| Filed under blindness blogging Guide dogs pets and people
For National Dog Day 2023
Dog Two
By Ann Chiappetta
He is a sweet yellow fellow
Toasted darker
On ears and tail tip
Gives a nibble and a lick
Golden eyes Better than cash
He comes with a snow nose And personality to match
He’s tall and silly
Works, wags, and licks
So far no one’s gotten ticked
When he sneaks a kiss.
Guiding me around
Alert and looking for sights and scents
On the bus and on the street
Freedom with four feet.
Dedicated to Guiding Eyes Bailey
| Filed under blindness blogging Guide dogs
Annie Shares News volume 2 Issue 8 August 2023
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Web — www.annchiappetta.com
Blog — www.thought-wheel.com
Our time in New York is at an end, we’re moving onto a less urban location in the foothills of Western Pennsylvania. A modest one level home with a fenced yard for the dogs and plenty of sunny windows for the cats. I’ll be writing in a different studio, meeting new people and collecting new experiences. What could be better? Shh, don’t tell my husband I’ll be traveling a bit more once we are settled. 😉
My guide dog, Bailey, is retiring once we reside in PA and I know it’s the right time. Next year I’ll most likely meet my new guide dog and train at home.
Earlier in the month, I was invited to interview author Leonard tuchyner by good friend and author, Peter Altschul, who cohosts the In Perspective podcast with Bob Branco. Leonard’s new book, Moon Rising: Stories and Poems is whimsical and expressive, exploring life’s vicissitudes in a unique perspective.
Imperfections, my second novel, has been slated to be released in late spring or early summer of 2024. The audio for my first novel, Hope For the Tarnished is underway. Below is a poem I wrote during our most recent visit to Pennsylvania. Enjoy it and may August bless you.
Doubletree by Hilton
or
Four dinky pillows for the bed
By Ann Chiappetta
I thought the suite would be opulent
The King bed
A sultan’s necessity for sleep
An Enviable, blissful transom
Whisk Weary bones beneath duvet and anticipate the soft
Pillowed plumpness cradling my head
My cranium flattens cotton puff pastries instead
WTF I say and inspect the offered spread.
I discover Dollar store purchases within
A pricy three-night stay
shall we be complacent?
elect to ignite our inner Karen and
shout of the injustice of dinky pillows —
it insults our guesthood
In the prone position
these little nothings make no difference
Another thing about these pillows is their identity
Are they feather and down or
microfiber polypill or some
hybrid of all of the above
I can’t figure out which one or which combination
They’re like a generic of generic of generic
I’ve taken to putting a sofa cushion behind me instead
I am not Karen and will not stay there again.
Post a thumbs down on YELP while
reclining on a
Too hard king-sized bed
In a too large corner suite
With too many little pillows for sleep.
| Filed under blogging Fiction writing Writing Life
Adding Zip to Your Manuscript
Cut and Replace boring and predictable
I’ve been finishing my second novel, Imperfections for the past year. I feel like I’ve finally reached the home stretch. One of the indicators is the task of scanning for redundancies. I think of them as lazy familiar words we fall back upon when banging out a story. Examples: like, was, he/him, she/her, they/them, and as; passive verbs, nouns and phrases penned by an average fifth-grader. Walk, sat, looked, hand, etc. “I looked in his eyes,” “got in the car”, ‘he took my hand’, and so forth.
I troll the books of authors I admire for strategies and stylistic tweaks applying them in my own stories. I employ the use of beta readers. I recon with thesaurus.com .
I am a mercenary in the act of assist in reducing boring and repetitive words and phrases. I unpack the annals of my aging brain and attack my manuscript executing the find function in the Word program.
The Control and f key combination identifies 68 instances of the offending verb, ‘walk’. I apply the literary gorilla wordfare. I slice and burn reducing the offenders to thirty instances and move to the next offending word trap.
Whump!
The effort results in a tighter and more resonant story and I avoid the pitfalls of the mundane.
Annie Shares News Volume 2 Issue 6 June 2023
Making Meaningful Connections Through Writing ✍️
The month of May skipped by with her basket filled with springtime blessings. I hope you were able to appreciate some of them. 💐
Bailey and I attended ten disability awareness presentations for grades K and first graders in May. He has recovered from the removal of the tumor in his lung and is back to being the goofy, treat begging dog of my heart. He celebrated his tenth birthday in April, working and playing with eight other Guiding Eyes guide dogs during a three-day seminar for the organization’s graduate council. Going to the facility and campus is like visiting our Almer Mata. It is, after all, just like a college for dogs and is our second home.
