June 2009

Oops. I Did It Again.
Poor Abstract Thoughts has been neglected again in favor of easier and quicker forms of social networking. I feel bad about that. But, when you are heads down on writing, it is hard to do anything else. So, here are other places to find me:

LiveJournal - http://jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com/ - this is my pro-LJ where a lot of my writing career information, announcements, appearances, etc… are posted. Plus, I often post advice for writers when a lesson smacks me in the face.

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/jennifer.brozek - you need to be a member of Facebook to see this page. It is an easy page to see short bits from me, my status, and copies of my LJ in the Notes and it has a chat function.

Twitter - http://twitter.com/jenniferbrozek - yes, I twitter. It has been a surprisingly successful networking tool for me as an author. It is possible that I will get a novel contract out of it and that makes me happy. Plus, I've hooked into a lot of other writing industry professionals.

So, what have I been doing for the last month or so? After I got back from being the Toastmistress at BayCon 2009, I got sick and I had to get the redline edits into my editor at White Wolf for my SAS project, Proverbial Monsters. That took a lot of time. The manuscript was a bloody mess and I got to learn firsthand a whole lot about formatting for an SAS project I didn't know before.

I was also interviewed by Crossed Genres magazine which took up a bit of time. I believe that will be posted in July. Also in early June, I made it to Crypticon Seattle 2009 to read with the Wily Writers group. This was my second reading ever but it went smoothly and I got to debut my audio CD collection of short stories – "The Tasty Collection" – yes, a bunch of other stories about things eating people.

Also somewhere in there, Rory and I sat down to finalize the GRANTS PASS anthology trailer. I'm very pleased with it and so is he. He does commissions, by the way, so let me know if you want his contact information. I also did some guest blogging on what it was like to edit an anthology.

After that, it was editing, prepping and publishing The Edge of Propinquity as well as doing a bunch of pays-the-bills writing. Basically, when I'm silent, I'm busy. I have time for Twitter and Facebook and occasionally LiveJournal but my poor journal gets neglected.

Currently, I am working on a new RPG project for Rogue Games, the new PDF setting Colonial Gothic: Plymouth Rock and two short stories for anthologies I've been invited to. Also, I have the GRANTS PASS anthology to publicize and the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE URBAN KIND anthology to collect stories for. I am a busy-busy author/editor lass.

There are some interesting things coming up in my writing future. On the table but by no means official (I don't consider anything official until I've seen the numbers and the contract), are two possible novel contracts from game and publishing companies. This is fascinating, intriguing and happy-making for me. I've always said that I would be content with 'only' RPG writing as long as novels were involved. Suddenly, that opportunity is very near and possible. I'm interested in seeing how that goes.

On the other hand, my writing schedule is booked out until September. After September, I have a novel to write. Originally, it was going to be my horror novel but it looks like it will be one of these game tie-in novels if all pans out. Part of me is sad about not getting work on the horror novel. Part of me it pleased as punch at the idea of a contracted novel. In any case, it appears that the latter part of the year will be a full out novel sprint.

That, and everything else, of course. My future is bright and I am happy with it.

Tying Up Loose Ends
So, I'm going in for surgery on July 10th. It is nothing big. In fact, it is elective. A tubal ligation. I am almost 40 years old, don't want kids and want to be off birth control hormones for several reasons – one of which is the fact that I'm on blood pressure medicine because of the birth control medicine. I want to be prescription medicine free. I want to not worry about children I do not want and my husband supports me and agrees with me in this.

It is a big step and will impact my writing schedule for a couple of days but I'm excited. I'm even more excited because of how well I've been treated for my decision by my OBGYN who is not my regular NP. The doctor performing this procedure wanted to meet for the consult. I was nervous about this because of the horror stories I've heard about such meetings where the doctors don't listen, imposed their religious views and generally are not helpful. My lass was great.

She did ask my husband if he had considered a vasectomy. As he said "No." I interrupted and said, "It wouldn't matter if he had one. I still want the procedure done on me." The doctor nodded and noted many couples do want both partners fixed. And she laughed at my use of the word "spawn" for my siblings having had children already.

So now, final consult on the 6th and surgery on the 10th and all will be well. I'm pretty excited about this. I've been considering this step for more than 5 years. It's time to get it done.

The next couple of weeks are all about my last (currently) project for Colonial Gothic. It is another PDF setting. This one is around the city of Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. I will focus on the history between 1620 and 1780 and write the bulk of it around 1775 or so. This PDF setting will be bigger than Elizabethtown was by 50%. Which means while I owe 15,000 words on it, I suspect I will end up closer to 16,500 words. But it will all be good stuff.

I've got two boxes of research from the publisher, Rogue Games, and my own research for this project. Colonial Gothic is the most research intensive RPG I have ever written for and I kind of like it. I'm learning (or relearning) all sorts of interesting things about where I used to live and this country.

There will probably be more Colonial Gothic projects for me in the future. I like working with them and they like working with me. We're already in tentative talks about what's next for CG and what they want. It's pretty exciting stuff if it comes through.

We are still going through the house and working on it. Cleaning up. It's nice to get everything put in a place and get rid of all the extra stuff. We'll be ramping up on that soon. I'm actually going to attack my dresser. I only use two of the six drawers right now. The rest is all storage and, frankly, 90% of it needs to go.