October 2024 Summary
Jennifer Brozek
Hello everyone, Glitter Minion here.
Jenn is getting ready for more traveling! She’ll be at Can*Con in Ottawa, Ontario, on November 1-3, as Editor Guest of Honour (respecting Canadian spelling). Then, on November 23, it’s off to the Written in the Northwest Bookfair on November 23 as the Spotlight Media Tie-in Author.
When not on panels, at events, or signing books, she’ll be hard at work since, despite all this travel, everything still has to get done—especially with stories flowing in for new Shadowrun in-world magazine, Augment, and that pesky deadline for Shadowun: Imre Gray.
Keep the words flowing and the work streaming along by treating Jenn to a cup of coffee (as she is made of caffeine), and keep your eye out for many more incoming announcements!
What's up from Jennifer:
Reminder: This Googlegroup will go away as of 1 Feb 2025.
After that reminder, please sign up for my new MailerLite newsletter. You’ll note this version came out a little early because of travel. The MailerLite version will come out on Nov 1 (if all goes well) and it will contain secrets. Secrets that my MailerLite subscribers get first. If you sign up before the 1st, you’ll get to see the first secret…It’s a good one!
I’ve been hard at work on Augment magazine, and have turned in my 25th anthology - Shadowrun: Through the Decades. It will be out soon and it is so good. I’m so pleased with it. I can’t wait to show you the cover. Shadowrun: Imre Grey is in the works. Just slowly right now.
After my November trip is a period of no travel for a while, and I’m glad for it. I have a lot of things taking up my attention. I hope you are having a wonderful spooky / harvest season so far.
Publishing Tip of the Month:
Today’s publishing tip is all about writing when you just don’t want to. I’m talking about this because I’m experiencing it—just like I have before and will do so again. This is different than writer’s block. This is the “don’t wanna’s.” It happens for many reasons: stress, a more attractive distraction, overwhelming malaise about the publishing industry in general. That sort of thing.
As a full-time author/editor, I don’t have the privilege of just “not doing.” So, I’ve come up with some stop-gaps, workarounds, and brute force techniques to get through it. One (or more) of them may work for you.
First, recognize you are having the “don’t wanna’s.” That’s important. It may manifest as a bad mood, irritation at the world existing, or another wild emotion. Probe the “don’t wanna” like you’re probing a sore tooth—with curiosity and care. Why don’t you wanna? Are you tired? Are you afraid (that you can’t write, that you can’t write this book, that you’re not good enough)? Is your subconscious nattering on about a plot hole you haven’t noticed? Are you stressed about something else?
Once you determine (or don’t) why you have the “don’t wanna’s” you can choose what to do next:
1. Do nothing. You don’t work that day. You take a day off. It’s okay. Rest. Refresh the well. Just try to use the 2-day rule. You don’t “not write” 2 days in a row. Did you skip writing yesterday? Okay. Today you write. Even if you have the “don’t wanna’s”. (Or make it a 3-day rule. Whatever works for you.)
2. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Then you write for the entire 15 minutes. If you need to jot down a couple of things you want to write about, do so. But all you have to do is write for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, you are done. If you want, you can leave yourself a note of what to write about next. Future you will thank you. (But, if you want to keep going, do so. Overcoming inertia is the hardest part.)
3. Instead of a timer, set a specific word count. For me, it is 500 words. That’s 2-3 paragraphs the way I write. Maybe your minimum word count is 250. You do you, Boo. It all adds up. 500 words a day will give you an 85,000 word manuscript in less than 6 months. After you hit your word count, you’re done (if you want to be) and, as always, be kind to your future self and give them a hint of where to go next.
Conventions/Classes
Conventions/Events
2024
Can-Con (November) - Editor GoH
Written in the Northwest Bookfair (November) - Spotlight Media Tie-in Author
Classes
Jennifer and the Cat Rambo Academy for Wayward Writer Classes.
You can find all the information from this one link. Spots and scholarships are available.
http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/faculty-jennifer-brozek/
No classes are scheduled for the rest of 2024 outside of conventions.
Bubble & Squeek
You probably all know who I am, but still, I’d like to offer general gentle reminders of who I am.
