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Back To My Blog Again, It Feels Good!

I have a new project, another anthology I want to edit, calling for submissions, receiving them, putting them together, then getting the book printed, and launching it.

This will be my second anthology, and I hope it can be as well accepted as my first. The theme for that first book, “Plague Invasion” was deemed by others to be an important historical theme, that would be a reminder of how things were at that particular time/this time, in fact, as we still battle through the trouble the Covid-19 Virus has brought to the world.

So now I’m thinking about another big theme, one that is devastating some areas of the globe, particularly island nations who are facing possibly terrible consequences from their homes disappearing under the water, as the results of Climate Change threaten them with flooding.

This is only one problem Climate Change may bring, there are many, and that is what I wish contributors to explore in their submissions to this new anthology I’ve begun working on Medium – see here: https://kittycordo.medium.com/ my blog and other forms of my writing are missing out, to some extent.

But I have the fire in my belly again, and this new anthology is going to bring me strongly back to my blog, and my own creative writing that is likely to end up in an actual book, not something online, out in the ether, and perhaps unseen to most …

So if you’re reading this and you have any thoughts about Climate Change, or Climate in general, or about Change, why not check out my previous blog post here, and submit something to me for my next anthology!

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One Project Done, What Comes Next?

After the editing of an important book with submissions from around the world, I wondered, what can come next? The project I took an as a bit of light relief, while of some interest, hasn’t completely engaged my attention. I felt I needed something meatier, to really engage me with my major writing project. Having that other anthology go well was a bit of an encouragement to do it again, to see if the success can be repeated.

This is the successful project: I’ve written about this book, the creation of it and so on, elsewhere on this blog, feel free to look around to see what has happened.

Plague Invasion is an anthology of creative writing written in response to the prompt of Covid-19, and I received fantastic responses in both poetry and prose in response to this prompt. As the Editor of this book, I put it all together and had it printed, then organised a launch for the book, and advertising of the book and related information, online and via print media.

That was certainly a big, and important issue to write about, as shown by the writing received, but also a broad enough subject to receive a wide range of responses. Even when responses followed similar paths, they were still varied enough to maintain interest.

I had never done something as ‘global’ as that anthology, and so when I realised the similar importance of another issue of widespread through the world, and as important, I decided to take another look and work toward creating another anthology, one of extreme importance …

That important theme, if you haven’t worked it out already, is Climate Change. When you consider how many people are possibly to be made homeless, or even killed by the effects of Climate Change, you realise just how important it is that we, the whole world, think about the climate, and the way it is dangerously changing …

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For Plague Invasion, it was the name of the book that sparked my interest the most right at the beginning, in April 2020, when Covid-19 first hit, That and the feeling I must do something big, in reaction to this virus that was causing so much trouble. The title grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.

But with this new project, the title, at the moment anyway, is just a working title, and I don’t know if that title is likely to hold out until the book is ready to be printed, and then launched.

This website has lots of information about Climate Change and Global Warming that is the reason why these changes are happening so rapidly, since the world changed in the 1950s and continues to change, with more and more things occurring in response to humankind, and out effect on the world …

My idea is to have three sections in this anthology, each split into two parts. The two parts, as with Plague Invasion, are the split between Poetry, and Prose. The three sections? Well, the working title what they will be. The working title is Climate/Change/Climate Change and so there will be a section about Climate, another about Change, and then the final section will specifically be about Climate Change, the biggie that is causing Global Warming, and looking to drown islands in the the Pacific Ocean, and causing massive changes in our weather …

So there it is, those who wish to be involved are to write in either poetry or prose, or both, about Climate, or Change, or the big one, Climate Change. By Climate, the reference is to the trends of what is happening, rather than just one day, and can refer to weather trends, the ongoing feeling in a workplace, or a marriage, or an educational facility, a sporting club, and so on.

Change covers a large variety of things, changing jobs, changing a baby’s nappy, changing gender, changing cars. There are a great many other things that get changed, you might change your clothes, your mind, the colour of your hair, your friends, the kind of pet you have, and I could go on and on, again …

And with Climate Change, I am looking for references to this global force that is the cause of so much damage going on all around the world. Weather is being more destructive, more often than anyone alive can ever remember. and as the NASA site linked here mentions.

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So, now we get to the nitty gritty details on what I actually want from you, the potential submitter to this anthology.

I will accept up to 3 poems of up to 30 lines, and up to 3 pieces of prose (fiction or non fiction) of up to 2000 words based on one, some, or all of the writing prompts. If in the writing of your submission you make reference to more than one of the three writing prompts of the working title in a single submitted piece, please indicate in your submission which you consider to be the most important/relevant prompt.

My intent is to have this anthology ready in time to be launched in late July next year, during the running of the 2022 Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words (Imagination). To allow this to be ready in time, the closing date for submission of works for this anthology is 1 May 2022.

So there it is, an important anthology with submissions open to all in the world who wish to be involved in talking about important things … I look forward to receiving your submissions to the Climate/Change – Climate Change anthology.

Submissions online only please, to this email address: kittycordo@gmail.com

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Adelaide Plains Poets Poetry Competition

The competition has been held, the poems entered judged, and winners announced. Now it is time to show the judges’ reports, and details released to the public.

Judge’s  Report  Open Section  Adelaide  Plains  Poets  Inc  

Poetry Competition  2021  ā€œRecoveryā€

Our competition topic has proved to be very relevant to our nation’s circumstances today. I was very impressed with the high standard of the 50 entries received. The poems entered expressed the idea of recovery from quite a variety of troubles and misfortunes.