April was National Poetry Month (NPM) and I typed a poem a day, many of them made it to the poems folder instead of the recycle bin, I am proud to say. If you read this and would like a document including the keepers from NPM, email me anniecms64@gmail.com and ask for the file.
Back in April, I was a guest for the APH Career Connect interview series with Lori Scharff and Amy Lynn Smith. Check it out on the APH blog:
Listen to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrYRPRgoDyA
Here is an article where myself and other blindness advocates are mentioned in relation to listening habits and terrestrial radio:
In other writing and book related news, I finished the first draft of my second novel, Imperfections. I am now seeking beta readers. If you would like to be a beta reader and read and respond to questions after reading the draft copy, email me anniecms64@gmail.com and drop in “beta reader” in the subject line. The book is 250 pages.
This is a story of destiny and obsession and the determination of love.
If you want to listen to independent authors discuss their books, visit www.behindoureyes.org and check out the book launch presentations. You can listen to a recording or read a transcript.
Sharing this poem is my way to herald in the warm weather. Enjoy. Until next time,
Random Thoughts from September to the End of December
By Ann Chiappetta
Reminiscent of fungi and distinct smell prods thoughts about
What to cook, who to think about or not to think of because
Not everyone skips along with the holiday song or marvels
At the foliage or bakes ten dozen cookies or decorates the weird, pimpled squash gourds. It’s better To mull over the ugliness of the flesh hollowed vegetables then wonder how many less cards will come in the mail this year.
Let go. I’m going to keep the groovy gourd, eat leftovers and wait for the sleeping seeds protected for months by damp fungus and Brigid’s vast blanket to burst. I cannot read Nature’s Morse Code but My nose can seek the olfactory transition and my steps shall discover the burgeoning shoots of spring with a welcoming toe
Why I Haven’t Been Blogging
By Ann Chiappetta
Dedicated to 2023 National Poetry Month
I haven’t been blogging
Because my mind is fogging
From NPM – rest assured I’ve been writing
Scribbling, typing and scribing
Alphabetically, in fact
Abecedarians, ballads and couplets
Haiku, Limericks a letters
Verses penned about purple purses or petals
The view to the summit is near
And it looks like the terrain is clear
Yet The flag is yet to be unfurled
And the completion of NPM
Will be celebrated by the world
When it is uncurled —
And next year we will grab our literary packs
And retrace the poetic path to the summit
Inspired by a poetry-lined path.
A great read and resource for Spring.
The writer’s Grapevine is a quarterly news and literary magazine featuring Writers, Small Business owners and Nonprofits.
In each issue you’ll find a variety of Articles, Essays, Short Stories and Poems for your enjoyment and education.
Read the full edition at: https://pattysworlds.com/the-writers-grapevine-spring-and-things-
To learn more about Patty Fletcher and her magazine, here is the link to her blog:
Patty L. Fletcher
author and social media marketing assistant.
Learn more at: http://www.pattysworlds.com
| Filed under blindness blogging Guide dogs writing
Save the Date
📖 📚
Join the APH Career Conversation with Ann Chiappetta
April 6, 2023, 6:00 – 7:00 PM EST
Career Conversations Interview with an Author
Ann Chiappetta will share what it has been like for her to self-publish her poetry, fiction and nonfiction books. Ann has delt with changing vision as a result of retinitis pigmentosa and has used writing and her creative skills to help cope with her vision loss.
Register Here for Career Conversations Interview with an Author
Read about Ann on the APH blog:
Ann and Bailey on bench: Both looking straight on
| Filed under blogging Poem Relationships Writing Life
Motivation Acrostic
By Ann Chiappetta
Most days it is present
On the days it is absent
Touching the creativity fails, dispersed
Into me, whispering within, like
Veins packed with scribbled, microscopic cells
Alphabet infused molecules jumbled
Twisting and turning liquid
Impossibly
Overflowing with brain food I’ve
No chance of catching.
