Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Requiem is ready for preorder!


I’m very pleased to announce that REQUIEM IN RED, the sequel to EINE KLEINE MURDER, is ready for pre-order on Amazon! Other vendors will soon have it also.



Aspiring conductor and amateur sleuth Cressa Carraway returns for a second installment of music and murder in this fast-paced mystery from author Kaye George. Fresh out of grad school, Cressa lands her dream job as conductor of a fledgling ensemble in Minnesota that aspires to grow into a major orchestra.

Leaving her psychic friend Neek, boyfriend Daryl, and DePaul University behind, she quickly starts to wonder what she's gotten herself into. Cressa's new friendship with the first chair violinist of the ensemble, Maddy Streete, gives her an opportunity to sing in a dysfunctional church choir, and also leads to an organist gig in the church across the street.

While playing the organ helps supplement her meager conducting salary, it places her in empty churches more often than she'd like, forcing her to deal with homeless vagrants, drug paraphernalia-and corpses.


As she tries to make sense out of everything, Cressa digs deeper into the lives of her fellow musicians and newfound friends to uncover swirling currents of hatred, old wounds, bitter resentments-and unexpected information about the suspicious deaths of her own musician parents so many years ago. Can Cressa sort out the clues before she becomes the next victim?

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Quick post with new date

I want to share a publication date that was just settled last night. REQUIEM IN RED will be published April 12th! It should be available for pre-order soon. I'll post information on my webpage when it's available.


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Taxes for Writers 2016 Version

It's THAT time of year again!

First, I’ll give you links to my standard Taxes for Writers post from last year, and another post on DBAs that you may find helpful.




Second, here are some of the changes to the tax code for 2015 taxes. I hope I got the most relevant ones.

Increased penalty for not having health insurance. Here are exceptions to the penalty:

A new tax credit for getting health coverage through state-run exchanges. You can either claim this with your insurance company to lower your premiums, or can claim it on your taxes.

FSA (Flexible Spending Account) limits have gone up. There are also changes in rollovers. If you roll over into next year the $500 you were previously permitted, you can’t do an HAS (Health Savings Account). (You can still carry over FSA money for specific expenses and those include caring for a relative at home, which is nice.)

Bitcoin income will count this year, back to 2014. (Is that crazy or is it just me?)

401(k) limits have gone up. If you’re under 50, you can contribute $18,000, an increase of $500. For those over 50, the limit went up $6000 to $23.000. Sometimes it’s good to be older.

The income brackets changed. Here’s a 22-page IRS link. Page 5 is the beginning of the bracket information.

IRA rollovers—only one per year.

Standard deductions up (I would hope so, don’t they always go up?), but not much. $100 for single and $200 for married filing jointly.

See the first link below for some odd deductions, in case you’re taking clarinet lessons to correct an overbite, or you give business gifts, or your doctor is treating you for weight loss.

Basic information from:

More information is also here, on myRA, foster care of relatives:

And, of course, here:

Disclaimer: I am not giving professional legal, tax, or accounting advice. The above are what have been helpful to me as a writer, filing taxes, looking at this as a formal tax professional.