Small Town To Global

I’m a writer, and I am most famous for being the Editor of a newsletter, that is distributed around the small town I live near. I live in a ‘township’, where there are no shops, only houses, with a hairdresser, who works out of a caravan at her home.

I love my township, and I love the town of Mallala. I once worked at a job at the Mallala Council, as it was then, now Adelaide Plains Council. Mallala is a town with only around 500 people living in , or close to it. So when I say ‘famous’ it’s nowhere near mega big time famous …

But I like what I do, I like the people I work on the Newsletter with. The Mallala Crossroad Chronicle is available on Facebook, where interested people can see it in colour, whereas the copy that goes around town, and other places, is in black and white. People tell me it’s the words that matter the most, not any fancy colour, which is good to hear.

So, I’m a small town gal, but I had a big idea, and I’m giving my all (almost), to that idea, because it feels like the biggest and most important thing to do right now. The world is suffering, people are dying, and there is no cure for what ails them, beyond using a ventilator, to try to keep affected people breathing artificially. This doesn’t always work …

With such a global issue, there are a variety of stories from people about how they are managing, what is their own situation, and whether they are coping with being in Lock Down. I’m doing well enough, staying at home and rarely going out is quite common for writers without any other job.

The volunteer work I do to get the Crossroad Chronicle printed is largely done via email, with a drive once a month, to pick up printed copies, for distribution. And no that we’re in a Covid-19 world, my writing group is now meeting online, on the usual meeting day, once a week. That is working well, but it’s not the same as meeting up with other group members, who have all become friends …

So I’m mostly stuck at home, living well enough, but seeing the hardships of others, and the illness and the deaths. I was feeling like I should do something, but what? This is the biggest thing in the world happening, so many people, so many different stories each of us have. What could I do?

And I had a great idea, and immediately began working to get my idea happening. What could I do? I could gather stories, and edit them into an Anthology! Because I’m a writer, and an editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, I felt I could definitely do this. So, I have this blog, I have many writer friends from near and far This was an idea calling to me, and was something I had to do.

So I’m doing it! The anthology title came to be first, the phrase Plague Invasion. and from there, I began writing on this blog far more often, and not surprisingly, the number of visitors to my blog have increased, and the idea of this Anthology with the expanded title of “Plague Invasion – Responses to Covid-19” has gone out into the world, with a call for people to submit work to be considered for possible publication.

I’m a poet and writer, and can easily write fiction as sell as non fiction, poetry and prose. And that is what is needed for this anthology. I am requesting submission of up to three poems of up to thirty lines, and/or up to three pieces of prose of up to a total of 3,000 words, and I want them sent to this email address: kittycordo@gmail.com with the subject line of “Plague Invasion submission (your name)”
If you would like to know more about this you can either post a question in a comment here, or send an email to the same email address, subject line “Plague Invasion query (your name)”.

All contributors who have their work accepted will be able to buy a copy of the book at cost price plus postage and handling. And they will be able to buy further copies at half price normal price.

Together, we can produce a great piece of history, looking at how people managed to get through this plague. I’d like a wide range of responses, from serious to silly, and all things in between. Particular subjects of interest to me are medical opinions, political ones, sports, parents with children at home, teachers trying to teach with their students can’t be there, and many other ideas I haven’t even thought of yet.

So think about it, share the word with your friends, and send some great and interesting pieces of writing to me. We are living history, and I want the stories of how everyone, from ordinary person, to nurse or doctor, to community worker, to teacher, sporting person unable to play, keen sports watcher reduced to watching replays of games previously watched, and many other stories. Send them to me, I’ll consider them and this Anthology will emerge.