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Woman of a Certain Age
It’s a natty little euphemism, isn’t it? Of a certain age. A flow of words so undergirded by conventional politesse that it’s entirely possible a woman coined it herself. Vague enough to be gentle enough. But the ambiguity cuts both ways. You can’t describe what you don’t even take the time to notice. And as any woman past the age of none of your business will attest, the first horseman is invisibility.
Woman of a Certain Age does what other books fail to (or choose not to) accomplish–it takes the time to investigate the perspectives of women whose lives are in flux. Hertenstein gilds no lily, cushions no reckoning, pulls no punch. –Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of NY Times BESTSELLER, Hausfrau
Whether young or old, the moniker “of a certain age” hangs over many women, reinforcing the idea of never enough. Either too old or too young, women of a certain age live in a nether land of in between. They must navigate worlds projected upon them and of their own invention. Woman of a Certain Age is a hybrid story collection centered around women of all ages journeying to discover who they are.
Cloud of Witnesses
Tested as gifted, Roland gets bused from his poor, rural home to the middle school in town, where his new classmates only see him as a hillbilly.
He is desperate to reach out beyond the power lines that crisscross the hills surrounding the family’s trailer in southeastern Ohio. Yet he’s afraid to step outside of himself to ask Patty to the dance, to stand up for his Muslim friend Hassan, to see that his father loves him.
Beyond Paradise
Louise Keller travels with her missionary family to the Philippines on the eve of Pearl Harbor. At first, the country seems like paradise, but soon Louise and her family are captured by the Japanese and forced to live in internment camps.
“…you’ll love Beyond Paradise. Ms. Hertenstein’s writing is subtle and beautiful. She handles a horrific experience, internment during WWII, gently but honestly, for young readers. The main character, Louise, keeps a journal of poetry. These lovely poems are sprinkled throughout the text. I highly recommend this book, and I hope Ms. Hertenstein writes more!” ~Amazon Reviewer
Home is Where We Live
Photographs with brief text chronicle a seven-month stay at a homeless shelter where a ten-year-old girl felt scared at first but later felt safe.
365 Affirmations for the Writer
“This is a lovely and helpful book. Sometimes just the right quote is all it takes to remind me that we writers are in this together–that it’s hard for all of us, but that a writing life is considered life and a terrific life. I came across a number of quotes in this book that I had never read before, almost all of them provocative and useful. I recommend this book to other writers to dip in and out of, for that little bit of inspiration and affirmation whenever you need it.” Amazon Reviewer
Freeze Frame: How To Write Flash Memoir
“I have been interested in writing flash memoir, and this book is an excellent resource! This resource is well written, easy to follow, has concise and well-structured chapters, and has lots of prompts to get a writer going. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in writing flash memoir, or learning more about it.” Amazon Reviewer
Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady
“A homeless woman’s story reminds us of the need to consider the suffering of others. Hertenstein’s narrative . . . is a gift to us.” Chicago Tribune, Sunday Book Section
Flash Memoir: Writing Prompts to Get You Flashing
We begin with a sudden memory, and follow it to see where it leads. Yet so many of us tend to ignore these flashes. We think later yet later on we might have forgotten or lost the relevance of the moment, the urgency that led us there. I recommend a process I call write right now. In the amount of time it takes you to brush your teeth, you can jot down the memory and an outline which can be filled in later. The prompts in this book are designed to spur memories, to get you writing. I’ll also direct you to resources, authors to read and study, and places to submit. A number of the flash prompts included in this eBook were harvested from my blog Memoirous.