What can I say? Some writing days are better than others. One good thing that helped me write this poem was being able to end a writing-related gig I found no longer provided the inspiration I needed to support my writing style. A pressure has been alleviated and I feel much better. Being a Pisces is complicated. ♓
I learned what I don’t want to write and what type of writing gig could be more enriching for me.
Annie Shares News January 2023 Volume 3 Issue 1
Anniesharesnews+subscribe@groups.io
2023 greetings! 🥳 🎉
2022 has been challenging and it’s great to be stepping out more, giving and receiving a hug from friends and colleagues once again. Society has endured and learned how to cope with the physical limitations associated with the pandemic and while we are still being effected by covid, we are adjusting. To hug or not to hug, that is the question.
One mask-wearing phenomenon I’d like to share is the increased level of general disorientation when wearing one. And it isn’t just me experiencing this weird reaction. Whenever I first put on a mask, it causes me to feel dizzy and like I am in a bubble. I can’t hear or rely on my sense of direction, which is usually good. The spatial awareness is the worst and I have spoken with other blind friends who have experienced a similar lack of sensory information from mask wearing. I tried a clear face shield and it was even worse. I hope this is something we can research more to help others.
I want to share some good news about a friend and colleague, Elizabeth Ianelli. She and I worked together and remained friends after we both left the VA. She is one of the most resilient people I know and I am pleased to share the advanced ordering link to her new gritty and powerful book about the troubled teen industry called I See You Survivor: Life inside (and outside) the totally f*****d up troubled-teen industry.
Another author I know, Trish Hubschman, has released her newest book, check it out:
Gayle’s Tales: Tracy Gayle Mysteries
by Trish Hubschman
Copyright December 2022
The book is for sale from Smashwords in eBook formats and from Amazon in e-book ($3.99), paperback ($8.50), and hardcover ($16.50).
175 pages in print.
Full details of this book and Trish’s four Tracy Gayle mystery novels are on her website:
https://www.dldbooks.com/hubschman/
Synopsis:
Gayle’s Tales is a collection of Tracy Gayle mystery short stories.
Everyone’s favorite couple, Tracy and Danny, are still going strong, romantically and professionally, rocking and rolling and solving crimes. The story is a first-person account told in Tracy’s point-of-view, detailing the circumstances as only she can tell it. Through all this, she and Danny are planning their wedding extravaganza at the Plaza Hotel in New York. In the end, she brings long–lost family members and friends back into each other’s arms and lives.
Trish is also appearing on January 25 at 7:00 p.m. eastern time as a guest author hosted by the Behind Our Eyes Book Launch program via zoom. If you would like the Zoom invitation, email booklaunch@behindoureyes.org and make sure you mention it is for Trish’s book.
What’s in store for 2023? Writing, of course! 😉 I am working on a nonfiction book about pet assisted therapy, gathering a third poetry collection, and writing a new crossover novel plus a new chapter of a sci-fi novella. I am reading different genres of books, including an RPG-inspired series penned by Kevin Sinclair, a series by Andrew Rowe narrated by one of my favorite voice actors, Nick Podell and Marshal Arcane by Terry Mancour is waiting in the queue. I also read The Address by Fiona Davis for my local book club. Very good historical fiction/mystery novel. I also must recommend The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. The audio book is performed by a talented voice actor and it is better than Irving’s book, The World According to Garp. It’s brilliant.
Reading is a considerable piece of developing as a writer and I plan to continue the quest. 😈
Until next month, be well and blessings to all.
Enjoy this classic poem about the New Year by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The Death of the Old Year
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Full knee-deep lies the winter snow,
And the winter winds are wearily sighing:
Toll ye the church bell sad and slow,
And tread softly and speak low,
For the old year lies a-dying.
Old year you must not die;
You came to us so readily,
You lived with us so steadily,
Old year, you shall not die.
He lieth still: he doth not move:
He will not see the dawn of day.
He hath no other life above.
He gave me a friend and a true truelove
And the New-year will take ’em away.
Old year you must not go;
So long you have been with us,
Such joy as you have seen with us,
Old year, you shall not go.
He froth’d his bumpers to the brim;
A jollier year we shall not see.
But tho’ his eyes are waxing dim,
And tho’ his foes speak ill of him,
He was a friend to me.
Old year, you shall not die;
We did so laugh and cry with you,
I’ve half a mind to die with you,
Old year, if you must die.
