GREETINGS, BOOKWORMS! I’m Aisha Kandisha, Head Librarian at Kandisha Press. Join me in the dusty stacks of the library I will never leave again as I chat with some of my favorite Women in Horror. Today we feature author Tera Schreiber!
Tera Schreiber is a practicing writer and out-of-practice lawyer. You can read some of her recent short stories in Veneficium Feminae, published by Amaranth Publications, Alternative Liberties, published by B Cubed Press, and in Your Body, My Rage, published by BDA Publishing. She writes stories with a feminist perspective in the mossy Pacific Northwest with her husband, daughters, cats, and an excessive number of books. You can find her on Instagram @tera_s_writes and on Bluesky @terahs.bsky.social.
What do you believe are your strengths in writing? And when you feel you need to improve on a particular writing skill, how do you go about it?
Goodness! I am always working to improve my writing. I have a group of writer friends that swap feedback. I take writing classes with ample workshopping. I write and rewrite. I read about writing. I read other writers. I am working on earning an certificate in editing, which is both a career aspiration for me but also I am finding that it has helped my writing in ways I did not anticipate. So, maybe my strength is that I am always working on learning more and getting feedback to improve my writing.
When I want to improve a specific skill, I use all of the tools I listed above!
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community?
We live in a marvelous word where readers can access so many authors directly through social media. We also live in a chaotic world where there is so much content that you couldn’t possibly get to it all in your lifetime. Will the algorithms support the connections that would put people’s eyes on the creative works that would be most appealing to them? Will people ever see something new and fresh on their socials? Do we have to pay influencers to feature our work? Are some viewpoints suppressed on some platforms? These are the questions that rattle around in my brain. But I can say that there are some outstanding independent bookstores that support emerging authors and create warm environments for bookish folks to connect. So, if I were in a relationship with the book industry and community, I would label it: It’s complicated.
Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
I guess that depends on how you define “make it.” As one who is still a baby-author in so many ways, I am hopeful that our collective quest for art and knowledge will continue to seek ways to support one another as authors and artists.
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community?
Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
As a writer who has only recently started to nurture my creative writing, I am weirdly proud of each and every little story that I finish and put out for the world to read. They are like little baby chicks fledging and I root for each one of them! But I think that I am most in love with my story, “Seen and Not Heard,” in Alternative Liberties. I love my protagonist, and I am proud of my ability to create a satisfying dystopian world in that story. The publisher told me that I made two editors cry with this one. Even better, a reviewer called it “exceptionally disturbing,” and that’s when I knew it landed just as I intended.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
More and more writing! I always have some ideas brewing, and I try to look out in the world for calls that strike my fancy. While plugging away with my own writing, I am also working my way through an editing certificate program. Digging into editing has made me a better writer for sure, but I am also excited to share my skills to help other writers make their works the very best they can be.
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KANDISHA PRESS 
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