Month: March 2020

Cozy Mystery

When Staying Focused Is Difficult

carolyncordon

Right now, as so many people are struggling to stay safe, and to understand the crazy scary things happening all around the world, as we try to keep on top of the terrible emergency regarding the Covid 19 virus, staying, or getting, focused on our own writing is difficult, or even impossible.

I haven’t written anything new for my current large work-in-progress for a couple of days, it is feeling the relevance to life has been squashed, and the Coronavirus has taken hold of almost everything … We’re all hunkering down, and hoping, because that’s about all we CAN do, because getting ‘out there’ may bring exposure to this virus …

My writing group met at our usual spot though, and as long as the venue will be open, we will meet again next week, on the usual time, at the usual place. These times are far from usual though … The markets and the government have gone mad, in Australia, and in all of the other countries too, by the look of it. The Australian dollar is down, down and down, although up a bit at the moment, on the most recent lowest rates …

The venue for the Adelaide Plains Poets writing group. I hope they can remain open throughout this current medical emergency.

So we had our meeting yesterday, with a goodly enough number of attendees. And many of us stayed after the meeting, and we had a meal together. There were no hugs at all, while there often are at least a couple of hugs shared. We were aware of the idea of staying not too close, but I have to admit we may have been a little bit slap dash about it, obviously believing ourselves to be immune for the virus. I hope our arrogance about this doesn’t bit us badly, and kill us …

So with all of this going on, the idea of writing a Cosy Murder Mystery, hasn’t managed to cut through the media deluge, and numbers of deaths, are real deaths, not make believe ones from my novel … So yes, my focus on “Winds of Death At Talloola” is nonexistent, with apparently 800 cases of coronavirus as at 3.00pm 20/03/20 … Which is more important? Well, actually, wearing my Stoic hat rather than my poet and novelist hat, the most important thing isn’t to watch non stop news about things I can do nothing to fix, so I might as well get on with my writing, which I can do, and it would be a good distraction, and mood enhancer for me.

So why am I here? I have a novel to write, and I know being able to read my words will definitely be a happy thing for a few of my writing friends, who are waiting to read this novel, and help me to make it a better piece of writing! So novel, here I come!

Cozy Mystery, Public Speaker, writing prompts

A Day Late, But Here’s the Writing Prompt

carolyncordon

Yesterday was ‘one of those days’ and I didn’t get around to doing much at all regarding my blogging life … I did get some more of my current work in progress though, so I’m happy with that. I’m hoping I may be able to find a way to sneak this writing prompt I’m going to put up here, into my Cosy Murder Mystery, “Winds of Death at Talloola”, which is that current work in progress.

So here is the prompt, do with it what you will! What on earth was that?

So, I’m sure there’s a lot I could do with that writing prompt, given my current work in progress is a Cosy Murder Mystery … Things that go Bang! in the night anyone? My main character (Meredith) is at the moment beginning to wonder about the large number of deaths in her new little town, that she is beginning to call home, and falling in love with. But the local copper doesn’t like her, and doesn’t like her friend, Gert …

But Meredith is also friends with Mister, the dog who lives next door, and she’s going to use him as a warning system, in part, because she and Mister (and other dogs too, it seems), have some kind of an understanding … If Mister doesn’t like someone, Meredith will know to watch out for them too. And Mister is going to show Meredith that her initial distrust of this police officer was wisdom indeed …

This is Mister, a red kelpie something cross, former sheepdog, now, lounger around on the grass, and a fine judge of character in people, helping Meredith to stay safe …

Mister may look a little grizzled (or quite so, actually), but he, like Gert, still has all of his marbles, even though some around town may doubt that. If Mister doesn’t like you, you’re probably not a nice person, not at all.

So in my novel, perhaps Mister is going to help Meredith when there’s a big Bang in the night, and she goes out of her front door to see what caused the sound … I haven’t written any of that yet, but the prompt was there, and it seems like it will fit in well, for my story …

That is the thing about writing prompts, the best ones will have a connection with what is already in your head, or written down, and will, ideally, prompt lots of other useful ideas too. I sure hope this is going to help me to get lots more words written down. Writing a Cosy Murder Mystery series, as I am, seems like a grand idea, and with luck, bit by bit, I will eventually get to ‘The End’, and ‘Winds of Death’, book one in my “At Tallola” Cosy Murder Mystery series will be done. And then book two will be my obsession, as well as getting book one published, of course …

