Well, I’m not an expert in these things, not being a scholar of years on study, but as the saying goes -‘I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like!’
I have written a little about this form with an example here Go to the site and have a look, if you wish.
Haiga is the marrying of a Haiku, with an image. The two together may connect in some way, and bring about a deeper understanding. I have written Haiku off and on for many years, and have more recently begun looking at images, and matching them up with Haiku, and so creating Haiga.
This is an enjoyable way to go, putting these two different art forms together, and while I may not be creating the world’s best ever Haiga, I feel happy with what I have been achieving. If I am the only one who sees the connection, so be it …
If you like Haiku, and Haiga, please feel free to leave a message. And if you want to see the Haiga I created today, please feel free to go here to take a look! Many thanks …
When you have a new book, and you are the publisher as well as writer of that new book, there are certain things you are legally required to do. So today, I sent one copy of my new book to the National Library of Australia, and another copy of the book to the State Library of South Australia. This is a necessary thing for publishers to do with new books.
So as I am the ‘publisher’ of my books, as well as the editor of this particular book (an anthology), it’s my task to deal with this part of the publishing process. It costs money, of course, to post books, but it might well lead to further book sales, and also to having copies of my book in libraries. And having books in libraries can lead to even more money being made, through Publis Lending Rights. Yippee.
I am far better at writing than I am at marketing, but I am very slowly getting the hang of it all. It’s a necessary process, but my brain whispers to me that the writing is the fun part, and it’s not interested in that marketing stuff. Naughty brain!
I love this new book though, and want to share it with as many people as possible, so I’ll do my best to be a book marketer, as well as editor, and writer … I put the word out recently to some of hte members of my writing group, that it would be great if one of us got into that side of things, for various group members, but it seems I’m the one who does the most of it, so, maybe I should step up and be that person …
But it would be great to find someone wishing to do these sorts of things, an agent I suppose, who may take on all of the ‘Adelaide Plains Poets’ group, as their clients … We don’t just write poetry, and some of us don’t even write poetry at all, but write books, fiction, and non fiction.
Being a writer, if you do it well, can bring in money, and while the money isn’t the main reason most of us write, it is certainly a welcome part of it all, if and when it happens. I’d happily do a lot more speaking in public, I like to do that, but the idea of being the person to book in for such things doesn’t make me happy at all.
That’s the kind of thing an agent would take over, if there was one their to perform that task … I’m so bad at these things, I haven’t even mentioned the name of my new book, nor plastered the screen with an image of the front cover, even though I love my most recent front cover.
So a gentle slap to make myself get onto this task – My most recent book, due to be launched on 25 July is the anthology – Plague Invasion, a fabulous book, with poetry and prose from writers from Australia and some from writers overseas. The variety and quality of the submissions was excellent, and I’m proud to be the person who brought it all together, to put it out as a book to tell the world how this whole Covid thing has been …
And this is what the cover looks like:
Book launch details, and book cover.
So this is what I’m proud of at the moment, this book and the wonderful contributors who gave me their best, many thanks to you all!
I have written about important subjects in the past, Chronic Illness, Sex Abuse, for instance, and they are certainly both important subjects, but more on a personal level. This new book I have edited, ‘Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19’ is an important book on a global level, and may well become even more important historically, who knows.
I just know that when the phrase ‘plague invasion’ invaded my mind back in April 2020, I had to do something imporant with the phrase. That important thing, was to put the phrase ‘out there’ (online on this blog, and other places online), and see what happened. What happened is this book. An anthology of poetry and prose, filled with words about this awful coronavirus.
The responses go from the silliness of nursery rhymes, to the seriousness of brutal attacks and a wide variety of ideas in between. Covid has hit us all, but we are hitting back, remembering, reporting on, what has been going on.
So I am thrilled that I have produced this book, and humbled by the way others have stepped up to help me make this important document come to life, in the form af a book, a book well worth owning! If you sent me something to go in this book, and gave me permission to include it in the anthology, would love it if you sent me a message with your postal address, so I can get your free copy of the book.
Further copies will be available to contributors at the special price of $15 Australian dollars. If you would like futher copies, tell me, and I can include those copies too.
And if your words are not in the book, but you’d like a copy, the pre launch, and Festival price is $20 Australian dollars. The price after the Festival will be $25. The ‘Festival’ is the Gawler & Adelaide Plains Festival of Words, which will run from 22-25 July 2021. The launch of this book will be at 3pm on Sunday 25 July at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler South Australia.
So if you’d like a copy of this book, please let me know, I have nearly 100 copies of the book, just picked up from the printer today, and they’re all looking for a new home!
I’ve worked long and hard to get this book written and put together, since putting the call out for submissions for this anthology. I’d worried at the start, about upsetting people when I didn’t like their work, and didn’t want to publish it. I much prefer to make people happy, not uspset them.
But I loved pretty well everything that was submitted to me, so then I started worrying I wasn’t being critical enough, and so this book might end up being a bit of a junk heap. But I showed the book to other people, and they loved it, so I stopped worrying about that. This is a good book, worthy of attention!
And the front cover, wow, I love the work the young man I asked to work on the cover for the book, has produced. It really hits you, bang! with the bright colours, and then you notice what is in the picture, and you get a laugh – Toilet Paper, people have been totally focussed on getting toilet paper, in Australia, every time there is another lock down, because of Covid.
I started on this project back in April 2020, and was a little concerned about putting a big effort into producing a book, and then the Covid crisis fizzle out. Not that that would have been a bad thing overall, it would have been a wonderful thing, if life had been able to quickly gone back to ‘normal’.
But the coronavirus is still with us all, and while we are beginning to look on it as a new normal, it is still awful to hear about the huge number of people affected, and how it is affecting hospitals, schools, and so many other things. Covid is still there, and we much all work on staying safe, and not drop our guard against it!
Anyway, as the world tries, in various ways, to get over this plague that is doing the damage, we must do our best with going the best we can, to keep on going, helping ourselves, and others. I am hoping the vaccinations keep on keeping on, and not too many people refuse to get vaccinated, for whatever reasons they give. Keeping ourselves safe, and eveyone around us safe too, that is what we must aim at.
Back in April last year, as Covid-19 took over our lives, we wondered how were would manage it all. My mind grabbed onto the phrase “Plague Invasion” and wouldn’t let go of it. I felt I had to do something. The ‘something’ I decided to do, was to edit an anthology, on the theme of Covid-19, the disease that was killing people all around the world, including my country of Australia.
So I reached out to my writer friends, both locally and overseas, and the result is almost ready to go out into the world. I’ve written further about the whole process – See here for me details. It’s a fine book, and I am proud to have edited it, to make it the book it is!
So I have this, my ninth book, on its way, with another coming in next year, a poetry collection to be published by Ginninderra Press, who have already published two of my poetry collections. And there is another book in the thinking about stage, which will be something quite different to this serious Covid-19 book, the fourth book in my ‘Buster the Dog’ series.
I just need to get my part of the book written, and the person who is going to join me in getting this fourth book done, getting her part written. Then there will be the images that will need to be drawn and decided on. But in the meantime, I will be concentrating on ‘Plague Invasion’!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 