Looks like insomnia and I are close friends these days. Instead of lying in bed and wishing I was asleep, I thought I’d give you a “State of the Jenn” post.
Had surgery. Started to recover. Got sick. Not surprising after two surgeries and a convention within three months. Recovered from being sick just in time to go to Westercon. It was a quiet convention but a convention nonetheless. Thus, it killed my productivity in my already running late schedule.
Now that the convention has been over for ten days, I feel like I’m starting to catch up. This catching up on has been on “actually late” stuff and not “Jenn’s idea of a schedule running late” stuff. I’m still behind but things are getting better.
I know it is a lot of “shoulds” but that’s where I’m at right now. I know what I’m doing with my schedule and I’m working hard to keep my future plate ‘empty’ as things drop off. I do have things that I’ve agreed to do that haven’t dropped yet. So, they don’t count. Hopefully by November I’ll be working on the second book of the YA series.
Though, right now, I really could use a massage. My whole upper back is one giant mass of pain. My neck and shoulders hurt all the time. I can’t tell if it is stress or if I did something stupid to myself and just didn’t realize it at the time. I’m seriously looking at getting a massage. I wince at the projected cost of such an endeavor but I really do hurt.
On the home front, we finally have a company who not only has looked at the siding, they’ve given us a nice, low estimate, and have scheduled to start early next week! I’m so excited. This means the exterior painting can go on as planned for early August. I’m very excited. The things that make homeowners happy.
June 14th I had surgery. It was expected and everything is going according to plan.
I am recovering at a good rate for my age and health. Which is to say, like the last surgery, not fast enough for my wants. This time, I really have to take a full week off of working. Actually, 9 days off.
Several reasons for this. For the first 4 days, I was on medicine that gave me blurry vision. It also mucked with my coordination. So computer work (which is 98% of my work) was out. Also, the meds make me sleepy. Sleeping is good for healing. I’ve found myself back in bed several times a day for a rest. Also, my focus and attention span is shot. It has taken me about four times as long as normal to write this.
So, really, editing is right out. Writing, not very coherent either. I can manage twitter and FB but everything else is touch and go.
Ya’ll have no idea how hard this is on me. I have contracts waiting. I have an anthology to finish edits on, an anthology to start edits on, Battletech edits. Battletech writing. Gruntz writing. It is all hanging over me like a messed up freelancer’s Pen of Damocles.
And yet, I know it is better for me to “just rest” and “just heal” so when I do get back to work, it will be up to my normal good work. Thus, I am idle.
And the effort it has taken to write this post has proven to me that forced idleness is the best thing I can do for my career right now.
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.