Cozy Mystery, Uncategorized

Cozy Murder Mystery Writing Day Today

carolyncordon

As the headline reads, I hope to get some more of my Cozy Murder Mystery written today. It is Saturday today, so from after breakfast, to after lunchtime and after, until getting on to tea time, the house will be mine. Well, mine and Missy’s of course. If Missy the dog needs to go out, that’s my role …

I actually wrote a tiny bit more of this first Murder Mystery book yesterday, and a very cosy little piece it was too. My main character, and one dear old lady from their quaint little town were having a visit to the local hotel, for some lunch, and to discuss … Murder! I haven’t actually written about the murder, yet, but today, Gert may well make the suggestion about the possibility of it, or at least get Meredith thinking about it, anyway.

I’m enjoying writing this, and I really wish I would give more of my time to getting this first book in my series of Cosy Murder Mysteries written. I have this mystery series planned in advance, with book titles, and characters, both the main character, who will be the amateur sleuth who solves the crimes, to some possible bad people, and lots of possible helpers, or suspects throughout the series.

My main character, Meredith, is a newcomer to town, working at the council office, as the Towns Coordinator, a new role, that she took over from someone else, who left abruptly. Meredith doesn’t know why the job became available, she was just happy to get the two year role, and hopes it may continue on for longer.

So, I’ve written some of the second book in this series, and some of the first book. I am currently aiming at getting all of the first book written, and edited, before I do any more on the second book. Once that is done, I’ll get other people to read it and give me feedback. I have a few writer friends who will happily perform this task for me, and they are eagerly awaiting the completion of “Winds of Death at Talloola”! All I have to do is get on and finish writing it.

So, why am I fluffing around with this blog post, you may ask? Well, I am doing it to guilt myself into writing some every day, every morning, at least 200 more words in the first book. Two hundred words should be an easy half an hour or so of writing, and I should easily be able to manage that small amount of time, after breakfast, every day. Whether on my laptop, or on my phone, the same file is there, in the same format, with the same new words.

No excuses, it is today, after breakfast, and I have at least two hundred words to write! I’m planning on many more words that that today though, the house is mine, the time is mine, and I will gradually, as the pace of my thoughts and written words helps to dry out my clothes that were spattered by the hose nozzle that kept flying off as I completed my main ‘house/yard work’ task for the day, which was water the bonsai trees and others as needed.

That’s done, as evidenced by the water all over me, and now I’m wondering if that incident may have a role in this book, or one of the others to come … Everything that happens in life is possible fodder for their writing, for a keen writer!

That is all I’m saying, other than to say this – I have currently have 3,897 words in ‘Winds of Death at Talloola’ the first book of my “At Talloola” Cosy Murder Mystery series, and by the end of the day, I want to have many more than two hundred words added to that total! I will check back much later today, and give the running total in the comments!

Uncategorized

Importance of Vision to be a Successful Writer

carolyncordon

Writers who simply keep all of their writing to themselves may be good writers, but they will never be successful ones. To be successful as a writer, you have to get your words ‘out there’ where others can read and appreciate what you’ve done, and what you continue to do.

Having a vision of yourself as that successful writer, and taking action toward making it happen, is what you have to do. Being involved with others who want to further their writing success, may seem like a bad idea, because you may be competing, but it’s actually a great idea, because there’s plenty of room for more and more good writers in the world! BE one of them, and gain inspiration from others!

Public Speaking event? No showing off some successful Op Shop trip purchases! Ready to step in for my next speaking opportunity!

Meeting other, more successful writers, is a great way to gain connections – meet them, talk with them, exchange business cards! And if you wish to gain a readership, look for every option possible to make this happen. Go to Author talks, workshops, anything where you can meet with successful writers! Public radio stations are always looking for people to talk on their programs. Send in your details, and talk!

Public libraries are often looking for writers to talk about their books too, and there may be the chance to run a workshop in writing, if you feel confident in doing that. And a tip for you, if you write creatively already, enjoy it, and are satisfied that you do it well, you’ll probably do well at running workshops – give it a go, it could be a new way to sell books! Always have your books with you to sell!

I am a Writer, a Successful Writer. If I keep on telling myself this, and work at becoming even more so, there’s no telling the heights I might attain!

Schools too, are sometimes good for finding ‘talking’ engagements. Those students are itching for something new, and someone different to listen to. Contact schools close to where you live, and you may be surprised at how exciting and invigorating talking with these great young people can be.

