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.
writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 3 – Healing Yourself, Help With Self Esteem

carolyncordon

Write Yourself Well workshop

If you follow what I did at this workshop, using the eight ways, below, I hope you may gain some understanding of yourself, and remember good times, in the hope more may come again

 

Eight Quick & Easy Ways to Raise Self-Esteem

  • Tell yourself this: I am a good person, and believe your words.
  • Write a list of the things you are good at.
  • Write a list of good things you have done in the past week.
  • Spend 5 minutes when you wake up, to remind yourself that you are a good person.
  • Spend 5 minutes when you go to bed, reminding yourself that you are a good person.
  • Write a list of the best things about yourself.
  • Remember your childhood years, and write down the things you used to do that were fun.
  • Think about your greatest achievement, and sit there, thinking about it. Feel the happiness at your work, and just sit with your happy memories.

 

I, Carolyn Mary Cordon, honestly believe I am a good person.

  • I am good at creative writing, talking in public, saying positive things in almost all circumstances, being kind to family, friends, and others.
  • This week, I have given hugs to people who wanted and deserved them, I have attended a function and given love and friendship to friends, I have helped around the home as best I could (feeding and cleaning up after dog etc), watering our plants, running a group meeting, being involved in running a Poetry Reading,
  • Best things about myself? I make others feel good about themselves. I am a caring family member. I am a good community member.
  • I remember riding my bike, with my best friend Wendy. One particular day, we rode from our homes in Klemzig all of the way to the Adelaide Zoo. We got in for free, using the zoo tickets my dad had, and spent ages sitting with the two dingoes that lived at the zoo. These dingoes, and male and a female, were very tame and loved being scratched behind their ears, just like any other dog likes. I was such a fun time, and we both felt almost blessed to have these dingoes feel so secure with us.
    Going to the Torrens River as a kid, with my brothers and their friends was always fun too, catching creatures and either keeping them or setting them free again. Yabbies were the main creature we didn’t release back to the wild, they came home with us, for dad to cook and eat.
  • Now I’m thinking about the book launches I’ve had, sharing my own words with others. Remembering, remembering. Lovely times indeed.

 

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poetry, writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 2 – Writing an Ode

carolyncordon

An Ode is a celebration, a lyrical poem praising something. It can be something wondrous, or it may be something so-so that the poet can make wondrous through their words in praise of it. John Keats has a well known Ode – Ode to a Grecian Urn, and another titled Ode to a Nightingale. They are both fine Odes, but today we are going to look to more contemporary times with the odes we will write. When writing a ode, you have permission to go overboard with the imagery and metaphor!

 

 

And that’s it. With an Ode, you can rhyme or not, as you choose, you can be as silly or serious as you wish, it’s all up to you and your thoughts. The most important thing is to go beyond the obvious, and take your love of your chosen thing as far as you can, lauding it all the way to the sky and stars!

Ode to the Op Shop

Oh wondrous home to much –

glorious treasure trove  

Of love and possibility

Staffed by precious volunteers

Those whose freely-given time benefits many –

Small-time hoarders like me,

Or those in the know who buy much

Then onsell to many

But a delight for those searching

Looking for their next fashionable fancy

And when finding such, our joy

Is met with smiles.

Named junk shops by some

Those who think a label

Rather than a look, is the fashionable thing

But limited new ‘range’ to choose from

Is just the so-called latest thing

Ignoring the clothes of yesteryear –

The best of their time, made best again,

At a bargain price, when payment gives back

To those who have little.

My wardrobe & drawers

Are filled with many found treasures

from within your worthy walls

And walls of other stores like you,

Clothes that have lived a life

Before they came to me,

That could tell such stories!

Each item willingly given up

To be worn again with pride and thanks

Is testament to the love shared

In one of these slices of community

And humanity, wonderful Op Shops,

Shared spaces, filled with memories of the past

And hopes for the future.

