Taxes Can Be Fun!

Who says taxes can’t be fun? Take my fun Tax Test and see what you know – or don’t know – about federal income taxes!


1) In 1913, which state ratified the 16th Amendment which gave Congress the authority to effectuate an income tax system?

a. Wyoming.

b. Hawaii

c. The 16th Amendment was never properly ratified and the entire tax system
is illegal! We must ban together and revolt against such tyranny!


2) The highest individual income tax rate was:

a. 77% in 1918 to finance World War I

b. 94% in 1944 to finance World War II

c. 99% in 1981 to fund Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars Defense System, with over
half the funds used to purchase light sabers for the U.S. Army


3) The original name of the Internal Revenue Service was:

a. The War Finance Administration

b. The Bureau of Internal Revenue

c. Taxes Я Us


4) The heroine in Diane’s debut novel, to be released in September 2001, is:

a. funny and feisty

b. smart and sassy

c. all of the above


5) The hero in Diane’s debut novel is:

a. smart, sexy, and successful

b. yummy

c. all of the above



Correct answers: 1 – a, 2 - b, 3 - b, 4 - c, 5 - c

If you scored:

4 or 5 – Congratulations! You’re an honorary tax nerd!

2 or 3 – You’re not a tax nerd. Congratulations!

0 or 1 – You’ve had too many margaritas. Hand over the keys.


Fun stuff on the IRS website (in case you’ve got too much time on your hands):

The first personal income tax return form:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/1913.pdf

Tax maze:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/maze_adobe-7.pdf

Tax word search:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/word_search.pdf

Look for the first novel in Diane’s Death and Taxes series in September 2011 from St. Martin’s Press!

What I'm Thankful For

I know this post is a little early for Thanksgiving, but since I won’t be blogging again until next Friday, I thought I’d post my thankful list this week. So, this year I am thankful for:


1. My family.
They are the best. Seriously.  I could not ask for a more fun, more supportive, more loving bunch. The economy has touched everyone in my family this year, but even through the worst of times, we can get together and have a nice meal (even if it sometimes comes from the fast food taco stand… on sale… with a coupon), a nice glass of wine (Two-buck Chuck anyone?), and a good laugh.

2. My healthy, happy kids.
This past year my son had to have minor oral surgery. While the surgery itself was a very simple procedure, it did require several pre-procedure visits to the children’s hospital. Every time we went we would see kids in wheelchairs, kids who were sick, kids whose hair had fallen out from chemo. I felt so bad for those kids that it almost brought me - and my ten year old son! - to tears more than once. I felt extremely lucky that my son was there for something so minor. Healthy children is definitely not something I’m taking for granted this year.

3. My friends.
And, yes, this includes all of you. :) It’s been a stressful year around our house in many ways (Oh, Baby T, how I love thee!), but any time I felt overwhelmed I knew a pep talk from a good friend was just a phone call (or email) away. Through all the deadlines, I had wonderful writer friends cheering me on, pushing me forward, and kicking my butt when I felt like giving up. Throughout all the changes at my former publisher, and the challenges this presented, the Killers have been an amazing support group that I am eternally grateful for. Everyone should have as many good friends as I’ve had this year.

4. Work.
Deadlines have been, as I mentioned, crazy overwhelming.  Juggling writing for multiple publishers has been hectic, and learning the ins and outs of digital self-publishing has had a huge learning curve for me. But, I have work. Doing what I love, no less. I’m supporting my family with my passion. And that is truly something to be thankful for.

Anyone else have their list ready yet? What are you guys thankful for this year?

~Trigger Happy Halliday

P.S. Oh, and one more…

5. Whole Foods.com
Because without them, I would have no idea how to cook gluten-free stuffing (for The Man), mashed sweet potatoes (for Baby T), or be able to buy frozen organic burritos (for Big Boy, who is boycotting Thanksgiving altogether and insisting he will only eat Mexican food that day… tweens are so much fun…).