I have a new story coming out in Multiverse of Mystery: A Holmes and Watson Anthology from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers! I can’t wait for you to read my take on the legendary detective—more details to come!
Do you love Shadowrun? Would you like to write for it? My open call for original fiction for our official in-world Shadowrun magazine, “Augment your life with Augment Magazine,” is still open. Submission guidelines here.
I was Book 101 podcast’s October Author of the month! Check out those interviews and multiple other videos featuring me and my works in this new YouTube playlist! (One video is from 17 years ago!)
New story alert! Coming in March 25, 2025, I’ll have a story (co-written with Samatha Chalker, Jack’s daughter) in Permutations: A Well World Anthology, edited by David Boop.
I’m accepting donations for my Little Free Library.
Written by the Glitter Minion.
Edited and approved by Jennifer.
Thank you for reading.
Recent Releases
Shadowrun: Magic, Machines, and Mayhem
IT'S A WILD, WILD, WILD SIXTH WORLD…
There are a million stories in the dark, gritty world of Shadowrun, and this all-new volume brings sixteen of the best together for an in-depth look at this dark future of megacorps and the street warriors fighting against them.
Featuring established authors as well as brand-new voices, each tale is a vicious slice of life in the Sixth World. An injured street samurai whose call to DocWagon turns into the opportunity of a lifetime…if he can just live to collect it. A street-smart runner team confronts their most dangerous mission yet—hiding out in an isolated rural town. A corporate executive squares off against a ruthless vice-president in their own megacorp in a razor-sharp battle of wits and words. This collection also features stories about top runners such as Winterhawk, and a brand-new story featuring Wolf and Raven.
From the highest floors of a megacorp's global headquarters to the darkest streets of the dirtiest sprawl, every story here delivers that unique mix of magic, machines, and mayhem Shadowrun fans demand.
WHEN HOME BECOMES A PRISON...
Fixer BlotterBabe has been around longer than most people realize. Long enough to have built herself a secure home in a protected park reserve. She greased all the right wheels, paid off all the right people, forged all the correct documents, hid all the tracks of her passing, created the perfect security systems inside and out. She planned for every contingency—except one.
The need to escape from her own home.
After realizing her sanctuary has been discovered, BlotterBabe brought just the right people to the right place to help her flee from her gilded cage with everything she holds dear—but she is too late. Now she has to escape the underground complex she spent decades building.
The enemies are inside the perimeter. They have control of the security systems. Spinrad Global will stop at nothing to keep her a prisoner in her gilded cage.
BlotterBabe and her friends must risk everything for her freedom—including their lives.
99 Fleeting Fantasies Anthology
EVEN A DREAM CAN BE CAUGHT IN PROSE…
There’s nothing better than a moment of whimsy and a dash of the fantastical to get the mind wandering. 99 Fleeting Fantasies is a flash fiction anthology readers can tiptoe through for a bit of wonder or while away an afternoon as they meander from old-time tales to far-flung fables to serious snippets of legend and lore that come from all over the world, including Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, and the United States. Featuring stories from the imaginative minds of Cat Rambo, Charles Stross, Crystal Frasier, Jody Lynn Nye, Jonathan Maberry, Premee Mohamed, Seanan McGuire, Wole Talabi, and many more!
FOUR SECRET AUDITIONS…
Fixer BlotterBabe must have exactly the right actors for a production that requires very specialized talent. The actors must not only be skilled, they need to have the right attitude and an ability to adapt to extraordinary circumstances.
A Kiss to Die For: Kintsugi and Sartorial choose love over duty, but their respective families will do everything in their considerable power to stop them from being together.
See How She Runs: Terrapin witnesses a murder and is handed a package destined for some important and lethal people. Now she is running for her life.
Unrepairable: Landon and Liana love vexing megacorps for fun and profit with their Matrix show. Unfortunately, the megacorps always play dirty, and will do whatever’s required to shut them down for good.
The Kilimanjaro Run: Charlotte, Neema, and Elijah embark on an unexpected adventure that turns into a nightmare when they discover nothing is what it seems. They are left with no choice at all when choosing between the abhorrent and the right thing to do.
FOR THE MOST DANGEROUS RUN OF ALL…
Having auditioned thousands, BlotterBabe is out of time. It’s come down to these few teenagers. Either they will save the day or lose it all…