Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Not Sad Really, but Thoughtful

carolyncordon
I’ll have to preface this blog post with some local information, and by ‘local’ I mean Australian information. OK – the team I mention, Fremantle, is an Australian Football League team. They are from Western Australia, and they were playing football today. The game was broadcast on one of the Fox Football channels. Fremantle isn’t my top favourite AFL team, that is the Adelaide Crows. Fremantle is a close second favourite team.
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I wrote an excellent blog post while the Fremantle game was on. Then once I’d almost finished, I accidentally deleted it. Not asking for help, it’s gone, just sad, because it really truly was a great blog post. But Fremantle won, and that’s a good thing, and I went and put away most of the clothes washed today, and that’s a good thing too.

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Bad things happen, good things happen, and life continues on, whatever happens. But oh, bloody stupid WordPress, clumsy me – I don’t even know how I deleted the post but I did … and it’s gone.
 
I may rewrite it, I may not, who knows. I’ll just sit with the thing that happened and look out of the window a bit, at the sky with the clouds, and at the trees blowing in the wind, and know that there are far worse things that can happen, and that I can always write another on the same thing, remembering some of what I’d written, maybe not, but I’ll never really know.
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I might never re-write it, or I may do an even better version … But the sun shining through the window will go down later on, and come up, shining through different windows, and that will go on happening, no matter what I do, or don’t do. That is the good thing that happens every day – no matter what happens, when the sun goes down, I know it will be back again tomorrow morning.
And now, looking at that photograph just above this, I can see lots of crazy cloud creatures, and that makes me happy, because I can remember the sad time when I couldn’t see anything in the clouds, just clouds, no puppy dogs, or dragons, or horses, just clouds. As long as I can still see the creatures in the clouds, I know I’m OK, maybe a bit sad, but OK, and that’s enough.
Uncategorized, Writing

Marketing Books, Some Previous Thoughts

carolyncordon

Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs

The link just above will give some information about marketing a self-published book. It isn’t the only way to market our books, it’s just information about how I did it. It may be useful, I hope it is interesting.

That information is ten years old, and while some things have changed, certainly other things remain the same. I am still doing small print runs of the book talked about, “Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs”. I have a soft spot for that book which I still send copies of, every now and then, in fact I sold another copy just a week ago, at an event I participated in.

For me, having books available if I am out and about at things where at least some of the people present, are open to the idea of buying books, is always a good idea. I in fact sold, not only Dig It!, at that event last weekend, but I also sold the two books that come after Dig It! I put the price down low, but I didn’t mind that at all. The person I sold the books to is a friend, she is a dog owner too, and I have already sold enough copies of the books to cover my costs, so any further sales are profit …

So if you go and look at the link above, which is also here, you’ll see that I was pretty laid back in my attitude to producing books. I am still more or less like that. I have moments when I chastise myself about missing out on sales, opportunities and so one, but really, the most important thing is that I’m not sending myself broke with my bookish things, and that I am having fun with what I do.

And isn’t that a key to living a book life? Having fun, having enough money to do what you want to do. I’ve sold more copies of this simple little book with illustrations, than many big name authors, published by actual publishing companies, I think. I’m not sure on that, unlike those publishing companies, I don’t have any accounting types of people collecting the numbers for me.

The book mentioned in the article I link to, the one that I published through Lulu, has pretty well disappeared from my life. I no longer know my log in details for my Lulu account, and I barely even remember what that book I wrote said. I could look it up, if I really cared, I supposed, but my level of interest in it has just disappeared.

Oh well, such is life!

 

Uncategorized

My First Ever ‘Stand Up Comic’ gig

carolyncordon

It wasn’t an actual gig, with advertising, posters, lots of money spent on putting it together, and getting the word out to others. It was more a simple case of me taking advantage of an opportunity and going for it.

I wrote a piece, looked at it a couple of times, thought about it, then edited it, printed it out, then went along to that opportunity and went for it! There were a variety of reasons why it was not the best ever Stand Up Comic event, and they were not all my fault.

The event was not set up for what I was doing, the audience had no idea beforehand what I would be doing, the sound quality was terrible. But even with all of that, I’m glad I had a go, and was at least OK, if not great. I am a work in progress in so many different ways!

A stand up comic act will be best if you have an audience set up ready to laugh, if they can easily hear what you’re saying, and if you’re really, really funny. That was not the way it was today, but I’ve learnt things, about the best kind of venue, a target audience, things to do next time, in other words.

Or maybe I’ll just go on being a poet and writer, who is an amusing and lovely friend, and there is no need for me to be that kind of performer. I am going to look further into this though, there is a stand up comic who is aware that I’m interested in learning more about the whole things, and I’m hoping to work with him toward the end of the year.

I am involved in a writing group, which puts on a monthly writing workshop, on a variety of different ‘word’ related things. Stand Up comedy is certainly word related, and I’m looking forward to learning more about how to put together a script, and presenting it to make people laugh.

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I can smile, I want to make other people smile too!

Uncategorized

Dealing with Possible Enemies

carolyncordon
I was on Facebook recently saw someone labelled as a “(political party) hack” in a dismissive way,  and it made me think a little bit about all of the people who are my friends on Facebook. My first thought, on reading this particular well-known person labelled in this way, was to think I would delete the one who wrote the comment, which I strongly disagreed with, and thought it to be untrue and quite rude. After some thought though, I’m not going to do that.
 
