Ann Chiappetta

Making Meaningful Connections

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

 

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 Match in March

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs

 

This post is for my best friend and buddy, Bailey. He’s full of heart and  has cream colored fur. He’s got a big head and beautiful brown eyes. People say his face is puppy like and his big brown nose and ears make him look both regal and goofy depending on the situation. He is a 75 lb. yellow lab from Guiding Eyes for the Blind. His first family and puppy raiser are from Maine. He loves to swim and play.

 

He loves my hubby and daughter and shares our home with another dog, two cats and two guinea pigs. Last night the cat curled up beside him, it’s paw on his back. 🐾

He’s kept me safe and guided me through so much in life and has been there during some of the darkest moments of it.

 

The unconditional regard of a dog for it’s partner is felt and expressed through the ebb and flow of life and I will do my best not to take this for granted because it is a gift to be honored, cherished and earned.

Here’s to 6 years together, Bailey.

This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative. yellow lab Bailey in our livingroom

 

 

Free ebooks

| Filed under blindness Fiction Guide dogs nonfiction Poem

From March 7 to March 13 all my titles on www.smashwords.com are free.

Go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnChiappetta

To download all or any of my titles. If you want to read poetry, fiction and nonfiction, I’ve got a title for you. Poems in Upwelling, heartfelt journeys with my guide dog in the memoir, Follow Your Dog a Story of Love and Trust, essays and poems written for nature lovers in Words of Life: Poems and Essays and a short story collection certain to send your imagination soaring in A String of Stories From the Heart to the Future.

 

I hope you come along for the word journey with me and share this link, it’s only free from March 7 until March 13, 2021.

#smashwords #ebookweek21

White tail stag deer standing majestically in forest.

 

 

flamethrowers for all

| Filed under blindness

Flame throwers for Everyone
}blame this post on the cold medicine}

Dear readers, this is not a homicidal post, perish the thought. I’ll leave those stories to more established authors like King and Koontz. This one is for those times when one cannot sleep, when the mind wanders. It is a ‘what if” — How would, a blind person, attempt to even survive in the zombie apocalypse? If what the stories, movies and gory series tell us, someone who is blind will most likely end up voluntarily dead or eating human flesh a la George A. Romero.

So, thinks I, spouse of a survival freak, how would a blind person survive these horrific conditions? Yup, self-defense would demand the most bang, or burn, for the buck. In comes the flame thrower. The model we would like on our wish list is $3200 but hey, it is compatible for napalm, should we find any of it while incinerating maniacal, frothing, people eating people.
So, what’s on your wish list?

Joan is Sweetness

| Filed under blindness Poem writing Writing Life

Readers, one of the best things about writing is making connections. Getting to know other writers and follow them through the creative process is fascinating, too.
One writer I admire is Joan Miles. Visit Joan’s blog and after reading the post, click over to Amazon.com to buy her new book.

https://jewniquelymyself.com/2020/11/09/grateful-for-annie/

Celebrating National Guide Dog Month

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs Poem writing

Hi all,
Below is a link to the ACB Voices blog. My audio and text of the poem titled “Verona” was featured today in celebration of National Guide Dog Month. Please visit and share the post with other guide and service dog handlers, friends, family and dog lovers.
Hi Annie, Thank you so much for submitting this poem, it is beautiful and the audio is such a nice touch. We posted this to the ACB Voices blog, which you can access through this link: Vinterviewveronaacbvoiceseronaacbvoices

Black lab with snow sprinkled on the nose

Black lab Verona with snow on her nose

Weekend Paper Warriors

| Filed under blindness Relationships

Here’s a halfway rhetorical question: what are weekends for? Since I don’t mow the grass, it could be anything. Scrubbing out the tub, maybe? Or, cleaning the shower with a toothbrush? Nope, guess again.

Hopefully some of you readers got it right: cleaning out my desk and file cabinet. Do I hear horrified screams and moans of dismay? BWAHHaHaHa!

First, a disclaimer: I am blind and do not like the task mostly because I require a set of eyes, usually my intrepid and reluctant hubby, Jerry. I avoid it and let it pile up, which is counterproductive. Okay, so then there are the extra tools, a braille labeler, scissors for trimming the labels, paper clips, stapler, accordion folders and four feet, er, inches of unfiled paperwork. Now, this is where I panic, and Jerry pulls up a chair and begins reading.

It really wasn’t that bad, except for when the accordion folder fell on its side and the paperwork that I had already filed, all slipped out into a messy pile and we had to start over. I lost page one of a five-page eye report and misplaced Bailey’s new vaccination record and Jerry found it in the trash pile. I still don’t know how that happened.

Eventually we finished and Jerry shredded to his heart’s content. It’s therapy for him, bless his soul. 😊And, that, dear readers, is how we overcame the insidious demigod of reams.