Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Adelaide Plains Poets role

carolyncordon

I have always been the President of the Adelaide Plains Poets group, ever since we started back in 2004/05. And my other role in the group has always been than of Competition Secretary. I’ve always loved having the opportunity to read all of the entries that come in for the competition, for free, Woohee!

I’m even gladder that it isn’t my role to pick the winners, because, we certainly get some excellent entries, and it would be so hard to choose between them. Certainly, perhaps because I know who the entrants are, and it’s difficult to get that out of the head, if you know it.

This is why have the judges not knowing who each entrant is, or where they come from, is such a good idea. There is not bias based on familiarity, and each poem is judged on its own merits.

So this years competition is over, all that is left is to hand over the entries to the two judges, and for them to make their decision on first, second and third, plus Highly commended and Commended awards, as and if they see fit to award them. I haven’t thought, this year about which poem I like the best, so I can’t be disappointed on behalf of an unlucky poet!

The judges we’ve had have never picked a bad choice though, and I know them and have the utmost faith in their ability to choose the best poem, in their own point of view. That’s what their role is, and that’s what they do!

It is hoped the winners can be announced at the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words, at the end of July, but things have been a bit strange so who knows …

Uncategorized, Writing

Considering Options …

carolyncordon

Having options, thinking about them, talking about them with others who’ve done the same kind of thing before, these are always good things to do, no matter how you feel about how things are going. But even if you think about it and discuss it, but stay with the same mindset, it’s still a good thing.

If the thing you are thinking about doing in the same way as usual, still seems like the easiest way, and especially if it already something you know how to do, and have done successfully in the past, then, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? I think so. And because I think how I’m looking at doing things a particular in the future, because they’ve worked in the past, then I’m staying with that.

Thinking about it is a good thing. Thinking is a good thing. Doing things the same way, always with never any further consideration about other methods, that isn’t a good thing at all. I’m a writer, I write things, and work to have them published, in various ways. I’ve self-published, I’ve been published by professional publishers. I’ve made money in both of these ways.

One of the methods is simpler in many ways, put together a collection of my poetry, send it to a poetry publisher and wait. Simple. Or write something else entirely, put it together into a book format, or as close as I can get to that, have a friend do illustrations, wait while they happen, put the illustrations into the proposed book, look at it, make it as good as i can, take it to the printer, work with them, get it printed.

I’ve used both of these methods. The ‘do it myself’ version was early on in my writing career, and it went so well, I went on to do two more books in a series, with another book being thought about, and will happen, at a later stage. This Covid-19 pause in our lives has slowed the progress on that, and so has the other project I’m working on, which is actually Covid-19 related.

Self-publishing means self-promoting as well, and at the moment, self-promoting for me is limited to doing things on Social Media, and I’m doing that, to some extent. I’m not selling thousands of books, constantly, but apart from my most recent outlay, I’m well in front with money going out and money coming in, for my self-publishing endeavours.

With my own books, I have very small print runs, so I don’t end up burdened with lots of boxes filled with thousands of books. Instead, I order a hundred if I have a bigger event to attend, and fifty if I’m only ‘topping up’ what I have left. I usually have copies of my books with me if I go out anywhere I might have an opportunity to find a book buyer. In my self-published books, I cover a range of topics, from serious, to amusing – sexual abuse, chronic illness, and most recently, my broken ankle at the serious side, to various angles on dogs being dogs, at the amusing side.

In my published by trade publishers, I have a children’s school reader, and two poetry collections, one about the animals I come across in my life, the most recent, about my broken ankle. Both of these books are available from me, and from Ginninderra Press.

So given that my books are ‘out there’ and available, and bearing in mind that my printer of choice is in a town I visit at least once a week, I am extremely content with my chosen path with my self-publishing endeavours, and with Ginninderra Press, with the two books of mine they have published – Tense and Still, and Angles on Ankles.

