Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

My New Poetry Collection(s)

carolyncordon

I’ve had a busy day today, as have many others, who Marched 4 Justice! I thank them all for doing this, and am glad I at least consciously wore black and let it be known I was doing so in solidarity for those who did the hard work.

Today I spent time at Gallery 14 in Hamley Bridge, South Australia, being the Writer in Residence, writing two new poems. Then I had a coffee and ‘cake’ at another cafe in Gawler this time, with a friend, which was lovely. Not so lovely was spilling my cup of coffee, almost all of it, over the table I was sitting at, and affecting the new book I was reading, while waiting for my friend to arrive … Not my best move, but all cleaned up by the lovely guy who makes the coffee.

Then it was time to go home again, and get to work on my next poetry collection, hooray! This collection has had a title for well over a year, I think, based on the poem I wrote with the same name, a poem I’m quite fond of, and a title that should attract interest … So “Leonard Cohen Is Dead” is on the way, and I hope it will be sent off to publishers by the end of the month, if not before then, and with luck will be accepted …

This collection has the sub title of People Poems, and includes my thoughts about things, as well as other people doing things, some real, some from my imagination. It’s an interesting collection of poems, I think, and hope it is accepted for publication, and comes out soon enough … I have other writing related things going on at the moment as well as this poetry collection, the Covid-19 related anthology where I have collected a variety of written works about Covid, edited them if needed, and put them all together, in a book that is well worth reading, in my opinion.

That collection, titled “Plague Invasion”, will be launched at the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2021 (Recovery) which will be the sixth Festival put on by the Adelaide Plains Poets writing group. I am very excited about this book too, as well as my own Poetry Collection. There is plenty of room in this world for more and more creative writing, and I am more than happy to play my part in bringing interesting words into the world!

Uncategorized

People Are Strange …

carolyncordon

When writers ‘do their thing’, it can be misinterpreted, and things can turn bad, sometimes … Bad things can close up the writer’s creativity, if they let it, and stop them doing the things that help them with their writing … I know this, I’ve suffered by being misunderstood in the past, by going on doing my thing, but being seen as doing something else. Writers eavesdrop, reinterpret things, change details, get involved in life, it is all a part of being involved, and making our writing come to life …

Working out who is at fault, me or the other person, that isn’t relevant really. Someone was offended by something I did, I’m sorry about it, and will take on board the fact that I’ve upset someone, and endeavour to never do that again … But of course, the fact that this has happened, again, may come up in my writing in other, unrecognisable, ways at some stage. Writers write, life is our inspiration, and words come, sometimes wanted, sometimes unbidden, hopefully interesting …

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

Doing the wrong thing, and not changing ways, that would be wrong of me, and even though I feel somewhat misinterpreted, I’ve been found at fault, and I will mend my ways, so (I hope) it never happens again. I’m very happy with the two poems that came from this thing though, and intend placing them both in my next poetry collection, which is approaching readiness, and may well end up being submitted before the end of March, for possible publication.

So yes, people are strange, and I say hooray to that strangeness, if and when, I can capture it in my poetic words! If you’ve ever had someone misinterpret you, when you’re being a nosy writer, I’d love to read about it, it may help me get over my slight sense of chagrin. Leave a comment, I’ll be grateful!

Uncategorized

‘Funny’ in Good Ways

carolyncordon

People have told me I’m funny, in good ways, and that makes me happy! Funny in bad ways, I’m not exactly sure all of what that entails but funny in Good Ways is bound to be much better, isn’t it? I’m funny in person, when chatting with someone, or when talking to an audience of many more than one.

And I’m funny in my writing, some of it anyway. And when I’m writing about serious things, like chronic illness, I try to bring some light-hearted moments into it too. – You should hear me on the subject of incontinence, I’m hilarious! Of course there are some subjects where there is no way to be funny, and I pay due respect to the importance of not playing down the seriousness of subjects such as rape and abuse. There are no laughs with this subject, and if you think these issues are funny, you are a sick person, and should seek help, before you hurt someone.

