tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35147491420523922442024-03-13T09:47:50.525-04:00Story AddictTherese Arkenberg's home on the webAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-70337599993750265192017-08-21T12:00:00.000-04:002017-08-21T12:00:02.726-04:00ThereseArkenberg.com has moved!My new home on the web is ThereseArkenberg.com--the same information (polished and updated) but in a different format. I'm still blogging, reviewing books, publishing short stories, sharing advice about copyediting, and who knows what I'll be up to next?
Thank you for following along!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-62064874677006479862016-03-13T17:07:00.001-04:002016-03-13T17:16:36.808-04:00Words to (Almost Always) Cut
Strong stories are not necessarily short. They don't need to be Hemingway-esque masterpieces of bare prose. In fact, I have friends who would argue "Hemingway-esque masterpiece" is an oxymoron; the man's writing gets downright boring. And it would be hypocritical of me to argue for only short sentences or short paragraphs. I have to consciously apply myself to make use of either. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-24756208160625020832015-09-03T13:31:00.001-04:002015-09-03T13:42:52.179-04:00The Big List of Writing Writing Resources, Part OneYou can write your story with nothing but a reasonably flat surface and something that leaves a mark, but it's a lot easier when you have the right tools. Happily, there are a lot of useful resources out there. Here are some of my favorites.
I encountered a few while writing The Starter Guide for Professional Writers (about which I have exciting news: revisions and expansions are underway Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-37360746695278393142015-08-10T21:08:00.004-04:002015-08-10T21:22:34.472-04:00"The Grace of Turning Back" at Beneath Ceaseless Skies"The Grace of Turning Back," the final story of the Curse-Strewn World sequence, appears in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #179, which can be read on the BCS website or in the Kindle store.
The Tynesi merchants, who traded everything from the silver rice of Timru and perfume leaves from Simrandu to chips of ivory off the Keld’s temples, had a term for a particular sort of Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-64729021408670148592015-05-08T13:33:00.003-04:002015-05-08T13:33:28.121-04:00"Arnheim's World" in Analog MagazineIn the May 2015 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, alongside fiction from Rajnar Vajra, But Sparhawk, Robert R. Chase, Aubry Kae Anderson, and J.L. Forrest, my story "Arnheim's World" explores the economics, ethics, and (anti)sociability of terraforming.
Environment, economics, ethics, all stewing in a high-tension dilemma. Exactly the kind of thing you'd expect of me, I hope. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-16547479817904213292015-02-24T20:04:00.000-05:002015-08-28T11:17:38.956-04:00Common edits to improve your writing
A lot of editing and rewriting involves relatively minor mechanical and technical changes. A lot. Not that I'm complaining; making these simple changes is a routine part of my work, and if nothing else it keeps me steadily employed. Many of them are changes I make to my own writing on a second draft!
However, I thought it'd be helpful to share my "greatest hits": the advice I give most often, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-119294480603161132015-01-22T13:31:00.002-05:002015-01-22T13:31:43.448-05:00"For Lost Time" up at Beneath Ceaseless SkiesLose no time in going to check out the latest installment in Across the Curse-Strewn World, a short story sequence following the wizard Aniver and his friend Semira's quest to rescue his home city, which has somehow become lost in time.
Their discoveries in the terrifying library of Arisbat have pointed Aniver and Semira in the right direction, but what a direction it is--the source of the Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-45184747658108075322015-01-10T13:20:00.003-05:002015-08-28T11:20:09.168-04:00Free-to-use, high quality photography for ebook covers and more
It's been a busy start to the new year, which I appreciate but means that blogging has taken a backseat to writing, editing, etc. When I get really busy, I often find that lists are a simple way to keep me in the blogging groove.
Writers, especially self-published writers, often need to find excellent images for their covers and websites--but on a budget. Luckily, the Internet (and some Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-40351822128770307312014-11-24T14:22:00.000-05:002014-11-24T14:22:45.566-05:00Living With Imposter Syndrome--Guest Post Live on Fictionvale!
The first mercy of impostor syndrome, in my experience at least, is that it isn’t constant. Instead it attacks at intervals, at moments of either my deepest despair or highest success.
Of course success attracts this psychological beastie’s attention: in the grips of impostor syndrome, my jerky brain is happy to dismiss any achievement as a fluke or a fraud. I’ve either tricked people into Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-62111634626159921432014-11-04T10:45:00.000-05:002014-11-04T13:46:33.068-05:00All the Grammar Knowledge You Need for NaNoNational Novel Writing Month is not the time to become a grammar expert. The entire idea of this challenge is to stop worrying and write, that is, to churn out 1600+ words of prose each day, prose whose main glory is that it exists, not that it is perfect. Stopping to study capitalizing, punctuation, and sentence structure can only be a distraction, and probably a dispiriting one.
That said, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-4544551413229511282014-10-02T13:19:00.000-04:002014-10-02T13:19:07.434-04:00New Release: Different Dragons II"Of the Generation" has been reprinted in WolfSinger Publication's Different Dragons II, a collection of cliche-busting dragon stories.
