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.
One of my most important roles as a writer, is being the Editor of a newsletter, the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle. This newsletter comes out toward the end of every month, and is available in hard copy, and online versions.
Putting this newsletter is a volunteer role, and it brings me great satisfaction to use my writing skills in this way, collecting information, writing bits and pieces for the newsletter, and then putting it all together into a format that is good on the eye, and easy to read.
The copies that are made available to the public, are printed by one of the South Australian Senators, and all I have to do is email a copy of the newsletter, then go and collect the copies, once they are printed. A simple arrangement, and one that works well.
The online copy is put on the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle Facebook page, where anyone who wants to see the newsletter in colour, can download it to read. I am proud of what I do with this publication, sharing useful news for the people in the town closest to my home, and also publishing interesting articles provided to me.
There is no payment to anyone who provides this material, but it gives them a free chance to spread the words they wish to share. Also, it is a great thing to put on your CV, with regular publishing credits.
This works well, and while I’d love to be able to pay the writers who send me their work, we all know that isn’t likely to happen. Ah, if only …
So that is my writing work today. I’m supposed to be writing a novel, but the newsletter is more important, I have the community of Mallala (and beyond), who rely on me doing this job. Satisfaction in a job well done, is an awesome feeling!
While I receive no payment, as I said, the satisfaction is priceless! I very much recommend getting involved with your community, and helping out however you can. But always be aware of some nasty people who may try to rip you off. If what you’re doing stops feeling like a good things, and becomes a chore, that may be a sign of that …
I’ve been doing this newsletter editing role for fifteen years, and both the newsletter, and my skills have vastly increased!
What helps the writer of a novel? Many things, of course. The appropriate tools, enough time, inspiration … And sometimes, a person who is there, for real or online, demanding to see some of your new words from your current novel-in-progress.
I’ve had the tools, and time, and lots of inspiration too, for the writing of my current work, a Cosy Murder Mystery, the first in what I hope will become a series of such books, all with the same main character, and secondary characters, all set in a town I’ve made up, the country town of Talloola.
The Talloola Hotel?
The writing of this first book began well enough, I worked on creating the town, and the community of people who would help (or hinder) Meredith, my main character. It was firmly in my head that I would write this book, then the next, followed by the one after that, and it would be my main writing task for possibly the rest of my life.
But then the words dwindled, life got in the way, or I let life supplant the importance of the novel, and though I was writing some small bits of writing, it wasn’t leading to anything in terms of adding to the story line … It felt like my role as a Cosy Murder Mystery writer was as dead as a … murder victim.
But fortunately, along came Covid lockdown, and Michelle, a member of my writing group, who challenged me to send her 200 words of my novel for the six day Covid Lockdown South Australia was subjected to. So, with that challenge give, which I accepted, the words have been flowing, and with those initial 200 words increased to 250 words, the novel word count is climbing nicely, very nicely!
So I would definitely recommend this procedure, if you too are having troubles with committing to getting your writing moving. I needed it for writing this novel, others might be having troubles with a poetry collection, or a non fiction book. Having to send new work to someone means having to write the new words your project needs.
So many thanks to Michelle, you are awesome. You’ll get a free copy of this book once it’s printed, for sure!
Well, a writer lockdown with writer friends is always a time when good writing has happened in the past, for me. We meet up at our favourite hotel, and all write more of our chosen work, perfect!
Plants as inspiration?
I’m writing a novel at the moment, well that’s the idea anyway. But to be honest, I’m doing a lot more thinking about writing this novel, than actually writing it. If I was at a writer lockdown, I’d be inspired by the others, and get more of that novel written, I think.
But this is not a writer related lockdown, it’s a six day lockdown for all of South Australia, to hopefully halt the spread of the Covid virus. This is a totally different thing. But a lockdown is a lockdown, and if I have to spend six days at home, what to do? Well, I can swap that around and actually spend the six days of Covid lockdown that the government has brought on, and do my best to use those six days actually writing this novel!
I can’t go out anywhere much, and my writing group venue will be closed, and even though the group will be holding an online meeting, I won’t have to spend that time in travel, to get there and back. So I tell myself, Hey, get writing Carolyn! I know my main character, and various other characters in that novel would like a bit of action happening. It must be boring for them, stuck inside my head …
So that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to do my best to use these six days of lockdown, and I’m going to write more of my novel! There, done – and tomorrow, I will do my best to spend at least a couple of hours writing more of the novel, and increase my word count further!
I finished off this little piece of writing today, and I’m quite happy with it, so I’m showing it here. It was written partly in response to a writing exercise prompt, so thank you Alex from my writing group for that.
