Month: June 2021

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Getting New Book ‘Out There’

carolyncordon

When you have a new book, and you are the publisher as well as writer of that new book, there are certain things you are legally required to do. So today, I sent one copy of my new book to the National Library of Australia, and another copy of the book to the State Library of South Australia. This is a necessary thing for publishers to do with new books.

So as I am the ‘publisher’ of my books, as well as the editor of this particular book (an anthology), it’s my task to deal with this part of the publishing process. It costs money, of course, to post books, but it might well lead to further book sales, and also to having copies of my book in libraries. And having books in libraries can lead to even more money being made, through Publis Lending Rights. Yippee.

I am far better at writing than I am at marketing, but I am very slowly getting the hang of it all. It’s a necessary process, but my brain whispers to me that the writing is the fun part, and it’s not interested in that marketing stuff. Naughty brain!

I love this new book though, and want to share it with as many people as possible, so I’ll do my best to be a book marketer, as well as editor, and writer … I put the word out recently to some of hte members of my writing group, that it would be great if one of us got into that side of things, for various group members, but it seems I’m the one who does the most of it, so, maybe I should step up and be that person …

But it would be great to find someone wishing to do these sorts of things, an agent I suppose, who may take on all of the ‘Adelaide Plains Poets’ group, as their clients … We don’t just write poetry, and some of us don’t even write poetry at all, but write books, fiction, and non fiction.

Being a writer, if you do it well, can bring in money, and while the money isn’t the main reason most of us write, it is certainly a welcome part of it all, if and when it happens. I’d happily do a lot more speaking in public, I like to do that, but the idea of being the person to book in for such things doesn’t make me happy at all.

That’s the kind of thing an agent would take over, if there was one their to perform that task … I’m so bad at these things, I haven’t even mentioned the name of my new book, nor plastered the screen with an image of the front cover, even though I love my most recent front cover.

So a gentle slap to make myself get onto this task – My most recent book, due to be launched on 25 July is the anthology – Plague Invasion, a fabulous book, with poetry and prose from writers from Australia and some from writers overseas. The variety and quality of the submissions was excellent, and I’m proud to be the person who brought it all together, to put it out as a book to tell the world how this whole Covid thing has been …


And this is what the cover looks like:

Book launch details, and book cover.

So this is what I’m proud of at the moment, this book and the wonderful contributors who gave me their best, many thanks to you all!

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And So The Book Is Here, Let The ‘Fun’ Begin!

carolyncordon
This is possibly my most important book yet …

I have written about important subjects in the past, Chronic Illness, Sex Abuse, for instance, and they are certainly both important subjects, but more on a personal level. This new book I have edited, ‘Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19’ is an important book on a global level, and may well become even more important historically, who knows.

I just know that when the phrase ‘plague invasion’ invaded my mind back in April 2020, I had to do something imporant with the phrase. That important thing, was to put the phrase ‘out there’ (online on this blog, and other places online), and see what happened. What happened is this book. An anthology of poetry and prose, filled with words about this awful coronavirus.

The responses go from the silliness of nursery rhymes, to the seriousness of brutal attacks and a wide variety of ideas in between. Covid has hit us all, but we are hitting back, remembering, reporting on, what has been going on.

So I am thrilled that I have produced this book, and humbled by the way others have stepped up to help me make this important document come to life, in the form af a book, a book well worth owning! If you sent me something to go in this book, and gave me permission to include it in the anthology, would love it if you sent me a message with your postal address, so I can get your free copy of the book.

Further copies will be available to contributors at the special price of $15 Australian dollars. If you would like futher copies, tell me, and I can include those copies too.

And if your words are not in the book, but you’d like a copy, the pre launch, and Festival price is $20 Australian dollars. The price after the Festival will be $25. The ‘Festival’ is the Gawler & Adelaide Plains Festival of Words, which will run from 22-25 July 2021. The launch of this book will be at 3pm on Sunday 25 July at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler South Australia.

So if you’d like a copy of this book, please let me know, I have nearly 100 copies of the book, just picked up from the printer today, and they’re all looking for a new home!

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My Next Book – Copies Almost Here & Ready To Be Launched!

carolyncordon
I’m so exxcited about this book!

I’ve worked long and hard to get this book written and put together, since putting the call out for submissions for this anthology. I’d worried at the start, about upsetting people when I didn’t like their work, and didn’t want to publish it. I much prefer to make people happy, not uspset them.

But I loved pretty well everything that was submitted to me, so then I started worrying I wasn’t being critical enough, and so this book might end up being a bit of a junk heap. But I showed the book to other people, and they loved it, so I stopped worrying about that. This is a good book, worthy of attention!

