February 17, 2013 – Author Interview With Joe Pranaitis

Today my guest author is Joe Pranaitis. Please give Joe a big round of applause (clap – clap, woo hoo !)  Thanks everyone for stopping by my blog. As you know, now and again I have been hosting guest authors, as I wanted to bring various authors and genres to my followers. With every interview – I ask authors to do a giveaway.  Joe has graciously said he will be giving away four of his books and (1) $25 Amazon gift card to commenters. I’m thrilled with his generous offer. Please enjoy the interview, and stop by Joe’s social media sites now and again to give him a shout-out.  Don’t forget to comment at the end of this interview for your chance of winning one of Joe’s gifts he is giving away.
On with the interview…

-Virginia Wright


Joe Pranaitis

I was born in East Chicago Indiana, I graduated from Calumet College of St. Joseph with a degree in business management, which helps since I am a co-founder of Shareef Entertainment LLC a company which will produce movies and TV shows. And all of this is because I began writing the concepts for my first book in 1996 when my art teacher at EC Central gave me the assignment to create a comic book but during the summer between the time that I graduated high school and started college I adapted those stories into a trilogy and now that first story is the first chapter of my first book.

How long have you been writing? I’ve been writing since I was a kid but everything did’t come together until my junior and senior years in high school when my art teacher assigned me to create my own comic book, I ended up writing and drawing two comic books the first was a sequel to a story that I had yet to write and the second was the last in a trilogy that when I adapted both stories into a full blown short story trilogy in summer of 1996 everything began to spark brighter than it had with the other stories that had I written.
Probably your art teacher saw the potential in you…and gave you that assignment on purpose!
Where does the inspiration come from for your stories? My inspiration for most of my stories come from ideas that I would like to try or settings that I can’t stop thinking about.
I love the ideas that come from waking up at night after dreaming!
Are you a fiction or non-fiction writer? I am a fiction writer, and now I can include screenwriter into that as well since I just co-wrote my first screenplay.
That is wonderful to hear that you just co-wrote your first screenplay–I wish you all the best with it!
Could you tell us about your latest writing project? My latest writing project was a screenplay that I co-wrote but I can’t give out any details yet because a couple of studio’s are currently looking at it.
I won’t pry. However, when it is okay for you talk about it, I’d love to have you come back with an update!
When writing do you prefer silence or do you like listening to music? I like listening to music because it keeps me focused on the project whether it’s a short story or a chapter or a screenplay I have to have music to focus my thoughts.
I definitely like to listen to music when I am working on illustrations, however, sometimes music is not my best friend when I try to concentrate on a particular thought for my stories. :-)
Where online can viewers find you e.g., web, blog, social media sites?
Viewers can find me on facebook, twitter,  goodreads, and I am posting new short stories on figment.com. To purchase books go to Amazon.com.
Thank you for stopping by Joe, I wish you all the best with your screenplay, as well as Infinite Possibilities!

 

Comments are now open…

ANNOUNCEMENT: Jodi Desautels Book Giveaway Winner and More “Future” Giveaways

Good Tuesday morning…

After I host a guest author on my blog, everyone waits anxiously I’m sure for the announcement of who the “comment winner” will be.

As a little girl, I remember winning a drum set at the 5 & 10 on Main street in Belfast, Maine. My grandmother and I went into that store and we both put our names in the box for the giveaway they were having. Nana,won a large comfortable wicker chair with a red pad for the seat. We were both very excited with our winnings! Then several years later, when I had young children, I put our family’s name in at a store to win a set of Encyclopedias…I won. How excited I was. It is always fun winning!

Without further ado….

Congratulations goes out to: Karen Phillips

You have won a copy of  author & illustrator Jodi Desautels new release, “Clarinda Cloud.” I will be getting your information to the author soon, Karen. Enjoy!

While I have your attention–I wanted to mention that there were 97 shares, between Facebook Likes, pins, etc. for this blog post. My heart is truly touched that so many follow my blog, and care enough to share my blog posts. I love you all for that! Please invite your friends and family to sign up for my blog updates by email. All they have to do is go to the homepage of my blog and on the sidebar they will see where to sign up via email. I do not bombard your inbox with lots of emails. I generally post one maybe two times a week. That’s it. Unless I have something really exciting to share. :-)

I’m working on a couple of new writing projects in 2013 – 2014, and a new blog (The Recipe Weekly). The Recipe Weekly is a place to share recipes, health and nutrition articles, and a place for me to ramble with my thoughts on various food issues. It will be a work in progress. I’m gearing up for a introduction  late spring to early summer to this new blog with a nice giveaway. Right now,  I have a couple of months tied up with prior commitments, then it will be full steam ahead…

On February 17, please join me as I introduce to you “Author, Joe Pranaitis. ” Joe is having a special giveaway on my blog…he is giving away four of his books and a $25 Amazon gift card. Please tell all your friends about this giveaway and stop by next Sunday or Monday and give a shout out to Joe. Good Luck!
Lastly…I’m being interviewed by Author & Illustrator Tracy Campbell,  Saturday, February 23, 2013. I am going to let that be my weekly post and will refer you all over to her blog on February 24th with a link to the exact post. Yes, I’m having a giveaway…In honor of spring heading our way, I’m going to be giving away my non-fiction, educational book “Buzzzzzzzz What Honeybees Do,”  to (one) commenter that gets me buzzing with their comment!

Lots of excitement ahead…stayed tuned!

Hugs,

-Virginia Wright