Don't get me wrong here, your disability is however severe that it is, I am merely proceeding from the perspective of the SSA, and they turn down people every day with dire disabling conditions, they don't care in the least how tough it may be for you, they only care about what they can prove or demonstrate.

If you are under fifty years of age you must almost always establish a less then sedentary RFC, but other factors are also considered, especially education and professional occupations. Thats what that VE will be there for, he will take your skill sets and then convert them into other occupations that you can do, whether you feel you can or not being completely irrelevant, often such VE presented occupations don't even exist at all, no matter, if he says you can do them then you are now saddled with them.

As to your contract, thats up to you, but if I was able to secure such an opportunity I know which way I would be leaning.

Based on the posts in this thread, it seems that ALJ's need to be asking everyone if they have an unsigned contract for payment for work sitting on the desk at home waiting for the outcome of the disability hearing.

I think withholding pertinent information is also committing fraud.

Everyone here is speculating about how this will be treated by SSA. I don't think it is possible to know it advance. Using all your creative juices in a marathon writing session in a month may or may not mean that you can do that every day from then on. Obviously you didn't do it before that one session. There are plenty of one-hit wonders out there.

I think the ALJ should be told. You will have to report it at some point since there will be a paper trail and if someone decides to look back at your ALJ decision, it could be discovered that you were less than credible.

If you have an attorney, you should take his or her advice, since he or she knows the totality of your case.

If his claim be true, he must disclose it to the ALJ, and once an ALJ hears of that deed he is not very likely going to be paying his claim! One other thing, its not just about a one time creative juices event, or penning a book, its about "transferable skills!" Thats the whole idea behind the VE sitting in on these hearings.

Well, I'd sign the check and take the money and disclose it, who knows how long the SSDI process will take. A bird in the hand so to speak..

I'm sure there's some way to calculate it all somewhere on the forms or paperwork, many freelancers & contractors have sporadic income also.

Congratulations and hope you can write another book, and keep up those successes..

I find the comments in this thread strange. As if some have a vested interest in my not acquiring SSI. That is your right; perhaps we have different politics/morals/values/beliefs...

Here is what I do know:

I served my country's military earning two purple hearts and spent nine months in a cage as an enemy of the state in the former Soviet Union. I could have gotten disability then but didn't cause I was too young, too tough and too proud.

Though the nightmares and PTSD lost me many a nights sleep, I never called in sick to work but showed up every day and did my job.

I've had two heart attacks at work and finished my shift both times before driving myself to the hospital and getting a stint put in.

Never took a dime of the government though I qualified many times for food stamps, unemployment, etc.

I'm sick now. I can't work. I know this to be true. Yes, I did what I said and had my wife (a physical and massage therapist) there every step of the way working my body so I could continue working this book.

Should I have? Heck no. And don't tell my doctor I did it either or he'll kick my butt and unfortunately, for the first time in my life, I know I won't win that fight. I push myself; it's part of my makeup and, it'll be the cause of my death I'm sure - cause I don't always do what the doctor tells me to. I'm stubborn.

It took a lot for me to come to grips with the fact that I can't take care of my family any longer. And if you're American's, then I'm saddened that I can't take care of you folks any longer too. But to form an opinion that I shouldn't get disability because I am able to push myself beyond good sense or doctors orders is, in my opinion, unfair.

I hope you didn't take my post as being against your application for SSDI..

I meant go ahead and take the book money, you did earn it.. just state it as income in the proper section of the SSDI paperwork.
Perhaps some assistance will be needed to get it all figured out, but I'm sure they know how to fill out income like that correctly.

That money will help carry you though while waiting on the decision process.

Unless changing the paperwork at this stage will mess things up for you?


What is your book about?
Did you type, or handwrite it, or use voice recognition software?

The point I wanted to make is that no one here can really predict how this will impact the disability decision. Again, I think a valid argument can be made that since you had never written a book before, actually making some money for a one-time effort is not definitive proof that you can do this on a sustained basis. So it would require the totality of evidence for someone to make a decision and the only person whose opinion matters is the ALJ.

Have you also applied for service connected disability benefits with the VA?

I don't intend to minimize the effects of your POW experience, but if you still managed to drag yourself to work every day and do the job you were paid to do, SSA would not have found you disabled back then. Some people are more stoic than others, have stronger mental fortitude than others. We all handle adversity differently. I commend you for pushing through as long as you did and thank your for your service to our country.

I too am curious about this book, but you probably shouldn't tell us anything more until after your disability hearing. This is not the time or place.

Not at all...in fact, I wrote that before I saw your post. (There were only six minutes difference between our posts - I was typing and I don't type so fast.)

I dictated most of the book; my wife did the typing for me. Soo....I guess we can call that voice recognition software eh? Every so often we would take a break but then I'd get an idea I couldn't wait on and I'd type it out - but repetitive motion of any sort wears me out quickly and so I'm only good for a page or so.

That is the concern. It seems as if I sneeze there is a complete stop and a three month investigation over what the sneeze meant.

I think I'm going to take Janke's advice on this at this point.

Whole thread has a lot of useful & helpful info.

Look, we all have a story, the painful reality is that the SSA really doesn't care, what they do care about is whether by their current standards you are able to work! You must understand, if you are under age fifty, in most instances you must prove that you are capable of less then sedentary work restriction, some circumstances allow for different allowances, either for or against! They turn down the claims of very ill people all the time, doctors are routinely discouraged, even horrified by the denial of their patients disability claims, thinking them no-brainers, when in fact they aren't!

It doesn't matter what we say or think here, in this medium, what matters is what is in your medical files, and whats in your work history. Most people applying for SSDI are low income, semi-skilled or less workers, those that are professional and educated beyond high school to include college and or grad school will find that they have a tough road ahead of them due to the nature of the systems reliance on the testimony of the VE!

It is my opinion that if you are in the position of having to confirm to an ALJ that yes, I wrote a novel last month, and then signed a contract in which I was advanced a substantial sum of money, that your credibility will be virtually nil in the mind of the ALJ as you submit a claim in which you are declaring complete, total disability, a less then sedentary RFC which translates as unable to even answer phones, keeping in mind that the vast bulk of this man/woman's face time with disability claimants is with those who are DoT classified "unskilled labor!"