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The Wordwitch: A Writer’s Life in Pictures – February & March 2019

Busy with work and writing-related tasks, I had to cut down on the amount of the Wordwitch pictures I draw, so the blog compilations might permanently turn to bimonthly or quarterly ones. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll enjoy another batch of pictures.

Best Laid Plans

I had all the things planned, including catching up with some of the things that were waiting for months, but it seems that February had other plans, and even the Procrastigoblin couldn’t come up with such twists.

Do you have a similar problem?

Tax Season

My mom tries to have a positive approach to taxes: if you’re paying them, it means you had some income.

But the worst side of taxes is the endless labyrinth of forms to be read and filled. It might be easy enough with a day job, but freelancing means a lot more of them. And while US forms are somewhat easy to fill and follow, the “fun” starts with some international ones…
And sometimes going through all of them (including digging out information from years ago that suddenly is relevant) feels like this.

Have you done your taxes yet? Is it easy enough or do you hate it every year?

Overcoming Obstacles

Sometimes we don’t know if we can overcome an obstacle until we actually try.

That week I battled the CSS monster as I worked on the new look for my website. There’s some work left to be done (especially on the mobile version), but I still celebrate my success: I don’t have any working knowledge of PHP, and my HTML knowledge is at best outdated, so being able to tackle a complex cascading style sheet was a challenge.

The one I thought I wasn’t up to, but I tried anyway, and can now be happy with the result.

Spring Equinox

Writer’s life isn’t all about writing. If you follow me on social media or read my blog posts, you might know that last year I grew pansies from seeds.

I’m not a gardener, but I really enjoyed having a pot full of colors on my balcony, so this year I started another batch.

Since I’m not exactly following the guidelines of keeping them indoors for a while, fingers crossed they’ll actually grow despite cooler weather!


If you’d like to be up to date with this series, you can head over to my Facebook Page every Tuesday or check Twitter for #thewordwitch hashtag. You can also browse other posts from the series.

Joanna Maciejewska

Joanna Maciejewska is a fantasy and science fiction author who enjoys all things SFF: books, movies, and video games. Her short stories appeared in magazines and anthologies in Polish and in English. Her epic fantasy adventure series, starting with By the Pact, is available in ebook and paperback at all major retailers.

This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. sjhigbee

    I really love your pictures! While I don’t yet have the trial of coping with international tax forms, I do have both PAYE and self employment income which I hate doing. Your fabulous picture just about sums up all that misery… As for the CSS – nope. I’m the wrong generation – I simply don’t have the necessary mindset, given that I didn’t own my first computer until my mid-30s. But I do watch your battles with open-mouthed admiration…

    1. Melfka

      Thank you, Sara. I struggle with the international stuff because of Europe’s VAT – as a non-EU resident I am exempted, but – well – I need to prove my residency, and for some countries it’s not enough to receive a form from the US revenue – they need their local forms filled and confirmed… It’s doable, but it is a headache.
      As for CSS – I was almost in the wrong generation, but my parents got us a PC soon after they became available in Poland (I was 13 or 14), so I managed to catch that technology wave… Yet, compared to others, I barely know anything.

      1. sjhigbee

        Yes… I suppose we always look at our own sum of our knowledge and think we know scarcely anything. I’m STILL awed at your knowhow!

        1. Melfka

          Thank you! Anything I can learn that can be useful – I’ll try to learn. Inq’s broadening my perspectives on philosophy and on workings of engines and gas.

          1. sjhigbee

            What a fascinating juxtaposition:).

          2. Melfka

            He’s a man of many talents and has broad experience and knowledge. I can also learn from him about gas industry (pressure control, valves, procedures, etc.) and art (anatomy, shading, tricks in Photoshop). The list could go on 🙂

          3. sjhigbee

            I, too, have a really clever man in my life – it’s a boon, isn’t it?

  2. sjhigbee

    My favourite is the Procrastination drawing about what happens to our writing targets – you have NAILED it! And even as I laugh, I also feel a lessening of tension – someone else out there knows exactly what I’m going through. And that’s important, given that no one I actually know is quite where I am, right now… Thank you, Joanna:)

    1. Melfka

      I’ve somewhat came to terms with unexpected work and assignments destroying my plans, but it’s still annoying when it happens. But I’m glad that at least the drawing gave you some comfort 🙂

      1. sjhigbee

        Huge amount of comfort, given that many of my plans have also been destroyed!

        1. Melfka

          Oh no! I hope you had better March.

          1. sjhigbee

            Yes… March is better, thank you, Joanna:)). Hoping that April continues with the improvement…

          2. Melfka

            Fingers crossed it’s only upwards from now on!

          3. sjhigbee

            Thank you! I’m fervently hoping so, too…

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