Author: carolyncordon

Wife, mother, Poet, Writer, Art Installationist, Stand Up Comedian, Dog Enthusiast. Spending most of my time being creative in a variety of sometimes quirky ways! I have suffered in my life, I have had wonderful things occur in my life. Concentrating on the wonderful things makes it easier for me to live a great life.
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As A Writer, I Have To Prioritise As Well

carolyncordon

I also have to realise I don’t have to do everything right now, I can plan them, and do some now, other things later. After thinking about this for a week or so, I’ve made a plan and a decision. This is it:

The next anthology I was going to get working on to launch later this year, will now happen toward the end of this year, with a possible launch in 2023.

Covid is a killer, and thousands of people are being affected every moment, with sickness and death, and then the terrible grieving that comes after. So the time to let this theme go, and move on to the next one, is clearly not here, not yet.

I wrote a blog post about this new anthology, and while it is still in the back of my mind. there are other things in my mind as well, further forward in the front of my mind, that will happen before the anthology. The subject of my first anthology I edited, the one titled “Plague Invasion” is still in the news , and it doesn’t feel the time to move away from that subject, when it is still so incredibly relevent to us all.

And I have other things happening with my writing and connected activities, even in this Covid restricted world. A poetry collection to come out in a five more months, the event to launch it, with guest writer/poet events with my writing group to be presented (if Covid allows it), at our usual venue – the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, in the months before m own personal event put on by our writing group.

I am one of the two organisers for these wonderful events at the Prince Albert hotel, and have to admit, I’ve been missing being there in recent times, because our writing group has been meeting online instead of in person, because of you know what, yes Covid …

And I don’t want to sound too much like I stuck on a theme in exclusion of everything else, but the monthly events our writing group puts on, are all reliant on us being able to meet in person, safely … I was at the hotel today, celebrating my wedding anniversary with my husband, actually, and took the opportunity to check out the areas where we usually hold our events.

And from what I saw, I can’t say for sure that it seemed likely that we’d be able to hold the Gawler Poets at the Pub events there, not just yet … having to keep socially distanced is a thing we have to do, in the interests of the safety of all. But sitting that far away means difficulties for all, and the need to wear a mask unless eating and drinking is another ‘issue’.

So thinking about whether we’re going to be able to hold these events, and whether our writing group are going to be able to meet up for real again soon, these are in my mind as well. And of course, there is the novel I’m writing, bit by tiny bit … I want to work a lot more on that for sure. I think a full day just doing that would be a great thing, but when …

The one thing I do, regarding writing is the monthly newsletter I edit, and that must be ready, and sent off to be printed by a certain day, to be printed and distributed before the end of the month, every month … The January issue is on it’s way, but not ready yet, so I’ know what I’ll be doing tomorrow – the chronicle, not my novel, or any work on an anthology that isn’t going to be released until next year …

Writing that down, shows me I have a plan, and I can stick with it, doing my homework, and the writing exercises with the writing group, at the proper time. Working on the newsletter in the moments that become available, and waiting until my poetry collection is ready to launch in May. Fingers crossed to it being OK to meet up for book launches again by then.

I’m triple vaccinated, and I hope most other people are as well, so we can all safely gather together, and even give hugs to people! Won’t that be a glorious thing? I’d love to prioritise a time for that to happen!

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From Mouse(s) In The House, To Fool In The Pool

carolyncordon

Mice, in the kitchen! Yuck I hate it when they invade our main cooking space! So we set traps, and then have the task of disposing of the trapped and dead creatures. Or not dead, then ‘finishing them off’. I hate it all, every step of the process, the final step of which is the releasing of the dead body back to Nature …

That final step is the part that may bring some comfort to my mind, even if only a little. I don’t like to kill things. I watch out for ants that I know will be on my path down to our pond, stepping over the line they’ve made over time from so many ants tramping along to or from their nest not that many metres away.

And if I hit a bird when I am driving, I feel pain in my mind and heart, and I will slow down to avoid such a thing if I see the bird (or other creature) in time. So mice in the kitchen, hate them, but today? I was in the back yard, watering some of our plants by the swimming pool, and noticed something was making ripples in the pool. So I went and looked.

I was worried it maybe have been a baby snake, in which case I would have had to ‘get rid of it’, which would have entailed catching it and drowning it. The only snakes we ever get at our place are poisonous ones, and I suspect my husband is going to want to get in the pool for a swim when he gets home. Having a snake in the pool could lead to disaster, with a snake bite followed by urgent medical treatment to save his life!

Anyway, no such things had to happen, the creature that had caused the pool ripples was a tiny little mouse, swimming in the deep end of the pool. I looked at it, and it looked at me, its eyes pleading with me to save its life. A mouse, a creature we callously kill if they ever enter our house and are victim to the traps we set to kill them.

So what did I do? I reached over, and very gently grasped the mouse by the tail, and set it free, on the other side of the pool fence, away from the house. And I felt good about saving that little creature’s life, because I admired it’s bravery, and perseverance, paddling away the way it was.

