The Ada Initiative and ‘Citizen Editors’
It might be good for the world, though temporarily stressful for one’s marriage, to edit an anthology together, as Leonard and I discovered when we created and published our speculative fiction anthology Thoughtcrime Experiments together in 2009. Despite the risks, maybe you should become an editor. “Reader” and “writer” and “editor” are tags, not categories. If you love a subject, and you have some money and some time, you can haul under-appreciated work into wider...
Read MoreEditing Gift Cards!
They’re here! I’ve printed off this lovely bunch because I’m offering 10,000 words of line-by-line editing as an auction item at the Plowshare Center of Waukesha’s Fashionably Fair Trade fundraiser this September. But gift certificates are also available for any wordcount and any occasion–and can be delivered electronically as well as in hard copy. I can even custom design the gift card for you to print out or email them. If you’re lost on gift...
Read MoreIt’s Fair Trade Friday on this blog, too!
As a child, I was never especially distracted by the weather. Nice days were nice, but I could wait patiently until I got out of class to run around and soak up the sun.Not so much anymore. It helps that I’ve learned walking provides necessary fresh air, exercise, and rest for the wordsmith portion of my brain; it also helps that we’ve just made it through 3 months of snow coming in amounts and at times cruel and absurd enough to awaken anyone’s cynicism (I never got angry at...
Read MoreVeterans of Future Wars release
My short story “Ayema’s Fleet” has been reprinted in the Veterans of Future Wars anthology from Martinus Publishing. As with the Battlespace anthology “Ayema’s Fleet” first appeared in, VFW is for a good cause–10% of proceeds from the anthology go to Disabled American Veterans. I’ve done an interview with anthology editor Martin T. Ingham, which can be read here. And the anthology itself is available in print and ebook at Amazon.com and Barnes...
Read MoreBook Reviews: Hear No Evil, Citizen Science, and The Grey Star
A sort of rapid-fire round of book reviews this week, thanks to Christmas reading!1. Be the Change: Saving the World Through Citizen Science by Chanda Clarke Though short (33 PDF pages), this was very readable and informative–it’s designed to teach the principles of citizen science/crowdsourced science to people who have never heard of it before. Now, I’d heard the term before and had vaguely positive associations, but couldn’t explain it to you if you asked me....
Read MoreConflict-free, Fair Trade, and 3D Printed: How Consumer Electronics can be made Ethical and Ecofriendly
As a writer, I’m acutely aware that my chosen profession is not exactly eco-friendly. Many trees have died for my journals and publications–although a handful of books are now being printed on recycled plastic, making them both waterproof and a potential solution to overcrowded landfills–and it seems like even when I move away from hard copies poor planet earth can’t win. To say nothing of the conflict minerals that go into phones, computers, and other electronics. So I...
Read MoreIt’s Been a Grand Weekend
Especially for Whovians. Also those still mourning the passing of John Fitzgerald Kennedy–now that’s a morbid cosmic coincidence. And somewhere between joy and tragedy lie the Hobbit fans, with the Battle of Five Armies also falling on November 23rd (warning: may be spoilers through the wikia link). For me, it’s also been the culmination of several weeks of intense labor, interspersed with perhaps more procrastination than strictly speaking necessary. And also with my awesome...
Read MoreFair Trade Friday post at the Amani Blog!
From my posts this month, you might assume I had done nothing but read and review books. You wouldn’t be far wrong. One of my internships has wrapped up, but I’m keeping up with the second–a part-time arrangement with the Fair Trade store Amani DC–for some outside the house occupation during my job search. The status of my job search can best be described as “pending.” To be honest, after the crisis in July and the hard work that came with wrapping up my...
Read MoreSay Yes! Women’s Crowdfunding Campaign
I am not done with blogging about crowdfunding, it seems. Today my Fair Trade Friday post up at the Amani DC page is dedicated to an awesome new campaign which combines ecofriendly ‘upcycling’ (recycling in a way that creates a product with greater value than the original) with women’s empowerment by supporting refugees in the Austin, Texas area: Open Arms and Blue Avocado’s “Say YES!” campaign. As you might be able to guess, I am also becoming a big fan of...
Read MoreAnatomy of Successful Crowdfunding (or, How I made 700% of my Kickstarter goal despite a godawful cover image)
What makes a successful crowdfunding project? Any number of things, I’m sure. That’s the good news. A campaign doesn’t need to be 100% successful on all fronts to make its funding goal, it just needs to do enough things well enough. But a lot rides on certain key choices you make for your campaign. In the spirit of inquiry, I’ve conducted this–is it called a “postmortem” is it’s successful beyond my wildest dreams? -No, a friend reminds me...
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.