He was full of joke and jest,
But all his merry quips are o’er.
To see him die across the waste
His son and heir doth ride post-haste,
But he’ll be dead before.
Everyone for his own.
The night is starry and cold, my friend,
And the New-year blithe and bold, my friend,
Comes up to take his own.
How hard he breathes! over the snow
I heard just now the crowing cock.
The shadows flicker to and fro:
The cricket chirps: the light burns low:
’Tis nearly twelve o’clock.
Shake hands, before you die.
Old year, we’ll dearly rue for you:
What is it we can do for you?
Speak out before you die.
His face is growing sharp and thin.
Alack! our friend is gone,
Close up his eyes: tie up his chin:
Step from the corpse, and let him in
That standeth there alone,
And waiteth at the door.
There’s a new foot on the floor, my friend,
And a new face at the door, my friend,
A new face at the door.
This poem is in the public domain.
Dreya sends her best wishes for the New Year!
| Filed under blogging Guide dogs pets and people
After raising two kids and doing the parent thing with the pediatrician for all those years, I thought my husband might like helping out with our pets once in a while. I am proud to say Jerry has become a wonderful pet parent and takes our pet dog, May to all her appointments. We adopted her in 2020 and love her sweet and sassy personality. She is smart, protective but not territorial, and solves problems quickly and efficiently, just like a good German Shepard should. While she has a bit of Rottweiler , as proven by a DNA test, she’s got a GSD body type and traits and the only part missing is pointy ears. She has derpy ones that flop over and stick out perpendicular to her head. Do not let this fool you.
At first we house trained her, which took a few months. She was already crate trained. It took a while for her bladder to mature. She learned how to unlock the metal safety gate, you know the child-safety ones with the lock cover and the sliding , recessed latch?
My yellow lab guide dog, Bailey and May love one another, play together and love to share space, which is good. She also loves our cats. She does poke and play with them but taps down the chasing and while this took some time, the darned cats like to be chased, so we gave up trying to stop it. A few swats from the kitty pins and she learned to respect them. When we brought in a kitten, May’s mothering instincts blossomed, surprising us. She raised it, groomed it and now they all sleep together. April, my daughter, who convinced us to adopt May and who has been a huge part of caring for May, has been able to help with most of her doggie dislikes, like the ear drops. April is great at relaxing May for a two or three toenail trim. But it does take a few days because May won’t tolerate more than one foot at a time. The groomer must hate it when she comes in for a spa day.
But these aversions are within the normal spectrum for a pet, right? Let me go on to what is challenging . sometimes she reverts into a demon, thus her alternate name, Mazikeen. Anyway, her Shepard came out, she is such a drama queen. First, to tell us her ear hurt she jumped onto the bed, flopped between us and kept us awake by whining and shaking her head all night . Then she hurt her ear more by scratching it and when we tried to look at it she screamed like we were cutting it off. So, off to the Vet to take a look at the ear. Then, Jerry gave her the anti-puke pill because she gets car sick in the truck. Well it didn’t work but we have a blanket for that and an extra seat cover just in case. Then, they can’t take her temp anally because she turns into a whirling dervish in the exam room so they have to do it under her leg. That went okay, so did the ear inspection. But when they wanted to take a blood draw to check basics from taking the allergy pills, they could not do it. She became a manic mess and sprayed blood all over them from jerking away. Three times, even with cheese whiz and three people to help distract her. So next time we have to fast her in the morning, run her until she is exhausted because a tired dog is a good dog in the exam room, give her the anti puke pill two hours prior and maybe Jerry can avoid a mess in the truck and the vet tech can get some blood. Oh, they want a urine sample. Well, that is not going to happen, She won’t let anyone sneak up and put a pan under her ass.
All this is frustrating and I am thankful it is Jerry and April facing the challenges with May. Oh, yes, I almost forgot to mention she punishes herself by running into the dog crate and facing the wall after we discover a chewed slipper or something she’d taken off the kitchen counter, like an oven mitt. How could you not love this dog or be amused when she does this? Talk about operant conditioning, lol.
The best thing about May is the way she lowers her head and leans into you or lap asking for affection, exposing her neck as if to say I trust you so much I want you to scratch me where I can’t reach. What could be more endearing than this?
May the dog on her dog bed with her toysMay the dog on her bed with her bones