This short story uses the main character, and the setting of the novel I’m currently working on, at times … My novel is a Cosy Murder Mystery, the first in a series, and my idea is to ‘whet the appetite’ of potential readers of the novel, by sharing short stories based in the same (made up) town, and using characters from the series. These short stories will be published together in a short story anthology.
Christmas Party at the Talloola oval?
I don’t know if any other writers have gone about getting a book published like this before, but it feels good to me, I’m happy to self publish copies of this anthology, and even if nothing much comes of the anthology, I am certainly learning a lot about mt characters, and the setting of Talloola. There are secrets waiting to be discovered, and who knows what may come out, in the stories of the anthology!
I’m currently nearly a third of a way through this first novel in the series, and I have the titles and a basic idea for around twenty novels, so if I get right into this, I know what I’m going to be doing for most of the end of my life! I’m hoping to get right back into pumping up my word count of the first book in the series, “Winds of Death At Talloola”. I have a friend, thank you Cathy! who is feeding me some great story ideas, and I will use those ideas and others of my own to write the material for the anthology.
I’m going to give credit to both Alex and Cathy for this novel, and the anthology too, for their inspirational prompts and story ideas. The life of a writer goes along so much easier if they have great friends who can inspire them in their own ways! Thanks guys.
Another of my great inspiring of story writing idea friends is Matt Potter of Pure Slush, who has just today called again for pieces written on the theme of Birth, the first in a longer series of twelve volumes, all based on lifespan. Further details about this are available below:
Anyway, here is that short story I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post. It ended up being much longer than I thought it was going to be. I had no real idea where this story was going to go when I began writing it, and it was more an exploration of ideas, rather than a story, in some ways, because I was learning things about Talloola and the history, as I wrote. I don’t know if it really works, and that’s why I definitely want and possibly need feedback from everyone who reads this blog post, and especially the story below!
Please leave a comment, I need to hear what others can tell me about this!
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This Means War!
Was there really a war between these two towns, I wondered, and if so, why? One river, the Brien River, runs between them both, closer to Talloola than the rival town, Wellston, but to my eye, the little āsometimesā waterway held little of value within its banks.
But as a newcomer, and one who would do best to stay sweet with as many in the nearby towns as I could, I knew better than to ridicule the little river, though personally I would name it a creek rather than river. I suspect a geographer may supply reasons to inform me of those reasons, and showing be to be an ignoramus, I’m not sure. I’ll hold onto that question, and revisit it sometime later, perhaps. Or there may be something special, about the local waterways ā¦ that explains why the water rarely makes it the 15 or so kilometres further west, where it sometimes apparently travels under the bridge, near Talloola.
I was at a meeting with the Mayor of another Council, further east of the Talloola, up stream, and he assured me it sometimes was so overfull, the water went over the banks and drenched nearby land, and properties. I shuddered at the thought of that – I’ve always preferred trees over mud, and the idea of having my own place being flooded out? Yuck. That man didnāt seem to have similar ideas about it.
But that townās mayor is Mayor OāBrien, and I have a sneaking suspicion the river is named after his family, from years gone by ā¦ Of course none of these thoughts gave me any insight into why the two towns were ‘at war’ as the local paper sometimes seemed to imply. Maybe I could chat with Mavis, my reporter friend from that paper, about it. She’s been around this region far longer then my own year and a half ā¦
But thinking about these apparently warring towns, Talloola and Wellston, it seems, judging by the honour boards in the sports clubs in both towns, there is certainly a strong rivalry there, whether it be football, netball, tennis or, I’ve been told, lawn bowls. There was some story about that latter sport, the reason why the sporting venue that backed onto the side of my house, had been remodelled from a lawn bowls venue, with two rinks, to a bocce club, with a small forest kind of place, built to attract more birdlife to Talloola, apparently. This is from over twenty years ago, and who knows what the true story is …
In the rest of the region Iām currently living, and staying in forever, if I can, lawn bowls is a major summer sport, for many, not just the oldies. But something happened, nobody talks about it, and bang, along came the Talloola Bocce Club. Personally, Iām definitely glad about it, because with Bocce taking up a much smaller space for games, one of the former lawn bowls rinks was given by Talloola Council, to a birdwatching group, who did a tremendous amount of planting of trees and shrubs, creating the perfect habitat, and along came so many beautiful birds, both native, and others. If there are people who donāt like the bird life in Talloola, I havenāt met those people yet, and really, I doubt Iād like to meet such sad-sack people!
I admit, Iāve had to put a shade over my clothesline to stop the bird poop, and Iām grateful I was warned about that, but that was easily done, at the cost of less than twenty dollars, so easy-peasy there. And an added benefit, is my clothes donāt fade as much, because they have the shade keeping lots of the sunshine off them. Sure, they then take slightly longer to dry, but if I do the washing in the evening or morning, and hang it out during the day, it is always dry by the time I get home from work, barring rain, of course. So that negative is only a tiny one, and is a plus instead, in terms cost of replacing faded clothes!