It was not easy to choose the finalists. In the end I looked for poems that were emotionally or intellectually moving. I also looked for good descriptive writing and positive messages about recovery. I have to say that there was not much between these poems and I congratulate the authors on their excellent writing. With these factors in mind, I have chosen the following place getters and commendations: 

First Place;  Salvation   by David Campbell

I was impressed by the use of ā€œneedlepointā€ as a metaphor for the process of recovery. It describes a deeply personal recovery from great suffering which has much relevance to life for far too many people in the present day.

Second Place  .An Honest Man   by James Kent

This poem I felt would easily bring a tear to the eye of many a reader of this well-told story. Although set in our past times, it encourages the present-day espousal of such values as honesty, kindness and compassion in the process of recovery.

Third Place  Healing   by Shelley Hansen

Although short, this is an excellent portrayal of the need for patience and the giving of comfort in assisting in a person’s recovery. I was impressed with the form of the poem.

Commended

In addition to the above awards, there were four poems which deserve commendation, but not listed in any particular order.

Determination:   by Claire Watson. A great story describing personal determination. Well told. 

Asperger’s Eyes:  by David Campbell. Excellent portrayal of a deeply personal story.

The Stranger: by Nathan Curnow This prose poem has such a positive message about showing care and concern in providing assistance in a person’s recovery.Raindrops:  by ‘Toni Brisland, nee Antonette Diorio.  Good use of metaphor to describe the transformation of a city as it recovers from lockdown.

Judge’s  Report  Student Section  Adelaide  Plains  Poets  Inc  

Poetry Competition  2021  ā€œRecoveryā€

I don’t think I canĀ ethicallyĀ nominate a secondaryĀ poemĀ winner. They all spoke of pain and tragedy with a time mention at the end of recovery, but didn’t speak of actual recovery or that process.Ā 
My primary ones were Ā ; 1st prize Emily McCarthy as it was unique and quirkyĀ : 2nd prize went to Isha Mittal and Sophie Dowsette as commended

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Back Again, Been Playing On Another Platform …

Being a writer and poet, as well as blogger, that is a thing that interests me, and even though this particular blog is my definitely my favourite one of all of my blogs, it isn’t a ‘money-raising’ kind of blog. That’s OK, there are more things to life than money …

But in this world, too many people tend to value people and things by what they’re worth in monetary terms. I’m not one of those people. I love the way this particular blog, and some of the things I’ve written about here, have connected me to a lovely bunch of people all around the world.

Some of those people helped me with a project I’d presented details of here, and I went on to create something, using their input. It was an anthology I edited, containing creative writing responses to Covid-19. “Plague Invasion” was the name of that anthology, and I am happy with the way it looks, and reads.

That project more or less held me captive, from April last year, up until the book was launched in August this year. So that book is ‘out there’ now, and it was time for something else. That something else, was the online platform Medium. This is a link to my Medium page, if you’re interested in seeing what I have posted there.

The thing that makes Medium different to WordPress, is that I can make money from people reading my articles on Medium. On my WordPress blogs, I may get comments, and have good discussions here, at times, but no money from it, unless discussion leads to something more, like selling a book, or getting a writing related gig.

I’m not actually making mega-bucks on this Medium platform though, although ‘legend has it’ that some people make thousands of dollars a month. So far, that hasn’t been my experience. I am enjoying being a part of that other online writing world though, and have been writing articles on a variety of different subjects.

Anything that prompts more writing, whether something that makes money, or not, I feel it is a good thing. I love writing, and connecting with other people through my words … It is a global platform with many interesting writers, most of them from the USA, I think, but many from other countries too.

I’ve written about Multiple Sclerosis, dogs, writing, making connections with people, health, ill health, Covid-19, Gratitude, and so on. Random? No just an example of the broad range of things that interest me …

I think looking at other options, whatever it is you’re doing, is important if things are beginning to seem a bit ‘same old, same old’. A holiday from WordPress certainly inspired lots of writing, and doing lots of writing always feels like a good thing to me! I’m a writer, I write!

And doing things that feel good, yay, I can sense those healthy chemicals coursing through me! Well, let’s say I can imagine them, rather than actually ‘sense’ them. Is that the same thing? Nearly but not quite, I guess …

That’s fine, almost but not quite is good enough for lots of things! Although sometimes things must be exactly correct. But other times, getting creative, and swapping times, ingredients, colours, temperatures, and so on can lead to even better things. Creativity can be an awesome thing!

So hello to you, if you’re one of my followers/friends and maybe we’ll meet up again on Medium!

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Poetry as a Public Service …

As I wrote in this post on Medium, getting vaccinated is the way we can all get together again, once enough of us get our vaccination against Covid.

I know some people don’t want to get this ‘jab’, and others aren’t able to get it for health reasons, but I truly believe it is the most sensible way to keep on in the face of a dangerous virus.

The statistics are there, the case numbers are rising in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, most of those who die were unvaccinated … It is a compelling fact.

Get vaccinated. Even though you may still catch Covid, you will be far less likely to die from it, and the effects won’t be as bad as it could be without any vaccination. Even the first needle can help, but full vaccination is the best.

So friends, please get vaccinated, for your own sake, for those you love, and for your greater community.

The name of the poem in the link is simply Covid Can Kill. Read it, share it, comment on it, spread the word. It may save a life. Stay safe, friends, please …