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There are some things you never want to hear or have to ask. Things like, “Why is there so much water on the floor?” two days in a row. Water mysteries are one of those things I do not wait on. In my circle of friends, we have a group of handy people and general contractors that we recommend to each other.
Jaepeth Richards of RichCo LLC is one such person. I called him. He came over the next day. While it is a joy to see a competent person at work, I kinda wish it didn’t have to be at my house. He figured out the problem within 3 minutes of walking in. “Sudden catastrophic waterline break.” There’s water damage in the floor, the cabinets, the drywall, even the crawlspace.
Within 45 minutes, we had 4 people, 4 fans, and 1 dehumidifier in my kitchen, with the mitigator manager on the way. Within 3 hours, there was a plan to mitigate, an insurance claim number, a claims adjuster assigned, and a plan on how to deal with what will be at least 5 weeks of stuff.
I have a Shadowrun novel due in about 5 weeks. Frag me running sideways. I did get 1100 words in despite everything.
Demo day is Monday the 16th. We are moving as much of the kitchen to the garage as we can. Except for the tea kettle and my coffee. That stays inside for everyone’s sake. I have no idea how much of the kitchen will need to be replaced and how much of it will be paid for by insurance.
But I get a new kitchen. So, yay? But now I have to think about what I want verses what we can afford after the insurance kicks in.
I just read the waterline break mitigation estimate. It’s almost 5 figures. That doesn’t include replacing anything. I am going to have a friggin’ heart attack.
Oh man. This is going to be a tough month. Well, at least we caught it before a literal cesspool under the house. You can read about the Sewage Saga here if you like.
This, too, will pass. In the meantime, May I recommend you buy one of my books? Please? Or maybe buy me a ko-fi? I’m gonna need the caffeine.
Ever since I declared 2026 to be a year of comfort reading, I have been gorging myself on the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. I’ve been reading so much that my reading glasses are making my ears sore. I’m not sorry. Not in the least.
I’m currently on book six, Ashes of Honor, and I’m starting to slow down a little. To savor more than gulp the words. I’ve needed this way of unplugging for a while. Picking up books I’d put down did not relax me like rereading old books has.
There is a certain sense of joy in the familiarity of the work mixed with the joy of rediscovery of forgotten details. It’s been long enough that I only remember bits and pieces of stuff and the end result. So, I know what’s going to happen, I just don’t remember how we get there. It’s the best of both worlds.
This means that I’m not looking for the big mystery. My mind is not trying to solve the problem of what happened and whodunit. My mind can relax and enjoy the small details the author put into their work. To know what is to come and compare it to what is happening on the page. To really see character arcs and relationship arcs as they happen and recognize them for what they are.
It’s like taking a walk from home to the store. The first time you do it, you’re more interested in getting to the place and not getting lost. You don’t really see details. Just big changes/turns. By the third or fourth time you take that walk, you know where you’re going so you have the bandwidth to notice the wildflowers along the road and to greet the dog that always barks at you. To notice the subtle decorations on the red door that you keep passing or, if you walk by at the same day/time, the habits of those along the walk.
Comfort reading lets your brain relax and just go along for the ride. I think that’s needed in today’s society of hyper-stimulation. At least, I know I need it. This was a good goal for me. So, I’ll be over there with my nose in a book and a smile on my face.
At the end of 2025, I burned out hard. I took 10 days off before my body and mind forced me to take a rest (this latter is always the worse option). Honestly, I could use another couple of weeks of doing nothing. Not going to happen. However, I do feel a lot better, calmer, and more ready to face the work world again.
So, 2026. I don’t do resolutions. I haven’t for years. I usually don’t do yearly themes. I’ve never needed them. But, I think this year, I do. My theme for 2026 is “Be present for yourself.” I spent a lot of the last couple of years working for/looking out for other people. I’ve made attempts to keep myself in mind, but *I* was always the easiest ball to drop when things got hectic. My writing goals, my physical goals, my wants/wishes/needs.
I’ve got to figure out how to stop putting myself last. It’s getting me in trouble. My novel, Shadowrun: Imre Grey, isn’t done and it should be. I’m barely holding onto my diet goals, and my movement goals are down to squats and wall pushups in-between other things. Thus, I guess that means I need to actually, physically, schedule movement into my week.
The other thing I am going to do is plan in quarters this year. I’ve been doing this for a long time in my head, but not on paper. This time, in order to be more present in my own life, I need to stop looking so far ahead that I can’t see the deadlines in front of my face.
