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Why I Enjoy Being A ‘Writer in Residence’

carolyncordon

From looking at my calendar on my phone, I see I’ve been a Writer in Residence since the first Monday in February this year. I’m enjoying my time there, almost all of the time, with only one little blip that wasn’t quite so wonderful …

It was a learning experience, and a lesson that I know understand, and so I hope that particular thing won’t happen again. Being a writer in residence on a regular basis, especially if the venue you are ‘in residence’ at, is a small one means you are quite ‘up close and personal’ with the owner/manager of that venue, and if there is trouble, the owner may have to think hard about whether or not you are of value to their business.

I’ve fallen foul of this ‘up close and personal’ issue in the past, and so took lessons from that experience, and tried to be careful not to fall foul of the same thing that went wrong last time, somewhere else.

The ‘trouble’ this time, was of a different kind, and it has been sorted out, and I am still welcome to be at this venue. I am glad of this, and happily drive off to the Gallery 14 cafe in Hamley Bridge every Monday morning that aren’t Public Holidays. It’s a nice cafe, in a nice town, the coffee is good, and I can set up my books there, and write or chat, as I wish, getting a free coffee whenever I ask for one!

The coffee is good, the ‘feel of the place is friendly and creative, and I have had some lovely conversations with people who have expressed interest in what I am doing there. I’ve sold a few books there too, and shared information about my writing group (Adelaide Plains Poets) and our activities, with people, and that information has been almost always been received with pleasure.

Yes, there was one person not so thrilled with me being there, a complaint was made, but the owner and I have talked it through, and all is fine now. I’m taking care to stick to my own small table though, and not get involved in other people’s conversations, unless they begin the conversation with me.

It is easy for me to stick to writing, and just be present, taking things in, perhaps, but keeping quiet, and writing … This can lead to creative writing happening, and having someone else make the coffee for me as I write, what a fine thing that is! And if I need some sweet food inspiration to go with the coffee, I’m in the right spot for that too, this cafe bake their own delicious items at home and bring them along for us to buy, and devour, with delight!

I certainly like writing at home too, of course, but being somewhere else brings along new ideas and thoughts, and as a creative writer, new ideas are always welcome, to bring new interest to my writing, for me, and I hope for my readers too.

I don’t know how long I will go on being the writer in residence at the Gallery 14 cafe, but I certainly hope it will go on for the rest of this year, and into 2022, because I like it there! It’s a mostly pleasant drive from my house to there, easy to park close enough nearby, and the staff and other customers seem to be fine people.

And my writing group, is going to hold an event at Gallery 14, as a part of our Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words (Recovery) this year on 23 July, where we will have lunch at the cafe, then hold a “Show and Tell” session, where writers will be able to read from their own writing, for an interested audience, which I think will be an interesting ‘new’ thing for the cafe, and the writers!

Having a Writer in Residence spot in a library would by good, too, especially if that library had a cafe there too, or a cafe nearby, anyway. It’s not that I’m a coffee addict, and usually only have one or two of those free cups of coffee, and Gallery 14, because I know what too much caffeine does to my brain when it’s time to go to sleep at night!

But I do feel that coffee is an important part of my creativity, or at least it’s something I like to have when I’ve settled down to do some writing, anyway … And if there is some yummy food available too, that is a bonus! I may be trying to lose a little bit more weight, but I can adjust what I have for my evening meal if I splash out for something yummy over lunch!

Today I met some new people and we had a lovely chat, and I also chatted with a regular customer I often meet at the cafe, and he sat and chatted with me about various things. It was all pleasant, and while I didn’t actually write a lot, and didn’t sell any books, it was still a worthwhile visit, spreading the word about who I am, and what I do …

So if anyone reading this ever gets the chance to be a Writer in Residence, I say go for it, be aware of any ‘things’ happening, and work on being of value to the venue you’re in residence at!

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Expand Ideas, Go from Good to Great

carolyncordon

So I have the makings of a chapbook, with the title and front page image all organised, and that is a good thing, of course. It would be a good little book, with poems inspired by the recent trip to the Murray River at Mannum South Australia.

I took lots of notes on that trip, and gained many inspired thoughts, and yes, poems came of it. But as yet there are not enough poems to fill a chapbook, and even though there are still parts of those notes not squeezed out, to find their poetic essence as yet, I was wondering, will there be enough.

