About Kristen • Kristen Stieffel

Photo by Emilie Hendryx http://www.eacreativephotography.com/ — Photo by Emilie Hendryx

I was raised by parents who were Trekkies before anyone coined the word Trekkie, so naturally I specialize in speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, and all of the related genres like cyberpunk, steampunk, and all the other -punks.

I started billing myself as a mentor rather than a copyeditor at the suggestion of one of my clients. She noted that I did way more for her than just correcting punctuation and sentence structure. My hope to go above and beyond editing copy. My goal is to serve readers by helping writers and publishers deliver great books.

I’ve studied writing my whole life—literally as long as I can remember. Love for writing and publishing led me to Orlando Business Journal, a weekly newspaper for executives and small business owners, where I worked for 20 years before I started freelancing full-time in December 2011.

During my last 10 years at OBJ I worked in the newsroom, where I wrote or compiled more than a thousand articles, including news stories for the website, news-brief columns for the print edition, and opinion pieces. I copyedited articles for both the print edition and the website. I was the newsroom factotum, doing administrative tasks, print page design, and tech support. I wrote and recorded a stock market report that aired weekdays on WLOQ FM 103.1 from 2007 until the station’s sale in 2011.

I’m ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church USA and attend Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Orlando, where I serve as clerk of session. That’s like being the board secretary. I lead adult Bible study classes because it’s way easier than teaching kids. I am also an avid knitter, despite living in Florida. Here in the state that pioneered air conditioning, most sweaters are worn indoors.