Author: Joseph Carrabis

Talking about inspiration, titles, protagonists, genre, author toolkits and more with Patricia M. Osborne

West Sussex author and MA in Creative Writing scholar Patricia M. Osborne invited me to guest post on her blog.

 
She asked for ~500 words on writing.

She asked for it on a day I had a breakthrough on my work-in-progress.

I ended up writing about inspiration, figuring out book titles, defining protagonist issues, the difference between genre and literature, learning what’s in your author’s toolkit, and letting your writing educate you.

I enjoyed it. Hope you do, too.

Let us know what you think – Guest Feature – Joseph Carrabis.

Shaman Story Chapter 5 – Lessons

[Careful readers will notice the last listed chapter was numbered 3, this is numbered 5. The joys of a work-in-progress, I added a chapter after 1.]

Read Shaman Story Chapter 3 – Truth Like Wine

Shaman Story Chapter 5 – Lessons

 
Each day Grandpa and I practice. He never pushes me, never insists. Some days I want to play and he turns practicing into a game.

“Gio, you like Hide-and-Seek?”

He knows it is one of my favorites.

“I’m gonna hide and you come find me. Okay?”

Oh, yes. Very much yes.

He takes me to my room and lays me on my bed. “Close your eyes. No peeking.”

I scrunch my face and bury it in my pillow so I can’t see. “You can count to ten? Count to ten, then you come find me.”

Lower-Center-Relax-Breathe. The first lesson. Him, not me. I can feel it, feel him leave the room without him going anywhere. I’m still learning.

I count to ten. “Here I come, ready or not.”

I keep my eyes closed. I never leave my bed.

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17 or so Minutes with Author Tina O’Hailey

I recently had the good fortune to spend seventeen or so minutes with author Tina O’Hailey.
Tina’s spends her days as a professor at Savannah College of Art and Design. Ah, but the rest of her life is spent writing fiction (she’s written technical/academic books, too. We forgive her. We did the same in our distant past, when we were young and foolish).

 
You can find Tina online at:

And of course, right here…for seventeen or so minutes.

Enjoy!

 

Two and a Half Toms

Ah, Spring is in the air. Courtship has begun.

And as every red-blooded american turkey knows, that means it’s time to strut.

Yeah, ain’t nothing better than a good strut by the ladies, letting ’em know you’re there, you’ve arrived, you’re all that and more, you’re It!

Glorious, in’t it? All that manhood, the sheer volume of masculinity, makes one proud it’s happenin’ in one’s own backyard.

Turkeys aren’t particular where they strut. Down the street, in the office, at the coffee shop, getting groceries, don’t matter.

If they think there’s a womans near by, they gotta strut.

Don’t even matter if she’s available or not ’cause all the womens be available when you got a good strut.

Have at it, gents.

And do notice the women don’t care. Sometimes I wonder if women see men as a necessary evil. As Sandy Olafssen says in Empty Sky, “…someone who won’t open his mouth and won’t get a fixation and will just do his job and get out before morning.”

I suspect ladies are alike everywhere in this, truth be told.

And, as always, enjoy.

 

I’m Arm Casted by Armand Rosamilia

Want to hear me rolling with the punches? Give a listen to Arm Cast Podcast: Episode 341 – Carrabis.

 
I’m fascinated, listening to it. We talked a bit about the business Susan and I had, my past writing, re-evaluating past writing, practicing my writing, learning to describe something in five words instead of fifty, taking courses, reading books, perfecting my craft, and applying my research talents to writing good books.

No, really, we did.

And then we talk about the publishing world that existed when I wrote trade-technicals (late 1980’s-early 1990’s) and how it is now. Specifically, what’s changed and what’s not.

Give a listen and let us know what you think.

(and thanks)