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.
Cozy Mystery, Writing

On Needing a Writing Schedule

carolyncordon

At the moment, I have three main writing projects I am working on. One of them is an ongoing thing, and that is editing the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, which is a monthly newsletter for the town of Mallala. And I am trying to commit to writing a series of Cosy Murder Mysteries, I have characters, and book titles, as well as some brief ideas on what each book might be about.

I have a much bigger project right now though, bigger in terms of importance. It is an anthology of writing, about Covid-19, and it is possibly my most important thing I’ve ever taken on, in terms of community connection and historical significance. This piece is close to being finished, I just need to tie up loose ends really, put in remaining author writer bios which I’ve requested.

And I need to put together the actual front and back covers. Waiting for input from others on that one, both from different people, I’m more or less in contact with. And there’s one more piece of work to go it, that has a photograph, and some prose relating to it.

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I’m back again, and just like magic, some of those items I’ve been waiting on have appeared! I love the power of emails. I’ve also made a connection with a friend of a friend on Facebook and asked whether I may use a comment she wrote, that fits in with a new title of one of those Cosy Murder Mystery books I mentioned … And an amazing coincidence, is that the person’s name, is the same as the name of my main character in those books! Life is so amazing sometimes, if you wrote it, in a book, people may find it hard to believe, even when it’s true.

So having written all of this, I’m wondering, do I actually need any writing schedule at all really, beyond actually sitting down in my appointed sitting down spot, and just getting on with things? Actually, I haven’t actually written any more of those Murder Mystery stories, I’m simply written about them, and they are two totally different things. And to be honest with you, dear reader, I suspect I secretly don’t think I can really write those murder mysteries, cosy or not.

Writing around the edges of a book, is not actual book writing. So I think I have to get real about this, and actually make a commitment to writing That first book, and finish it, so I can give it to my chosen beta reader, and then get back to the second book, which I began writing first. By then, my dear beta reader may have told me what she thinks, and I can move forward, or backward, from that point.

But of course before any of that can happen, I have to have the first draft of a Cosy Murder Mystery book written. So perhaps I should schedule in “Cosy Murder Mystery” in my calendar, a few times a week, and see how that goes? Yes? Or how about I use that thing I’ve forgotten the name of, where you give yourself 25 minutes writing time, and definitely sit down and write. Then if things are flowing, another 25 minutes, and so on. I could find at least 25 minutes every day, for sure.

So that is what I will do. After I get back here at my writing seat, after bringing in the washing, I will commit to writing for 25 minutes, today, and every single day, more of that first book in the “At Talloola” series of cosy murder mysteries! There, I’ve written down my commitment to a writing schedule for that writing, and will do my best to stick with it!

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Adelaide Plains Poets ‘Vision’ poetry competition

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Open section winners

The winners of this poetry competition were announced on the final (and only) day of the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words – VISION. The Festival was a much shortened thing, for the same reason that has affected many events this year, the dreaded Covid-19.

The Festival was going to be cancelled, and then postponed, but wonder of wonders, we cut it back to one afternoon, and with the full assistance of the venue, Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, we were there, and we had events happen! And one of those events was the announcing of the winners of our competition.

And for those who were unable to attend, for obvious reasons, here are the winners of the Open Section:

Adelaide  Plains  Poets  

Poetry Competition  2020 – VISION

Judgeā€™s  Report

I read the 88 entries in our competition looking for the most imaginative connection with the theme, ā€œVisionā€. There were many excellent poems submitted, however there were some which presented a broad vision capable of a universal application rather than simply a graphic description of a person or place. 

First Place:  Outside, Looking In – David Campbell

I have awarded first place to this poem, because it presented a powerful image of first nation peoples as if looking through a window at a more privileged class. This image conveys a strong message about our own land and is also applicable to the indigenous people of many lands. 

Second Place:  Sentinels of Stone – Jim Kent

This is an excellent rhyming poem which uses the image of one of the many war memorial monuments seen across our nation. It conveys deep feelings for the sufferings of those who have served in the armed services, giving a graphic vision of warfare and its aftermath for the foot soldier.

Third Place:  A Vision of Hell – Peter Oā€™Shaughnessy

Another rhyming poem which uses the metaphor of a dragon to convey the terror of an approaching forest fire. In fact, a number of effective metaphors add to the drama and the feelings of the person viewing a catastrophic blaze.

Highly Commended:  Seer – Shaine Melrose

This poem takes the reader deep into the emotions of a suffering child whose feelings and hoped for release are well described. It is very relevant to our present-day society.

Commended

I found it difficult to separate the following four poems, which are listed below, but not in any order of merit.

Breaksea Light – Janice Wiliams

In the villanelle form, this poem uses the Breaksea Light as an effective anchor point and conveys the sense of dislocation felt by soldiers setting out for battlefields far away. 

Reading Between the Lines – Kerry Harte

The first three verses are brought into sharp focus in the conclusion. The ending brings the reader to a very real present-day issue.

Water Journey – Janice Wiliams

This vision of life is well described. I particularly appreciated the positive note on which the poem concluded.

Octopus Eyes – Gordon McPherson

An intriguing picture of a much-maligned sea creature which brings the reader to a telling appraisal of human nature. 

*Geoff Graetz Open Section judges

As the competition secretary, and President of Adelaide Plains Poets, I am thrilled we were able to rise up against Covid-19, and with help from my wonderful committee, hand sanitiser, and social distancing, we were able to announce the winners of this popular competition. And for a sneak preview, that was heard by attendees at this award presentation, the theme for the Adelaide Plains Poets poetry competition may well be this one: RECOVERY.

