My Last Name as an Author Identifier

[jennifer_brozek]

As my writing and editing career grows, I continue to enjoy my "firsts"—first story bought before written, first GoH position held, first fan mail, first hate mail, etc—and I hope my notice and love of them never wanes. The further along in my publishing career I get, the more interesting and esoteric these "firsts" are. I think that is what makes them so interesting to me.

This latest one came from Chris Fletcher, editor of M-Brane SF magazine. He was talking on Twitter about how the September issue was a little female author light but he thought the female authors were the heavy hitters for the upcoming issues. (That compliment pleased me to no end.) But, someone must have asked who the female authors were and he said:

"We'll have Brozek in M-BRANE SF 20. Wait till u see what she's concocted."

This is the first time that just my last name has been used to reference me online (that I know of) outside of a review or article. It struck me a little odd. Then I realized that I did it all the time, referencing my favorite authors by their last names alone and expecting people to know exactly who I was talking about because their names were unusual enough. Gaiman, Bujold and Lackey all come to mind.

Suddenly, I was dead chuffed. "Yep, M-Brane SF got Brozek for issue 20," I murmured to myself. I liked the way it sounded. It means it won't be long before someone starts using my name (last or first and last) as an adjective. I cannot wait to read or hear someone say something like, "I got a Brozek story for my anthology" or "Of course it's dark. It's a [Jennifer] Brozek anthology."

Ah, it is the little things in my writing career that make me happy.

Comments

[mikandra.livejournal.com]

LOL. Are there any other Jennifer Brozeks in the world?

Actually....

[jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com]

A couple years back another "Jennifer Brozek" emailed me. She was an English major in college, planning to be a professional author. She, too, was surprised to find that the www.jenniferbrozek.com URL was taken--by an author--not less. She concluded her email by talking about how she was going to need to use a pen name and how unexpected it was.

[shiningmoon.livejournal.com]

That's pretty darn cool. :D

[bondo-ba.livejournal.com]

It's the little things that give us the strength to keep moving forward, I guess. Plus, it helps that you have a memorable last name!

[kvtaylor.livejournal.com]

You know it's weird--I noticed that he did that too, and I actually had the same thought. Since our association has been through anthologies I considered the "Brozek Anthology" thing. Thought it was pretty damn awesome :D

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I already think of your name as a brand. I read that too and was super excited to see it.

[mariadkins.livejournal.com]

Me too. Very happy. :) full of wootness. :)

[a-r-williams.livejournal.com]

Good going, Brozek! :)

I am curious though. What does GoH mean?

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

GoH is Guest of Honor, typically used at conventions.

[jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com]

Yes. I was a GoH (Toastmaster) at BayCon 2009. I love being a GoH. It's pretty awesome.

Note: Convention organizers, I am available as a GoH for your con, too. :)

[a-r-williams.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[fullcontactmuse.livejournal.com]

That is all sorts of awesome! Good for you!

[mariadkins.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons I told Preston that if we ever do get married I'm going to continue using Mari Adkins as my writing name - that's what everybody knows me as. Besides, it should put me on the shelves ahead of VC Andrews. :snort:

[eyezofwolf.livejournal.com]

That's pretty cool! Congratulations!

[seductionjunkie.livejournal.com]

So I must be missing something, do you use your maiden name as your author name? Or did I somehow end up in an alternate universe?...I kid you not, I'm suddenly actually worried that I'm not in my reality anymore.

[jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com]

Yes. My maiden name is my author name. That's what I started out writing under and that is what I will continue writing under until a large publishing house pays me lots of money to write under a different name. :)

[seductionjunkie.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay then :P Thanks for resetting my sanity :P

[jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com]

What, did you think I had not gotten married in this alternate dimension? Or gotten a quickie divorce?

[seductionjunkie.livejournal.com]

Well, honestly, I was expecting you to not even know who I was, or to have ever met Jeff :P
It's been that kind of day.

[jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's some kind of day.

[seductionjunkie.livejournal.com]

I'm sure part of it was that I couldn't stop my mind from running through story ideas..