1st Quarter (Jan-Feb-Mar). In addition to keeping my CGL lines running, I have two main projects:
2nd Quarter (Apr-May-Jun). In addition to keeping my CGL lines running, I have a single project focus:
I will worry about the 3rd and 4th quarters when I get there. Especially since convention season really starts in June.
* * *
On the Homefront, I have three new specific desires this year: Daily Journal, Comfort Reading, and Tranquil Thursdays.
That’s the plan for 2026: Quarterly project goals and showing up for myself more. As always, I will keep track of my metrics. (If you would like a copy of my blank 2026 Freelancer Summary document, contact me. I will send it to you.)
Shall we start with the numbers?
* * *
Thoughts about the Numbers…
(TL;DR: I did a lot more than I thought I did, and a lot less than I wanted to do.)
I did so much more editing and managing of fiction than I did writing it. As you see, I didn’t even finish a novel in 2025. On the other hand, I created a whole year’s worth of a magazine, managing/editing 14 authors, 5 fact checkers, and a slush pile just for it. That, in and of itself, is worthy. On top of it, I solicited, read for, curated, and edited three Shadowrun short fiction lines (Novella, FF, and GTM). That included so much overhead.
On one hand, it was a lot of work and I don’t really want to do it again. On the other hand, all of these Shadowrun fiction lines have a long tail and 80% of the hard work of them is already done. Now that I have them up and running, all I have to do is keep the ball rolling.
As for writing. I did get 5 new short stories written and sold them all. I’m in the throws of my third Colors Quartet Shadowrun novel, Imre Grey, after its released date got pushed from 2025 to 2026. Am I disappointed? A little. But not enough to castigate myself over it.
It’s taken me a lot of freelancing years to understand that I am not the sum of my output.
Decluttering: I’d say we got about 2/3rds of the way through the Declutter project list box. We’re still working on it, pulling a project out of the box each week. Mostly. Between my schedule and the Husband’s graduate school, we’ve had some “amnesty weeks” where life took precedence. So, it will continue on.
The Year of the Unfinished Book: In 2025, I read 33 books.
One Day Off the Internet a Week: By-and-large, I stuck to this. Boy, did I ever need that time away from the computer/work. This is one of those habits that will stick. I’ve got a new one I want to start but that’s a blog post for next year.
Tis the season! Whamageddon is upon us.
And should you fall…
We shall die and dine together…
Remember, this is all in good fun. Don’t be a jerk, and don’t yuck on someone else’s yum.
Last week, while the Husband and I walked around the neighborhood, a flash of red against black and white caught my eye. It was so unusual that I had to stop and get a better look at the bird. It turned out to be a woodpecker. Not just any woodpecke
r… It was a “Woody the Woodpecker” kind of woodpecker.
I had never seen this type of bird in the wild before and I was thrilled. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered new-to-me wildlife. This was so unexpected. Of course, I could not remember what kind of woodpecker it was. Thus, when I got home, I googled it.
Normally, I use udm14.com. I don’t like AI in my searches. I find UDM14 to be a lot cleaner and more correct. I forgot this time. What popped up for me when I asked Google?
A northern flicker (See below).
Once again, AI reared its ugly head and was wrong. Now, I know what a northern flicker looks like, and it does not look like Woody the Woodpecker. But, if I hadn’t already known, I could’ve walked away with incorrect information and been none the wiser.
Look, in certain circumstances, the pattern recognition of a LLMs is amazing. Especially in medical fields, and I imagine, in programming. However, you need to have a good foundation of knowledge before you can trust whatever AI comes up with.
As it stands now, in everyday life, AI is a travesty. Too many times, it is wrong—as in it guessed wrong. There’s no hallucinating going on. It would not get a passing grade in school. Yet, people trust its answers all the time. I wish to goodness AI was actually trustworthy. It’s not.
BTW, the correct answer is: Woody the Woodpecker is based on the Pileated Woodpecker.
I guess this is your old woman yells at clouds moment for the day.
Two years ago, I contacted Rem from Rem Alternis and asked her if we could meet at Gen Con to talk about having her company run the Kickstarter for a passion project I wanted to create. We met. We agreed to everything. And ran the Kickstarter in March of 2024. It funded and as of July 27, 2025, that Kickstarter is over, done, and things involving it mailed/fulfilled.
Dear Penpal, Belgium 1980 was quite the endeavor—telling a MG horror story over a year in 24 physical letters. Yep. If I’m gonna do a Kickstarter, let’s do it on Hard Mode. Next time, if there is one, I’ll do something easy like a novella series. I don’t regret doing Dear Penpal, but I won’t do it this way again.
