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When Writing One Must Always …

carolyncordon

No, I’m not going to give sage advice about anything related to grammar, or reader engagement, or using correct tenses, or any of that doubtless important stuff. If you’re hear reading this you quite likely already know about such things.

No, what you must always do when writing is to hold your sense of wonder, and the idea that one day the Unicorns may arrive, and you should be prepared to adore them when the come …

Your sense of wonder can lead you and your writing to places no other writer has ever been before, and you can then truly write words that can connect to those who will be prepared to follow you, and your words, and any Unicorns that show up, and Good Things may surely come of it!

When you think your writng is rubbish and no-one will want to read what you’ve written, take a short break, smell the roses, check out the sky and see the clouds, hunt for dragons in the clouds, and then back to ground level look for Unicorns hiding in amongst the trees.

They’re all there, if you’re prepared to look, and your writing, while not perfect, isn’t ever rubbish. The first draft is what you have to write before you can begin to fix it up with careful editing, or before you go on to writing that isn’t rubbish at all.

Read good books and articles, think about what made them good, write more share your writing with others who’s opinions you respect, listen, think, speak, learn, and write and write and write, reading in between, always.

And dream, imagine, make up silly tales, imagine mythincal creatures, and hold onto your child-like sense of wonder that is still there inside of you, no matter your age. I’m 63, I write poetry, flaff around in the garden and I remember how magical it was when I bought my first Unicorn around fifty years ago. Magical!

Remember the magic already in your life, and work with it to bring magical things to the world through your writing. Magic in Economics? Sure why not? Life is magical, even economists breathe the same air we all breathe, and they can see the magic in the numbers they work with, I’m sure. There is magic in the idea of Universal Basic Income, that’s for sure!

So when writing, one must always look for the magic that’s all around and inside of you, work with it, play with it, show it to your readers, through your words!

And when you next see a Unicorn, please give it a pat from me!

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What Am I Going To Do Next?

carolyncordon

I more or less ‘retired’ from the nine to five working for someone else world back in 1993, when I quit my govenment job to be a ‘stay at home mother’. My son is now almost 33, and living a good life, so I must have done a good job at being a mother.

He has moved away from home, living a good life, in his new home he had built, and married to the love of his life. I love visiting him, aor having him visit my husband and I, but both he and I have the things we love to do, that are apart from our wider family unit.

Family life is important for sure, but there is far more to what I I want to do in my life than simply ‘family’ things, no matter how important that aspect of life is.

I’ve been exploring ways to keep myself interested and doing ‘stuff’ ever since my son started school and then moved away, trying things out, working on the things that seemed interesting, and doing them, while moving on from those of less interest.

Some of those things have been paid jobs, but those jobs were either only short term options, or were not wanted I enjoyed, or wanted to do.

Making money is not the thing that fills me with interest, it’s merely a side benefit. The things that light a fire in my inner self are creative things, particularly those with a literary edge, such as poetry and writing, and being in contact with others also interested in those same things.

I have have a variety of things to show for my efforts. Books and poetry written, and published either by a publisher, or self-published. With those books, I have never lost money over publishing them, breaking even, ore even better than that.

Money isn’t a problem for me, so that side of things is under control, I’m not having to sell my soul to a boss who doesn’t understand what I need in life to feel complete! I’m currently living a life that meets my needs for creative expression, with more than adequate finances available to me.

I’m enjoying life, without having a business or job, so I’ve now come to the conclusion that I may as well go on as I currently am. I’m not only doing that though, I’m always open to new things, new says to spend my time. Trying things out, meeting new people, fun times for sure!

Looking at what comes next, in calendar of things to do, and finding interesting things that look like fun, that is how I see myself spending the rest of my life, and who mightn’t want to life their own life in a similar way!

The other creative things I’ve been enjoying lately is the Art Installation I’ve created, and am curating – the Redbamks Rust & Found Art Installation, which is my front fence with a great many rusty items on or near it. These days, I’m often looking for new old things to put on display, such as those in the photograph below!

That is a small selection of the many items on display, and every time I’m out, I may find another to add, fun!

Finding the fun in life, what a blast that is!

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My Creative Life

carolyncordon

Should I Do It For Fun, Or Make It A Business?

I’ve been slowly moving the things I do because I enjoy doing them more into a business, and while I’m definitely keen to ‘widen my horizons’ so to speak, and one day actually make a profit from it all, I’m not so keen about whether or not to get that serious about it.

One day I feel ‘Yes, I’m ready, bring it one’ another day, it’s ‘Oh, but I’d have to actually do work with tbe boring paper and accounting things … Yuck.’

So two sides of the coin, being a Creative, and creatively coming up with ideas to not do what serious side of my wants to do, because, hey, who doesn’t like making money from what they do? I had a book launch recently, and while I gave away books to those who’d provide me with material for the book (an anthology), I also sole copies of the book, so I had actual money in my hand from selling that book.

