grow my followers. Thanks to those of you who have already joined me on that account.

I haven’t forgotten that I still have blog awards to officially accept in future posts. Thanks to all of you who have given me awards. I very much appreciate them.

I managed to track down my English teacher from college. She edits manuscripts. I sent her a copy of my Break through the barriers of redundancy book manuscript so she could give it a quick scan. Her feedback was encouraging. She said it’s interesting, well thought out and there are not many books like it on the market. I was thrilled with those comments. As she is very critical, I know it must be a good book.

Because my Break through the barriers of redundancy book advertises my http://www.beatredundancyblues.com site on the front cover, updating that site, must be a priority.

I have to not think too much and just get on with it.

When would not thinking, be good for you?

Write when I can

Sandra

To feel alive – Start living!

Hi everyone

Thanks for all of your kind comments and support during this difficult time of my Grandma’s passing. Her funeral was yesterday and it went well considering it was a funeral. I read my entire poem without stumbling on my words. Being quirky, I made sure it was a funeral with a difference. I went around hugging everyone, including the people carrying the coffin, the guy playing the organ, the Funeral Director, the Vicar and all guests. I even had the Birdie Song playing us out of the crematorium. Me and my Grandma used to dance to that together and do the actions.

I used to suffer with depression and thankfully I have been free of it for about two and a half years. I cured myself, and still maintain a good head through sometimes very quirky, unconventional methods. I am well aware that I have to prevent myself from going back to that dreadful place ever again. I believe life is for living, to the fullest. Although my Grandma has passed, in the rest of my life, I am the happiest I have ever been and so grateful to be living a young life. In my mind, I am getting younger and I love it. I believe in order to feel alive, you must start living. Do things that make you feel fantastic, alive, enthusiastic, excited and passionate, over and over again, and never stop. I live in my own quirky magic bubble and so long as I am in that, life is beautiful.

My Grandma loved living a full and active life. Today is a new month and time for me to start living a new life. What wonderful opportunities will come my way? I wonder? After crying a lot this morning, this is the attitude I decided to take and I went to the cinema to feel alive and enjoy a part of my life in that moment.

In my usual quirky Roving Reporter style, here is my review of Maleficent. It is less that one minute long. Enjoy it and let me know what you think.

I am currently working on reformatting the interior of my Break through the barriers of redundancy book. It would seem that the CreateSpace templates have errors in them. One template I had 5 attempts to reformat and I had to scrap each one. Self publishing is hard but I am determined to publish my book.

Write when I can

Sandra

How to obtain an EIN for self-publishing with CreateSpace

Hello, how are you?

As you are aware from my previous posts, I began the journey of self-publishing in the earlier part of last year. I announced that I would be completing my Break through the barriers of redundancy book in the beginning part of this year, to sell on Amazon and in the future through my own e-Book store, quirkybooks.net, that is still in the early stages of construction. You are probably wondering why on earth I haven’t just got on with it and published it by now. The truth is, I have been getting on with it, most weeks, over a number of days, for many hours. I guess I naively thought when I started out, that I would write a book, get a good cover design, upload it and hey presto, job done. I was wrong. In the most simplistic of terms, yep, that’s what you do and it’s good to think about it in those simplistic terms, otherwise it can be a real mind boggler, particularly when trying to publish through CreateSpace, that is for print, as well as KDP, for Kindle. After hours of writing and time spent on styling the book; page layout, formatting, indexing, pagination, I could go on, I finally created my CreateSpace account. When I next logged into CreateSpace, I had this message alert from them:

Welcome to CreateSpace!

Some things you should know about your account and how we report your earned royalties to the Internal Revenue Service: We are required to report your earned royalties to the Internal Revenue Service. If you currently reside in the United States, you must provide us with a Tax ID number, payee address and business type before your title can go live and be available for purchase. If you are currently living outside of the United States, you must provide us with your payee address and business type before your title can go live and be available for purchase.

Please refer to http://www.CreateSpace.com/International for additional information for non-US members.

To update this information, visit https://eu.createspace.com/pub/accountsettings.royaltypaymentinformation.do to access your “Royalty Payment Information.”

Upon opening this link:

https://eu.createspace.com/pub/accountsettings.royaltypaymentinformation.do

On Monday the 2nd of June 2014, I spent hours trawling the internet to find out what I needed to type into the Tax and Business Information section of my Royalty Payment Profile. I needed to type in a Tax Reporting Name and Business Type, plus a Tax Identification number, that I hadn’t got a clue about. I had previously bought a book on self-publishing and even that confused me.