But talking with my friend the other day about some of these issues was a pleasant lunch time meeting up, with lovely food bought from a sweet little cafe in a lovely town not too far away from my home. Freeling was the town, and even though I live relatively close to that town, I certainly don’t know it very well. I saw more of it than I have at any other time, mostly because I forgot to bring my mobile phone, and neglected to check the details of my friend’s address.

I thought I knew her address, but even though I had the street name correct, I got the number wrong initially, I had remembered to bring my laptop with me so was able to check the correct number and I found her place then. All was well. Getting the address correct is a good thing, if you need to find where you want to go!

The road I was looking for is the main road in Freeling, Hanson Road, and because it’s the main road, there are no signs telling the ignorant visitor that is the road they’re driving on. So even though I was moderately confident I was on the ‘right track’, it was still a little unnerving to be out without my phone and a little bit unsure of where I was and where I was going … Not lost, but unnerved for sure. It all turned out fine though.

Have you ever had that kind of experience? I actually knocked on a couple of doors, to perhaps get some help, but no-one answered my knocking. I’m glad that didn’t matter. Why not tell me your horror ‘lost’ story, I’d love to commiserate with you!

Uncategorized

Bits, And Pieces. Making an Anthology

carolyncordon

An anthology may begin with an idea, and slowly build up, picking up a bit of this, and some of that, until all of the bits and pieces merge together into some kind of meaning, at least in the eye of the editor of that anthology.

And an anthology, like any other book, has things it needs to have, to become a book, a saleable item, one that can be found in libraries, and book shops. There are expected things, necessary things, useful things, and just to pique the interest of reviewers and readers, surprising things.

part of my own library …

The necessary things are items such as written words, poetry or prose, from a range of writers who had something they wanted to say, and perhaps answered the call for submissions for the anthology, and had their work accepted by the editor. These are the ‘guts’ of the book, the meat that will make the anthology something spending the necessary time on, to read it all.

But there are other things the book will need, that the reader doesn’t really need to know about, but the editor does, if they want to make the book a thing that will fit into the places where the reader may find it. A book needs an ISBN, and a barcode, to better enable librarians and book sellers to deal with that book. And inside of the book, as well as the pieces written in response to a request for them, needs to be list of contents, and those contents might also be a foreword, and an introduction, and then those so important contents.

After the contents, there may be a list of the contributors, containing a few words about each of them and perhaps with details about how to read more about them, such as a link to their own website, it they have one, as well a list of their books or articles written.

And so an idea becomes a thing, a book, to be printed, and then maybe launched, shared, anyway, marketed, so copies may be purchased or borrowed, and the editor smiles, glad to see idea become reality. And then waits for the next idea, and the new bits and pieces …

Uncategorized

Seeing Different Things

carolyncordon

Almost every time I switch on my laptop, and check my emails, I see a new submission for the anthology I’m editing. With the closing date for submissions still almost two months away, I’ll have an enormous book, the way things are going …

This Anthology, “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19” has been an idea that gets bigger and bigger all of the time. I thought this idea would attract interest, after all, we’re all living with this terrible and potentially deadly virus, and that sort of thing sure attracts the attention.

Today’s submission grabbed my attention immediately, and there was no doubt in my mind, that this one would be in the anthology, it was different, it was on an issue that hadn’t been written about before, certainly not in the same way, anyway. Fiction is a genre where the writer can sometimes tell a larger truth than is possible with non-fiction, a strange thing, but true.

This current world is going mad, in some ways. Many of us are locking ourselves away to keep safe, which is good, but that could lead to ending up ‘stir-crazy’. Interestingly, the ‘stir’ in stir crazy is a 19th century word for prison. And having to remain at home for such extended periods of time can sure feel like being in prison. I know I’m very grateful that I can go out of my front or back door, and there is a lot there still, that is my place.