BRIGHT INVISIBLE: Word Sketches from Great Spruce Head Island, a PDF chapbook
This chapbook will appeal to readers of the New York School—particularly fans of James Schuyler and John Ashbery. Great Spruce Head Island has been a source of inspiration for generations of artists and writers. I was invited to GSHI to spend a week walking where Frank O’Hara, Ashbery, and Schuyler walked. Through essays, journal entries, personal letters where I channel James Schuyler, I attempt to experience the island through their
OTHER WRITING
SHORT FICTION
“The Writer” Spring 2025, Two Thirds North
“Zen Garden” Summer, 2024, Rock and a Hard Place
“Yellow House” Spring, 2024, Of Rust and Glass
“Pure of Heart” Winter 2023, Fathom
“Little Norway” Fall 2023, Pensive Journal | A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts
“All is not Lost” Fall 2023, Sunlight
“Keep Moving” Fall 2023, Adanna
“Civil War Reenactment” Spring 2023, Miracle Monocle
“Laundry Day” Spring 2021, Funny Pearls
“Shelter in Place” Winter 2020, Funny Pearls
“Big Thompson” Fall 2019, THINK Journal
“Museum of the Mall” Spring 2019, Colere
“Missed Connections” Winter 2019, Spitfire Literary
“Seeking Asylum” Summer 2017, Ocotillo Review
“Delivery Man” Spring 2017, Watershed Review
“Ordinary Time” Winter 2016, issue 95, Arlington Literary Journal, known as ArLiJo
“In Her Garden” Spring 2016, Pennyshorts
“Marathoner” Spring 2016, Firefly Magazine
“Roadkill” December 2015, Fiction on the Web
“Un Espiritu Libre” Spring 2015, Writing for Peace
“Heartbreak Wall” Winter 2015, PMS
“Exit 24” Spring 2013, Stoneboat NOMINATED BEST OF THE MIDWEST ANTHOLOGY
Winter of 2019/2020 25th Anniversary Edition, a reprint of Exit 24
“Vigeland Park” Spring 2013, The Red Line
“Never Forget” Fall 2011, Foliate Oak
“I’m Lying to You” Spring 2011, Greensilk Journal
“Cloud of Witnesses” Hunger Mountain, Spring 2010
“How Poor People Get Money” Steam Ticket, Spring 2010
“Bitter Fruit” Fall 2009, The Write Room
“Freeze Dance” Winter 2009, Word Riot
“In Her Garden” Fall 2008, Tonopah Review
Cantaraville, issues 12, 9, 7, 5
“Wild Mushrooms” Fall 2008, Rosebud
FLASH FICTION
“Names for Birds” (poem) FORTHCOMING Celtic Literary Review
“Study in Grief” Spring 2025, Wild Willow Magazine
“I wish the Virgin Mary was my girlfriend” Spring 2025, Litmosphere
“Sea of Lingerie” FORTHCOMING, Hoot
“Riding Bikes at Night” (prose poem)Fall 2025, Ink in Thirds
“The Machine has no Clothes” reprint 2024, Coin Operated Press
“Things I Regret” (prose poem)Winter 2023/2024, Flora Literary Fiction
“Waiting for Christmas,” Dec. 2022, Ancient Paths
“Hey! I Found your Notebook,” Fall 2022, Moss Piglet
“Rustic Pears,” (a reprint) Spring 2021, Prairie Wind
“Can’t Hold a Candle to This,” Fall 2020, (y)Syndrome
“Ashes to Ashes” and “Her Time,” Dec, 2019, Jan. 2020, Little Old Lady (humor)
“Obsolete,” Fall, 2019, Erma Bombeck blog out of University of Dayton
“Revenge”, 2019, HoneyBee Review
“Kickstarter”, March 2019, Ink Sweat & Tears
“Celebration of Life”, Spring 2018 Vassar Review
“Entrepreneur”, March 2018, Fiftywordstories
“7 Stages of Replacing Things” Jan. 2018, Tenderness, yea
“Arriving at Night”, Dec. 2017, Ink & Letters NOMINATED for Pushcart
“Catching Up” Nov. 2017, Sunlight Press
“Never Too Late”August 2017, Fiftywordstories
“The Note in the Lobby”Spring 2017, Spelk Fiction
“eMatch,” Winter 2017 Carbon Culture print
“Collage” Winter 2017, The Vignette Review
“The Machine Has no Clothes” (reprint), Autumn 2016, Tigershark Publishing
“Granny’s Pockets,” Summer 2016, Friday Flash Fiction
“Summer of the Seventeen-Year Locust,” Summer 2016, The Vignette Review
“City of Love,” Summer, 2016 Bop Dead City