Under the Hood and Outta Luck

I'm a former trooper. And I know just enough about cars to be dangerous. With four cars in our family (none of them new) it seems like one is always in the garage. So, it wasn't that big of a deal when the water pump went out on my daughter's car. Even with daily medical appointments scheduled, I figured we could still make it work. What I didn't bank on was pulling out of my garage yesterday afternoon, putting my Jimmy in drive, and hearing an ominous cracking, popping sound followed by an ungodly vibration that almost loosened my fillings.

"This is not good," I said to my daughter. I slow-moed the vehicle to the repair shop two blocks away and popped the hood, and looked inside. Even for an amateur, I knew it wasn't good. Maybe it was the large crack in the plastic that covers the cooling fan that clued me in. Perhaps it was the fact that several fan blades were missing. Or the anti-freeze pooling beneath the car. Or it could be the 'oh geez' that came out of the mechanic's mouth when he walked over and looked in that told me I wasn't gonna be driving my Jimmy that day--or any time soon.

"Water pump," the mechanic said.

I pointed to the mayhem beneath my hood. "A water pump did that?"

He shrugged. "It happens."

With car number three away at college, that left only my other daughter's car. My brother (he's a saint, honest to god) picked us up and dropped us off at her work place. I grabbed the key to her car and ran to the car. And then I checked the gas tank.

"I've told you kids a thousand times not to let your fuel go below half a tank!" I railed to the daughter who didn't belong to the car. Which, of course, she pointed out.

I won't say I broke any traffic laws, but I will tell you I pulled into the medical center parking lot a mere three minutes after our designated appointment time.

And I get to do it all over again today. And tomorrow. And Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday.

And next Thursday? I'll be down on my knee giving thanks for a day without driving.

Have you had a day when everything seems to go wrong? What do you do to pull yourself out of a funk? Oh. And does anyone know of a good reliable 4 Wheel Drive vehicle for sale at a reasonable price? ;)

To you and yours, please have a super, safe, warm and wonderful Thanksgiving. And may you get over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house without needing AAA, a tow truck or Mr. Goodwrench.

~Bullet Hole~

So I Married a Demon Slayer...

Good morning! I'm just getting ready to sit down to write the ending to What Slays in Vegas. It's the story of the one demon that Lizzie didn't annihilate in The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers.

Whoops. You didn't know she missed one? Neither does Lizzie. But that's okay because Shiloh is only a half-succubus and she has plenty of problems without Lizzie and the biker witches on her tail.

It's been a really fun story to write. Last spring, an editor at Kensington approached and asked if I'd be interested in writing a novella for the So I Married a Demon Slayer anthology. Of course I said yes because who wouldn't want to write about demon slayers? I wanted to do something related to my Accidental Demon Slayer books, but not necessarily a direct tie, so Shiloh came into being.

The poor thing is under a terrible demon boss. Nobody respects her and she couldn't even get slayed the last time because she has too much good in her. Nevertheless, she's doing her best to channel her inner demon. In fact, she's helping to re-take Las Vegas for the succubi when she has a wild night with a guy who has a few secrets of his own. Their powers mesh in a bad way and she wakes up the next morning, married to a demon slayer. Talk about one heck of a hangover.

Now he won't give her an annulment (and a release of her powers) until she helps him take down her boss, who happens to be the demon ruler of Las Vegas. It's been a blast to write and I'm almost sad to think I might finish it today. It makes me want to go back to Las Vegas in a bad way, even if there are a few demons wandering around.

Off to write. Wish me luck. And watch out for those demons in Las Vegas.

I Wanna Run Away, Gotta Get Away...

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye

Do you ever want to run away? I do—and usually on a daily basis when I’m in deadline hell like I am right now.

Yesterday I was holed up in my office with the door closed writing a highly emotional love scene—much more emotion than sex, although there was definitely sex. I was deep in concentration mode. Do you think my friends and family would get the hint? I mean the freakin’ door was closed.

Not only did I have my family to contend with, but my neighbor and her two kids. And that’s only if we’re not counting the dog, the cat, and the fact that my husband chose yesterday to wash the windows. I know, I should be happy my husband decides of his own volition to wash windows. But really, does he have to do it while I’m writing? Then, my neighbor interrupted to ask if we could all have dinner together, I told her to talk to my husband. What did she do? She walked across my office, opened the damn window he was washing and began a three-way conversation.