Today, I took a photograph of a bee, and being able to do that is a beautiful free-feeling thing to do. I went out onto the front veranda, and saw a bee flittering around a flower, and decided I wasted to try to get that photo. So I went back inside, grabbed my phone, and went outside again. So did I get the photo? You bet! Was it worth it? You tell me:-

The bee, the geranium bloom, the result.

I’m happy enough with this result, the actual bloom is actually pinker than this, but I was using my phone, not a camera. And as you can see from this image, I’m certainly able to get outside and do things I want to do, view Nature, taking photographs and so on. I’ve been looking at ant nests out of the back of my place too, and and part way though writing a poem about these ants. Being able to do these things mean I feel free to do things I like to do.

So for me, staying home doesn’t feel like being in prison, far from it. But I live in a rural area, on one and three quarter acres, where there is a lot of ‘Nature’ there for me to see, photograph, write about. Many people don’t have the same available, far from it, in fact.

The different experiences people are having leads to different kinds of ideas, and different things to write about. I’m hoping to showcase many of these differences. And we all might see the same thing differently too, so one person’s apartment life may give them one way of looking at their current life, while the person in the next apartment may see different aspects of their same life.

This thing, Covid-19, has been an interesting writing prompt, that’s for sure, and the resulting Anthology based on that theme is shaping up to be an interesting book, filled with different aspects of this Coronavirus life we’re all facing.

If you have ideas you’d like to write about, relating to this terrible virus, I’d love to read what you write. Please submit up to three poems of fewer than thirty lines each, and/or up to three pieces of prose of up to 3,000 words in total for all prose submissions. Send them via email to me at kittycordo@gmail.com

Uncategorized

Wasted Words?

carolyncordon

I’ve just been looking through some bags of ‘stuff’ I have carefully stored in our house, and realise I have written so many bits and pieces over my years, scraps and scribbles, responses to workshops, ideas written down in writing groups, hand-written, and then forgotten …

If there is a certain number of words to write in a life, I suspect I’ve written all of those words, and more, but what have I done with them? As I looked, I remembered some of what had happened at he particular events, and I realised that some of those words were re-used, to become actual typed up words, and so began another life, in another form.

Some of the words I read probably are now in yet another format, that of a printed book, and surely that is the finest format there is for a book? I certainly think it is. A printed book, the kind of thing you’d find on a bookshelf, either in a home, or library, that is what books are supposed to do, hold words, ever-ready and waiting to be read …

One of our bookshelves

But if I never do anything with those thousands of scrappy hand written words in notebooks and on scraps of paper in those bags, were the words wasted? What do you think? I remember trying to drive a manual car, after learning to drive in an automatic car. Bunny hops, and stalls were my usual fate, until, finally, after much practise, I could change gears, smoothly, and the car would move forward at the proper pace, and with no stalling, and none of those embarrassing bunny hops …

And maybe it’s the same with all of those notes I have, in all of those bags. I was practicing the craft of writing, trying to ‘drive the car’, of my writing career. Some of the workshops in those notes, were workshops I paid to attend, some were workshops others paid me to attend. So in the terms of our modern life, obviously, if others will pay for my work (presenting a workshop), then obviously the words written for the workshops have worth.

And the other words? Well, as with driving, I was writing to achieve smooth writing, that moved along, a thought, a poem, as story, a book, even. There are notes which related to my book series (three of which have been published). There are notes about another book series, which has been, not abandoned, but repurposed, and when the time is right, I may get those notes, words, out again, and move them along the road toward publication too …

So in fact, those words are not wasted, they were valuable to write, practising my craft, increasing my status as a writer too, to be able to present workshops to others, and being paid for it. So even if some of my words never make it into print, they were not in fact wasted at all!

Using words brings me joy, too, of course, and that is a good thing, to be able to find joy in doing what you do, and getting money for it too! What do you think, does your writing bring you joy? Or do you think writing is a waste of time, and your words are wasted? I hope you don’t think that. Practice is a good thing!