Essays on Resilience Forthcoming from Fresh Water Press

Fresh Water Press receives a plethora of manuscripts and we read them. Sometimes one jumps out at you, and you think about it for hours, sometimes days. Such was the case with Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne’s submission for The Show Must Go On. The collection of essays articulates the human heart and spirit facing extraordinary moments and coming out on the other side.

This collection of essays eloquently and poetically describes the human ability to stay resilient. These well written essays convey hope with a refreshing perspective. Karin offers a lifetime of standing with people facing their struggles and expressing their individual circumstances in a manner that is relatable to everyone.

It made me think “Wow”!

Every time I went back to reading it, I found another passage that dared me to stop reading. When I realized that I continued thinking about this submission, well after I put it down, I knew I wanted to work with the author, Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne, to bring her writing to the world’s attention.

—Tracey Koach, Co-owner and Editor

The Show Must Go On by Karin Derenne: Forthcoming 2027

Fresh Water Press is excited to announce our upcoming book, The Show Must Go On by Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne! Publishing in 2027, this is the press’ first collection of nonfiction essays and stories.

About the Book

The Show Must Go On is a collection of essays about resilience in life, experiences, and nature. The phrase “the show must go on” is often attributed to P.T. Barnum with roots traced back to nineteenth-century circus ring masters. It provided direction to performers that they must carry on during unexpected and unscripted events in live performances. It seems life expects the same.

Resilience is the adaptation that human beings, nature, and other things have in response to stress. Resilience is witnessed in the ability to adapt and evolve to a “new normal.” The ability of a building to withstand hurricanes is resilience, the capacity for the body to undergo treatments of chemotherapy or radiation is resilience, a person’s capability to undergo trauma, grief, loss or even change is resilience.

As a chaplain and clinical ethicist, Karin has spent thirty years walking with individuals during their most challenging times of life. She has witnessed how tragedy, trauma, and trouble can be transformed into healing. She has observed the gut-wrenching darkness of death, injustice, and pain, and, out of necessity, the way it became possible to carry on and sometimes even thrive again.

As much as resilience can be explained as something that is possible to achieve, Karin suggests that its power is rooted in the capacity to believe that resiliency can happen.

The Show Must Go On nurtures this belief, while it offers stories and essays as inspiration and proof that it can. In the darkness, the tiniest bit of light can guide us, comfort us, and inspire our own belief in self. This collection of essays is a companion for readers, to honor and hold the raw pain, and inspire one’s own belief in the ability to carry on.

About the Author

Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne is a board-certified chaplain and clinical ethicist. She has served more than thirty years in hospitals, hospices, and long-term care, witnessing resilience amid life’s greatest challenges. Karin’s experience of companioning people in challenging circumstances shines through in The Show Must Go On. Karin makes her home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and is a member of the Wisconsin Writers Association. Her work has been published in multiple editions of Creative Wisconsin, and she was a 2025 Jade Ring nonfiction honorable-mention winner. She writes to inspire strength and courage within each reader.

The Author’s Connection to the Lakeshore

Rev. Dr. Karin Derenne shares her life-long connection to the Wisconsin Lakeshore and how it inspires her writing:

My earliest memories of the Lakeshore were my first swims when my mom couldn’t take the heat and humidity any longer and would pack up and drive to the closest beach. The lake breeze was the only air-conditioning we knew. Wading in the waves taught me of the power of nature as well as its unexpected beauty. Learning to swim in it made pools seem like puddles. I collected shoe boxes of stones polished smooth and shiny by the sand and waves, each one more beautiful than the next. These adventures instilled a love for waves, wind, and open sky, and taught of safe harbor found at the foot of every lighthouse.

Growing up and living in Northeast Wisconsin, Lake Michigan marks home on a map. It is a beacon in travels and informs my identity. My stories and I are influenced through the Indigenous people, whose first home became the homestead of immigrants as they together brought dreams and a collective culture to the water’s edge. Together, they were and we have all become formed by the lake relied on for trade, shipping, recreation and agriculture. The Lakeshore is a touchstone, as it both insulates and reflects the unique Wisconsin beauty of all who live here.