Month: May 2022

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May Is A Big Month For Me!

carolyncordon

And I mean big in my life in a few different ways, one good, one not so good others possibly good.

The good one, is the most exciting one. That is about having my new poetry collection launched at the end of May! I sent a draft copy of my collection to the person who is going to launch the collection for me, and he wrote:
“Congratulations on your book. Very powerful read.”

That is a good start to a book being popular, I hope. This person, Martin Johnson, is well known in Gawler, as poet, musician, and all round fine community member, and I’m thrilled he accepted my invitation The not so good to launch this poetry collection for me. He also is going to put one of the poems in the column he has in the Bunyip which the local weekly newspaper.

The not so good thing, was probably a bad thing, but there are points to it. I’ll explain. The day before yesterday, I took our dog, Lenny, for a walk. But when we were getting closer to the turn around point, but not quite there, I heard thunder, and a very light rain started. So Lenny and I went home, without reaching my required distance for the day.

So I let Lenny in, then went out the back, to walk the length of our back veranda, up and down, undercover, and out of the rain, which got a bit heavier. I got the steps up, then decided to head back inside. But no, that didn’t happen, instead I fell over, onto my knees, and left hand, and hitting my left temple quite hard on the concrete ground. I must have landed hard on my left thumb, because it was so painful, I was worried I may have broken bones in there, Ouch!

So while extra steps are good for a person, that’s only if the walking isn’t interrupted with falling … This latest fall included an ambulance ride to the Gawler Hospital again and then lots of hanging round …

There was pain too, with a sprained thumb, of all things! A small sprain, but painful, and limiting in terms of being able to do some things. It’s getting better now though, slowly. My face, from where I hit the concrete is looking worse, but that injury is nowhere near as painful as the thumb injury is.

And while I haven’t been doing any more exercise I expect that will happen again soon, by next week anyway. And I have a lot of work to get done for my fundraising activities this month, raising money for the MS Society SA & NT, ‘Wear Red For A Reason’.

I’ve put my box of items for the fundraising that will begin in person tomorrow, and I will order copies of my book for purchase at the book launch later today, so I should get them by next week, in plenty of time for the launch!

I’m happy for some quieter times for a while, but I’ll be able to show off my new book to the members of my writing group tomorrow, as long as I remember to put my new copy of it in the car before I head off to Gawler for the meeting!

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What I’m Working On Today …

carolyncordon

I’m a writer, which means I write. But a writer, if they want to improve their art.craft, also must live, and learn, about life in the broadest of senses, and also in the most miniature and closely observed sense. They can then bring those closely observed tropes and treasures to the writers’ writing.

So to that end, today, as I’ve been editing the first draft of a poem written yesterday, in the hope of this second draft perhaps being included in my next poetry collection, I’ve been listening to the the Labor Party’s Better Future talks, with many fine words spoken, knowing these speeches were written by fine writers.

I hope such inspiring things may rub off on me, and I may insert such passion into my words. That poem I’m working on, will, I hope be included in the poetry collection I’ve been working on, in an off and on manner, as I created the poetry collection I will be having launched at the end of this month, on 29 May, the collection titled ‘Leonard Cohen Is Dead’, that will be a full sized collection.

The poem I’m working on today, will be in a much smaller collection, a chap book with a ‘clever’ title which I’ll talk about another time, and it contains some interesting poems, about things that interest me. choosing to write about things that interest me, means I can write with more passion, and interest, I hope.

I don’t write about things that are ho hum to me personally, because I can’t feign passion, where there is none. Passion comes from within, when we look deeper into our minds, and follow the lines of ideas, to considerations, to results …

And as I’ve been listening to our probable next PM, I have finished the second draft of that poem, which has the working title of ‘Meanings In Puddles’, and having read it, I feel needs another edit, and then, after draft number three, may become something special. I hope so anyway!

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Another thing I’m working on today, is the relationship I have with our new dog, Lenny. He is an adult greyhound, and while I want to love him dearly, the two of us aren’t there yet. So I will be taking Lenny for a walk quite soon, perhaps driving somewhere, to get to the place we’ll be having our walk, because it seems Lenny prefers being driven, over actually walking particularly far …

As a racing greyhound, and the necessary training to be good (which he was, earning stake-money for his owner), well, to be a good racing Greyhound, you have to do the work, which means walking and running to build up strength and better ability.

And me, with my Chronic Illness of Multiple Sclerosis, well, keeping active and mobile means I will be better able to keep on being active and mobile! If I’m going to be standing up and reading my poetry to others, I need to train myself to speak my words, but I also need to be mobile to get to where I will be presenting my work/words!

Body and mind working together, being better at the first, helps me to be better at the second! ***** Something to report on, in relation to that ‘active and mobile’ thing … I’ve had a trip and crashed down to the ground … Ouch!

Not my best look! ‘writer’s photo’

So there’s been a lot more thinking going on the past few days, and not much ‘mobility’ happening. I’ve been writing online, on Medium, and talked about the accident here: so it sure isn’t a good look, but it is nowhere near as painful as my thumb, my left thumb, which was sprained, as talked about in that article on medium

And because I had that fall, and time waiting at the local hospital, I’m feeling disconnected in some part, from what I’d wanted this post to be about, such is life!