It's almost time! BANISH Your Bookkeeping Nightmares-The Go-To Guide for the Self-Employed to Save Money, Reduce Frustration, and Satisfy the IRS is getting rave reviews from the early readers. Here's a couple of examples:

Lisa London does the impossible -- she takes the difficult task of understanding bookkeeping, and makes it easy to understand and follow.  This book is a must if you are self-employed!!!
Abby Eisenkraft, EA —author of 101 Ways to Stay Off the IRS Radar.

The Self-Employment tax section was especially relevant for me handling my Airbnb business. BANISH is filled with really great insight. 
Christy Hooper, Airbnb Superhost


Keep an eye on www.AccountantBesideYou.com for special launch features.

     Are you one of the many people who have joined the Sharing Economy-renting a room through AirBnB, driving for Lyft or Uber, or selling products on Amazon or Ebay? Or  maybe you are a writer, free-lancer, or sell home-based products.
     As a self-employed individual, you need to understand which IRS regulations relate to you, what money you have to declare and what the related deductions are.
    With The Accountant Beside You, Lisa London's easy-to-understand approach to explaining accounting, you will learn:

•  the accounting basics,
•  how to organize your office and accounting system to save hours of work, 
• how to select an bookkeeping system that will work for you, 
  
• how to record the money coming and going out
• how to calculate and pay self-employment taxes
• what to do at month end, quarter end, and year end
• how to fill out Form 1040 Schedule C (sole proprietor business income and expense), Forms 1099 and 1096 
• how to budget
• how to determine if you have a business or a hobby and why it matters
• and details on what is deductible and what is not, including home office, travel, and mileage.

Join the tens of thousands of readers who use The Accountant Beside You resources around the world. Available for pre-order at www.AccountantBesideYou.com. 

It is hard to think of a more rewarding experience for a writer than to hear how your work has affected someone.  I was honored to have received this email:

Dear Lisa,
You mother-in-law gave me your book to read. I wanted to take the time to write this email to you to let you know how thoroughly I enjoyed reading it. I started yesterday morning and finished it at 2 am. I even rescheduled my lunch plans to today. I was born in Faulbach am Main and lived there until I came to the states when I was 21 years old. Reading your book made me feel like I was sitting im Hof (on the back porch) with my two Omas, my Mama and my Tante listening to their stories. My mother did not meet her father until she was five years old, when he came back from the war. She has often told us the story of her running up to the man she recognized from the photographs in the living room when the soldiers came back home and her father telling her "pass auf Junge , Du wirst Dir noch weh tun when Du zwischen den Leuten rennst"as he swooped her up. (watch out boy, you are going to get hurt running in between all those people). He knew from the letters from his wif e that he had a baby girl - my Oma had given my mom a boys hair cut because it was easier to take care of. It was only after my mom told him "Du bist mein Vater" that he knew it was his daughter trying to get to him. My mom and aunt also told us how they could not wait for the Amis (German slang for Americans) to come to the Village - they were expecting them with great anticipation. Today she is 76 years old and she said she can still remember the face of the Ami who pressed a piece of chewing gum in her hand and tasseled her hair when they marched through the village.
Thank you for writing the book. It brought back many memories spent with my family.

Sincerely,
Maria 

Had a great time with Frank Stasio on NC Public Radio's The State of Things discussing the state of things.  Hilde joined us via telephone and graded the book for me. You can listen here. http://wunc.org/post/darker-night#stream/0

I'm loving the pictures people are sending me of Darker the Night. Please post your picture on the Darker The Night Facebook page. 

The first picture is mine. I loved seeing my novel displayed next to some of the great authors in a bookstore.

Darker the Night is now officially a "Beach Read"-at least in Sarasota Florida.

Reader Tony is excited to get his copy.

On February 8, Susan Sipal, my editor, and I drove to Hilde's house to pick her up for the launch party. I opened the door and she showed me a framed photo of her and John (her late husband), holding the picture close to her chest.

"Would it be all right for me to bring this?  I'd like John to be part of the event."

Blinking back the tears, I agreed. It finally dawned on me how much this book meant to Hilde.

Once at the Leon Mann Jr. Enrichment Center, the flurry of activity began. With over 65 gathered and waiting, Hilde’s daughter Marlena helped with the refreshments, a screen was set up to watch the book trailer, reporters from two television stations and the local paper arrived, and suddenly we were on stage.

After watching the trailer, I read the chapter of the book which describes how Hedy, the protagonist, spent the night after her 19th birthday. Then it was time to celebrate Hilde’s 90th birthday with singing and cookies. Time does fly. Hilde stood and thanked her friends and neighbors, and we answered questions.

We were whisked off to a small room for interviews. Beth Lawrence from Jacksonville Channel 12, Jaqueline Matters from Greenville Channel 9, and Megan Soult from The News Times in Morehead City did a wonderful job helping Hilde relax and asked good questions.
After a fun, but exhausting day, I dropped Hilde at her home. As I waved goodbye, she said, “I can’t believe it is really done.”
Neither can I, Hilde, neither can I!

I'm giving away five copies of Darker the Night signed by me and the woman who inspired the story, Hilde Sensale. Click below to enter.

For my latest posts about Darker the Night, click here.
http://darkerthenight.com/authors-blog.html
For updates on the Accountant Beside You series, click here.
http://accountantbesideyou.com/blog/