How is it that bureaucracy can hold up well intended hope? Apparently my cousin has been contacted by Customs in Japan stating that they need to pay tax on the items we've donated because I ticked 'gift' on the customs form! I probably should have ticked 'other' but assumed, for all intents and purposes, that our donation was a gift! What sort of crazy place expects people who have been hit by a disaster to fork out tax for donations????
Our trusty courier people will be onto this I'm sure, but I just wanted to blog about it in case anyone else has good intentions of donating items to stricken zones internationally. Make sure you clearly label it as a donation!
On the elated side of things, I've been doing a short story writing course (it was somewhat neglected over the past month), in an effort to keep the writing dream afloat. My tutor was so thrilled with my last assignment, she's suggested I submit it to a magazine. I'm feeling a bit shy about it all - a bit scared of getting my creative, vulnerable inner-child a bit crushed (there's a long history to this which I'll share some time!).
So what do you think - should I just take the plunge or should I build up my confidence more...?
2 comments:
Good on you for following your dreams - if your not sure about publishing - why don't you ask a few trusted ( and honest)friends to read your piece and then if you feel good about the feedback you get consider submitting it for publication?
Take the plunge. They can only say no. And with your tutor on board I'm guessing that even if you hear a 'no' from the first magazine, you will come across a 'yes' somewhere else!
Post a Comment