On why some people hear more from deployed service members than others
Deployment List Today, when looking at my blog’s dashboard, I found someone had been directed here after typing in the following search: why do all the other wives get phone cal (That’s all that showed up, but it says enough.) “Why do all the other wives get phone calls” … and I don’t? Probably. I’ve heard of militar

What are you doing with your old books?
From She Writes: Right now, ReadThis is collecting books for the Women’s Academy of Excellence, a public all-women’s high school with a mostly low-income Afro-American and Latina student population. This school needs everything, from Shakespeare to dictionaries. Wouldn’t it be great if besides the Bard and Webster and the books by men other donors will surely be sending, the school library had lots of wonderful books by women? Find out where to send your donations and learn more about the book collection at SheWrites.com.

Thank you, readers of books.
During this almost-abstention from the internet during a writing/revising period, it only makes sense to post a heartfelt thank you to those who have bought (or found) and read Homefront, Carol’s Aquarium, or anything else I’ve ever written. I’m not one of those writers who would be content to put in the work just to stick the pages in a drawer – I crave, love, and value readers. Dare I say I need them? Yes. Yes! I dare. So, to you readers, thank you, thank you. I see the Amazon.com rankings for Homefront holding steady, and Carol’s Aquarium seems to have a few readers, too. And while Amazon rankings mean

The importance of wording
SETTING: A lawn on the side of a busy road. Old tables, a rattan easy chair, an antique dining chair, vintage suitcases, a mirror with a burned aluminum frame, and various knickknacks are scattered in a yard sale display. AT RISE: A buyer browses the baskets and figurines while waiting for a man at the residence to fetch the woman who sets the prices. The woman of the house emerges. WOMAN: (smiles) Help you? BUYER: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about the mirror and that chair over there. WOMAN: Oh, five dollars. (Waves it off with her hand.) BUYER: For the…for b– WOMAN: For the mirror. That’s just five dollars.

Carol’s Aquarium reviewed by POD People
Ms. Tsetsi keeps the emotion well restrained in these stories, everything is very deliberately    masked with order and calm resolve, the author preferring to let the shadows do all the wailing…This is the sort of narrative voice I like in short fiction. The themes are very pointed, and the writing is confident enough to deliver the emotional payload like a blow to the chest with a knife-blade.  – Cheryl Anne Gardner