Month: April 2020

Uncategorized

Sharing, For a Friend

carolyncordon

A friend of mine, (Hi John!), asked about seeing some of the novel I’m writing. I value his opinion, so have decided to put a snippet here, so John, and anyone else who might be interested, can read a bit of “Hot Winds of Death At Talloola”, a Cosy Murder Mystery, my first ever. I am far more accustomed to writing poetry, and this venture into writing these mystery novels is a big step, so I appreciate any feedback I might receive. I’m only just into this book, and have many more chapters to go.

This piece is from the second chapter, and Meredith, my main character, has gone along to the Talloola Oval, to check out the preparations for the Talloola Christmas Party, to be held at the oval later in the day, and into the evening. Meredith’s job is with Talloola Council, and putting on this event, after it not being held for quite a few years was her idea, and she hopes it goes well. She has been in the job for less than a year, and hopes to get another contract after her initial two year contract is over. She is a city girl, moved to Talloola, and enjoying the change, to country life.

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I got closer to the oval, and was sort of pleased to see lots of residents, both adults and kids, taking an early look at what was going on. It’s good they’re interested, but I hadn’t considered that aspect. Was it going to slow things down, with people wandering around the oval? I’m sure the insurance of the various stall holders would cover anything … But the actual opening of the Talloola Christmas Party wasn’t until much later today. But if these people went home and told others that things were looking good, then, yay, more people! I hope so, anyway.

If this event was successful, we might have to keep people out though, next time. I stored the thought, away on my mental agenda. The people working, looked set up to keep people out of the way of any danger , so I wasn’t too worried, not really. And then, there was Gert, with some of the CWA ladies, heading into the football club to get their tea and coffee stall set up. I gave them a wave, when they looked my way, and continued onto the oval.

I could see Tash, sitting under the big tent, and she seemed to be getting some pamphlets organised, and I was thrilled to see a most gorgeous German Shepherd with her. Dark and tan, a male, he was just beautiful. Was he the barking dog I’d heard, that had woken me up this morning? He certainly looked big enough to be the one … I kept walking and got to Tash and the dog, which was sitting, and looking at me, sedately. 

I glanced at Tash, and asked, ‘May I?’

‘Oh I knew Merlin would attract your interest Meredith! You’re such a sucker for a dog, and Merlin here sure is an impressive dog, isn’t he?’ She laughed at me, and called to the dog. ‘Merlin, ask nicely!’ she said. 

Merlin looked at me, and put out a paw toward me, seeming to beckon me over. I strolled closer, and put out my own hand, touching his big paw, and then reached to stroke him under his chin. He arched his neck and leaned into my hand, and I rubbed gently behind his ears, not surprised when he relaxed into my hand, and seemed to smile at me.

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So that’s a small piece, and I hope you find it interesting, and would like to read more! I’m still in the very early stage of writing this novel, and any thoughts about what I’ve written would be welcome. For instance, I just realised, as I was getting this snippet organised, that both my main character, and the German Shepherd, have quite similar names … ‘Merlin’ and ‘Meredith’… problem or no problem, what do you think?

Merlin isn’t going to have a large part in the novel, I don’t think, or maybe he will. Merlin’s owner also works at Talloola Council, as the Dog Control Officer.

I’m happy enough to change the dog’s name, if it might be a problem. The name jumped into my mind a few days ago, as I was writing the piece, and it seemed just right for him, a wise and intelligent dog …

Anyway that’s it, time to have a coffee, and get some more of this mystery happening!

Cozy Mystery, inspiration

Committing to Your Writing Project – One

carolyncordon

Today, I will write more of my novel, a cosy murder mystery featuring the amateur investigator Meredith Webster. I will add at least 500 more words to the first novel in the series today, and will try very hard to do the same every day, until it is all finished in first draft form, then I will have selected others read it, give me feedback, with a view to getting it published.

So, that is my stated commitment, and it is up to me, to get it done, not anyone else, just me. Of course, if other people are a=watching me, and avidly waiting to read this novel, in first draft format, and will be glad to give me feedback, that will be a good encouragement. And while I already have several people lined up for this role, getting feedback on this blog would be awesome to have too!

I’ve never written a full novel before, I have written a lengthy novella though, and I have several published poetry collections, a school reader, and three amusing books about a dog named Buster. I have read many cost murder mysteries, and enjoy them immensely when they are well done. I’ve got characters, a setting, and many ideas about the town and some of the possibilities for murder there, with potential book titles.