As with all things in life, this theme is subject to change, but rest assured, if I am able to do it, there definitely will be a poetry competition for 2021, and the winners will be announced at the Festival of Words that year! The actual entry guidelines and entry form will be available in early 2021.

covid 19

Step By Step, Inch By Inch …

carolyncordon

When you have the time, no looming deadline, you can afford to allow things to move along slowly, with the idea that they will move smoothly, and well. That’s how things are travelling along at the moment for my, with the Covid-19 focused anthology I’m putting together in the final stages, before I send a copy to an interested publisher, and then to talk to them about how we can possibly work together to make this book a best seller!

I need interested people to tell me exactly how interested they are is seeing this big idea of mine turn into an even bigger idea, and then an actual book, with nearly 120 pages! And that’s just at the moment, that page number. I’m still waiting on two, no make that three things that are definitely on the way, and another page that is a maybe.

And there are probably one or two more things right now in my email inbox, waiting for my to look at and decide on. Putting together an anthology like this (a phrase I love, big idea, idea grows even bigger, other people get excited, and join in, and then an editor of a publishing house I know and admire gets involved too, and BANG, this is potentially huge!

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I’m back again, and yes, there was an interesting email there, which has given me two great poems, and an idea for a possible new work role … I’ll talk about it in another post soonish. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday or Tuesday. It seems to be a role I’m quite good at …

So the foreword is written and will be sent to me soon, there are more things, as I said, on the way, and who knows what tomorrow may show, when I log in to my email inbox tomorrow!

Life is going well, for me, but I’m intensely away of how it’s going badly, terrible badly, for others. So stay safe, friends, and stay as well as you possibly can.

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More On that Anthology to be …

carolyncordon

Well, following ‘advice’ from my writing group, I have contacted the person from the Publisher they ‘suggested’ might be interested in publishing the anthology I’ve been working on, since the middle of April, this year.

When I say ‘advice’ and ‘suggested’, the truth is, they strongly told me I had to do it, or else. The ‘or else’ wasn’t actually stated, but I could feel it there, nonetheless. So what did I do, did I stand up and say, ‘Look you lot, this is my project, not yours, and if I want to self publish a book at great cost to my personal finances, and possibly not sell terribly many copies, that’s my business, so Back Off!’

Well, actually, I’m not stupid, and they’re not stupid either, so what I did, was to go home from that get together (it was the tail end of our groups Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words – Vision, and once I was home, I made a note on my calendar to ring up thAt publisher the next day, because I knew it was likely to be asked about at the next group meeting, which is tomorrow.

So the day for the phone call arrived, and I made the call, the person from the publishing house said it sounded interesting, and asked me to send it to him, once it was done, and that we could talk about it after that …

So yay to me, yay to my pesky (precious, actually), writing group members, and the other friend who was there, and I hope, yay to Plague Invasion getting printed by a respectable and much awarded South Australian publisher.

I just need to tie up the loose ends, gather the last remaining pieces, tidy it up, and send it off, to see what may happen next …

covid 19

The End Approaches

carolyncordon

Very soon, we will be at the closing date for submissions of poetry and/or prose for the “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”, and once we hit that date, that will be it. There will be no more submissions accepted.

And how does that feel? Well, it means that part of the work will be over, and it will be time to get stuck right into the next part. I have around 110 pages of the book almost ready to go, still a few little things to add, once I put the word out, asking for them, and they arrive. It’s been a great time putting all of this together, and I thank all of the great poets and writers who have sent me their work for possible inclusion in this anthology.

Oh course, when I wrote that title for this blog post, well, it’s not the end of the whole thing, there are still a good few steps to go. I’m still waiting on those other things I mentioned, and once they arrive, I need to place them in their correct place in the book. I still don’t have either the front or back covers, but they are more or less on their way. Once I get them, and everything else, I will have to finish off the pagination for the content section. There are ways to get this done for me, by my lap top, apparently, I’ll have to look into that.

Once that’s all done, and ready, all of the bits and pieces where they should be, I will need someone to read it, let me know of anything that needs more work on it. If they see any flaws, or work to be done, I’ll have to attend to that. And once that is all done, and good, Time to decide how many copies I will need for the book launch, and beyond, how many needed for sending copies out to all of the Australian contributors, and getting their postage addresses if I don’t already have them.

Some of the out of Australian contributors will be wanting copies, so I will get those copies printed too, and extra copies as well to have on hand if and when other copies are needed. I’ll have to send a copy to the National Library, and the State Library of South Australia too. Once I have the numbers of copies needed, then I head off to see the printer, and there the file is worked on to get it ready for printing, and then yes, the book gets printed, hooray.

I have to organise the book launch then, and get together a list of the people to invite along for that. I love book launches! I know where the launch will happen, and that part of it will be easy to organise. I know the venue well, and the people there know me well too. Exciting times.

Will it happen this year, or next? I don’t know yet. But the launch will happen on the last Sunday of a yet unknown month. It can’t happen before September, and that gives me plenty of time. If it happens next year, that might be better, in terms of people who can actually get there for the launch, I hope. And of course if there’s no halt to this Covid-19 crisis, there will be a limit on the number of people who can actually attend the launch anyway …

Who knows when the end for that might come?