To celebrate the new release, WolfSinger is offering a 25% discount through Createspace-- follow the link and enter discount code TGERED9J at checkout. For those who prefer ebooks, the Smashwords coupon code ED26N will also give you a 25% discount at Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-54629401149357412392014-09-19T11:38:00.000-04:002014-09-19T11:38:21.487-04:00The 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, Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-82839843248184008072014-08-20T13:09:00.003-04:002014-08-20T13:09:59.696-04:00Fictionvale pub announcement!My fantasy story "Eisiden's Sister" has appeared in Fictionvale's 4th episode. The third published piece featuring swordsman Rathin and wizard Anweth, it actually takes place towards the end of their timeline--and features a major twist in their circumstances.
Also keep an eye out for my guest post on the Fictionvale blog early next week. It'll be a quick checklist to getting started Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-53111225876219600432014-08-12T18:37:00.003-04:002014-08-12T18:37:57.626-04:00Editing 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 giftAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-64036607156927956042014-07-11T13:53:00.000-04:002014-07-11T13:53:22.062-04:00Rummage and ToilAfter almost a month back in Wisconsin, I'm relearning my way around my hometown's streets. I was out for three hours today, visiting the post office and (of course) library, gathering blackberries at the park, and visiting a mere handful of the infinite rummage sales being advertised along the road. As I followed the bright orange and glo-in-the-dark green signs down obscure back roads in sunny Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-23525024500338833812014-06-16T10:33:00.000-04:002014-06-16T10:36:27.022-04:00News and forthcoming reviewsWell! This past June 8, I celebrated a birthday by touring Mt Vernon and leading my mom on a perhaps ill-advised adventure to the Bake Shop at Clarendon for macaroons (fittingly, they had Birthday Cake flavor). Ill-advised because our GPS satellites konked out on the return journey, leaving a woman from Wisconsin and a woman unfamiliar with driving in D.C. to navigate our way back to the hotel. IAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-86320958429760155312014-05-26T10:42:00.001-04:002014-05-27T08:57:37.832-04:00"The Witch Hunter's Account" in Nameless MagazineNameless Digest Issue #3 contains, among many other fine stories, my "Witch Hunter's Account."
Like "The Astrologer's Telling," published in Daily Science Fiction last month, "The Witch Hunter's Account" was inspired by one of Lovecraft's favorite authors, Arthur Machen, and is also a response to Lovecraftian cosmic horror, again with fewer tentacles and, I like to think, less xenophobia than Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-45381434762046530242014-04-26T09:57:00.005-04:002014-04-26T09:59:07.330-04:00"The Astrologer's Telling" up at Daily Science Fiction...charnel winds that brush the pallid stars and make them flicker low.
Ever since I first encountered that nightmare image, from H.P. Lovecraft's prose-poem "Nyarlathotep," I have wanted to write a story about the stars going out. A morbid urge? Absolutely. But there's a certain virtue in morbidity; it makes me thoughtful and perhaps compassionate, if that's a thing a writer of apocalypticAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-26417260657622810852014-04-17T20:48:00.000-04:002014-04-17T20:48:13.231-04:002 Weeks VacationStrangely, travelling is one of my more relaxing experiences. Not to overlook the strain of the TSA (complicating matters is the fact that I saved space in my suitcase by wearing my bulkiest jacket and high-heeled boots, not exactly easy to take off & put back on in a rush) or even the physical strain of lugging a backpack and suitcase for 12+ hours (ah, carry on). But at least things are Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-41620667255528125242014-03-24T14:16:00.003-04:002014-03-24T14:16:52.243-04:00More on the Starter GuideNamely, you have the chance to win some free copies!
2 print copies are available through a Goodreads giveaway that closes on April 7th.
Ebook copies are also available at LibraryThing in a giveaway that closes to entries this Friday, March 28th.
Also, I've put together a list of all the posts on this blog that wound up--substantially revised, but with some similarities in structure and content-Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-84147783728247966482014-03-21T16:44:00.003-04:002014-03-21T16:47:16.644-04:00It'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 Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-5914718798670805072014-02-27T08:57:00.002-05:002014-10-06T20:03:09.663-04:00Where You Can Get the Starter Guide for Professional WritersI'm happy to announce that The Starter Guide for Professional Writers is now available at most online retailers!
The Starter Guide for Professional Writers contains everything to know so that you can begin earning money for your writing. Ten chapters address every stage of writing, revising, releasing, and promoting your first (or second, or third) published story, including what you need Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-34051113418632157432014-02-24T10:47:00.005-05:002014-10-06T20:02:41.456-04:00Veterans of Future Wars releaseMy 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 isAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-50297957031962223872014-02-23T11:02:00.004-05:002014-02-23T11:02:54.632-05:00Kobo Coincidence
In a sort of amusing coincidence, Aqua Vitae appears in the Kobo search right above Night Train to Rigel, the novel I read just before writing AV and which certainly jogged my brain on the interplanetary tourism elements. A family reunion of sorts.
(The Starter Guide still isn’t available in all sites, although it is in the Smashwords premium catalog since it’s Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3514749142052392244.post-64191201384650022332014-02-10T12:48:00.000-05:002014-02-10T12:48:57.841-05:00One Year Later I started this blog on February 9, 2013. Reading back over my first few posts, it's tempting to think about how far I've come since then.
Clever, hardworking college graduate seeks job...finds one?
When I started Story Addict, I had just moved to Washington, D.C. for one last semester before graduation. Like most new graduates, I was concerned about making the shift to a young Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07880613619627584893noreply@blogger.com0