If you want to have lots of birds (which I do, for sure!), you have to be prepared to put up with a bit of bird poop! And some people say getting your clothes pooped on by a bird can bring good luck, and who doesnāt want a bit of good luck, sometimes? Anyway, enough people in Talloola decided they wanted more birds in their town, and judging by the birds I spot on my walks around good old Talloola town, that idea is definitely working.
The town doesnāt promote the wonderful birds the town has, and i feel theyāre wasting a huge opportunity. Perhaps it’s time to push the idea of Talloola being a fine place to visit for keen bird watchers. That way even that bird poop on your washing will be forgiven, if Talloola becomes a town for international bird lovers, wanting to stay, and spend their money in town. When I meet with the relevant Council person, I’ll mention it …Promoting tourism for Talloola is on the list of my job responsibilities, but I havenāt been able to do as much of that kind of thing as I want to. The Council officer Iād have to work with on this has been off on leave, so nothing much had happened. Heās back at work now, and the Talloola Lions have done a heap of work on the Talloola Campground, so I say, thereās plenty to see, tell everyone about it, and bring on the tourists!
Talloola is a fine town, with a few different dining options, lots of sport, and a haven for a huge variety of birds! So itās my job to spread the word about the great things in Talloola. These lovely birds, thatās certainly a thing that makes Talloola different to, and in my opinion, better than Wellston. In Talloola the trees and flowering plants stand out, beautifully. In Wellston, with its hundreds of brand new homes, but smaller building block sizes, there are far fewer trees and flowers, because thereās not room for them. The gardens there are small, tiny even, and tend to have fake grass, and the kinds of plants that don’t require much water. So there are succulents instead of lovely showy flowering bushes (with nectar for birds), and Yuccas instead of Eucalypt trees.
Talloola has plenty of natural beauty, Wellston has plenty of tacky and not very interesting houses all jammed in together ā¦ Thatās how I see it. I donāt want to start a war, but I do have my opinions ā¦ So while I have to be careful not to bag Wellston too much, because weāre both part of the same Council, I say, personally, give me a Eucalypt tree, some flowering native bushes, and lots of birds, any day! And if you donāt like it? Well we may have to beg to differ on that, but I know Iām right, and youāre wrong, itās honest truth!
Being a writer can be a strange thing, and one of the strangest parts is the division in times needed to be the best writer you can be. You need time to write, for sure, but you need time to live a life that gives you deeper understanding of what life is all about, so you can bring that into what you write.
I spend a lot of my time watching life, the life of the creatures and plants in my life, particularly the birds, which always seem to be so busy, doing things. Sparrows, Starlings, but also Swallows, and various native birds that come from around the Adelaide Plains Council region where I live.
My current major work in progress is a novel, set in a town I made up, but very much based on the closest town to where I live. This made up town is ‘Talloola’ and this novel will be the first in my ‘At Talloola’ series of Cosy Murder Mysteries. So the more I now about the town near to me, the more ideas I can find to go in this first novel, and then the countless others to follow (I hope).
every crevice has a story …
But living my life interferes with the time I put into the writing of that novel, and at the moment it feels more like a novel “not in progress”. Ah well, I’ll have a few free hours later on today, and there’s no telling how many more words I may add to the word count, by the time those hours are over.
And then after that, I have my weekly writing group meeting, when the writing prompts, for the writing down while there, and then the homework, to present next week, will inspire some more writing of the novel (I hope)!
And of course, writers, if they have published books, especially if their books are self-published, have to take on the role of marketing and selling their books. And some of my books are in that category, so I’m always aware of the need to look for potential book buyers. At the moment, I’m looking at beginning some of these kinds of activities, and am hoping to get that started next week.
I have a support worker, paid for by the NDIS, to assist me once a fortnight, with ‘things’. So Tash will be helping me by carrying my books for possible purchase, and other bits and pieces, in relation to giving talks and workshops in various places, such as Retirement villages, libraries and anywhere else that seems a useful place to go and do my thing.
I enjoy speaking to people, one to one, or to a group, no problems at all, it’s something that gees me up and makes me happy to do it. Connecting with others, that’s why people become writers, I feel, at least some of them, if not all. Using words to impart wisdom, or ideas, entertaining people, being with others, all good things, learning about how people do the things they do, these are all things to bring into your own writing at times.
So yes, life is indeed an ongoing writing prompt, and I will go on living my life in the best ways I can, looking and learning, enjoying together times, and the by myself writing times too.