Tax & Business Information

US Tax Information

Tax Reporting Name

Sandra Bellamy

Tax Identification Number

**-*******

Business Type

Individual

After hours of tearing my hair out (not literally, I am not bald) and painstaking arrrrgh! Moments; to cut a very long story short, I managed to find out what I needed to type in, as you can see from the above screen shot. To do this I discovered; if you sell books on Amazon through CreateSpace or KDP, all UK and EU sales, have no tax withholding on your royalties. However, the USA withholds 30% tax on your book royalties, unless you obtain either an ITIN (Individual Tax Identification Number) otherwise known as TIN or EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) from the USA. Then fill in a W-8BEN and post it to CreateSpace at the address given in your CreateSpace account. Because the UK have a treaty agreement with the USA, residents of the UK can pay 0%. From my research, it was clear that getting an EIN is a lot easier than obtaining an ITIN, which can take several months. As soon as I discovered that if you are self-employed, you can apply for an EIN, and it’s as easy and simple as downloading a form and making a phone call to the IRS in the USA, I did it.

The procedure I followed is below:

I got the phone number of the IRS in the USA – From the UK it’s 00 1267 941 1099.
I contacted my phone company to find out how much it would cost to phone the number, so I didn’t have any nasty surprises. I had read that the phone call would be between 20 – 30 minutes in duration.
I downloaded form SS-4 (Application for Employer Identification Number) from the IRS website to have to hand when I made my phone call.
I filled in the form SS-4. I wrote my name and address details. Type of entity I wrote; Other – sole trader. (I was told during the conversation with the IRS that is was Sole Proprietor because I am a sole trader not Other.) Reason for applying was Compliance with IRS withholding regulations. A date that I started my business, (registered with HMRC). Principal merchandise sold, specific construction work done, products produced or services provided, was book royalties. Has the applicant entity on line 1, ever applied for an EIN – No.
I downloaded the form W-8BEN-E to send to CreateSpace. (I was subsequently advised that you actually need form W-8BEN 2006 version, until July 2014, because the new W-8BEN-E that is 43 parts long, has been released too early and there are no instructions for it yet!)
I then phoned the IRS in the USA, that I was informed is open 12 hours a day.

The lady at the IRS gave me her badge number at the start of the conversation, I had to say that I was applying for an EIN, that I own my own business and I am a sole trader. After 20 minutes of talking to the lady at the IRS and answering the questions that I had filled out on the SS-4 form, I was given my EIN number on the phone that was a 9 digit number starting with 98-. I asked to be put through to another department to have help filling in my W-8BEN-E, that ended up being the W-8BEN (see previous mention). I needed to post this form to CreateSpace Asap, because it states they only process these forms on the 10th of each month.

Filling in W-8BEN

Part 1: Identification of Beneficial Owner. The beneficial owner was my name and the type was Individual, as I am a sole trader.
Part 1 – (8): Is the EIN number that I just received, with a tick in the EIN box.
Part II Claim of Tax Treaty Benefits was A – Resident of the United Kingdom (no abbreviation) and B.
Part II 10 Special rates and conditions Article (12) of the treaty identified on line 9a above to claim a (0%) rate of withholding on specify type income): (Royalties.) Explain the reasons behind the beneficial owner meets the terms of the treaty article: (I was told to write the following)…...I am a resident of the United Kingdom and all of the products are made in the United Kingdom with no fixed base of operation within the United States.
Part IV Must be signed, with an original signature, dated and title added (Owner).

I posted my W-8BEN form off by airmail to CreateSpace the next day. It takes 4 days to get there, so it should get there in time for processing on the 10th of June 2014. Something else I need to bear in mind, is that US sales are only paid in $, so I may want to open a USA bank account because of conversion fees. More stuff to boggle the mind. I hope this step-by-step guide will help a ton of people, including yourself, and ensure you don’t go bald in your journey into print.

One article I found particularly helpful about an ITIN and EIN was:

Tax issues don’t need to be taxing.

I don’t have the instructions for the ITIN because I decided to not go down that route and if you Google ITIN or TIN, there is a ton of information about what to do.

Until next time, write soon

Sandra

Snuggles Joins in Blog Tour Fun!

Hi everyone

In case you missed it, last week I took part in the Blog Tour.

Unfortunately, due to formatting issues with coding in WordPress, my answers to the four Blog Tour questions, were bunched up. Not the sort of layout I usually allow on my blog, or want for you. Here is my attempt to answer the questions again.

Thanks to Carolyn Huges from The Hurt Healer for tagging me, I have the opportunity to share some exclusive insights into my Break through the barriers of the redundancy book, as part of The Blog Tour. As a Freelance Writer Carolyn’s work can be vast, in her blog tour post, I believe she has captured the essence of why her blog and writing are so popular:

“Although there are lots of blogs of a similar genre to mine, I think what makes The Hurt Healer different is the amount of sharing of myself that is included in each post. When you read my blog, you read the work of my authentic self and not just the facts of the subject.”

Check out the full post: http://carolynhughesthehurthealer.com/2014/05/04/writing-the-blog-tour/

What am I working on?

I am still working on the final amendments of my book: Break through the barriers of redundancy to get back into work: An A-Z ‘How to’ guide. I keep saying final amendments because I keep finding things to amend, although some of my latest amendments are not needed because the original work is better. That is how I know it is almost ready for publishing. At the moment it is indexed for the 131 A4 pages, but once it’s uploaded to CreateSpace on Amazon, it will be almost twice the number of pages in booklet format and therefore I will need to re-index and repaginate it beforehand. A writer’s work is never done!

