Category: covid 19

covid 19, Cozy Mystery

Book Cover Design

carolyncordon

I had a talk with the person who is going to ‘do’ the front cover of the book (an anthology of Poetry and Prose in response to Covid-19), that I’ve been seeking submissions for. I told this person, Patrick, my ideas for a possible cover image, and he told me his ideas. Patrick listened to my idea, which was nice of him, but we both agreed his idea is better. He is going to put some things together to show me when they are ready.

Some of my earlier books, a wide variety …

I like the idea of getting people, especially young ones, interested in things I do. This Anthology is attracting lots of interest from a broad range of people. Patrick is a student, who is in between things at the moment, as many others are also. His mother is a member of my writing group, the Secretary, actually, and Janette is working on a piece of prose to go in the book, so they can perhaps workshop some ideas about what they’re doing.

So this is another step in the process of getting this book up and running, a necessary step. A good cover can make a book, and a bad cover, while not necessarily ‘breaking’ a book, it doesn’t help. Patrick’s idea for the cover, give hints about what readers might find within the pages of the book, teasing them a little. I like that idea!

It’s still quite a while before this book comes into the world, but there are lots of people waiting, and that has to be a good thing. I have high hopes for this Anthology, and if it’s successful, there’s no telling what may come next. Perhaps ‘next’ will be a stepping back to the series of Cosy Murder Mystery books I’d been working on, when the whole Covid-19 thing hit us, and those cute little village mysteries seemed too small a thing to spend my writing time on.

The “Plague Invasion” anthology is a much more important and worthy thing to be spending my time on. Once things are back under some kind of control though, the world may be looking for something lightweight, and my own head may feel better about getting back to my amateur detective, Meredith, and the little town of Talloola, where Meredith does her detective, with her worthy helpers.

covid 19, writing opportunities

An Anthology is ? Pages …

carolyncordon

I don’t know if there’s a ‘rule’ on how many pages an anthology is, or should be. And if there is such a rule, I’m not going to follow it. I am creating an Anthology, with the help of lovely poets and writers who are sending me their words.

The title of this book, is “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”, and at the moment it is 76 pages, in total. I know there are at least three more pages being worked on now, and hopefully there’s another page of two, these are from members of my writing group, some of whom have already submitted work, and had it accepted.

So if I add those pieces to the current total, that would make a book of over 80 pages, but only just. I’m certainly happy to have received so many wonderful words, but I want more. I want to hear from someone who’s had to cancel things, sport, theatre, school, business, whatever. If it relates to Covid-19, it deserves a place in this book.

A friend of mine has declared this work to be a needed historical record, or words similar to that, and he is a man of much knowledge, and I respect what he says. And so the anthology will be more than eighty pages, how many more could I or should I expect it could be? I put the call out for responses to this Covid-19 crisis we’re currently working through, in a variety of different ways, and I put a closing date of 31 July for accepting submissions.

Shedding light …

Reading the variety of words that I’ve received so far has been wonderful, and it’s been humbling. The honesty in the words I’ve read has been soulful and I hope those who need it will find comfort in reading their words in this book, and the words of others living through the same thing, in a similar or quite different way. We all do things in our own way, and there is no one way for anything in life, really, and certainly not for getting through what could have been tragic circumstances.

If you have words you feel you need to write about all of this, because they’re filling your brain and you can’t even think straight, write them down, a story shared, can be a healing thing. And of course, if you’re happy with what you’ve written, and think the quality is good enough, feel free to submit them for possible inclusion in the “Plague Invasion” anthology Send them to kittycordo@gmail.com and see what happens. All contributors of accepted words will receive a free copy of the book, and will be able to puchase further copies if they wish to, at a reduced cost.

Words are shared, so knowledge is learned …

covid 19

Recently, this Poem Arrived …

carolyncordon 
If Love is a Drug ...
(with thanks to Roxy Music)
If love is a drug, is that why my life
shines brilliant colours, sickness
approaches me, then strolls on past,
barely ever causing me harm?

So, if love is a drug, that’s why I share
the good stuff, with not just dear ones,
who live in my heart & mind, but with
all, especially those infected by hate.

Seeing what hate can do - tragically
destroy not only lives, but hopes,
& dreams too, if love is a drug
sharing it may vaccinate others

so they too, may begin to share
the love that has come to them -
A viral promise of hope in times
that seem hopeless. Love, not hate,

when hate is more easily spread -
All it takes is a glare, a stare, an ill word
spoken, about a man who was choking,
& silence against those doing the deed.

If love is a drug, join together, spread
the good there is, spread it so far
the very soil is thick with it, & seeds 
of hate can’t take root, so hate dies.

If love is a drug, right now is the time
we need it, to infect the whole world
with love - it may not cure coronavirus
but nor will hatred, & we need hope ...

************************************

Poems don’t arrive every day, but sometimes they do, and they demand to be written down, tweaked, and then shared. This one of those poems, written as I watched the Black Lives Matter march in America, in response to the death of George Floyd, after a police officer, abetted by other police officers, did a terrible, unforgivable thing.

