Month: September 2020

meaning in life, Philosophy

Some Day …

carolyncordon

There are a number of things on my ‘Some Day …’ list. It isn’t a ‘Bucket list’, there aren’t any big and amazing things on this list, but it’s just a list of things I think I’d like to do, some day. One of the things I’d like to so some day, is to go up on a hot air balloon.

This is one that is also on other people’s Bucket Lists, so the two things, the lists, are not entirely different things, I just think the term Bucket List is a clumsy title for a list of good, or exciting things to do, some day.

It sounds like a container for waste products, not a holder for possible wonderful things to do. So the hot air balloon one is there. I’ve toyed with idea of going up on a glider. I’ve seen them up in the sky, not to high up, but floating up where birds might be. That seems lovely and peaceful, although I believe it might be a little bit more noisy than it is in my imagination.

I like birds, a lot, and the idea of sharing the sky with the birds is a think I’d like to do. some day. Being in a plane doesn’t feel anything like that, it is a totally unnatural thing to me. But I like being with birds on the ground too, so that’s what I do, I watch them as they get about at my place, which is also their place. I live here, and the birds (many of them) live here too.

Photo by Flickr on Pexels.com

I see so many sparrows, every time I look or go outside. Some people think sparrows are boring, but they have their own interesting lives, and I enjoy watching them, and the other birds that live around here, all doing their own things.

Maybe some day I’ll do some study, and learn more about these birds who live here at and around our place. Or perhaps I’ll just go on being here with them. watching them, providing water to them, enjoying them …

I love observing Nature!

Cozy Mystery

Not One or the Other, but Something Else!

carolyncordon

Deciding to write a novel is a heck of a lot easier than actually writing the novel … I’m very much more comfortable with writing poems. Even writing a collection of poems is much easier than writing a novel.

My most recent poetry collection

With a poetry collection, even if you are writing on a particular theme, each poem is a single thing, while with a novel, you’re working on one big thing, that all joins completely together, to make the whole. With a verse novel, it might feel a bit different, being a combination of the poem plus novel thing. I’ve not written a verse novel, and suspect I’ll need to go back and look at the verse novel I know is in my bookshelves, somewhere, to get a better feel for the differences present, or not, in that particular genre.

But back to the writing of a novel, there is talk about whether a writer is a plotter or a pantser, I just did a quiz to see which of the two it indicated I was. The answer to the quiz though, based on my answers didn’t lend an easy answer, it said I was a hybrid. Maybe that is why I’m not able to get an outline settled on and then the novel written, or the novel just written, and then I’ll work out what I’ve actually done.

This is where the quiz is, if you’d like to give it a try yourself: https://www.writinglaraferrari.com/plotter-or-pantser-quiz

I want my plot, but I want surprises too. And if I actually end up writing something else entirely, well, at least it will be something, a novel, hopefully a novel that is something similar to a Cosy Murder Mystery!

I have an increasing number of people waiting for me to finish writing this novel, so I’d better get back to doing just that, as well as watching this Adelaide Crows football game, that is looking good at the moment, with Crows on 2 goals, 2 points, to Greater Western Sydney on 1 point. Go Crows!

Uncategorized

Listening to Authors Talk …

carolyncordon

I love going to authors’ talks, especially when I know the venue and people running the event well, so know what to expect regarding parking, venue. etc. Today I attended an excellent author talk, put on by the Two Wells library. Things were a little different today, because of Covid-related issues, but it all went well, or perhaps even better, as a consequence.

The author was Georgie Brooks, with her first book “A Year in the mud and the toast and the tears”. Georgie spoke well and amusingly as she talked about her year of hell, as a ‘townie’ trying to become a country girl. The problems she faced for that year, some of them anyway, certainly rang bells for me, being a former ‘townie’ who moved to the country back in 1988, with little real understanding about what horrors would be there, waiting for us … I haven’t begun reading Georgie’s book, but if her writing is as good as her talk was, I can see I’m in for a treat!

Learning about what is needed to put on a good author talk, both from the organisational point of view, and the presenter’s point of view, are both important aspects of these things. So that was another reason for me to attend, because I wish to do a lot more public speaking, including author talks such as this one today.

The Two Wells Library was very excited to finally be able to put on this kind of event, which they have often put on in the ‘pre-Covid’ past. They have had training in such things now, Covid Marshall training, so were able to put that training into place, and hold the event with this author, which had previously been planned for March this year.

As I am also a writer, who is quite comfortable about speaking in public, it is important I learn as much as I can about being relevant and interesting too, so that those who may be there to hear me speak, feel I was worthy of their time, and so will be more likely to want to buy my book.

Puss in Boots is my constant companion, when I go to my writing group events

Today I had with me several copies of the newsletter I edit, the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, and I was able to give the copies to people who seemed interested, and also the guest writer present. (Well, I hope I remembered to give her a copy, anyway … hmm, not sure now). Anyway, I put my hand up and spoke, when there was the opportunity to, and now more people know a bit about who I am, and that is always a good idea, if you have books to sell, and when you are looking to get public speaking opportunities!

So all in all, I did well, as a writer and reader. I have a new and entertaining book to read, and I talked about, and handed out the newsletter I edit, as well as talking a little to some attendees about some of the books I have written.

And yesterday, I, with the assistance of my support worker, put copies of my books that are for sale, into the boot of my car, so that now, whenever I go anywhere in my car, I will have my books available for sale, as long as my car isn’t too far away. And if my car isn’t really close, I can easily grab some of the books and bring them with me.

I’m feeling very much the organised writer now, ready for whatever may occur …

Uncategorized

Why is Life …

carolyncordon

What is life? Life is the combination of the things we do every day, to ‘get by’. That includes getting up in the morning, cleaning and feeding ourselves, going to work in whichever way we ‘work’, and connecting with others, workmates, family, friends.

The Why though, that is a very different question, sometimes one never considered, sometimes one that is all embracing, with many different attitudes and answers to this question. And at different life stages, those answers may change, just a little, or in large ways, again with many different ways.

The what is simple, the why, that requires thought, and considerations. And the ‘what’ will impact on the why. Then add in ‘who’ you consider yourself to be, and again, many answers and things to think about there. Who you are, what life is, why you do the things you do, and of course, where you are in your life, whether that where, is a physical place, or the what stage you are at in your life.

My car is my prettiest tool!

The photograph of my new car, is not to show off, but to show, instead. Not having easy access to a car was a challenge for both my husband and me, as we negotiated where and what we both had planned for the week, the day, and so one. We managed it well enough, but being back to having one car each is much better, no negotiations needed, and no missing out for one or other of us.

Think about these things, consider and reconsider your answers. Have you changed you answers recently? Does a big new ‘thing’ in your life – a new job, or a new ‘significant other’ in your life, change any of your answers to the questions. Life is. it’s that simple, you’re born, you live your life, you die.

For some there is more after that end, but the basic thought is there are those three things. And whether you simply live, with no further thought on why, what, where, and who you are, or whether you think deeply on these things, you will live a life, until your time is over, and you die, and that may be the end …

But many of us want more to our lives than simply that. I know I do. I want to go on to be remembered as what and who I am, and why I may have done the things I have done. I feel that many writers write, to go on living in some way, in the world that goes on, around and around the Sun, after the writer has ceased to move.

So I write, to be remembered, but I also write to know what I think, and to share my revelations at times. I’m interested to know why other people write? What revelations have they uncovered?