I sometimes take an odd delight in imagining that I’m the only person in the world consuming a particular product of the media at that moment — say, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) or What Up, Dog?

So, I couldn’t help but wonder if, on a recent evening a mere two months after the 2006 tax-filing deadline, I was the only American — or even the only children’s writer — reading up on tax strategies. And not just reading up on them, but enjoying them.

Prompted by a review in the current SCBWI newsletter that pointed to exactly the sort of information I’d been looking for (deductions for conference expenses, research costs, etc.), I ordered a copy of Julian Block‘s Tax Tips for Small Businesses: Savvy Ways For Writers, Photographers, Artists And Other Freelancers To Trim Taxes To The Legal Minimum.

I haven’t gotten around to implementing the savvy ways yet, but at the very least I figure I’ve saved a considerable amount of time and/or money that I would have otherwise spent pulling together the information I needed while actively ignoring what I didn’t need to know but spent time and money on anyhow.

Then there’s that “enjoyable” part. It’s hard not to appreciate a tax expert who writes of the need to “keep the IRS computers in a calm, unagitated state.”