Today, MoAA features author Jennifer Brozek!
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Alethea Kontis: What’s the best thing about writing?
Jennifer Brozek: The best thing about writing is that it’s the best temporary cure I know for whatever ails me. Angry, sad, in pain? All of that goes away when I’m in the writing zone. I love the fact that I can lose myself to the story I’m writing and focus in on it until nothing else matters. It’s my job and my joy.
AK: What’s the worst thing about writing?
JB: Despite it being my joy, sometimes writing is hard. Really hard. As it’s my job and I have deadlines, I can’t just decide not to write. I can’t blow my deadlines. Even if I don’t feel like writing, I need to put my butt in the chair and to write. Or if not that, to sit down and think about what needs to be written, how it needs to be structured, and if there’s any research I need to do.
AK: Finish this sentence: “Writing is like…”
JB: Writing is like a leisurely walk in the woods. You know the path you’re going to take. You’ve seen the forest before. You can rush through and know your way but you miss so much. But when you slow down, you discover so much more about the forest—the plants, the animals, the little walked paths. It’s the details of the leisurely walk that stand out… and good writing is all about the details in a forest we all already “know.”
AK: If you could write anywhere in the world, where would it be?
JB: I would love to have a cupola writing room on top of a castle tower on a bluff on the coast of Oregon.
AK: Pick five words to describe your latest work.
JB: Dark. Urban. Fantasy. Scary. Consequences.
AK: Pick five words to describe you.
JB: Detailed. Persistent. Watchful. Truthful. Kind.
AK: What’s your favorite type of tree?
JB: I really like big sprawling oak trees. Especially how they look in winter.
AK: What were you like in high school?
JB: I was your typical shy, nerdy, misfit, honor student. I played well with teachers and had a very small but good group of friends.
AK: If you could give one piece of advice (writing or otherwise), what would it be?
JB: Have goals and dreams. Stick to them. It’s one of the most important things I can say as an author, an editor, and a person. Goals will let you know where you are going. Dreams will tell you what you’ll strive for next as you met each goal.
AK: The Colin Harvey Memorial Question: What are 3 things you’d like to do before you die?
JB: 1. I want to visit New Zealand again.
2. I want to have a hot air balloon trip.
3. I want to live in a house by the ocean.
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Jennifer Brozek is an award winning editor, game designer, and author. She has been writing role-playing games and professionally publishing fiction since 2004. With the number of edited anthologies, fiction sales, RPG books, and non-fiction books under her belt, Jennifer is often considered a Renaissance woman, but she prefers to be known as a wordslinger and optimist. Read more about her at www.jenniferbrozek.com or follow her on Twitter at @JenniferBrozek.