Jennifer Brozek's Blog, page 71

Dreams Come True

Back in 2005, I made a decision. By 2006 I had figured out how to make my decision a reality. I wanted to be a published writer. My immediate goals were to first, get my short stories published, and second, become an accepted RPG author. My long term goal was to be published by a major publishing house like DAW or Tor. At the time, I had no thoughts at all about editing professionally or winning awards.

Shows you how well I knew myself and the industry.

By 2007, I was writing regularly for RPGs and selling my short stories to small press. I also was working on my first anthology. In 2009, I won my first editing award. In 2010, I won my first writing award. It is now 2011 and I have won another writing award and authored several RPG books on my own.

The only thing missing was being published by a major house. Until now. 5 years after I quit my fulltime job, I finally have my mass market sales and publications. Both are to DAW. The first was the Human for a Day anthology. The second is a short story in the new Valdemar anthology, Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar.

As I hold these two mass market paperbacks, it is proof that if you work hard enough, dreams do come true. When I started, I knew nothing and nobody. Now, as I am about to turn 41 on December 9th, I have reached my long term goal; that thing I set out to do. Not only that, I got to write in one of my favorite fantasy universes with one of my favorite authors as the editor. The thought is humbling and emotional. Holding and petting my books is emotional. Dreams come true. MY dreams come true.

Of course, now that I'm a little older and a little wiser, I know that making your dreams come through is a never ending thing. Now that I've reached this first long term goal, I need to aspire to new heights. And I am. My new goal is to get a novel published by a major house. Not just a novel—a series. That's what I am striving for next.

But, in the meantime, I can smile and cry tears of joy and pet my DAW books. I made my dreams come true. Happy early birthday to me!

Christmas Letter

If you would like a Christmas letter from me and Jeff, please include your address below. Comments screened.

It's not easy but it is worth it

In a serendipitous moment, Seanan wrote about something I've been thinking a lot about lately: the concept that "Easy is for Other People" in regards to writing. The essay is worth the read. The tl;dr version can be summed up as: Having a story idea is easy. Everything else is hard.

Writing is not easy for me. It never has been. But I love it all the same. If a story comes too easy, I look at it with a suspicious eye and wonder what I've missed. I know there are logical plot holes and dangling threads that must be fixed. Not to mention dropped words, mucked up grammar, and spelling errors.

I did not want to be writer growing up. I wanted to be an astronaut, a singer, a musician and a firefighter—that I can remember. Writing wasn't that important. Reading was. But I do have a talent for writing. I know that. Like all talents, it needs to be honed and that takes work. Writing is the one thing in my life that I have scraped and scrimped and beaten my head against a wall for. It rejects me time and again and I keep coming back for more.

Writing is not easy but it is who I am. It is the one thing I have wanted enough in my life to do the work that the talent requires.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately because the editor on the Battletech web series has requested some specific world changes that will require serious rewrites. These are not outlandish edit requests and are perfectly doable… but they are not easy. However, the whole time I'm quietly whining to myself about it, another part of my brain is already cataloging where all the rewrites need to be done to make the background change seamless throughout the story.

There are days when I want to give up the whole mess for a lark. Go back to playing my games and skip the writing altogether. Because writing is hard. But I know I would not be happy. I would never be happy without my writing. Looking back, all of my hobbies have included writing whether or not they needed it.

I needed it.

It's why I keep accepting the freelance offers as they come by and stack my schedule with my own writing. The only thing that really changes is the type of writing I do. Sometimes short form. Sometimes long form. Right now, I'm shifting back into long form writing because I want to see where it will take me. Last I time I did this was 2006… and my long form writing gave me a career as a freelance author. Who knows where it will take me this time?

It may not be easy, but it is worth it.

NaNoWriMo Advice over the holidays

I had two articles out about NaNoWriMo this last week.

NaNoWrimo Week 4: A Talk With Jennifer Brozek by Tracy S. Morris - http://tracysmorris.com/?p=1568

NaNoWriMo tip #23 from Jennifer Brozek: DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING - http://writersrainbow.blogspot.com/2011/11/nanowrimo-tip-23-from-jennifer-brozek.html

Just keep writing and have a great holiday weekend!

