“He who is best prepared can best serve his moment of inspiration.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Hello all and a warm welcome to you. In this weeks journal, my ear and eye candy, some pasta exploration and more…
1. This week I celebrate World Pasta Day, October 25th. Were you aware? I wasn’t. I found out that October is International Pasta Month and the 25th is the day to bring it all together.
I spent time with some special pasta makers. I give you some of the top ten reasons to make pasta a part of your regular diet and a great traditional Lasagna recipe from my cousin Rosemary who lives in Italy and has a fantastic cooking blog, An Italian in my Kitchen.
2. My eye and ear candy this week, the music of Ella Fitzgerald. I caught the documentary Ella Fitzgerald – Just One of Those Things. A beautiful documentary. It was great to be reminded of the impact that Ella had on Bop. Her musicality was outstanding.
The top albums, her best bands and her personal life all explored; including the breakout years with her career-defining moment under the guidance of Norman Granz.
3. The ear candy; well of course I listened to lots of Ella Fitzgerald. When you listen to Ella you can find so many other musical directions to take. Things like, who is that guitarist or bassist or pianist?
Her bassist and life partner, Ray Brown had his own incredible musical career that included the mentorship of jazz pianist, Dianna Krall. A career that included so many masterful artists.
One of my all-time favourite recordings, Night Train with the Oscar Peterson Trio that included Ray Brown and drummer, Ed Thigpen.
Oscar played with Ella, as did the great Kenny Barron. And some excellent guitarists had the pleasure of accompanying Ella including Joe Pass, Herb Ellis and a score of others.
4. This week I took in a virtual writer’s conference. As it was a busy weekend of travel, I missed the online, live Zoom part of the conference. Thankfully one section was recorded and I managed to take in the rebroadcast of the Zoom part of that one. The presenter who put on the workshop went into detail about the creation of villains.
The best part of the writer’s conference was receiving a virtual swag bag. I picked out an e-book, on what else? Marketing! Author Smarter, Boot Camp by Michelle Fox.
That’s what I’ve been reading this week.
5. My new book Scratchy the Squirrel – A Time For Friends, is moving forward. This week we had a writer, illustrator virtual meeting to review all of the illustrations. I am thrilled with all the illustrations. I think that Joshua Miller has captured the essence of Scratchy and all the characters.
I share with you a chapter, that introduces the reader to Miss. Bee for the very first time.
Thank you for reading and a very happy and safe – Halloween.
If you think someone you know would enjoy my newsletter please share it with them. If you are looking for a great children’s book check out my new book, Samba in Brazil; Paperback version, on sale for a limited time. And the Portuguese version, Samba no Brasil, is also now available on Amazon.
Or one of my other books, Samba on a Snowy Day or the Brazilian/ Portuguese version Samba em um Dia de Neve.
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong and keep going.
Copyright © 2021 Paul Yanuziello, All rights reserved.