In the time it took me to write the last two paragraphs, I’ve been interrupted twice—it’s a way of life for me. A kid, a husband, or a neighbor pokes their head in and I’m pulled out of my story so fast, I end up with mental whiplash. They think nothing of it, after all, they just had to ask you a simple question—it only took thirty seconds. In this case it was “What’s for dinner?” That jerked me away from my work and derailed my train of thought—either that or the dang train kept running along the track without me.

Anyone who has ever suffered from whiplash knows it takes a while to get back to what you were doing before the injury. Since I have so much experience with this, I thought I’d tell you how I handle it.

I do my best to get past the mad. I hate being interrupted. If you’re not bleeding from an arterial vein, then you should know to leave me alone when I’m working—especially when I’m on deadline. If you’re too dense, then you get to suffer the consequences—I yell. It’s a great way to vent frustration. If I sit and stew about it, it just takes me longer to get my writing hat back on and get down to business. I’d like to say that yelling keeps the interruptions from reoccurring, but that would be a lie.

I get up and do a few things. After all, the train’s either been derailed or way the heck down the tracks. Since I’ve already been interrupted, I might as well get something cold to drink, or a nice cup of coffee, and visit the rest room, (so I don’t have to do it later, thus pulling myself out of my writing again). On the way, tell everyone I see that I’m working, and would really appreciate them respecting my “don’t knock, don’t tell” policy.

I ask my husband to take care of dinner. He’s not the best cook in the world, but hey, as he always says, he hasn’t killed anyone yet.

I put on music. If everyone is home and I have Harry Potter blaring on the TV on one side of my office and a battle from Call of Duty in the room on the other, I listen to something that will drown both out. If I’m agitated, I try something soothing. Anything to keep that one part of my mind occupied so I can catch my train of thought—hopefully where I left off.

I turn off the email and my Internet. I’m distracted enough by things I can’t control. I don’t need to be distracted by things I do have control over. I just have to remind myself that I lived for a very long time without ever checking my email. I can live for a few hours before I check it again.

I only allow myself to re-read the last paragraph. I don’t know about you, but I love to read—even my own books. I will go back and reread the book instead of writing. I allow myself one paragraph, or if I really have no self-control, I’ll read from the beginning of the scene. That’s it. Read and get back to writing.

My husband just came home from work and interrupted me again. When he asked what I was doing, I read him the above. He laughed at me then told me it was a good thing I didn’t work in an office environment. He deals with the same problem every day and that I’m not so special. I didn’t get any poor baby’s from him.

I rolled my eyes and pulled the fiction-writer card. He shook his head. Nope, he writes code for computer programs—along with managing a department and all the perks and problems that go along with it. Getting pulled out of his work is a nightmare for him too. “So, what do you do to avoid that?” I asked. My dear, sweet, lovable husband told me that he makes sure his office is not conducive to conversation. He’s basically anti-social—at least at work. People really have to need him in order to have the guts to bother him. He went on to tell me that I’m just too social, too available, and well, there’s no reason not to bother me. “But I yell!” I said. He laughed, kissed me, and went off to start dinner. Told you the yelling isn’t a deterrent. At least I’m right about something.

So tell me, what do you do when you get interrupted from writing…or whatever it is that you’re usually doing? How do you get back into your work?

Fall Finally Arrives

Sorta. I mean fall in Texas, which includes at least one drowning thunderstorm and a temperature drop out of the 80s. Unfortunately, fall in Texas also signifies the time change which means every evening at about 6:30, I think it's 10:00 pm and time to go to bed.

In the past couple of weeks, I've received a rash of email from readers who are upset that they can't find my books anywhere. I updated my website to include an explanation, but for those that follow this blog, here's the skinny. My publisher is experiencing financial difficulties and copies of my books will no longer ship. Bookstores cannot get them unless they had some already in stock. You can still locate used copies on the Internet and I have heard from readers that some libraries did get a copy of SHOWDOWN IN MUDBUG, so check with your local library if you need to finish the Ghost-in-Law series.