But today I went for a much shorter drive, to attend another event at St Kilda, that included water, and birds, and even though I didn’t take notes while there, I did some thinking, and now some couple of hours later, have one brand new poem. This poem includes some of the Black Swans I saw today, and the link of water and birds is there …

Then I remembered the partly written poetry collection I was working on last year, or possible the year before (that Covid year has mucked up my understanding of what the calendar says …) So that previous, unfinished collection is about some of my thoughts, inspired by our pond that i have spent time sitting near, since it came into my world. And I’m pretter sure there would be poems there about birds.

So, yes, aqua and avian connections are very much present in my world, and if I were to add all of those poems, plus a few more, that are sure to come, if i think further on the subject of ‘Words On The Water’, which was the name of the Murray River event, and will be the name of this new chap book I’m thinking hard about creating, well it all goes together, doesn’t it?

Even though the St Kilda, and pond-side poems, weren’t written whilst physically ‘on’ the water, they were definitely about water related things, or inspired by times spent near water, so could be said to be ‘on water’ …

So my idea of a little chapbook about the River Murray cruise/writing inspiration event Words On The Water, is shaping up to be about some of the Water in my life, pond, nearby coastal area, and the River Murray, a waterway that has relevance to my life, my mother being born, and living in Renmark, in her earliest years, a thing I think I’ve always known about. (and curiously, my father’s first name was Murray!)

I only got close to one bird today, and it kindly stayed still so I could talk to it, and snap a pic. So here is one of the Silver Gulls, otherwise know as a seagull, that I saw today, there were quite a few more around the place. This is one bird species that I certainly don’t expect to see anywhere near my place, or not until the sea level rises a fair bit more, in who knows how many years time …

Hello Silver Gull, lovely chatting to you at St Kilda today!

I saw other kinds of birds today at St Kilda, but only one kind of bird that I ever see at my home in Redbanks, and that was the ubiquitous little Willie Wagtails! I saw two quite young ones, down on the shore line, below me as I was stand and chatting with some people who’d come along for this interesting shorebirds day. I never would have thought about the Willie Wagtail as a shorebird before, but there you go, there were those two cheeky little creatures, right before my eyes. I wish I’d thought to snap a pic of them too, for proof!

I suspect a poem written about them will have to do … perhaps a task for a bit later on today, after I’ve finished my quite late lunch …

So this little book is heading toward a goodly number of poems, and who knows, it may be ready to be launched this year? If I self publish it, which is my intent, it can happen … I was at a book launch last night, the launch of Judy Gillett-Ferguson’s book “The German Teacher”, and was impressed by the idea of having a choir sing, as part of book launch event. Some of those singers are friends of mine, and I’m now thinking that surely every book launch should have a choir there, to sing a couple of relevant songs!

I spoke about this idea, with a couple of them, and they said they were always happy to perform, so from now on, I won’t have a book launch without factoring in a choir! There are lots of songs about both birds and water, so I’m sure the choir and I could come up with something great for the launch of my next chapbook, “Words On The Water”!

I’m a teensy bit excited about all of this! Do you get excited when you think about your new project? i think it’s important to have these things in our lives that get us at least a bit excited, from time to time! Do you agree? Tell us about what floats your excitement boat, what gives your inspiration wings!

I’ve written more about this idea on another platform I’ve just started writing on, Medium.com, the link is here, if you wish to read what I wrote there

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Metaphorically Getting My Ducks In A Row

carolyncordon

I have a number of writing related things going on at the moment, with the two most recent ones taking up most of my time and interest, even though neither of them have deadlines …

https://kittycordo.medium.com/getting-my-ducks-in-a-row-16a041a35b04

That link will take you to an exploration of some of those projects, and the platform the link will take you too, is my most recent writing related project. Medium.com is the name of the platform, and it is one that a writing can earn money from, with only a slight effort.

Of course, if you put a bigger effort in, and manage to write something that lots of readers love, and share, you will make more money, as is the way of things in life, often. I suspect I will only make small amounts of money, but if I manage to have one thing that goes viral(ish), what a fine thing that would be!

At the moment, after a week on Medium I have only made a bit over a dollar, with 22 published articles. I have a draft piece that I need to finish and post, and actually wrote and published a new one today, on the subject of getting my metaphorical writing project ‘ducks’ a row.

But writing for Medium won’t get my Cosy Murder Mystery novel written, nor will it get my chapbook from the River Murray cruise I went on with other poets and writers, or anything else either. I have homework still to write for my writing group that will be meeting tomorrow too, and I don’t even know what that homework actually is!

