Photo of Stanley Dankoski by Tony Shivers of Still Smiling Photography
In addition to being a literary and event photographer, I write fiction.
Book editor and publishing consultant
In addition to writing fiction, I help authors publish their books by offering various levels of editing (developmental, line, and copy editing), researching and querying literary agents, and (for nonfiction) creating book proposals that gain the attention of an agent.
I prefer to work with authors who understand the long game of publishing and the impact their book will bring to the world.
Schedule a free consultation call to see if we’d be a good fit.
Gateless Writing instructor
I am a recently certified Gateless Writing instructor. The Gateless methodology is based on brain science, allowing the writer to befriend the inner critic so the inner genius can thrive.
My official writer bio:
Stanley Dankoski is a book editor, portrait/event photographer, and certified Gateless Writing instructor, with fiction published at Literary Orphans, The Great Smokies Review, and Lime Hawk. One of his flash fiction stories landed on the 2016 Wigleaf longlist, and a short story was a semifinalist for the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize. Having spent most of his life in New England, he now writes from Asheville, North Carolina.
Short stories
2015: "Hands" in Literary Orphans
2016: "Graveyard Shift" in The Great Smokies Review
2017: "Making Hay" in Lime Hawk
2017: "Gankoyama" not published but selected as a semi-finalist in Ruminate magazine's William Van Dyke Short Story Prize.
Personal essay
2017: "Channeling Thomas Wolfe’s Uncle: The Muse in Masquerade" in The Great Smokies Review
2018: "Yearning: Story’s Efficient Engine" in The Great Smokies Review
Guest post
2012: "The Accidental Couple" co-written with my (now ex) wife, Elizabeth, for the GrubStreet blog.
Journalism
1996-2006: In a former life, in college and post-graduation, I was a small-town reporter for both weekly and daily newspapers, where I reported, wrote, edited (my stories and others'), designed (headlines, laid out pages, pull-out advertorial sections), and even designed and developed one paper's website from the ground up.
Newspapers included:
Houlton Pioneer Times, Houlton, Maine
Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Maine
The Maine Campus, Orono, Maine
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester, N.H.
The Salem Observer, Salem, N.H.
And in 2001 I had a freelance story in Quill, a magazine by the Society of Professional Journalists.
My first published story ever
1994: "Charles Hutchinson" in ECHOES magazine, written in high school as part of the ECHOES high school outreach program. The magazine had a contest that I did not place, but the publisher deemed my story worthy to publish after further revision. The publisher later became my college adviser.