“Untitled” June 2016, Gay Flash Fiction
“Nighttime at the Tennis Courts,” “Cremains,”Spring 2016, Chicago Literati
“Lincoln’s Bed,” Summer 2015, After Hours
“The Machine Has No Clothes” Spring 2015, Carbon Culture
“4th of July Anarchy (Foster Beach)” Spring 2015, After Hours
“Stuff” Spring 2013, Thrice Fiction Magazine
“After” Spring 2013 EMdash Literary
“Untitled” Winter 2013, The Blue Hour
“Before the World Changed” (reprint) Winter 2012/2013, The Fine Line
“Three Doors” Fall 2012, American Athenaeum
“The Arrowhead” Fall 2012, Kentucky Flash
“Untitled” AWP Post Card Winner 2012, Bluestem Magazine
“Untitled” Spring 2012, Freshly Hatched, the online journal of Freerange Nonfiction
“Before the World Changed” Winter 2011/2012, Linguistic Erosion (Flash Fiction w/out Boundaries)
“Standing Stones” Winter 2011/2012, Writers Haven
“Goldabelle” Spring 2011, Six Minute Magazine
“Young and Dumb” Summer 2009, Flashquake
CREATIVE NON-FICTION/The Personal Essay
“No One Goes to Albania” FORTHCOMING Lowestoft Chronicle
“Circa 1984” Summer 2025, Switch
“Meet me in the Future“ Spring 2025 Green Silk Journal
“Thanks for these gray hairs” Spring 2025, prose poem, redrosethorns
“Tim Tintera’s Thesaurus” Fall 2023, Teach. Write.
“In Early August Among the Spruce,” 2020, New Critique
“Tiny, Little Horrors,” 2020, Blue Pages Journal
“Bright Invisible” an excerpt, 2019, Utterance Journal
“Examples of Synchronicity”, 2018, Rejected Manuscripts
“The Horse Fair,” Spring 2021, Teach. Write.
“Transitioning: Life Under Covid,” 2021, Quaranzine
“The Traveler” 2023, Alternative Route
“Life in the Midden” 2023, Amsterdam Quarterly
“Midden Piles” 2023Young Ravens
“Unobserved” 2023, Mocking Owl Roost
“Peeper Pond” 2023, Instant Noodles
“Starting Over” 2022, Random Sample Review
“Books as Signposts” (reprint), 2022, Still Point Quarterly
“In the Shadow of Tintern Abbey,” 2021, Still Point Quarterly
“A While New Recipe,” 2021, Dove Tales
“Books as Sign Posts,” 2021, Superpresent
“Cycle and Circumstances,” 2021, The Account
“Parking Lots–flash series” 2017, Sleet
“100 Things for Women Writers to Consider,” Minola Review, Spring 2017
“Centerville, Ohio” 2017, Fiftywordstories
“Mom’s Fruitcake”, 2016, Friday Fiction
“The Concession Stand is Now Open,” 2016 Silver Birch Press
“Fungus Among Us,” 2015 Liars’ League NYC
“Treasures in the Sand,” 2015, Mothers Always Write
“Herbie,” 2014, The Flexible Persona
“Night of the Comet,” 2013, Wordland (What They Saw in the Night Sky)
“The Lies We Tell Ourselves”, 2013, The Shine Journal (Journeys Through Grief)
“Tupperware Forever” 2013, The Golden Key
“Ostrog Monastery,” 2012, About Place Journal (Peaks and Valleys issue),
“Seeking the Elusive,”2012, Ruminate
“Wrigley Dogs” 2012, Feathertale, http://feathertale.com/author/herstensteinj/
“How I Met My Husband”, 2012, bioStories
“That Which I Should Have Done (I Did Not Do)”, 2012, Adroit Journal
“Google Earth” 2011, Fiction Fix
“The European Schedule” 2009, Frostwriting
ANTHOLOGIES
“Three Doors” 2025, The Writers’ Journal
“What I saw on my walk last night,” Beautiful, Sweetycat Press, Spring 2022
“Rustic Pears” Porcupine Chapbook, Lost Sparrow Press, Fall 2017
“Multiple Facebook Personalities” Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones
“Tattoo Baby” Cellar Door
“Before the World Changed,” Winter 2013/2014, Until the End Anthology
“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” 2013, KY Christmas, OFFBEAT CHRISTMAS STORY
“The Arrowhead,” KY Stories 2012, FLASH
“Sense of Smell” Spring 2012, IMPACT: A Collection of Short Memoir
“Wild Mushrooms” Fall 2012, Fungi Anthology
Jane Hertenstein 