Talloola looks a bit like this town …

I am ready for this, all I need to do is to get the first book written. Simple? No, not really. I am letting myself get too distracted by too many other, non-novel things. So that’s why I’m putting the word up here, where others can read it,and I hope give me a nudge if I don’t report back regularly with an ever increasing word count!

At the moment, the word count is at 6,249 words, so by the time I go to bed tonight, there must be at least 6,749 words. If I get more words written than that, that will be great, but I won’t allow myself to count those extra words for the next day, I will work on writing another 500 words, every day, with maybe a day off, every now and then.

So if you are a writer, and have a particular writing project that you really want to get done, then committing to it, planning it and actually writing it is important. Life at the moment for us all, I think is different, many are in lock in mode, because of the Covid 19 virus. And this means we have far more time at home than is usual. So without making light of the real deaths that have happened, it is a time we can use to work on that writing project, and find something good, amongst the bad.

So, that is what I will do, ‘Meredith’ and I will work on “Winds of Death At Talloola”, finding out who the killer is, and getting them jailed for their crimes! I look forward to you all helping me! I aim to check back every week with a new and much bigger word count. Are you going to be on the team to help me get this done? Leave a comment if you are, and it will happen!

Cozy Mystery

Strange Times …

carolyncordon

Thinking about what is going on in the world right now, I’m wondering, is there really any point in getting concerned about what is happening in countries I’ll never visit, people I’ll never know. But of course that is a head in the sand kind of thought. Places, and people, are important. Things that happen in one place bring echoes of what occurs to other places, as people doing things in one place can link with other people in other places.

I’m not only looking at this from the point of view of a world being held in stasis, at home, trying to find new ways to live our lives … The coronavirus, Covid 19 has us all looking and hoping, grasping greedily, some of us, and sharing compassionately some others. I know of city people ‘invading’ small tourist towns, causing difficulties for permanent residents, who are not accustomed to having so many people there, out of tourist times.

As a person with a chronic illness that means I may be affected in worse ways that others, I am doing my best to stay at home, as much as possible. I go outside, often, but only outside my own house, and mostly remaining on my own property. I gather herbs, and make myself cups of herbal tea, or let our dog in and out, for ‘comfort trips’ into the backyard.

But I’m a writer, so this locked in time could be the ideal time to get writing my Cosy Murder Mystery series, but, even though I have indeed written a little bit of the first book in the series, I don’t seem to be able to settle down to getting it all written, my mind is skipping around from here to there, and I write a blog post, a poem there, and perhaps another couple of paragraphs of the novel, but not necessarily in any kind of order.

I have the TV on, mostly on news channels, seeing and hearing the same news, slightly changed perhaps, watching the numbers, worrying, and staying safe inside … If I could, I’d be like Missy, my dog, lounging around on the sofa, and not worrying about anything except having food, and getting to the toilet as needed …

Missy ‘lounging around’

But I’m not a dog, I’m a writer, and even though writing blog posts is writing, what I really want to be writing, is my Cosy Mysteries … Oh brain, please, think about the people and places in Talloola, and write more words for that first book “Winds of Death At Talloola”!

So enough of this blog post, and perhaps back to my novel-in-progress!

Cozy Mystery, Uncategorized, Writing

Locked In or Reaching Out?

carolyncordon

Even as we are (most of us anyway) in Locked in mode, keeping ourselves and others safe, by staying at home, most of the time. Many are bemoaning these scaled back quiet times, and they’re worried about not being able to work.

Not me though, and not many of my friends. A locked in life can feel like bliss, nothing you have to go out and do, the days are yours, to explore your writing options. The projects that had been put on hold, waiting for a time, when you actually had time, and suddenly, that time is now!

While many businesses have closed down, many publishers, especially small ones, are still very much at work, and they are able to go on doing their publishing thing, calling for submissions, receiving them, putting anthologies or other books together, then sending them off to be printed.

This is great news for many of us, and many of my friends are getting published, and we celebrate the good news with them, when they post the news on blogs, or on Social Media. But the sad part is there won’t be any Book Launches, where everyone comes together in the same room, words are read out, and hugs are given, food and drinks are consumed, and much chat happens.