I have quite a few friends on Facebook. Some of them are people I actually know, and are friends with ‘in real life’, others are fellow writers I connect with on this site. Some others are people who have written something interesting, and I ‘friended’ them.
 
But thinking further, I remember the words, probably from Niccolò Machiavelli: “Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” And of course if one keeps an eye on what your ‘enemies’ are doing you are likely to keep safer than if you have no idea about what they are up to.
 
I don’t think I actually have any real ‘enemies’ though, anyway, so I’m not going to unfriend anyone, at the moment. I will remain in a peaceful place, and contemplate puppy dogs and plants, and keep an eye on the clouds in the sky, and get the washing in before it’s too late!
The washing is all in now, and I’m comfortable with my decision on this matter. There are certainly people I don’t like, for various reasons, and I suppose there are people who feel the same way about me. I’m fine with that. I know I have wonderful people who care deeply about me, a well as family who love me.
And of course my dear dog Missy loves me, as dogs will love their owners if the food and other comforts keep on coming, every day! 
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A fuzzy but hopeful Missy in the kitchen, hoping for good things from her lord and master, my husband, Graham! (this is the first photograph I’ve taken of Missy using this laptop my son gave me, it’s still a work in progress, this handy but confusing machine …)
If dogs don’t like each other, they don’t hide it, they let their hatred show in very obvious ways. Snarling, growling, show teeth, and in fact attacking, make it all quite clear how dogs feel about others. At the moment, we have a bit of an issue in our family, with Missy and another dog.
This ‘other dog’ is our son’s dog, and Missy really doesn’t like her. The other dog seems like she would be happy enough to be Missy’s friend, but our dear dog isn’t having it. She doesn’t like Sharon, or Shazza to her friends … This other girl dog is a greyhound, a very, very tall one, black in colour and a very friendly dog to people. I think she’s a bit too friendly, as she licks a lot, and we aren’t used to having dogs who do that.
It would be nice if these two dogs could become friends, but I’m not sure if it will get to that stage. Missy is the older of the two dogs, but Sharon, with her size is quite imposing. I think Missy’s issue is that she’s a bit scared of the bigger dog, and she isn’t used to that. Missy has lived with other dogs in the past, but they have been family members, or an older dog that was already there, when Missy was born here.
We are letting these two dogs get to know each other, with occasional visits, and who knows what may happen. Missy is certainly remaining aware of her where her ‘enemy’ is, when Sharon visits, and Sharon happily lies down for a rest, keeping an eye on whatever is happening here.
Dogs can be odd, at times, but they are honest with it, and easier to understand. People can be downright nasty, even though they are playing at being a dear friend. Like Missy, I’ll keep an eye on the one isn’t really my friend, who I mentioned at the beginning of this discussion, and just remain there, but not too close, unless they say something that affects me.
Being a writer, and Editor of the local town newsletter means I talk to many different people and I need to be at least pleasant to people, if and when I need help from them so I can do the things I need to do. I try to stay neutral if possible, if things go ‘sideways’, and wait until I have enough information to make up my mind, and always remaining prepared to change my mind if I get new information.
Some people though! Some people can make it difficult to remain pleasant at times, that’s for sure!
Have you ever had to deal with a person who was an enemy? Some tips would be handy!
Uncategorized

Trying to Write in Time of Upset

carolyncordon

Today, many people are still trying to come to terms with the horror of the shocking murderous attack on worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday. The pain that something this terrible could happen, but to know the chief assailant was an Australian person makes it more shocking, because it feels like a personal hurt.

I have been thinking I shouldn’t neglect my blogging, but it doesn’t feel right just now to post something that would seem ‘fluffy’, and when there are important things to think and write about.

I feel for the loved ones of all of the innocent people who died, and for the people of Christchurch as they are trying to better understand how such an awful thing could happen to them. Forty-nine people dead, one (Australian) person arrested, two others taken in by the police too. What is happening in our world, that things could come to this?

I am not a Christian person, nor a Muslim, I profess to no religion, but would say I was an Atheist, if asked. This does not mean I hate people who believe in a divine being, at all, people can believe in anything they want to, as long as nobody gets hurt.

And that, of course is what happened yesterday, a man who had toxic beliefs against Muslim people murdered them as they were worshipping, innocent people, who did nothing to deserve this. And the community of Christchurch and the rest of New Zealand certainly didn’t deserve this either.

I am incredibly impressed at the intelligent and caring way the Prime Minister of New Zealand has stepped up to bring people together in this time. Other leaders have spoken out about this too, and many of us are thinking more about our thoughts about this, our own possibly racist thoughts and ideas, whether we can help in any way.

In reality, simply thinking more about the implications of this, and trying to find other people in the future, these could lead to good things for us all. On person who touched me in particular was Waleed Aly, a person of the Muslim faith. He is an Australian writer, academic, lawyer, media presenter and musician, and does some serious thinking about life and the big questions there are that we can all be affected by.

He said he will continue to go to his own place of worship, as he does every Friday. I wish him and those he loves well, and am so glad there are intelligent people out there who can speak intelligently about these things.

When I think about big ideas, I like to have as many opinions about them as I can, so I can find the ones who most see to the core of issues. Waleed Aly is definitely one of those people for me. I sometimes listen to him speak on the ABC Radio National when he and another philosopher talk, or see him on The Project on TV. Having these people to see and listen to adds to my understanding.

If you have any media people whose opinions you value, I’d love to hear more about them – feel free to leave a comment and I can check them out, as others can, who come here too.