Here’s some fun facts the Husband put together for the celebration party. I thought they were too good not to share.
So, the final question that has been asked of me… “Will there be any more Dear Penpal stories?”
The answer is maybe. I’ve got an idea for a series of novellas around it. 3-4 more in the series, jumping years in-between each one. Each one would still be in letters. Probably 2 each month, but put together as a novella. This is a nascent idea, kicking around the different places I’ve moved to and interesting things that could’ve happened to fictional Jennifer who can see ghosts: Pennsylvania 1984 (teen), California 1989 (senior in HS), Oregon 1992 (college), Washington 2004 (adult).
Yeah. Maybe. If the idea still calls to me next year, I might chase it down. We’ll see.
Every year, author Greg Wilson AKA Arvan Eleron runs a charity stream on his twitch channel to support the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Here’s a quick Bluesky thread about ArvCon from Greg. Our goal this year is to raise $5000 for them.
While ArvCon run all Memorial Day weekend, I will be streaming with my Eberron crew all day on Sunday, May 25, from 9am to 5pm Pacific. If you donate on Sunday, we get the credit. Of course, we are competing against the other games on the ArvanEleron channel. Of course, any donation in the channel’s name is a good one.
This year, I am gifting two tuckerizations in the donators’ raffle on Sunday, May 25th, that will be going on during the weekend stream. Tuckerization: I use a name you give me in a story.
This year, I have two different aquatic-themed anthologies I’m writing for. One is about pirates. One is about water based monsters. I decided to write one story from two different perspectives: The pirates’ POV (“More than Blood in the Water”) and one from the monster’s POV (“On Risks and Rewards”). You can be named for one of the pirates or one of the deep ones. Male or female. Don’t expect to make it out alive, and remember, I only kill those I like.
Logline: A pirate ship fishing for food after being lost for weeks, accidentally catches a young deep one hybrid. When they reveal themselves (shifting from aquatic form to human form) to be the child of someone important, the pirates attempt to do what pirates do in such a situation: demand a ransom for the hybrid’s release.
This is my third or fourth (fifth?) year I have participated in ArvCon. The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation is worth your time, money, and attention.
Here’s the numbers. We all love numbers so much.
Thoughts about the numbers:
I don’t really have a lot to say about the metrics for this year. I’m fine with them. They’re respectable for a full time publishing professional. With the Shadowrun magazine coming out next year and being an editor-at-large for CGL, my editing numbers will not be going down. That does cut into the writing schedule. But I’ve got my plans for next year—which I will talk about in the next blog. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of my cats.
I hope you have had a very good holiday season!
Tuesday, Dec 3rd, was the equivalent of emotionally speedrunning my life. I do not approve nor do I recommend. It was one of those days that even my editor would look at and say, “Isn’t that a bit much? Maybe spread those events out over the novel instead of a day.”
Bad: Mena stopped eating and drinking on Monday. She was still hiding on Tuesday morning. The Husband and I had already decided she needed to go to the vet. Mena loves her treats.
Good: My cat lover advent calendar and the Husband got me froofy coffee. (Little things count.)
Good: Our 2x a month housekeeper arrived!
Bad: Our housekeeper noticed our refrigerator suddenly wasn’t working. Through investigation, 8 outlets in the kitchen and family room weren’t working. This is something that happened years ago. Got fixed. Broke again.
Good: Plugged the refrigerator into a different plug and it worked. No spoiled food.
Bad: Had to find an electrician.
Good: Not only found an electrician, they were able to come out on the same day, AND were able to fix the issue.
Bad: That was $$$ money we didn’t expect to spend (but that’s what emergency funds are for).
Good: Started a new D&D game at the house. Session 0. Figuring everything out.
Bad: Vet called. Mena has feline pancreatitis. No cure, some mitigation. Caught it early. Mena was kept overnight for more observation. We will see what we need to do when we pick her up today. (Good things: It had nothing to do with the anxiety drugs Mena got put on because of the kittens nor was it due to the arrival of the kittens. This would’ve happened no matter what.)
Good: I sold a little short story I love to a new pro-paying market. This is a short story that has been rejected 20+ times. I’m so glad it found a home.
Other things happened that weren’t big enough to make the list. Also, several of my friends are going through rough times. I know I’m not the only one having a hell of a week (and it’s only Wednesday). Sometimes life is like that. I just wish it wouldn’t involve my cats. Mena is only 12. She’s sweet and silly and doesn’t deserve the pain she’s in 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 multiple Hugo Awards. 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.