So hold to a Vision of yourself as an interesting and successful writer, and work at making it so. If this seems too far away for you to achieve, baby steps, but forward steps. Write up a CV that shows your credentials as this Successful Writer, with any and all of your writing or word related successes.

At a Speaking engagement, with some of my books as raffle prizes!

Being prepared to ‘Get out there!’ is part of this Vision for becoming a Successful Writer. My personal next step is going to be to send out my details to service groups, schools, and libraries, close to where I live. Probus, CWA, Rotary, Lions clubs, they are all looking for their next speaker for a meeting, and that Speaker could be you. These may not be paid gigs, but they are definitely chances to sell copies of your books, if you have copies available.

And that hint, repeated, if your have any published books, you should always have copies available to sell, whenever you go out anywhere, where it may be appropriate to share news of your writing.

Coffee chat with friends – YES, trip to explore a new town – YES, visit to relatives -YES – shopping journey – YES, everywhere you go – YES!

Any and all of these may lead to book sales, or possible speaking engagements. And have your business card too, always. I’m thinking about making up book marks with my contact details … Perhaps I could include a list of my published books. Or I could have book marks with a poem of mine on them, and the details of the Poetry Collection of mine the poem cam from.

You may have different ideas on what you might be able to do. List the possibilities, and do it, I’m going to!

writing prompts

Second Weekly Writing Prompt for March

carolyncordon

So after my Fabulous February month, of a brand new writing prompt every single day, things have calmed down a bit, and I can rest some more. Unfortunately though, as I am resting, other people are resting too, and the numbers of visitors to this blog have also calmed down and not in a wanted way.

I want lots of people to come along to my writer site, to show off what I’ve done, and what I can and will do! So if you come here, take a look around, check out what I’ve written before, maybe take on some of the writing prompts from the previous month, after all, there were 29 of them there for the taking!

And if you like what you see here, or think something else might be interesting, tell me! I will respond to whatever you might write, in an intelligent and friendly way. Unless I think what you’ve written is spam in which case I will delete it. I’m not friendly to mindless spam.

So, March … there is a new writing prompt today, and that prompt is this –

Unfamiliar places

So write about places that are unfamiliar to you, that you may like to explore perhaps, or write about places very familiar to you, but unknown to many others. Write about weird and wonderful places from yesteryear, from science fiction – books, TV, film, just write!

What unfamiliar place has this fellow been to?
Photo by Lenin Estrada on Pexel
I’ve certainly never been there, nor would I want to be, I don’t think!
Photo by Suliman Sallehi on Pexels.com

So there are two ideas about unfamiliar places, but others might be homes that you would never live in – up in a tree, or down in an ant’s nest …

Oh, up a tree, how cool would that be? Unfamiliar to me in my adult years, but I’ve been up a few trees as a kid, for sure!
Photo by Jozef Fehu00e9r on Pexels.com
You can’t actually see them in this photo, but there are ants there. The round holes are entries to the ant nest.
my photo

So there are a few ideas, and here are some more ways to consider the writing prompt. I’ve never been to Darwin, but my husband has been, and he’s never been to Alice Springs, but I have been. I’ve never been to a sauna, or to a church during a normal service, only for weddings or funerals. I’ve been to Beijing and walked on the Great Wall of China, as well as walking around Tiananmen Square, that felt like very unfamiliar territory to us Westerners, for sure.

Writing prompts are only prompt ideas and thoughts, you don’t have to slavishly follow what the prompts are, the brain likes to wander off along quite different paths at times, and that is fine. It’s all a part of the creative process, to consider as many different options as you have time for. If creative writing isn’t like that, if it is constrained by many rules and boundaries, then it stops being creative, doesn’t it?

Now that’s possibly a thought for another blog post! I’ve been looking at and writing about creative writing earlier today, and was enjoying the process very much. Thinking about writing creatively. Is it a worthwhile thing, or is it yet another way to procrastinate instead of write, I wonder … I suppose it depends on whether or not the thinking actually leads to words being written, and put ‘out there’, which surely is the main role of a writer, in whatever kind of writing they do.

Writing kept only in a notebook, and never shared in any way, or leading to things that can be shared, hmm, that’s not very useful. No-one ever sold a scribble in a notebook, unless they have lots and lots of actual books written and sold!

So the prompt for this week is Unfamiliar Places, and there will be another writing prompt next week, out on the Monday, and my plan is to go on with that for the rest of the year, a new prompt every Monday morning. Unless, of course, something happens to stop it happening …


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