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“Bottled Memories” by David Ritter – A review

carolyncordon

When I read a poetry collection, I will often flitter from page to page, until I have touched on enough for a moment, then come back to the book at a later time, to read another few poems, and repeat that until I have read all of the poems I wish to read there, which, unless the poems I’ve read were not of interest to me, will be the whole of the collection.

If the poems are light and fluffy, with little needed in the way of deeper thought, I can easily gobble down the entire book in one sitting. This poetry collection by Poet David Ritter, is certainly not one of those light and fluffy books to be gobbled down quickly.

Instead, this poetry collection ‘Bottled Memories’ is a harrowing thing, a book full of thoughts, realisations, memories mainly unwanted, of a man who has certainly lived a life. If one is to write a poetry collection about personal things that have happened, they most certainly have lived a life, to be able to pen something worth reading. And on reading this collection, I knew I was reading the words of a person whose life had been well and truly lived.

Good things, but so many more bad things, happened in this poet’s life, and he brings to the reader a poetic and narrative tale of a life lived, not well, but very badly. From the very beginning, there are the perils of living with an addiction to alcohol, with many of the bad things this might bring to the life of one suffering from the effects of this addiction.

Loneliness, friendlessness, addiction, booze, drugs, offending, jail, they are all there. But this narrative has a happier ending than the lives of others so afflicted might have. Ultimately, this is a poetry collection that speaks of finding the one friend this man needed, the one who invited him into his life, and saved him from himself.

I am not a religious person, but I can see that the friend who came into David Ritter’s life, was the friend David needed. Jesus was that friend, and though I am not a close friend to Jesus, I can see much worth in the life of Jesus, and if having a close relationship with Jesus helps in a person’s life, I say, well done both to Jesus and to the person who has asked for and received Jesus’s loving help.

David Ritter is unashamedly a writer of rhyming poetry, and there is nothing wrong with that. His poems are full of details of a life of sordid doings, to begin with, and then much more beautiful material, as his new life with Jesus brings hope into a life he’d thought was without hope. The final poem is an outright call to the reader to let the light of God shine into every person’s life, and I can see the worth of that light, that shines a light to inspire and bring better things to all in the world.

I found much of interest in this poetry collection, giving, as it does, a candid look into a life I have not travelled myself, but can see the truth of what is written in poetry, through the words written by the one who was living that life himself. I thank the poet for trusting me to share this book with me, and I wish David Ritter well in his life, always.

If these ideas are of interest to you at all, I very much comment this work of poetry, and say well done David, I hope Jesus continues to bring much of worth to your life.

This book ‘Bottled Memories’ is available from David Ritter’s website, here https://rittersrhymeandreason.org/contact/

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Regarding my first Book Review here

carolyncordon

I was sent a book, a poetry collection, with a note asking me to post a review on Amazon. This was after some online discussion with the writer of the book, which is a poetry collection. After reading the poems in the book, I was ready to post such a review.

But Amazon is not a literary organisation, where the written word is a thing of beauty, to be treasured and treated well. Instead, to Amazon, a book is just another thing to sell and make money from. And because I am a mere poet and writer, as well as being a keen library user, I don’t buy books from Amazon, and so they don’t care what I think about any books written by other people, and I couldn’t leave a review.

But I am a blogger, as well as poet, and writer, and so I am going to use this blog, to post my review of the book I was sent, because that will at least be in the spirit of meeting my obligation to the sender of the book. I enjoyed reading this poetry collection, if ‘enjoy’ is the correct word for it. It is a good collection, for many reasons, which I will go into, obviously, in the review I will be writing and posting on this blog, once I have finished writing this post.

So, if you wish to read what I say in my first book review posted on my Writer blog, take a look later on today, and you will see it! Poetry is certainly a genre I feel fully qualified to write a review about. I may not have a degree in literature, but I have read, written and heard much poetry, both contemporary and older. I personally write in many forms of poetry, with no particular preference over rhyming or non rhyming poetry.

I feel that point is a thing a poem will often tell the poet they must use. And some poets hold strongly to the idea that poems must rhyme. I have no further thought on that, beyond the fact of what I do myself. If a poem tells me to use rhyme, I use rhyme, if the poem says free verse, the same, I use what the poem tells me to use.

So now is time to take another swig of my coffee, before it gets cold, and eat some of my delicious lunch of nuts seeds and dried fruit, and then thus fortified, launch into my first book review! (By the way, if you like the review I write, and think you’d like me to review your book, why not send me a copy! My contact details are available on this website.)

So Ciao for now, and I’ll be back soon. I have a review to write!

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Back again, here is the link to the review I wrote and posted to my site. If you have a book you’d like me to review, send a copy to me, and it may well happen!

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November will be Novel month

carolyncordon

I’ve been playing at the idea of being an actual novelist, writing little bits and pieces for this ‘novel’ I’m supposed to be writing. But there’s been more playing at it than actually putting in strong work at actually writing this novel. I’m not happy about that, so have decided November will be the month for me to put my shoulder to the grindstone, and really give it a solid chunk of this novel written.

This ‘novel’ “Winds of Death At Talloola” is to be the first in a series of Cosy Murder Mystery novels, all based in/or around the town of Talloola. Talloola is a town I’m created for this novel series, and while I love this town and the people living in it, the actual writing of the first novel is taking its sweet time to get going.

My laptop keyboard looks different this one, but both are capable of assisting in writing a novel!

But I’ve decided today, that in November, I am going to make sure my novel progresses at a fast rate than it has been, and to make sure that happens I will post my word count in a comment on this post every day if it is at all possible to do that. And barring unconsciousness, it should be possible!