The State of Me

I've been emailing with an old college currently stationed in Kandahar and he wanted to know what was up with me. Since I know his internet time is limited, I figured he had not heard the latest news that has happened in the last month or so. I rounded it up for him and then looked at the doom and gloom list and had to laugh a little. I rewrote the email and put it into my perspective. This is what I told him:

Well, things haven't been the best but I'm making do. Still got all the necessities and that's what counts.

You know how TV shows about people making it big always talk about the dark time just before that? That's what I feel like I'm going through now. Only, things aren't THAT dark.

- I'm losing my pays the bills job next year because we didn't get extra funding. But the boss is stretching it out as far as he can.

- I lost my book contract with the game company because the acquisitions editor left. But, I still have two other contracts I'm working on and I have a novella coming out soon.

- Just discovered I have a hiatal hernia which is one of the reasons my lap band stopped working and I'm suffering from reflux (medicated) and near constant low level nausea. It'll take surgery to fix it but Jeff has damn good insurance.

There's a lot of disappointment and uncertainty in the air right now.

On the other hand, I just finished the draft of a YA novel. I'm writing on a Battletech web series. I have a contract for another Colonial Gothic PDF setting. I have the nascent outline for a new YA series. And, after a talk with Jeff, we've decided that I'm going to be writing for me next year.

So, it's not all bad.

~Jenn

Really, that last bit is the best way I can state it. I've been disappointed a lot lately but it's not all bad. I still have my husband, home, cats and, overall, my health. All I can do is look to myself, smile, and get back to work.

Local Seattle: Writing Group?

I'm thinking about starting a writing group that meets twice monthly midweek at Lake Forest Third Place Commons. If you are interested, would you please comment or email me? Thanks.

New publication...

The origin story for my weird west "Mowry" series called "The Man, the Priest, the Gun" has just been released in Tales of the Talisman magazine, Volume 7, Issue 2.

In the autumn issue of Tales of the Talisman, Jennifer Brozek takes us to the Old West where a young man travels to a church seeking sanctuary after gunning down his sister's rapist. There he finds God's vengeance made manifest.

http://talesofthetalisman.com/

And in excellent timing...

Looky here - seanan_mcguire and the Edge of Propinquity got a mention on SRN: the Signal - http://srnthesignal.tumblr.com - Please take a listen.

The Edge of Propinquity - Issue 71

Issue 71: November 2011
Welcome to issue 71 of the Edge of Propinquity. This is the penultimate issue of the magazine. As winter moves in, all anyone can do is take a stand against the storms. So, too, do our stories take their stands. This month, we have storms weathered, discoveries made, a choice for death, a choice for life, and the breaking of a heart.

Credencium - Full Circle - by Kaolin Fire AKA kaolinfire
Flotsam - Fimbulwinter - by Peter M. Ball AKA petermball
Idolwood - Birth, Breath, Life, Death - by Ivan Ewert AKA ivan23
The Ones Who Call - In Winter's Grasp - By Alina Pete
Guest Story - You Know What Hunts You - By Jay Lake AKA jaylake

Have you ever looked over the edge and seen something looking back at you?

Sincerely,
Jennifer Brozek
Editor, The Edge of Propinquity
http://www.edgeofpropinquity.net/default.asp

NaNoWriMo, Part 2

Much to my surprise, I am fully done with my first complete draft of IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE. I finished it in 13 days, completing NaNoWriMo in 11. The last two days were used to comb the manuscript for obvious errors and to fill out the placeholder scenes.

This is first time I wrote a book targeted at teen readers and the first book I wrote with a first person perspective. It feels good. Really good. So now, I'm going to put it away for at least 2-3 months while I work on something else. Then, I will print it out and go over it with a red pen away from a computer. After that edit, it will be off to my 1st Round Reader's group.

I really hope they like it as much as I do. It's the kind of sci-fi horror book I wanted to read growing up. It's scary. The main character has to get over herself and fight for her life. It's a little outlandish but that's the fun part. And, in the end, despite her problems, the main character saves herself and the world.

Here are my stats:

Nov 8: 4720 / 35,025
Nov 9: 5090 / 40,115
Nov 10: 6055 / 46,170
Nov 11: 3837 / 50,007
Nov 12: 548 / 50,555
Nov 13: 695 / 51,250

Next up, back to Battletech. I got the go ahead on the rest of the story.