So, back to happier subjects. I have three books that I am confident are funny. They are written by me, and with the imaginary dog who lives inside my head. This dog is Buster, and he and I have written three books, as I mentioned. The first book was ‘Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs’. The next book was Doggone It, Mindfulness from a Dog’s Point of View. The third book is Dog Buddha’s Thoughts, exploring what Buddhism may be like for a dog. All of these subjects are ones of interest to me, from an amateur kind of viewpoint, and seeing them from a different species, the dog adds further interest (I love dogs).

I also have a book about Multiple Sclerosis, looking at the serious sides of this chronic illness, which is what I was diagnosed with in 2010. This is not something for laughing at, you’d think, but the memoir I wrote and had published, ‘Mick Jane and Me – Living Well with MS’ has some funny pieces in it along with the important serious stuff. If you can’t laugh at life sometimes, is it worth getting out of bed?

Some of my books
My lounge room, with Missy lounging around

Being funny is something that appeals to me, a lot, and one fine day, I hope to be a stand up comedian, bring laughter to people, talking about my life, and the way I always look at the positive side of things, even those with a negative aspect. Incontinence, for instance, not a funny subject, that’s true, but if so, why on earth to people say, ‘It was so funny, I pissed myself laughing!?’ I’m well aware that ‘pissing yourself’ ie, wetting your pants, is not a funny thing, yes, lived experience there, damned MS! But seeing the funny side of this very serious issue helps a person live through the embarrassment of it, and also helps other people to feel better about themselves if this is an issue they deal with too.

Showing the funny side to life helps yourself, and it helps others too, and who wouldn’t want to do that?

Uncategorized

Getting Ready to Get ‘Plague Invasion’ Out!

carolyncordon

OK, so that publisher can’t publish the Anthology I have produced, they’re too busy to be able to get it out, and launched soon enough. I’m glad I made the call, to find out how things were going with it all, and I’m more than happy to have this anthology back in my hands.

I’m going to tell the members of the writing group about it, and then on Saturday, I’m going to have a good look at the manuscript again, then I’m going to get the necessary agreement form sent out to all of the people who’ve giving me work to be considered who had their works accepted.

It’s a big job, but I have the time and the commitment to this project, and it will happen! So yes, keep an eye on your email inbox, an as I indicated in a previous post about this, if you haven’t heard from me about this but April, please let me know! My email address is kittycordo@gmail.com

Many thanks everyone, I have a dog to feed now, gotta go!

Uncategorized

Today, More Fun With Words

carolyncordon

Today is a Monday, and ordinary day, not Public Holiday, and so I spent my time at Gallery 14, in Hamley Bridge, South Australia, being the Write-In-Residence there. I’m enjoying this gig, very much, and customers are getting used to seeing me there, with my books spread out on my table, pen and paper with me, talking with people, drinking coffee, penning some lines, and so on.

And the owner, and staff are completely happy for me to be there, giving me another (free) coffee when I ask for another one. The coffee is good, the feeling of friendship is strong, and the food I’ve had there is good too! Today I did something a bit different, that seems to have worked well.

When I’m there, I am listening to conversations, not eavesdropping, well yeah actually, eavesdropping, but not with malicious intent. I was listening because I wanted to hand out words to people in the cafe, words I’d written, just wise thought types of things, and printed onto fancy card. I went through my collection and found the most appropriate one for each person, and it went well, people were touched, and said they would happily put the words on the fridge, or put up somewhere to share with others.

I love the way words can have the ability to touch people, when the best words find their best reader, as these words did today. I’m definitely going to do the same thing again next time I go to Gallery 14, and I might make a point of having these cards with me for other things too, and hand words with meaning out to a variety of people.

The cards have my contact details, and website address on the back, and if I can get more peoiple visiting my website because of this, woohoo, that will be great. If I don’t get extra visitors, that is still OK, it’s the connection thing that is most important – and giving people these thoughtful little free things, is a much appreciated thing, I’ve learned today. Simple, thoughtful, kind.

It doesn’t take much to be a nice person, and developing these relationships could have increasing benefits over time, even if I don’t sell too many of my books there. Being present is the main thing, showing people that writing and books have a place in there lives, and deserve to be appreciated.