And the front cover, wow, I love the work the young man I asked to work on the cover for the book, has produced. It really hits you, bang! with the bright colours, and then you notice what is in the picture, and you get a laugh – Toilet Paper, people have been totally focussed on getting toilet paper, in Australia, every time there is another lock down, because of Covid.

I started on this project back in April 2020, and was a little concerned about putting a big effort into producing a book, and then the Covid crisis fizzle out. Not that that would have been a bad thing overall, it would have been a wonderful thing, if life had been able to quickly gone back to ‘normal’.

But the coronavirus is still with us all, and while we are beginning to look on it as a new normal, it is still awful to hear about the huge number of people affected, and how it is affecting hospitals, schools, and so many other things. Covid is still there, and we much all work on staying safe, and not drop our guard against it!

Anyway, as the world tries, in various ways, to get over this plague that is doing the damage, we must do our best with going the best we can, to keep on going, helping ourselves, and others. I am hoping the vaccinations keep on keeping on, and not too many people refuse to get vaccinated, for whatever reasons they give. Keeping ourselves safe, and eveyone around us safe too, that is what we must aim at.

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An Idea, A Need To Do Something …

carolyncordon

Back in April last year, as Covid-19 took over our lives, we wondered how were would manage it all. My mind grabbed onto the phrase “Plague Invasion” and wouldn’t let go of it. I felt I had to do something. The ‘something’ I decided to do, was to edit an anthology, on the theme of Covid-19, the disease that was killing people all around the world, including my country of Australia.

So I reached out to my writer friends, both locally and overseas, and the result is almost ready to go out into the world. I’ve written further about the whole process – See here for me details. It’s a fine book, and I am proud to have edited it, to make it the book it is!

So I have this, my ninth book, on its way, with another coming in next year, a poetry collection to be published by Ginninderra Press, who have already published two of my poetry collections. And there is another book in the thinking about stage, which will be something quite different to this serious Covid-19 book, the fourth book in my ‘Buster the Dog’ series.

I just need to get my part of the book written, and the person who is going to join me in getting this fourth book done, getting her part written. Then there will be the images that will need to be drawn and decided on. But in the meantime, I will be concentrating on ‘Plague Invasion’!

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Newcomers, Trying To Learn, Can Make Mistakes

carolyncordon

The Non-Joys Of Writing, Then Accidently Deleting An Article …

Ah, it was such a great article this one. It went with a piece I’ll be presenting to the monthly writing group I attend, that I’d been asked to present a short workshop for. I knew what to do, and easily put together something, using material used for a previous workshop, for a different group.

So I did that, and then decided to share it online, but take it further, in the hope of attracting some interest, and so ultimately money. Money isn’t the reason I write though, it’s just a little bit of fun, if or when it comes. I write and share simply so others may learn from my words, or at least get something good from reading them!

This online site is a new one, I’ve just begun writing for. I’m enjoying it, and still exploring how it all works. Today I learnt how quickly one can make their work just disappear, poof! up in smoke! Well metaphorical smoke, not real smoke, so it wasn’t life threatening.

But it is so frustrating, to write something brilliant, and then lose it. It might not have actually been brilliant, but I think it was, and as it’s disappeared, nobody can prove me wrong … There was a bit of futher talk in it, about the Poetry Form I created about fifteen years ago, and there was a photograph at the head of the article, with a brand new poem in the said poetry form, about what was in that image …

But it’s all gone now, and while I have a hope it might simply be off in the online word of checking things and gaining approval, and it could appear again perhaps tomorrow, I don’t believe that to be true … Maybe I’ll put that particular image up on a blank page and try to write the poem again, or at least something like it …

Or maybe I could go back to the website, and search, looking back at what I’d been doing there, and find it again? Worth a try, right? Excuse me, I’ll do just that, and report back.

**************************

Back again and soooooooo happy! The article was there! It’s ‘awating review’, so neither in draft, or submitted. And I guess that means it will show up as being published after it has been reviewed. I hope so anyway.

In the meantime, I’ve copied the poem I wrote, and read it again. It’s is ok, but not as wonderful as I’d thought. I still think it will look nice though, printed out on a piece of A4 card, with the image. So I might do that later on, for who knows what purpose. Just to have it in that format I suppose. It could be useful if I were to do another workshop on Cordonostic poetry, which is what the workshop I’m doing Thursday is all about. Or I could print it out, and take it with me on Thursday to show, and read from then, as well as the poem on the workshop notes.

This is the seagull I took a pictrue of, that inspired the particular poem I thought I’d lost. I took the photo recently at an event I attended at St Kilda, South Australia. I’m happy with the photo, and am more than happy to share it!