*This was part of a for-fun exercise at a writers’ retreat in the mountains of Asheville, NC. It was inspired by that one person most of us probably know, or have known at one time or another. ______ He said, “When I make love, I am making love to God.” Sylvia knew Olvin too well […]
As I get closer to an agent hunt with a new book, I’m also once again considering the self-publishing option if the response from agents is one that suggests, as it did with my last project, that it’s reader-ready (“Love it, but hard to market” versus “This is terrible. Please burn it.”). If I self-publish, […]
Seven days ago, I was forced out of the Erie Canal. Now no one will talk to me. The police brought me home without cuffs, without ceremony. They walked me to the door without a blanket or a word—just watched me, wet and dripping, while I unlocked the door and went inside to Orson, who […]
A Thought Catalog list showed up in my feed a few days ago:12 Things Girls Are Embarrassed Of That They Should Be. I clicked on the link because the woman who shared it on Facebook prefaced the piece with the following: FYI, women deal with this shit every. single. day. As much as many of […]
Originally published in the Journal Inquirer by Kristen J. Tsetsi When Good Ole Tom’s owner Tom Tinney travels between residences in Florida, Arizona, and Connecticut, he doesn’t fly. He has a nice car, he said, and he enjoys being in it. In late February he’s due to return to Connecticut from Arizona to tend to […]
Before I get to promoting the Kindle book giveaway you see to the left (happening today because the war that inspired it began on today’s date in 2003), I’d like to respond to something I read in a recent review of that book.
Writers are rightly warned about responding to reviews. Whether someone liked or disliked what they read is something we should care about, but it’s nothing we should argue with, really. Beyond reading it, the review is none of our business.
This response to a review isn’t to the review itself, but to an observation included with the review that points to a preconceived idea of a certain kind of war fiction, which I was introduced to – and that has persisted ever since – with the 2007 release of Pretty Much True… in its early form, Homefront.
That preconceived idea/opinion is this: if the novel is about war from the home front perspective and written by a woman (as Pretty Much True… is), it will, or should, probably have something to do with stoicism and picking up and carrying on and finding strength and/or faith, and so forth.
The review I’m responding to (and it wasn’t a bad one), recently posted on Amazon, concludes with this:
Originally published in the Journal Inquirer Tuesday, March 4, 2014
By Kristen J. Tsetsi
“There was a lot of giggling, and then, ‘Look how fat that little boy is,’” wrote Waldorf, Md. resident Pamela Cukor, 30, in a private Facebook message. “And then more giggling followed by, ‘He’s not as fat as his sister. Oh my God, look at her.’”
In the message, Cukor was describing a scene she recently witnessed while sitting with her own children in the mall food court: three women in their 30s making fun of overweight children. Continue reading
Pretty Much True once again has a new cover as it re-releases on Kindle under my own imprint, Penxhere Press. Craig Lancaster, to whom I am eternally grateful for taking on PMT with his independent publishing label Missouri Breaks Press, realized he was spread a little thin and needed to restructure his time.
I considered letting PMT go completely – it began as a project in Jan. 2005, and nine years later, it’s time for something else – but a note from a reader persuaded me to push it out there one last time. So, on Kindle it is (for the low, low price of $3.99!), and on Kindle it will be for the foreseeable future.
The new cover circles back to the book’s beginning as Homefront. For fun, here’s the cover progression from beginning to end: Continue reading
KT 