This not going to be a series of posts where I tell you to stop buying lattes at Starbucks (though I will talk about what I do instead). Nor am I going to magically fix your budget with a few suggestions – wish I could, especially in these times when many people are facing budget strain, freelancers…
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…
Release 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…
New 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…
Before 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…
Welcome 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….
Can you help find my dad’s lost paintings?
Hello, all, and happy Labor Day weekend! After the Sustainability Fair (which was awesome), I have some time to take on another project. And it’s this: I’m on a scavenger hunt for my late father’s paintings. They were accidentally donated before he passed away, probably to the St Vincent de Paul shop in West Bend (we…
The First Green Alliance Sustainability Fair is this Saturday!
If you’re in Southeastern Wisconsin this weekend and interested in learning more about environmental sustainability, I hope you’ll stop by this event to check out the exhibits, presentations, guided hikes, even the rock climbing wall and drum circles. The Sustainability Fair has been more than a year in the making–and as part of the planning…
Book Review: The Unholy Consult by R. Scott Bakker
The final book in any great series has a certain weight. Often literally. When I unwrapped my review copy of The Unholy Consult (many thanks to Overlook Press), it was as substantial as I could wish. Yet a lot of that weight is appendices–including two short stories, maps, and a glossary more than 100 pages long. The…
Heroic 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…