How does my work differ to others of its genre?

It is different because it takes a holistic view of redundancy, treating the inner being before treating the outer being. It’s about dealing with the initial grief and depression of redundancy, going back to the roots of what you were born to do, before family and other commitments took priority and finding out what you really want to do with your life and career. It’s about exploring what your dream job would be, how to get it in 6 simple steps, how to work out if self-employment would be right for you or not. Then it deals with the practicalities of getting back into paid employment, the insider secrets of creating an irresistible CV and cover letter that gets results. In a nutshell, it provides a complete system for getting back into work. It covers 26 aspects of redundancy and provides eighty benefits to you, the reader.

It is unique because it combines two genres; the technical know-how of a how-to book, with the simplicity of an A-Z guide. That’s what makes it a quirky book.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I love reading non-fiction, how-to business books, because I can learn so much from them. I discovered that I have a lot of knowledge from both sides of the redundancy fence that would prove invaluable to others. The recruitment side, whilst managing, and the applying for jobs and being interviewed side, whilst redundant. It is from both points of view that I have been able to create a complete A-Z system for breaking down your barriers of redundancy, to get back into work. It is written from my own life experience in order to help others.

How does your writing/creating process work?

As usual, it starts with a creative explosion, a brainstorm if you like. That in this case was for an A-Z of redundancy, which started with the first few letters in posts on my http://www.beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com blog, and I have adapted for the final book. Once I had written an A-Z of redundancy, I then had to go through every letter and write a how-to for it. I wrote the front and back matter after finishing the main contents of the book. It was tricky to get the font size right and to distinguish the headings from the sub headings in the index. To my knowledge, combining an A-Z guide with a How-to book, has not been done before, and it has been a huge challenge for me to combine them into an easy to read, palatable style, but the challenge has been well worth it.

I tagged three others to continue to keep the blog tour going on Monday 19th of May:

Al from http://kattermonran.com

Mike from http://mikesfilmtalk.com.

Rohan from http://rohan7things.wordpress.com.

So far, it’s just Rohan who has been able to answer the questions. Check out Rohan’s Blog Tour answers: http://rohan7things.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/rohans-writing-methods-madness-and-more-blog-tour/

Wheeks of thanks from Snuggles. I hope you enjoyed her debut?

Write soon

Sandra

quirky book writing – The Blog Tour – Break through the barriers of redundancy book – Exclusive

Hi everyone

While this post should simply be called ‘The Blog Tour’, I couldn’t help include a little quirky in there, and yes, I know I used a lower case ‘q’.

Break Through The Barriers Of Redundancy Book Blurb

Thanks to Carolyn Huges from The Hurt Healer, I have the opportunity to share some exclusive insights into my Break through the barriers of the redundancy book, as part of The Blog Tour.

As a Freelance Writer Carolyn’s work can be vast, in her blog tour post, I believe she has captured the essence of why her blog and writing are so popular:

Check out the full post: http://carolynhughesthehurthealer.com/2014/05/04/writing-the-blog-tour/

The Blog Tour asks 4 questions, that I can’t wait to answer.

1. What am I working on?

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

It is unique because it combines two genres. The technical know-how of a how-to book, with the simplicity of an A-Z guide. That’s what makes it a quirky book.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

As usual, it started with a creative explosion, a brainstorm if you like. That in this case was for an A-Z of redundancy, which started with the first few letters in posts on my http://www.beatredundancyblues.wordpress.com blog, and I have adapted for the final book. Once I had written an A-Z of redundancy, I then had to go through every letter and write a how-to for it. I wrote the front and back matter after finishing the main contents of the book. It was tricky to get the font size right and to distinguish the headings from the sub headings in the index. To my knowledge, combining an A-Z guide with a How-to book, has not been done before, and it has been a huge challenge for me to combine them into an easy to read, palatable style, but the challenge has been well worth it.

Now to tag three others to continue to keep the blog tour going on Monday 19th of May:

Al from http://kattermonran.com is multi-talented. He writes flash fiction, is an awesome photographer and a fantastic poet. He is also a great guy. He speaks from the heart. Al uses descriptive, yet simple language, that is elegant and easy to understand. Check out his blog and follow it. You won’t be disappointed.

Mike from http://mikesfilmtalk.com. Mike is a fantastic blogger and an extremely talented guy. He works as the Deputy Managing Editor of Entertainment for Guardian Liberty Voice. He is also an actor.

Rohan from http://rohan7things.wordpress.com. Rohan is a jack of all trades. He is a musician, songwriter, author, professional sound engineer and music producer. He specialises in writing about Stoic philosophy and his blog is titled after his second book “The 7 Things That Made Me Genuinely & Irreversibly Happy: and how they can do the same for you”. The e-book is available to purchase from Amazon for $5.87.

I look forward to reading your answers in a blog post on the 19th of May, and to see who you tag. Thank you guys for taking part, much appreciated.

My break through the barriers of redundancy book, will be out soon to buy on Amazon. As always, thank you for your continued interest and support.

Write soon

Sandra