GUEST POST
by J.S. Breukelaar
Keeping the day job even when it hates you.
I always knew I wanted to write, and I started at an early age. I was lucky to be able to write creatively as a job for many years when I was a copy writer and a reviewer. The decision to write fiction seriously and professionally was forced on me through what I thought at that time was a disaster, and which turned out to be the best thing for my career. The backdrop of that disaster, or collision of bad luck, was what partly inspired my novella, Like Ripples on a Blank Shore, included in Collision. I had a dream day job where I was basically paid to watch a ton of TV shows and movies and write about them. But in the back of my mind were a number of important relationships I was trying to make sense of—I ran into the sister of a friend I was once very close to, but lost touch with after her disastrous wedding. On top of this I was struggling to make sense of moving to a new city, and a new country.
I no longer have that job. Losing it after seven years seemed like the worse bad luck ever. For about eighteen months after that I didn’t work, and I was totally lost. Encouraged by my partner, I tried to write but nothing came out, nothing worth anything. I felt targeted by the universe for total oblivion. I felt invisible, like Celia in “Like Ripples,” othered like the Hosts, my bad luck a kind of horrible contagion. The change happened when I got a new day job. It gave me confidence. It gave my days a structure; it alleviated some financial stress; it got me out of my kids’ faces and reconnected me with my extended family of total strangers, who like any family, are both a blessing and a curse. And it gave me something to hate, or at least grumble about, apart from myself! I suddenly had stories again, and this was what convinced me to start sending them out. Bottom line, the dream of quitting the day job can easily turn into a nightmare. But what losing my dream day job taught me, is that it can’t and shouldn’t be everything.
Author: J.S. Breukelaar
Release Date: 2/19/19
Genre: Speculative Fiction, Horror, Weird, Fantasy, Scifi, Dystopian
Buy Links:
Book Depository - https://www.bookdepository.com/Collision-J-S-Breukelaar/9781946154170?ref=grid-view&qid=1550063645546&sr=1-1
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1946154172
B&N - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/collision-js-breukelaar/1128942076?ean=9781946154170
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41945987-collision
Synopsis:
A collection of twelve of J.S. Breukelaar's darkest, finest stories with four new works, including the uncanny new novella "Ripples on a Blank Shore." Introduction by award-winning author, Angela Slatter. Relish the gothic strangeness of "Union Falls," the alien horror of "Rogues Bay 3013," the heartbreaking dystopia of "Glow," the weird mythos of "Ava Rune," and others. This collection from the author of American Monster and the internationally acclaimed and Aurealis Award finalist, Aletheia, announces a new and powerful voice in fantastical fiction.
Author Bio:
J.S. Breukelaar is the author of the Aurealis-nominated novel Aletheia, and American Monster, a Wonderland Award finalist. She has published stories, poems and essays in publications such as Gamut, Black Static, Unnerving, Lightspeed, Lamplight and elsewhere. She is a columnist and regular instructor at LitReactor.com. California-born and New York raised, she currently lives in Sydney, Australia with her family. You can find her at www.thelivingsuitcase.com.
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