A schedule for the next few months, pandemic nonwithstanding
One upside of working from home is that even a global pandemic doesn’t interrupt your schedule much…that said, I hope everyone is washing their hands properly! If you aren’t immunocompromised, consider leaving masks and alcohol wipes for those who most need them. For clients interested in booking me over the next few months: I’m closed to new projects through March 20, and then will briefly open. Because of a major project scheduled ahead of time, I will not be editing...
Read MoreRelease Day
Three collections of revised and reprinted short fiction are out today! John Kosichev and Other Heroes: Stories of Resistance In small ways and large, ordinary people and extraordinary ones defy the regimes that would crush them. Available on Amazon and wider distributors through Draft2Digital – and in paperback! The Astrologer’s Telling: Stories of Worlds Ending and the Cost of Survival What would you be willing to sacrifice to go on? And when going on becomes impossible, what choices...
Read MoreNew Story Collections: Heroes, Apocalypse, Loyalty and Betrayal
Embarrassment is a poor motivation for writing, so I won’t be ashamed about how little readers have seen of me over the past few years. I haven’t been wasting my time – I’ve edited dozens of amazing novels, helped to plan two Waukesha County Sustainability Fairs, and found out this online dating thing might be all it’s cracked up to be (even if it means off-line interactions require an hour-long drive. I’m taking audiobook recommendations, by the way!). All...
Read MoreBefore Editing: A Recommended Reading List
Part of being an editor is noticing patterns—the motion of a character arc, the raveling of a resolution, or the fact that the past five paragraphs have all started with the same word. Here’s another pattern: I’ve been recommending certain articles and books to almost every client I work with, year after year. So why not share them here once and for all? These 12 short articles and 6 books delve into the writing techniques I comment on most frequently. Many of them formed the core of my own...
Read MoreWelcome 2018! (What I read in 2017 and where you can find me this year)
During the fresh, can-do spirit of the beginning of a new year, it seems like a good time to have another swing at writing for this blog! As I expected last year, blogging hasn’t been my biggest priority, though I’m glad I was able to get some book reviews and publication announcements in last year. So what HAVE I been doing? Fair question! Two big things, mostly: reading, and being paid for reading. (That is, copyediting. And also writing, of course!) 2017 was the first year I...
Read MoreHeroic Fantasy Author Q&A, Bonus
Flame Tree Publishing has posted the second part of its Q&A with the authors of the stories in Heroic Fantasy. This time, we talk about our writing and editing methods and recommend some of our favorite reads in the genre. Take a look and something might inspire you! Though each author answered both questions, method and favorite stories, only one of our answers could be shared because of space constraints. So here’s my favorite heroic fantasy: When I was writing my first...
Read MoreHeroic Fantasy Author Q&A
Flame Tree Publishing’s gorgeous hardcover Heroic Fantasy anthology will be released July 31st. As the date approaches, contributors are sharing the inspirations behind our stories at the Flame Tree blog. From writing challenges to a love of H.P. Lovecraft and Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog to pure stubbornness because someone said you should never do something, it’s a interesting peak under the hood. Previews of the book are available in Flame Tree’s store. Heroic...
Read MoreA Checklist to Start Publishing Short Fiction
This post originally went live on Fictionvale in 2014 and was reprinted in Short Story Writer Magazine. Unfortunately, Fictionvale has since closed and the article is no longer available online. I’m taking the opportunity to repost it while I’m moving to my new apartment and have less time available to blog. While it’s focused on writing short fiction, the advice may also be helpful to novelists, article writers, artists, and anyone curious about how publishing works on the...
Read MoreLiving with Imposter Syndrome
This post originally went live on Fictionvale in 2014. Unfortunately, Fictionvale has since closed and the article is no longer available online. I’m taking the opportunity to repost it while I’m moving to my new apartment and have less available to blog. If you’re currently battling a bout of imposter syndrome, I hope it proves timely. This is a piece to read not when you’re fleeing constructive criticism, but when no feedback, not even positive feedback, feels...
Read More2017 already!? (On second thought, thank goodness)
It is with considerable chagrin that I realize I haven’t published a new blog post since March of 2016 (though it is with some pleasure that I work the word “chagrin” into a sentence). 2016 was not the most productive of years, and that’s the kindest thing that can be said for it. My feelings toward it are not kindly and it was not at all kind. I lost my father unexpectedly, under difficult circumstances, at the end of September, and in November I lost another good...
Read MoreAbout Therese
Therese Arkenberg's first short story was accepted for publication on January 2, 2008, and her second acceptance came a few hours later. Since then they haven't always been in such a rush, yet her work appears in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and the anthology Sword & Sorceress XXIV. Aqua Vitae, her science fiction novella, was released by WolfSinger Publications in December 2011.
She works as a freelance editor and writer in Wisconsin, where she returned after a brief but unforgettable time in Washington, D.C. When she isn't reading, writing, or editing (it's true!) she serves on the board of the Plowshare Center of Waukesha, which works for social, economic, and environmental justice.