So I will never know if that foolish mouse that fell in our pool might be the same foolish mouse that gets trapped in a trap in our house, but at least I have done it a favour at least once … Life and Nature can become extraordinarily confused at times, and that is why thinking on life is important, when such matters occur …

A life saved is a chance for better life choices to be taken … May that mouse be content to scurry around in the grass and plants outside, and stay away from both the pool, and our kitchen!

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Submit To An Important Anthology

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“Important anthology?’ Where have I heard that phrase before? Oh yeah, it was the year 2020, actually, when I had the compelling idea I absolutely must do something about the terrible Covid-19 Virus that was killing people all around the world. Several people I spoke to regarding this idea indicated such an anthology would be an important work in terms of historical significance.

And so the book “Plague Invasion” came into being; an anthology of creative writing written in response to Covid-19, with submissions called for, received, then put together in a book, and then the book published and printed. This is what that book looks like:

A great cover that immediately demands to be looked at, and so it was, looked at, read, purchased, and that process continues still (contact me via email – kittycordo@gmail.com for more information.

But with that project at the completion stage, my attention is now on another one, a new one. An anthology concerning an even bigger threat to the world – Climate change. But I wanted this new anthology to be broader, looking at the whole of everything, really, in some ways. This new anthology will take in how the planet is going, how the people are going, how individuals are going, in the face of massive changes.

And yes the Covid virus issues have certainly brought about changes to our lives, with masking up, social distancing, and washing/disinfecting our hand become common things. So there may be a bit more of that, in this new book, for sure. But I want this book to be global, personal, and then global, covering the subjects of Climate, Change, and then Climate Change.

So yes, the climate is under threat from the doings of mankind, the people have a variety of ways in which we change, in our lives – change where we live and work, change partners, change our hair style, our clothes, change a babies nappy, change our gender even. And there is Climate Change threatening the very existence of countries, as seas rise at extraordinary rates, faster than thought we may ever witness.

Yes. Global to personal, and back to global again. I ask for submissions of poetry and/or prose. Details of submissions required are:
Up to three pieces of poetry of up to thirty lines for each work
Up to three pieces of prose of up to 2000 words for each work

If submitted works cover more than one of the subjects (as I expect may happen) will also require the writer to indicate which of the three they consider to be the main one. Works in the anthology will be presented in three sections 1/ Climate, 2/ Change. and 3/ Climate Change, with each section further divided between poetry, and prose.

And the title for this work? At the moment the working title is simply “Climate, Change, Climate Change”. I don’t know if this will be the title once the book is completed, and launched, but it may be that it will be. I feel this new anthology will be regarded as another important anthology, but of not historical significance this time, but environmental and societal significance. And important book for sure, don’t you think?

Writers who wish their work to be considered for this anthology, which is planned to be launched in late July 2022, are to submit their work here: kittycordo@gmail.com

I hope and expect to again receive a range of fantastic and important pieces of work to consider for inclusion in this potential new anthology, “Climate, Change, Climate Change”. And if no-one else writes something about ‘Changes One Bowie’, then I will probably have to cover that one myself. But if your interested in presenting on that theme, go for it, I’d love to read your take on that important album from my, and our past!

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Choosing Which Writing Project To Do

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The difficulty I currently have is to choose which of the few different writing projects to work on is a fine thing, as far as problems go. I have a variety of ideas for new books, some of which emerged but were forgotten, others are in the earliest stages, which not much happening as yet. And there is another one, that I would love to have happen, but not sure on my abilities to actually get it done …

And so, with this ’embarrassment of riches’, I need to find a useful way to decide on the hows and whens of getting the relevant writing done. There is one project with the book already written, and accepted by a publisher. I just have to wait for them to do the necessary work on that one, nothing more for me to do until the book is available, around the middle of 2022.

Then there is a non fiction book I’ve blogged about a couple of years ago, but I’d totally forgotten about it, and don’t know at all what it was about, except for what I’d written in the blog post. So it was non fiction, and other writers had in some way or ways been the prompt for it, whatever ‘it’ was. I suspect I’d be wise to just step away from thinking about that one, until, or unless I can remember more about it.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

There’s a children’s picture book idea, that I’ve written a little bit about elsewhere, and I truly hope I can do more about this idea, when the time feel right for it. At the moment, I have a title (having a title is usually important for me, to get my ‘back-brain’ working). So there are ideas for illustrations, which are actually going to be photographs, I hope. I’ve written notes, as I said, and if I can set aside time to work more on the words the book will need, that will help hugely.

But now doesn’t feel like the time for that … When will be the time, I wonder? Once things are cooler outside? It’s Summer, it’s hot, and I don’t feel like wondering around the place outside, taking photographs with my phone camera. Things seem too ‘glarey’. This book is going to be written in rhyme, and in those notes, from memory, I indicated the rhyming format, so that’s on the way to being organised. I just have to write it, then get the pics to go with it. Simple. But not yet …

But the thing I’ve put the most work into, is going to be my biggest personal writing thing for this year. And it’s a thing I won’t be doing all by myself. This one is going to be an anthology, based on the words that make up the title. I’ve published an anthology previously, last year in fact, and the title of that anthology, “Plague Invasion” hit me in the head, and I had an overwhelming feeling that this was a thing I must do. So that is what I spent a large part of 2020 and half of 2021 doing. Putting out the call for submissions, gathering the other needed bits and pieces, and then going about the business of having the book printed.