Op Shops, oh how I love you, Op Shops

Fine resting places for my unwanted items,

That I bring to an Op Shop such as you,

Knowing that when my need for them is over,

They will be with those who understand

The Op Shop’s fine and long tradition

And who realise the wonders to be found

In the taking up of clothes, both pre-worn and pre-loved,

Knowing the impermanence of such clothes

And relishing it. What has been with one,

Can be again with another, and once lived with

For a while, can move on again, via an Op Shop

And so it goes on, treasure donated by one

Found by another, one who in time,

May donate again, and so it goes,

Op Shops building community,

Community loving Op Shops,

All sharing the love, and the clothes.

We are many, those who share the love

of these wonderful Op Shops –

Treat them well, care for the treasures

found within, and share them with others

at an Op Shop when the proper time comes …

                                                         © 2017 Carolyn Cordon

 

 

You could choose to write an ode to your football team, your pet, a flower, anything, just as long as it’s something you love and have many thoughts about!

 

So think of the subject of your Ode, and start writing down thoughts about why you love it so much, then get working!

 

Carolyn
Carolyn Cordon, kittycordo@gmail.com

writing exercise

Creative Writing Workshop 1 – Acrostic & Cordonostic

carolyncordon

For this exercise we will concentrate on two different Poetry Forms, Acrostic poetry, and Cordonostic Poetry.

Acrostic poetry has been around for a long time, and is much favoured by school teachers, I think, who find it an easy way for their students to get into writing poems. With this style, a single word can be chosen, and then the first letter of each line begins with each of the letters of the word, in order. So, with my chosen word – Autumn, the first line begins with the letter, A, the second line, U, the third line, T, and so on, all the way to the final letter, N.

 

You can choose to use just one word for each line, or you can write a short phrase, whichever you wish. But a poem is not a novel, so keep those phrases short. Autumn is my favourite season, and I enjoyed writing this poem, some years ago.

 

The poem just below is my own Acrostic poem, based on Autumn, my favourite season. Attendees are to choose one of the four seasons, for their own two poems.

 

Autumn

April comes along, trees

Until then heat struck, though

Tended well, and watered

Ultimately recover,

Managing leaf colour changes –

Nature’s amazing beauty …

 

 

Next Poetic Form – Cordonostic Poem We may have looked at this form previously, but I will clarify what it is all about:

 

The Cordonostic poem is based on syllable counts, with the first line having three syllables, the second line having five syllables, and the third and final line of the first stanza (verse) having seven syllables.

 

For the second stanza, start with seven syllables for the first line, then five syllables for the second line, and three again for the last line. For the third stanza, follow the stanza count as the first stanza, and for the fourth stanza, follow the second stanza, and so on.

 

Using the same season as you used for your first poem, write a poem, using words and phrases about your chosen season, bearing in mind the necessary syllable counts for each line. For the title of your poem, choose a word that is relevant to what you have written.

You don’t have to concern yourself about the poem title first though, often you need to finish a poem to see what it’s about, and so what the title could be.

 

This poem below was written after I had done some research into why leaves changed their colours, and I feel it is a fitting tribute to the wondrous way Autumn brings on this colourful phenomonem.

 

Photosynthesis

trees, their leaves

red, orange, yellow

lovely, chemically changed

 

trees and branches a backdrop,

and a gallery

for the leaves

 

wind-released

they drift off downward,

as ground becomes a carpet

 

then leaves, in decay, produce

nutrients, and trees,

fed, grow more –

 

trunk, and leaves

then blossom, perhaps

and after blossom, come seeds

 

and then, wondrous, welcome fruit.

the process goes on,

always will,

 

so long as

trees get the water

they need, fruit will come again.

 

autumn – colour, winter – rest

spring – blossom, then fruit –

nature’s way …

 

Thank you, I hope you have enjoyed this poetry session today, and I look forward to our next session!

