Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Life is a Grand (Writing) Adventure

| Filed under blindness writing Writing Life

♓ ✨ 🔯

I read my daily horoscope. It waits in my inbox until the right time. Sometimes it is a day late, providing insights into  things that already happened, other days it’s right on the money.  Today is  an accurate horoscope day.

 

Since semi-retiring at age fifty-something, I’ve picked up a few contract jobs but none in the field where my true passion lay: writing and creating content for blogging and podcasts. I am hoping my horoscope and a new opportunity will assist me in shifting   focus and a new adventure will include my passion with a salary, too.

 

I’m on a grand adventure

Full of words and sounds

Together Heart and mind  smile

photo description of Ann's personal logo of green dragon floating amid books and musical notes.

Ann’s personal logo

 

 

Why I Like the Word Tweak

| Filed under nonfiction writing Writing Life

Why I Like the Word Tweak

 

Hey there readers-

I left you all in limbo with a post stating I was moving my blog over to my website www.annchiappetta.com and I am happy to announce it is now completed.   This is what I refer to as a tweak. As an informal verb  definition, among other terms, it means to make an improvement to a system. Thank-you Siri, for the information. 😊  You all will still receive the blog updates, too.

 

Stay tuned for more now that thought-wheel has settled into it’s new home on the interwebs.  💻

And, as the announcer once said on the old-fashioned TV broadcasts, “and now back to  the show.” 📺

 

Moving My Blog to a New Home

| Filed under writing

 

Hi followers-

I am relocating my blog, packing up my digital belongings and sending it to my personal website, www.annchiappetta.com  Why am I doing this, one might ask, and I’ll tell you all it is to help me improve SEO, also known as search engine optimization. Hey, wanting to be the top Annie to pop up on a web crawl is what will help  become more marketable. At least that is what the book gurus say, among other things.  I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and have been saving my clams to make it happen and my top rated web person, Dave Annett, is helping make it so.

 

The next post you will get will be from my new virtual home on my website. Thanks for following and here’s to the future!

 

Artificial Divide Anthology

| Filed under blindness Fiction Guide dogs

Hi readers, check out a new #OwnVoice anthology by authors with visual impairment, the first anthology to include one of my short stories plus over twelve other authors. Read the description and you will understand why it’s a pivotal collection. Thanks to Robert Kingett and Randy Lacey for making it possible, along with Renaissance Press.

I hope you and your friends and colleagues support it by pre-ordering the collection. Thanks for your support, we cannot be a success without readers like you.

Release date is September 15, 2021, order now, why wait?

Artificial Divide Anthology by Renaissance Press

 

Step into a world of rogue screen readers, Braille in fantasy worlds, a friend meeting an acquaintance after several years, and more.

This #OwnVoices anthology features fiction by Blind and visually impaired authors showing readers how they thrive, hurt, get revenge, outsmart bullies, or go on epic adventures. Artificial Divide is an own-voices story collection that captures the many layers of Blindness and, for once, puts visually impaired protagonists in the driver’s seat, letting us glimpse their lives.

When we think about it, we’re not really divided. Stories by Eunice Cooper-Matchett, Anita Haas, Rebecca Blaevoet, Tessa Soderberg, Laurie Alice Eakes, Melissa Yuan, Innes – Jamieson Wolf, Ben Fulton, Felix Imonti, – Niki White, M.

Leona Godin, Ann Chiappetta, Lawrence Gunther, Heather Meares, and Jameyanne Fuller. Artificial Divide book cover, featuring bold white letters on a black background. A rolling cane tip slashes through the title diagonally, from the top left to the bottom right. Each I has a round cane tip replacing the dot

 

Links for preordering the paperback, eBook and Audio formats

https://tinyurl.com/b8mk6wxb

 

https://tinyurl.com/s2tz367e

 

Sharing Poetry

| Filed under Poem writing

A Blessing

By James Wright

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46481/a-blessing#mainContent

 

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans.  They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more, they begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

 

Winner On a Whim

| Filed under nonfiction Poem writing

A few months ago a writing friend suggested a contest being offered by the Handy Uncapped Pen. I hadn’t submitted my work for a while and hoped this would help get me back into the submission state-of-mind again. It did help.  I won second place for my poem, “Tide”.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.Here’s the link:

http://www.handyuncappedpen.com/2021/06/cripendy-contest-second-place-tide-by.html

Thanks to Cheryll Romanek for the beautiful beach pic.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.

Acrostic Poem for Guiding Eyes

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs Poem writing

Hello all-

It’s always a pleasure to put my writing and performing skills to good use, like when helping out Guiding Eyes for the Blind www.guidingeyes.org . Here’s  something I wrote to help them out.

Hi my name is Ann Chiappetta and I am a Guiding Eyes graduate.

I’d like to share what Guiding Eyes means to me

In the form of an acrostic poem.

Guide dog mobility instructors who are the best in the business

Unparalleled   and internationally recognized brood and stud program

Increased independence

Doggone bestest puppy program

Excellent follow up services for graduates and their dogs

 

Developing programs for athletes

, active older adults, and people with additional disabilities

Organization who believes in the potential of it’s clients

Graduates like me who

are recipients of

confident, capable  and loving canine partners.

Thanks for listening.

Click here for the audio:

 

 

 

 

A String of Stories on Audible

| Filed under Fiction paranormal

Hi Audible book subscribers and story lovers — Check out this new release, A String of Stories From the Heart to the Future © by Ann Chiappetta.

https://tinyurl.com/4ve8j4w5

 

Also available In e-book and print (182 pages) from Amazon and other online sellers.

https://tinyurl.com/3a6t8brj

About A String of Stories

A demon deer and a ghost cat. Sibling rivalry and sexual awakening. Self-image and self-confidence. The chance for an off-worlder to breathe free at last on a new planet.  Those are just some of the diverse themes of these notable stories. Once you step inside the author’s world, you cannot emerge unmoved.

You can find all my audible titles here: https://tinyurl.com/28jf76eu

 

For more about Ann and her books, Visit  www.annchiappetta.com

Face Book: Annie Chiappetta

Twitter Anniedungarees

Cover photo of the book which shows a reindeer in a field.

Majestic male deer standing in forest

 

photo description of Ann's personal logo of green dragon floating amid books and musical notes.

Ann’s personal logo

 

 

Book Corner

| Filed under nonfiction recovering the self writing

Hi all-

Thanks to Ernest Dempsey and  his blog, Recovering the Self https://www.recoveringself.com/ernest-dempsey-editor-in-chief , I have been posting book reviews. Two of my latest reviews and a wonderful collection of other reviews by Ernest and other authors are posted,  so go take a read. Here’s the latest from me about David Sedaris’s essay collection in audio book format

https://www.bookcorner.us/the-best-of-me/.