Today we’d like to introduce you to Judith Brenner
Hi Judith, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In high school I dreamed of owning my own magazine. At the time, I was thinking: gardening or bridal fashion, or the likes of Redbook. However, once I achieved owning a trade publication, it became so normal for me to write about odd topics few people talk about, I never celebrated this achievement. I only discussed it with my readers and advertisers.Today, Sharpeners-Report.com offers five educational books which help small businesses learn about all things sharp and how they got that way. That is, how they could make money sharpening tools. I also started my own editing business under Creative Lakes Media, LLC. I love helping authors convey their non-fiction prose as powerful stories that are entertaining and informative. To date, I’ve edited books on managing grief, on meeting planning, on wilderness excursions, memoirs on being bipolar, how to start a scissor sharpening business, and my latest editing project, “PickleNomics,” about life strategies off and on pickleball courts. I long dreamed of being a novelist, and that finally came true in 2022 while in my fifties. I postponed this goal because I believe I had some living to do before I could put a hardship story together conveying hope and courage. I could not write a mother’s story until I became a mother myself.
The Teenage Years
Pursuing writing as a career starts with encouragement by an English teacher after I win a Chicago public school essay contest. This means I’ll be a first-generation student of a family that has no savings dedicated to such an endeavor. Working part-time and self-paying for night classes with the help of student loans leads to a degree from Columbia College. The discipline of long days gets me through a tough period when my childhood home is in chaos. My mother is a polio survivor who also suffers from alcoholism. In a hot-tempered environment with no patience for banging typewriters or quiet spaces to write, my goal is to make a better life for myself. Long Chicago bus rides from the southwest side to downtown and back afford time to read non-fiction books about alcoholism as a disease, and time to study writing craft. I read Stephen King, Virginia Wolff, Scott F. Fitzgerald and Russian classics. I read Jeffrey Archer’s, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, and know I wanted to write about the intrigue of business, and avoid being swindled.
I take a pay cut to gain my first dream job as a journalist with Fairchild Publications, owned by Capital Cities/ABC Inc. on State Street. Our Chicago news bureau is in the same building as the Oprah Winfrey TV show, so our New York editors offer us writers a seat in the studio of Oprah’s talk-show audience during the holiday season. Witnessing producers work behind the scenes looks fun. When I leave Chicago for Minneapolis, I quickly learned televisions station here pay little. Coaxing producers to feature an employer is more rewarding in ego and pay.
The Career Journey in Minnesota
I job-hop, but never turn down an assignment. Upon moving to the Twin Cities, I sit at a desk inside the KQRS radio station among ad reps until the Chicago news bureau can replace me. Until then, I continue to write about steel exports and imports for American Metal Market, or oil and gas topics for Energy User News. Soon, I venture into health care. I write about recycling waste inside hospitals while maintaining infection control–which turns into a national book success for the Minnesota Hospital Association. Only I don’t own the copyright, so MHA makes the extra revenue, not me. Yet this national attention gives me practice at public speaking. Next, a dream job comes my way. Public relations for a hospital has me calling on local TV stations, pitching the latest cancer treatment or new birthing center. I glow with triumph each time a medical story airs on the six o’clock news. Global travel is on my radar, and a chance to work for Satellite Industries gains passport stamps from Belgium to Bangkok. The product? Portable toilets! Wise-cracks about pumper trucks, or calculating how many toilets to rent at the Olympics, when the Pope visits the US, or how many to build for FEMA during a hurricane, pile up.
It’s time to one-up my business writing skills. I earn an MBA in Marketing from St. Thomas University, and while I think my brain will melt studying statistics, business marketing is my sweet spot for the future. I gain a job at a Fortune 500 as the International PR specialist, and write about global marine insurance. Other writers ask me to edit their news releases. Then, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center towers explode. While answering media calls about property insurance claims after a terror attack, there is a ping in my heart to rush home and stay there. While I love global travel and translating our corporate news into many languages for foreign journalists, staying home with my baby is calling to me. I’m scared to choose. I know I can’t be a “super mom.” I can hardly tear myself away from my desk to the lactation lounge, but once my baby is in my arms, I have to force myself to go back to the work desk. I’m not doing either perfectly. I want to be perfect. This way of thinking is flawed.
A year later, I leave the corporate world for full-time motherhood. Writing an essay about the transition helps me cope with a new identity, which feels terrifying. Will I fail my children? No. Can I avoid the addictive, abusive cycles I witnessed as a child? Yes. Will I refrain from throwing wooden spoons? Yes. Avoid day-drinking? Yes. Yes. Yes.
While my girls choose picture books at the library to check out, I have my arms full of parenting books, and enroll in early childhood education classes. I relent in tears of frustration, despite being armed with information, and visit a therapist to help me handle my toddler’s tantrums. Why won’t she wear shoes in winter? The answer comes to me from many fronts. Talk in a soft voice. Breathe. For a decade, I practice. Daily. It works. My journal is full of triumphs and failures, but everyone is safe and happy, growing inside and out. No bruises. Only time-outs and joyful recollections. No fear. No drama. No chaos for my girls.