 

Carolyn Cordon,

 

Writer, Poet, Community member, lover of Nature

www.carolyncordonwriter.wordpress.com

 

kittycordo@gmail.com

 

0418806490

New Ideas

A Literary Yard Sale?

carolyncordon

Sometimes I get ideas, you know … And as a writer, getting ideas is a good thing, yes? Well, up to a point certainly, but what if the idea is taking away from writing time, of more truly is distracting the writer from writing.

That is what is happening to me at the moment. I had a great idea, or at least one that seems like a great idea, a community building idea, and I have been working hard on this idea for the past week or so, and I haven’t been doing much in the way of actual novel writing.

So today, whilst in the middle of promoting my ‘great idea’ I had a brilliant idea – I would hold a reading of my published words at the event that is my ‘great idea’, and it may be the first time such a thing has ever happened. I could be wrong on that one, but I can probably truthfully say it hasn’t ever happened where I live.

This ‘great idea’ I’ve been working on is a Township wide yard sale, where as many houses in my township set up a stall and sell things from their own yard. I’m hoping for at least ten households will get involved, because that would mean the local Primary School will get fifty dollars from the fee to take part. If every household got involved, wow, that would be awesome, there are at least forty households in Redbanks, where I live.

So forty households times five dollars that’s two hundred dollars to the school. Not a bad donation … My little township, while a nice place to live, is lacking in any real feeling of being a connected community. Small groups of people are friends, but there isn’t anything everyone there is interested in.

Could this yard sale that takes in all of the township be the catalyst for bigger and better times for Redbanks? Who knows? I just know that if it does happen, I played a part in it, and that feels like a good thing to have spent my time doing. And hey, maybe I will sell some copies of my own books, and get to sign copies for the buyer/s, that would be a great thing!

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New Ideas

Building My Community, One Step At A Time

carolyncordon

Writers, especially those who have no high range publisher holding their hand as they write, have to find ways to fund their writing, if they are going to be able to keep on writing.

I am a self-published writer, a freelance writer and a volunteer member of the community. I edit the local newsletter, and am able to use it that to further various of my other community outlets. I, of course, am mindful that I need to keep things in the Town newsletter relevant to as wide a range of residents as possible.

At the moment, my novel writing is taking second place to a community project I am promoting, and in fact organising. I am interested in working on building a greater sense of community in the township I live in, a small place around 60 or so kilometres from Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia.

Now I am not a great shopper, buying high fashion, at high prices, I am happier buying a much loved item in the right colour and style, and I usually find such things at op shops, and garage sales. I am also pretty terrible about having a tidy home, because I have far too many ‘things’.

I’m a big ideas kind of person as well, and when I get one of my ‘big’ ideas, I love it if and when I can get started on the idea straight away. If I have to hang around waiting, I get bored sometimes, and want to move on to the next big thing.

So I am thrilled to be working at the moment on my new big idea, taking actions required, and getting the word out to see who else wants to be involved. I am taking all of the steps needed so I can run a fantastic Yard sale for the whole of the township I live in, Redbanks. Well, for as many of the residents who I can get interested, anyway.

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(This photo was taken at my place in Redbanks, where I live. Can you see the dancer, just above the (real) tree? Cloud images can be so inspiring!)

I’m hoping to get the Mayor of Adelaide Plains Council involved, and already have one of the councillors interested in it all. The writing related thing about it is that I have written in one of my other blogs about it, earlier today, and used images of two of my self-published books in the blog post, and said copies will be available for purchase at the sale.

I hope I can have some information about my writing group available there too, and it would be fun to have some of my writing friends there too, if they interested in being there. I want to know more about the people living around me, why they moved here, what they do, what they like. I love people, and if I can help them dispose of their unneeded treasures, and make some money too, that will be great.

As I indicate in that other blog post, I will be collecting the fee from those who get involved in it, and giving the money to Mallala Primary, the local Primary School. I’m so excited about this, I hope the weather will be fine, but if it rains, well at least I tried!

Any hints and tips from people who know about these things would be very welcome!