Get a free story when you subscribe

Author, Editor, Media Tie-In Writer

Gratitude

I have a lot to be thankful for in my life and I try to remind myself on a daily basis of it. I have all the basics covered: food, shelter, health. I have the husband of my desires, the career of my dreams, the home that is becoming a castle complete with gargoyles. I have a pays-the-bills job that has saved my bacon on more occasions than I care to admit. I have a pride of fuzzy butts who are pains in the butt but oh-so-cute and bring me so much joy. Yes, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

Recently I’ve been thinking about all of the things that have gone wrong in my life that have brought me to the right place.

Losing my ROTC scholarship made me come back home and get a job in CA. That job led me to a QA career that ended me up in a company that got bought out. The company that bought us out moved me up to the Seattle area and had me meet the best and worse bosses of my QA career. Losing my best boss allowed me to say yes to his D&D where I met the man who would become my husband. Losing my best boss also gave me the courage to leap off a cliff and dive into a writing career. Having an emergency with my first cat led me to a pays-the-bills job that I adore.

These are just the big examples of things going wrong that put me where I needed be. Recently I read a pithy comment that struck me: “When things fall apart, maybe they’re just falling into place.” It’s a silly phase, a platitude to make people feel better. At the same time, I can identify with it.

It’s just something to think about. Sometimes failures and disasters can lead to great things.

Also, on the NaNoWriMo front, my second NaNo story has been accepted by its target market. So, here’s where my personal NaNo stands right now.  4 of 8 stories written. 2 of those 4 stories have been sold. The 3rd is off to market early because it’s way over word count and the editors need to read it and determine if it is good enough to make an exception over the word count.

“An Infestation of Adverts” – sold to Blue Shift Magazine.
“Sandcastle Sacrifices” – sold to The Guide to the Village by the Sea.
“The Bathory Clinic Deal” – under consideration by the Future Embodied anthology editors.
The Nellus Academy Incident, part 16 – Done.
The Nellus Academy Incident, part 17 – In progress.

Meet Jennifer Brozek

Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of Never Let Me Sleep and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her YA tie-in novels, BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident and Shadowrun: Auditions, have both won Scribe Awards. Her editing work has earned her nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Hugo Award. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology, co-edited with Amanda Pillar. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, Well World, and Predator.

Jennifer has been a full-time freelance author and editor for over seventeen years, and she has never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to teach writing classes and volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com or her social media accounts on LinkTree.

Browse the archives

You may also like...

Here’s where I’m going to be for Chicon 7 / Worldcon 2012. If not here, I’ll be around, in the bar, and hanging out. If you want to hang out, email or text me. Sometimes, Twitter does get to me as well.   Fri Aug 31 10:30:am Fri Aug 31 12:00:pm The Ghosts Talisman: A Fumetti in Four Parts Buckingham Author Jennifer Brozek and photographer Amber talk about the creation of the photographic novel from script and casting to shooting and layout. Amber Clark Jennifer Brozek   Sat Sep 1 10:30:am Sat Sep 1 12:00:pm Creating Exciting Anthologies Crystal C We’re in a golden age of science fiction and fantasy anthologies with clever new ideas coming out monthly from major and minor publishers. But where do they come from? How do editors interest publishers and writers in their ideas? How do you make the hard decisions between great stories and...

scroll-horizontal

I am a duck right now. Smooth and serene on the top and paddling like mad underneath. It’s been a busy six weeks since I blogged—for good reason. It’s that whole you only see 10% of the iceberg thing. First, there was Origins Game Fair. It was a good convention where I was a dealer and a panelist. Plus, I had many meetings where new projects were planned out. It’s one of my favorite things to do—meeting up with my editors and authors face-to-face. Unfortunately, long work conventions are exhausting. Also, we came home with an unwanted guest: Covid. Despite masking and air purifiers and hand washing/sanitizers, I caught Covid. I’m not sure exactly where or when, but by Sunday evening of the convention, I felt like hell—which means I had to have been contagious for 1-3 days. Be it an errant button press or a handshake and then forgetting...

scroll-horizontal