Author: carolyncordon

Making myself a coffee is the most common thing I do, and I cover up my laziness, by telling myself coffee helps with getting ideas. It might be true, but it often leads to comfort breaks, which further halts the writing process …

I’ll also do the washing, and yesterday washed the sheets, hung them out, brought them back in, then made the bed again. I have a Chronic Illness (multiple sclerosis), so that was hard work, and I was too tired to think at all, let alone write my novel!

I do my writing group homework, and if I use the given writing prompt to write more of the novel, using the prompt, that’s a good idea. But sometimes, too often, I’ll write a new poem, which has noting at all to do twith my novel …

Walking the dog happens too, which is good for both of us, and could lead to inspirational ideas for the novel, but more often nothong like that, so not any good for the writng of a Cosy Murder Mystery …

My latest thing taking up my writerly attention is the doing of a Picture Book, but I’ve decided to do the illustrations as well as the text. I have no real idea about how to do this, and am just practising drawing things, and colouring them in.

And if you’re going to do that, you need a sketchbook, I’ve realised, because even though my journal which I’m writing in most days, has lines in it – good for writing, not for producing pictures to go in a Picture Book … So I needed to get myself a sketchbook, so I needed to head off to a shop that would have a sketchbook. So when I went to Gawler for something else today, I went to Big W, where they had various relevant sketchbookish things.

Then I grabbed some more coloured pencils, then a pencil sharpener, because some of my current lot of pencils need sharpening. So now I’m all set up and ready to work at becoming the best illustrator I can be! Yay! But that does nothing at all to help me write that novel …

It’s still in the some kind of thing though books and writing, and maybe thoughts about piccture books might bring along new ideas about the people, I mean characters, in my novel. But a novel without a publisher waiting for me to finish it so they can publish the book they’re waiting on, a novel without a deadline, well I can fiddle faddle around a longer time, if I want to …

I’ll do my homework from the last writing group meeting today, I think, and that may well bring another few hundred words to the novel, or I may take another look at the picture book idea I had, and perhaps draw some more. But there’s a big gap in the journaling I bagan last month, where I was going to do 28 days of journaling. I began it, all keen to get on with it, then life came along and interrupted me, the way life can, at times.

Then there’s the dog who needs to be let out, and then let back in again, from time to time, and to feed as well of course. And I drew another picture of that dog, and while it isn’t the best picture of a dog ever done, you can at least look at it and think, hmm, yes unquestionally that is a dog, at dog that is lying down somewhere.

I’m a writer. I’m confindent in my skills in the writing of poetry and prose, fiction and non fiction. But now I’ve been playing with something I’d vever previously thought I would be capable of doing.

I may end up not being good enough at doing anything that can go further with it, but it’s fun trying! Doing new things is good for the brain, and even if it doesn;t do any further, I’ll be helping to keep my brain safe from dementia. I hope so anyway.

And what is this ‘thing’? Two things actually, drawing and colouring in – in fact drawing things and colouring them in. I haven’t done much colouring for years and years, and I’d forgotten how much fun it is, and to actually be colouring in things I drew myself, that feels awesome!

I’m not saying I’m an artist who will be having exhibitions, but I can at least draw things that look like what they are, and that’s a skill to be proud, I think!

Here’s one of my new ‘works’, a self portrait is how I’ve labelled it, but there’s only two things that make it look anything like me, I think. I’ll keep practicing and see how I go!

If anyone has tried doing something new, or that they haven’t done for many, many years, I’d love to hear about it! One of my fears is that I will end up with dementia, like my father did, and be unable to connect with my friends, and my peers. And for me personally, unable to write any more, a horror to me.

And some another of my new drawings:

The second picture is of our dog’s great big ‘pillow’ called a caterpillow. If I remember, I’ll get something better to draw on, a sketching pad of something. I’ve been doing these drawings in my journal, in reso]ponse to the daily prompts I’ve been doing,a nd will continue doing every day, into the beginning of February.

This new drawing thing just popped up, as I was responding to one of the prompts earlier this week, and I’m really loving this aspect. I’ve even been thinking about writing a children’s picture book, and doing my own illustrations! I need to do a lot more practice before then, though!

This has been so much fun, trying out the visual arts for a change, instead of just the writing … Finding the fun things in life is a great idea, I reckon, and this is definitely fun!

Any thoughts about any of this are most welcome!