No more. It is possible to still hold a book launch, one online, but many of the best elements are missing. There are no hugs, the purchaser is unable to watch as the writer of the book signs the new copy the purchaser has handed money over for. If books are purchased, it happens online, and there are definitely no hugs.

Personally, I’ve had two poems accepted by two different publishers, I’ve entered a short story in a competition, and I’ve written some more (but not enough) of my bigger work in progress. That work in (slow) progress is a Cosy Murder Mystery series. I have characters, and a setting, as well as many book titles and slight notes on what each book will be about. There are I think twenty books in the series. If I ever get them written, I expect I will be in my late seventies … This is not a bad thing necessarily, many authors of such books are more mature, they’ve lived lives, and know much about people, it’s all fine!

But the rate my writing of this series, I’m likely to be more like in my nineties. I sincerely hope the writing of Murder books helps to ward off dementia, because otherwise I’ll have no chance of making my way to the end of my list! Whether poetry, or mystery books, or anything else really, being locked in makes it all easier, with so much time available. Sadly, more time can also mean more things to procrastinate about.

And this crazy Covid 19 time, when there is non stop media about death rates, recovery rates, things to do, meals to make, cleaning to do, decades old boxes of ‘stuff’ to sort through, the dog to walk and feed, gardening to do, and so on. So tasks you’ve never had on your list of things to do may appear, and all of those things can stop the writing happening …

With no sense of routine, things can just drift away, things happen, but they don’t amount to much, and little or no writing is done. Where does the time go? It goes down the drain, and even though your house is clean, and dishes are done, with different recipes tried out now that time is there, sourcing ingredients might take more time than usual, and you may not be able to get those ingredients, so you have to find a different idea.

And no writing gets done … I’ve been able to get some sort of sense to things happening, by moving from breakfast table to laptop every morning, Emails read and dealt with, and then writing happens, most of the time. The writing might be a poem, a bit more of that novel, a blog post, something for the monthly community newsletter I edit, but writing. Words happen every day, and I am still a writer, just a locked down one.

My Locked in view …

If you have a plan that works for you at the moment, I’d love to read about your ideas, please leave a comment, and we can perhaps all get better at managing our time, and get some great writing done!

meaning in life, New Ideas

Feeling More Open!

carolyncordon

These are very strange times, with the Covid 19 virus wreaking havoc on our lives, and on the economy. Fears of death, having to stay away from each other, not hugs to friends, or even family not living with us. What weird times we’re in …

Not poetry readings in hotels, no book launches in libraries or other venues. No getting together somewhere nice for a writing group meeting. Sure, there are many online options for all of these things, but there are no hugs between friends and peers. No chances to catch nuances in conversations, and body language.

I’ve been feeling quite low, about these things, but today my mind is getting out of that mindset, and I’m looking more outward, outside of the window, up to the sky, which is a beautiful blue, that I so much love to see!

lovely blue sky, with trees

Looking out of my window, seeing what Nature is up to, living, breathing, being, these are still going on. And although there is death happening here, it is only pesky mice getting caught in traps, and that is a normal kind of death that happens at this time of year, when colder nights bring mice inside at night time … Normal.

And having and doing things that are ‘normal’ feels good, because so much of what is happening right now is far from normal. The song from the early eighties by The Specials, is in my head, and the lyrics leaping out when I see and hear the latest restrictions … The governments are doing what they have to do, I guess, but it feels like we’re being punished for being naughty, when we don’t really know what we’ve done wrong …

But sky and trees, and the birds, they’re all keeping on too, doing their normal things, and this lovely Autumns day, mild and only a gentle breeze, but with rain forecast for later in the week, normal weather for this time of the year. And even though the writing group I’m involved with won’t meet up ‘for real’ this afternoon, at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, as is normal, we’ll be meeting up for the second time, online, and will try to conduct a meeting as normally as possible.

Reaching out to others, keeping an eye out, and helping, via the internet, or phone, these are things we do, because we’re all human, even now, when life feels far less ‘humane’. The absence of touch is hard on people who love to hug, or shake hands, clap each other on the back. But we find other ways now, a kind message via email, a comment on Social Media, a blog post such as this one. Reaching out to others, because we’re people, and that is what is natural and normal, for people to do.

I’ll go on thinking about finding normality, and how and why it’s so important, and this afternoon, I’m thrilled that my writing group friends will be there with me, online, and still connected, just without any hugs … People need people. Best wishes to all, struggling through this Ghost Town of a world …