Because of the situation, I have received all rights back to my books. While print publishing for a single individual is cost-prohibitive, I have made all the books available in digital download at amazon and bn and at significantly reduced prices. You do NOT have to own a digital reader to read a digital book as amazon and bn both offer free ereader software for your pc. It's small in memory requirements and will not honk up your other applications. I know digital reading is not optimum for everyone, and for that, I'm truly sorry. But this is the only way I can make the books available at an affordable price for you.

Gemma Halliday and Leslie Langtry also received rights back to books. Gemma has already posted her books for sale digitally and Leslie is working hard on the conversion right now. Other authors may be receiving their rights back as well, so more ebooks may be on the way.

And for those that haven't even tried an ereader, I suggest you take a look at one as the prices have really dropped and Christmas is approaching. (wink) I bought the first generation Sony reader years ago and upgraded to a Nook this year. I loved both. There's nothing like carrying 100 books in your purse to make an avid reader happy. Not to mention purchasing a book at midnight while sitting on your couch because you can't wait to see what happens next in a series. The readers are electronic paper which means they don't strain your eyes like a computer screen can and you can adjust the size of the print ( for those of us who, uhem, are getting a little older).

All the digital books have new covers as the publisher owns the originals, so things will definitely look different. As I am not a cover artist in the least, I can claim a bald spot and a depletion of Coors Light from working with Photoshop. :) Check out my author website for more information, the new covers and links to buy.

And thanks so much to all of the loyal readers who have supported us here at Killer Fiction. We appreciate you more than you'll ever know!

Deadly DeLeon

Why we write

Latley, I have been stuck under a deadline of the worst kind. I'm working on my first hardcover mystery novel, and it's hard. Hecka hard. First off the words "break out book" have been thrown around, which is exciting... and totally terrifying. It's also my first mystery that will not be shelved in romance, which means as I'm writing it I'm constantly worried that I'm putting too much romance in... wait, now it has not enough... hold on, is that too much again? Yeah, I'm second guessing all over the place. And this is also the first book for a new publisher, and I really, really want to make a good first impression. All of this adds to pressure which adds to me staring at a blank screen with the words "looming deadline" running through my head. Not the best way to pump out a stellar book.

A good friend of mine, who is also a writer on a deadline that's been messing with her muse as well, recently sent me a link to a blog post called "Comfort Reading". I almost never send people off this blog with links to other blogs, but this post really spoke to me. Suddenly my writing wasn’t about making a good impression or the percentage of romance vs. mystery. It was about the readers. Who am I writing for? Why? What do I want to say to them?


The post is by Toni McGee Causey and was originally printed on the Murder She Writes blog. You can (and I highly suggest!) read the entire thing here: http://www.murdershewrites.com/tag/comfort-reading/

Here's an excerpt of my favorite part:

"Somewhere, there is a man, sitting in a hospital room. His wife has cancer, and he’s been there, every day, before and after work. Except now, he can be there full-time, since he’s lost his job. He’s spent days seeking help, trying to find a way to keep her there, to make sure she has the care she needs, when all of his benefits are gone. He’s filled out more paperwork in this one week than he’s done in a lifetime, and only barely understands half of what they’ve told him, if that.


"He’ll try to get a second mortgage for the house. Sell off the second car, trade his in for something cheaper. The savings–such as it is, there’s not much with two kids–is gone. The retirement will go next, and that might last a month, at this rate. They don’t qualify yet for any sort of Medicare or help. His sister is at his house, boxing up stuff to sell. Doing it while the kids are at school, so they don’t see."


"He’ll slump down in the God-awful chair they have in the room, punching a pillow that one of the orderlies found for him, and he’ll crack open that favorite paperback he grabbed on his way out the house this morning. For a little while, he gets to be a hero. He gets to fight crime or solve problems, save the world or save the girl. For a little while, he gets to have hope.

"Write a story for him."




~Trigger Happy Halliday