Haha, it feels like my ducks are flying off, as they look over their shoulders and laugh at me!

Ah well, homework will get done, and I will make sure that homework piece relates to my novel, and that will be those two ducks covered, all in one piece of writing. It’s a good thing my living expenses are covered by my husbands pension, because if we relied on my income from my writing, we’d be in big trouble!

So my ducks are there, lining up at least a little, and that chap book I began on Saturday, will progress further today, or if not today, then tomorrow morning, and afternoon. I hope so, anyway! Come along, little duckies, line up and lets get moving!

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Inspiration On Water …

carolyncordon

Yesterday (Saturday1st May), I went to an amazing event, put on by friend and poet Colleen Moyne, where a group of poets/writers gathered together in Mannum, and boarded the boat waiting for us at Mannum Waters Marina, and we cruised the Murray River, looking for, and finding inspiration.

It had been many years since I’d been out on a boat and I felt at peace inwardly, as I rapidly wrote notes in the notebook I’d brought with me for the purpose. I wrote about the trees, the birds, the sky, the water, and the other people out on the water too. By the end of the two hour session, I already had a good start to a chapbook, with a photograph taken by another attendee lined up for the cover, and a title for the chapbook taken from Colleen being the name of the workshop she had put on – Words On The Water.

So this event has definitely woken up my mind to poetic possibilities, and this new little collection, which I’ll be working on today, for a while, and definitely tomorrow, for my Writer in Residence stint at Gallery 14 in Hamley Bridge tomorrow. I have written I think 5 or 6 poems already, from my notes, and there are still many words to be turned into poems as well as all of the words still floating around in my head from the great day we all had yesterday!

Being on the water, up close to it, and seeing Nature on the banks of the river – the trees, the birds, and the clouds up above, all lovely! I think Nature, being up close and personal to it, is an important thing for the poetic mind, I feel, for my poetic mind, anyway! Trees and I have a special relationship, and the birds are a part of that relationship too. All of us living our lives, but still connected in various ways …

Being there with other writers, most of of us, anyway, and most working with our minds, and pen and paper or laptops/mobile phones, I’m sure much great writing will have come from this day of inspiration. I know I enjoyed the words read out on the day!

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Getting the Word Out

carolyncordon

Writers can be shy and retiring types of people, who humbly sit at home, tapping or writing out the words that express whatever it is they feel compelled to express. The writing is the point of who they feel themselves to be, they are writers, they write.

But when you have words that have come together to form a book, and that book is published, then comes a completely other stage of the process, the marketing stage … These days, the writers who sell their books are those who can also to at least a reasonable job of selling themselves.

This may be simple talking about their books, to interested people, whether individually, or in group situations. Or in might be on the radio, or even television. These things can be more than the writer first thought they’d have to do …

The good writer needs to be a good presenter to, to give their words the best boost possible, and attract the interest of possible book buyers … It is a learning curve I’m doing my best to get my focus on, and tomorrow, I’m going to be getting the word out about one of my books.

That book is the memoir I wrote after I was diagnosed in 2010 with Multiple Sclerosis “Mick Jane and Me – Living Will With MS”. Tomorrow, at the Gawler Poets at the Pub Poetry reading event (2-4pm Prince Albert Hotel Gawler South Australia). I will have a time when I can do my stuff and read from that book, in the best way I can, and also talk about my life with MS.

My Book, cover photo by Martin Christmas

This event will also be a fundraising event for the MS Society SA and NT, as well as an awareness raising event. MS is a widely varied disease, with different people have a variety of different symptoms. Some with MS have a lot of pain, most have numb, and/or tingling hands and legs. Some have blindness of various levels, continence problems can occur for some, balance problems leading to falls are common, muscle weakness can be common as well.

Find out more about it the fundraising event here.

Some of those things are part of what I have, or have had, or possible may have in the future, I don’t know … But apart from my most recent fall, (OUCH) I’m doing well. I went for a walk with my husband and our dog this morning, and was able to easily keep up with them both.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be dressed up, wearing red for a reason (raising awareness of Multiple Sclerosis), reading from my book, and I hope, helping to raise money, and getting new orders for a copy of this book!

I’ll have copies of my other books there too, so who knows whether I will get any sales? Doing my part in this fundraising and talking about Multiple Sclerosis, these are the main things for the afternoon for me. Book sales are always nice though!