So, I hereby declare November to be the month the first in the series of “At Talloola” books gets much closer to the end of the novel than it is to the beginning. At the moment, with a word count of around 20,000 words, I am around 30,000 words away from an acceptable word count. This novel should be around 80,000 words by the time I type ‘The End’.

I did a tiny bit of maths, and it looks like I need to do an average of around 1,000 words a day to get to where I want to be, and I’m sure I’m able to do that. I just need to sit down and write, a something, no matter how small, every day, and put in some bigger sessions if and when I can. If I sit down where I’m sitting right now, at least once a day, which I do, every single day, then I can meet this commitment!

Yes, for me, November is definitely Novel month, and it is also, coincidentally (or not) NaNoWriMo where in November, many people around the world commit to writing a novel (of at least 50,000 words) in the month of November. So if they can all do that, I can meet my own challenge too!

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Getting On With Things

carolyncordon

Blog posts don’t write themselves, and nor do novels. I am somewhat embarrassed at my lack of progress with both this blog, and my Cosy Murder Mystery ‘At Talloola’ series. The blog is going to manage fine, because, obviously, I am currently writing a new post for it. The Murder Mystery series though, and my main character, Meredith Webster, are sitting around, twiddling their thumbs.

That looks a little like the Talloola Campground. I wonder who those people are? Possible victims, or possible murderers? Or maybe just people at the opening of the Mallala Campground, and neither victim nor murderer … Yes, well that’s who they are, actually, but it’s fun to play with ideas!

I got excited by my series again last week, when I saw, and both chatted about, and wrote about in my last blog post, a brand new character for my series. I’d seen her whilst lunching with a friend, and the ideas came bubbling up in my mind. The odd stray idea pops up still, regarding that character, but no words for the novel are happening, either the first in the series, nor one particularly about that character, if that’s the way I end up going with her.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but if I haven’t, here goes: Live gets in the way. That’s an undeniable fact of life. There are things we have to do, that are totally unrelated to writing, any form of it. Eating, tending to household duties, looking after the dog. Unless I were writing a blog post on a different blog, or writing a different kind of novel, these things are completely off target, for my blogging/novel writing self.

And there are important other things, my personal health and well-being, for instance. I have a Chronic Illness that has no cure, Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There are treatments, and I’m doing will with the DMT (disease modifying therapy) I am currently taking – the medication Gilenya. This medicine, and my mostly healthy lifestyle and positive life attitude mean I am able to live an almost normal life.

MS might be making me a little more forgetful and disorganised than other people without that disease, or it may simply be my nature to be so, but I certainly feel a little scattered at the moment, and so am behind in a few things, including this blog, and the novel. But when I say I’m a bit behind, it doesn’t mean a lot – my schedules on these things are self-imposed.

I don’t have to write a blog post every day, or other day. I don’t have to write a Cosy Murder Mystery series. I simply decided that’s what I want to be and do, and if I don’t do them, my life will still continue on, regardless. I could go back to being a poet, and member of a writing group, without the pressures of being a regular blogger and novelist.

But if I did that, I will feel a bit like a failure … Ah well, I’m getting back into the blogging thing, with this particular blog post, and perhaps a little later on today, I’ll get some more of my novel written. After all, the idea of being the writer of a Cosy Murder Mystery series is a very attractive idea to me, and I am a bit in love with the idea of spending the rest of my life writing Cosy Murder Mystery books, in the ‘At Talloola’ series.

Do you have an idea of who you want to be seen as, for the rest of your life? I’m middle-aged now, at 57, and while my lifespan might be slightly reduced because of the MS, barring accidents or unknown potential illness, I still have at least thirty years of life left … So that’s what I want to spend that time doing, blogging, and writing Cosy Murder Mysteries. And talking about doing those two things, and doing all of the needed things to further a career in doing the things.

Writing books is only the initial part of being a writer, actually getting books published, and marketed and sold, can take a lot of time too. And living a life worth blogging about, and getting ideas for writing, these take time too. Hmm, I really should get on with that novel writing, goodbye for now, I’ll be back soon, why not let us know how feel about what I’ve written?!

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A Fine Weekend of Poetry!

carolyncordon

Today, Sunday, has finished off a fine weekend of poetry for me, and some of my writing group members, and others. Yesterday I, and Marie, one of my writing group members, attended a poetry related event in Mannum, South Australia, run by Colleen, another group member, who now lives away from Gawler, but keeps in contact with meetings online, or if she has travelled, and is close enough to Gawler, catches up with us if she can.

Today, I and the same group member who travelled with me yesterday, shared the presentation of a workshop on particular poetic forms. I covered three Japanese forms, Marie covered the Cinquain, as well as giving details, and in fact actual copies ‘Possible Words’, a magazine that is a possible option to submit our writing to, giving those present a very useful resource.

I am satisfied that I rose to the occasion well enough, even though I only realised a mistake I had made with my handout for the workshop. A big oops, but it still went more than well enough! Next time, I will make sure my handout is what I thought it was, first, and make sure of it, before I leave the house! A bit embarrassing but not to worry, poetry still was written, and written well!

I had my books there for possible purchase, and read from some of them, so even though I didn’t make any sales on the day, the works are now known to others, and I am known too, as the writer of the poems and books, which may lead to more things, who knows. Poetry and I go together well, and I have much of it to share with others, whether on the weekend, or any time at all!

Reading my work and hearing others read their work is a lovely way to spend time, and I love to do it, especially with friends! If you have regular poetry events you attend, I love to hear about it! Our writing events in Gawler happen at the Prince Albert Hotel, where they know us, and we know them, and it goes together beautifully well!