In 2011, I launch Brenner Editorial Services under my new company, Creative Lakes Media, LLC. Balancing work and home life again, and fitting in travel when one can, feels so right. It requires careful planning and focus on each. I continuously aim to show my daughters they can pursue their dreams and not give up their identity or their values. Being happy depends on that. Giving myself permission to take a detour makes sense. Courage to create change requires faith in a higher power. Editing books and articles for others is a perfect fit, and meeting talented writers along the way is incredibly satisfying.
Once I find my groove, I take classes at The Loft Literary Center while the girls are at school. The decade spent on motherhood includes noodling the idea for a novel inspired by my grandmother’s life. She was a domestic violence survivor who raised a disabled child. My grandmother is my hero, and her story needs to be told. Thanks to friends in the writing community, I gain valuable second and third draft feedback, and put forth a product that is worthy of being published. In 2022, The Moments Between Dreams hits the market and later, wins four awards. My “book baby” is global, available in all formats in the US in 95 libraries, Canada, the UK, Australia and other markets. The hopeful and courageous story is fiction but inspired by true events in history.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Most of my struggles came during the launch of my freelance business. Fear is a road blocker for anyone. Taking that first step without spousal support was the most challenging. Yet I knew from the strength of my very own mother, that despite her challenges from being paralyzed by polio, she learned to walk again. She did not let her limp get in her way and tried most every activity a walking adult can pursue, even riding a bicycle. So when I slipped too deep into a caregiving role, caring for the alcoholics in my life, I became codependent and a people-pleaser. Doing anything for myself felt selfish. Society likes to label people, and I felt I was labeled only as a mother or caregiver. Yet I am multi-dimensional. I had a goal to be an author and editor of books. I knew in my heart I could make a difference. My sword is my pen.
I leaned on friends for inspiration, and wrote many published essays after more classes at The Loft. Then I researched how to set up an LLC with the Secretary of State and pushed forward. I didn’t realize I was competitive in nature until my spouse pursued his MBA. I thought, if he can do that, so will I. Pursing a masters degree was tough for me. I had a liberal arts education, so finance topics are challenging. That education as a writer gave me backbone, and more self-confidence. This edged me ahead with courage to launch my own business, despite the fury from my spouse who became annoyed with this idea. I began devoting more time to my dreams. I started writing my novel, in between my work on trade publication. It was a tough decision to say to myself, “I am worthy. I can do this. I want to be able to support my daughters and be their role model as a working mother, but on my terms.” Being home for my girls was of utmost importance. Yet not giving up who I am as a writer had to be balanced with motherhood.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Writing a novel is a hefty endeavor. It took me five years, and I suspect my next book will be similar in time journey. I am proud that my book, “The Moments Between Dreams, a Novel” won four awards, three in the US and one in the UK.
I love that storytelling is a chance to influence a reader. The Moments Between Dreams is the story is of a mother whose dreams are dashed by her husband’s need for control. Despite impossible circumstances, Carol plans a secret escape from a cycle of violence and gender discrimination. The novel takes place in Chicago during the 1940s-50s, with WWII and the polio epidemic as a backdrop.
Bookclubs love this novel, and delve into the issues of timely topics such as vaccines, domestic abuse, domestic violence, raising children with physical disability challenges, and more. The time period flashback pushes readers to know how these issues are relevant today.
I’m also proud of my LinkedIN testimonials by authors about my editing skills. Helping authors deliver their best book product is a joy. I edit memoir and non-fiction educational books that make the world a better place because these stories are out there and need to be told!
I also enjoy being on Boards that help others. I served on the International Saw & Knife Association Board when I wrote a trade newsletter, Sharpeners Report. I currently serve on the Palm Springs Writers Guild Board. Leading a monthly Twin Cities Women of Words professional group of writers is also a joy. Book coaching and editing are fun, but the most fun is reading. One must be well-read to be an excellent editor, writer and thinker!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Writing and reading will always be needed by humans. The big changes and threats relate to Artificial Intelligence (AI). That’s a topic too large for this interview, but it is safe to say that humans need to be aware of AI and how it impacts our daily lives as writers and discerning readers. Books generated by algorithms and stolen copyrighted material are not good for our society and repeat offensive or racist views.
Editing software, copyright infringement, the ability to copyright your work without the use of AI, are of these all critical issues changing the landscape of writing, editing and publishing.
There are huge shifts. YouTube and Facebook have wiped out small publishers who can’t make the finances work anymore since advertisers are leaving traditional media. While AI can make a writers’ life accomplish editing faster, or generate ideas or research faster, that may be good but it leaves out data that humans would have discovered on their own. Authentic work by humans will always be appreciated, and I hope will be detected with appreciation for the written word by real people.
Using AI in writing craft to produce a novel seems disingenuous to me at this time. It’s a hot issue with much debate. We all must tread carefully to ensure authentic work retains proper copyrights that are not infringed upon.
Pricing:
- Novel, The Moments Between Dreams, $17.95, sold wherever books are sold.
- BrennerEditorial.com. Editing fees start at $200.
- Ghostwriting fees start at $5000.
- Editing Services are priced by the word count. Call for estimates.
- Anthology books are available on my website, JudithFBrenner.com for various prices.
Contact Info:
- Website: JudithFBrenner.com and BrennerEditorial.com and Sharpeners-Report.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Judy_Paprock_Brenner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Judy.Paprock.Brenner/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judbrenner/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WriteEdit4U
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@judithfbrenn32
- Other: https://books2read.com/JBrenner