I liked that, but I also liked talking with people about what the book was about, especially where it connects with another important part of who I am and what I do. So yes, I’m a writer, but I’m also an Art Installation Creater and Curator!

There are other parts of who I am, and what I do I could potentially make money from too, especially the Stand Up comedian, and Publisc Speaker side, which I feel I’ve barely begun to explore, but still feel very much what I want to do more of, lots more!

Or I could just go on with my writing group friends, writing things, thinking about books I might write, or creative writing I want to do, and maybe doing itl if I fell like it …

Decisions, decisions. I’m not young, but I’m not so old I can’t still move into business, plenty of others have done that at the same age I am, early sixties … So Yes? or No?

I welcome any thoughts about this -please leave a comment to let me know how you think I could spend the rest of my life! Twenty more years, if I’m lucky, plenty of time to become rich, or to simply have the ‘funnest’ life possible!

Cheers!

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The MS May 50K Fundraiser

carolyncordon

For all of May this year and the previous two years I’ve spent some of my both walking, and raising funds for The MS May 50K, where people are encouraged to run, walk roll, or whatever method they use to get around under their own steam, to cover 50 kilometers in May.

The funds raise go toward reserearch into finding treatments, and other ways to help those of us who hae Multiple Sclerosis.
https://www.themay50k.org/fundraisers/carolyncordon/the-may-50k

I’ve like walking, and I have MS and have definitely benefitted from research into medicatins to helps peple with MS, and the proof of that is I’ve almost walked 100k so far and am going to go on walking for the few days remaining in May, and I’ll have my collection tin with me too, for people to pop in some money if they can!

If you click on the link above, you will see my fundrasing site, where online donations can be given. Even the price of a coffee and cake deal would be great, every little bit helps!

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When I Name Myself as a Curator, What Do I Mean?

carolyncordon

I have no official professional quailfication as a Curator, no Tertiary education in any Art subjects. But while I would not be able to get the job of Curator in any other institution, I am certainly the expert in the “Redbanks Rust & Found Art Installation”!

No-one knows more about this Art Installation than I do! And not only that, they never will! For I am the Creater, and Curator of this Art Installation, and much of the information concerning this Installation is still swishing around inside the creative space inside of my mind!

If I was a trained up professional Art Installation Curator, I would easily be able to show this piece which has now been put on display at this Art Installation. But that’s now the way things go in this Freelance “Pick It Up Then Put It Up” Installation. There is no list of the over 750 items now on display, and that number of ‘over 750 items’ is a guess, but as the person who collected almost all of the items, then put them on display and is now doing the Curating work, I am the Official and Only, Curator!

If someone thinks people can’t simply start creating such a thing, and then promoting it as an Art Installation and Tourism Site, well have I got news for them! That is exactly what I’ve done, well the first part, and the promotion of this installation/site is officially starting by the end of this month!

The Creation of this site has been fun, and I thank those who have assisted me in this, from Graham (my husband) our dog Lenny, Teresa who listened to me talking about his, and helped in the early collection times when it all started. And to Steve Oatway (an incredible creator of Found Object Art) and the lovely friends I’ve talked to about this project and some of whom have also given items for it to me. I thank you all so much! The interest from others has been a big part of how and why this is still going!

The curational process is much more brain work, rather than walking, although there is a bit of walking, and carrying involved as well, when moving various items found from the car to the midway space and then to the Installation, to be put on display.

CBut the process of moving from Creater to Curator also involved the consideration of why I was doing this, and what did it all mean, to me personally, and larger than that, to the community living in Redbanks, and broader than that. Me thoughts touch heavily on the Recycling aspects, and the related Reuse and Reimagining thoughts.

Further than that, as I’ve thought about the items I’ve found in the middle of country roads around where I live, well taking the various objects from the road to my boot or back seat and then putting them on display, I consider I possibly have prevented more than a few road accidents. I may have even saved some lives, who knows?!

I am glad about all of this, and while my brain and body remain so much engaged with this project, I’m sure the Redbanks Rust and Found Art Installation will go on becoming bigger and better! And this morning I pulled over when driving to an event to check my phone when I missed a call, then looked behind my car and found a new/old piece!

Then for the meeting I dropped into after that one, I showed this new piece, and told the new group member there, and found another person who loves collecting things too. Hooray! When there are things in your life that are important to you, and you’re passionate about, talking about them to others can have fabulous results.

This new person is interested in coming along for a look at what I’ve done, and she says she’ll bring a group of her friends with her! It really feels like this idea is a goer, for sure, and who knows, it may lead to even bigger and better things!

Life really is good, when others are on the same page, and understand why you love doing the unusual things you love to do!

It isn’t Crazy, it’s Creative!