I didn’t get that hit in the head for the anthology title this time, and don’t have the same sense of compulsion, but once I’d made the decision on subject matter, and then title for this book, I felt a settled feeling of ‘Yes, that’s what I’m going to do.’ So I decided what I’d do late last year, and mentioned it to a few other writing colleagues, to make my mind firmer on the project, and a few days ago, on this blog, I put out the submission details.

If you wish to know more, this is where you can read more about it. I know what I want, but not specifically and exactly what. I’m hoping that, as with the previous call for submissions, where I trusted I would receive just the perfect things, I’d receive works that I could put together and achieve that marvellous thing, where the some of the parts come together to create a bigger and better whole!

The anthology will have three things “Climate, Change, and Climate Change”, and that is in fact the title of the anthology. Those wishing to submit work will write about some or all of those things, either as prose, or poetry.

So this anthology is going to be my biggest writing project for the beginning of 2022, and after it is launched, the work of marketing happens. Never my best point, but so be it. I will learn how to do that better, as I do this more and more. I hope so anyway! You learn by doing, that’s what they say, isn’t it?

And once the anthology is well under way, with Summer over, and my favourite month of Autumn, with cooler weather, photographs for that picture book can happen, and i can work on the text for that book, and for the needed setting out of the ideas onto an order that works best. That is the kind of work that can fit in between doing other things, and so that one will slowly come together, and who knows, perhaps that one can be the book I hve published in 2023!

And of course there is the book I’ve been working on for what feels like forever, still hanging around, with tiny extra bits added to the novel, when a given writing prompt from my writing group gives me an idea that could fit in to the plot. I had planned to try to become a noted writer of cosy murder mystery books, and make a fortune, but at the rate I’m going I may never even get this first one finished, let alone published.

I am having fun with it though, and that’s important isn’t it? I think so. Having a good time with your writing is the thing that will keep you coming back to it, the thing that keeps your bum on the seat as you write or type your way to better writing! The more you write, the better your writing can get.

So there you are, my year of writing set out, with rest breaks and ideas, and you never know, another idea could come along and bump all the rest off the table, and go on to be the best seller I’ve dreamed of one day writing!

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A New Year, A New Writing Project

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Last year I worked on, and published and launched an anthology about an important thing, the Corona Covid-19 Virus. That book is now ‘out there’ in a couple of libraries, and in peoples’s own personal libraries, and I am proud of what I achieved. So many thanks to all of the poets/writers who submitted their words to that project. The Book, “Plague Invasion” was important, and the sharing of thoughts and ideas about this subject deemed to be an important from an historical view.

This year, I have a new idea, and so a new project, again on important subjects, from both global, and personal points of view, and everything in between. I don’t know what this new book will ultimately look like, because yesterday was the first day of officially putting out a call for submissions to this new anthology, and I have nothing for it, apart from my own writings, which may or may not still be there, by the time the book is launched.

I plan on a launch date of late July this year, (2022), so I have calculated a closing date for submissions of first of May, should allow sufficient time for the book to be put together, edited, looked at my others, and then printed before the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words is on. I wish to again launch a book, this book in fact, during this important Festival.

Last year and the year before, the Festival was quite severely impacted by Covid restrictions, but I have hopes we might be on the way to being over such things. If people do the right thing – mask up, wash their hands, and adhere to social distancing rules. This year though, it may be I’m in my normal Pollyanna mode of looking on the positive side of things, who really knows, but I really do thing we’ve almost turned a corner, and things are on the way to being better.

Not normal, I suspect anything called ‘normal’ could be a thing of the past, if there ever was such a thing for all. Normal is another name for yeah, I’m ok, but don’t look too closely at things … What may be termed normal for one person may look like poverty to another person, and what looks like poverty to could seem to be riches to another. Normal is not a real thing, it’s a name we call things, so we can manage our lives in ways that work for us …

Growing our own – normal, or Covid constraints reaction? (writer’s photograph)

Anyway, back to this new project

For this project, I require creative writing, both Poetry and Prose, concerning any or all of these three things : Climate, Change, and Climate Change. The individual pieces may allude to more than one of the three, but I ask the submitter indicate which of the three they consider most important one for the particular work.

Contributors can submit up to three poems, and three works of prose. The poems can be up to and including thirty lines for each poem (if sending Haiku or Senryu, up to five of each on the same or similar theme will be considered as one work). Prose can be up to and including 2,000 words for each work.

Works are to be submitted either as ‘word’ documents attached to the email, or in the body of the email, if via email to kittycordo@gmail.com with the appropriate theme in the ‘subject’. It is preferred Prose submissions be word files, but it not too lengthy and preferred is not available submission via body of email is acceptable.

Summer clouds … (writer’s photograph)

Submission of Poetry in body of email is also acceptable, but as individual word files is also preferred.