This poem is my response, a cry for better things in the future, and for right now, when the world is in great need of those better things.

covid 19

Ignorance Or Fear? Or Both?

carolyncordon

This Coronavirus crisis is a scary time, and the word ‘unprecedented is being used a lot. These are unprecedented times, in this century for sure, and for most of last century too, unless you include the Ebola virus that killed thousands of people, and the SARS Virus too, back in 2003. and there was MERS as well, in 2012.

But none of those were as bad and this current pandemic, with Covid-19, in terms of deaths, or spread. Apparently the Antarctic is the only continent without any Covid-19, as far as my ‘research’ has shown. My research was a couple of Google searches, one of which led me to an interesting Antarctica-related article concerning a cruise ship that had Covid-19 problems, which were all recorded by one of the medical people on the boat. The numbers of negative and positive people on the boat gave some very interesting results.

When you have asymptomatic people with a disease, only testing can let you know the truth of things, and when some of the testing gives false negative results, things can be tricky indeed. On that particular boat though, Everyone was tested, and tested very often, and everyone was aware of what the situation was. Apparently one of the affected people died.

These are sobering statistics. The people on that boat were very aware of what their situation was, and all were more than happy, by the look of it, to take part in the necessary testing. And being on a boat, that was out on the water, there weren’t any options apart from going along with what had been deemed necessary. And I suspect the kind of person who would go on a cruise such this one where you are looking at scientifically interesting things, would be well aware of dangers if things with this virus took off.

So back in Australia, where are we? There’s understanding, ignorance, and denial, there are people who don’t care, ‘cos ‘We’ve all gotta die of something, don’t we?’ Arrogant ignorance, perhaps the most dangerous kind, because what can you do with people like that? Abject fear, being too afraid to even go outside at your own place, that’s going too far, regarding being careful, perhaps, but at least it won’t harm others.

The people who can be dangerous to the broader population are the ones who make no changes to their behaviour, and possibly are unknowingly spreading Covid-19. And what of the people involved in the recent “Black Lives Matters” protests/rallies in America, and in Australia? These events have inspired, interested and enraged different people. Social distancing issues were raised, and some questioned the wisdom of such events.

Others were anti such things for quite different reasons. Reasons of racism, for sure, in some cases. But it seems organisers did the best they could to enforce or at least strongly encourage, social distancing, as much as that is possible. Certainly, there were some instances of people being too close together, that I saw on the television. but for most of what I saw from Australia, the crowds were at least trying to stay apart to some extent.

But is it enough, and what about shoppers at supermarkets these days of ‘opening up’ and reducing the restrictions that kept us all at home and separated. If there are increases in numbers of Covid-19 affected people, will it be those people, or will it be those who were protesting? Should fears for our health keep us home, and let others risk their health, while Aboriginal deaths in custody still happen at terrible high numbers? From what I’m told about one of the events, most of the protesters were wearing masks, and were keeping socially distanced.

And with the protests in Sydney, the police did bad things for sure, from what I’ve read. Herding protesters into smaller spaces with exits closed off. It could have been a breeding ground of infection, and only time can tell whether it has been or not. Whose fault? Protesters for being there, or police? I know what I think …

These are unsettled times for sure, keep safe, but remember the lives of those who aren’t safe, and think on doing what you can, to help them keep safe too.

covid 19

Importance of Goals

carolyncordon

When a writer is going to work on a piece of writing, they can either just start writing and see how it all goes, or they can begin with a goal, and follow along, with the various check points toward a finished product. Or, of course, they can do something in between the tow options.

Going ‘freestyle’ and just writing is a way that can bring amazingly rich and unusual results, but it can also lead to a lot of waffle, that needs to be edited out, to eventually bring a final result that works well. It includes a lot of effort at times though, producing words that have no place in any original book the writer wants to be connected with. Waffles are fine in the kitchen, or on a plate, but not in a good book.

The opposite method, or planning, and moving step by step to produce a book will reduce the waffle, for sure, but possibly may bring about a staid and boring book, with no flights of imagination, just dreary facts, with not a single flight of fancy in sight. Boring, boring, boring!

A better way to go might be to have a plan, but be open to new ideas, as things go along, and with the gaze firmly on what is happening in the book-in-progress, what may work better, or has turned out to be a bad idea, or not the best one. An idea that arches over the entire book, the reason why this is the particular book you have to write, right now, is a good thing to hold to, so you can look at each new thing, and ask, does this match the idea, does it add to what I want this book to be, or to do.

If you are writing about growing flowers, but end up on a trip to the desert, and back, with not a flower mentioned, you’d have to ask yourself, what is the reason for that trip to the desert, does it add to my book about growing flowers? If you’d stopped and taken photographs of flowers blooming after heavy rains in the desert, then sure, that was probably an interesting, useful, and relevant side-step.

If there is not mention though. of even a blade of grass, but it’s about camels, or other desert things, but not plant matter at all, it’s in the wrong book. Put it aside, and get back to your original idea, the one that lit your creative fuse. Consider your goal, and go back to it, get back on track, and stay there, as much as you can. A better, and more considered book will result.

Thank you for being here, now I have to get back to working on that book that lit my fuse – an Anthology of responses to Covid-19!