Category: writing prompts

inspiration, writing prompts

Call for Creative Writing Submissions

carolyncordon

I am a poet and writer, but I am also an editor too. Obviously, if poets and writers are going to present their best work/words, they will need to edit their work, before they ever show it to other people, whether friends, family, or writing buddies. And they will have to do an even more intense job of editing their work before they present it to a publisher, if they want to make the grade, and get their work published.

I have done these things, and have been published, and still receive royalties for my work, many years after publication … So with all of my experience with books, and also as the Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, a monthly newsletter that is distributed in Mallala and beyond, as well as being available at the Facebook page. This newsletter has been going for fifteen years, and I have been the sole editor for most of those years. It is a popular item and well received indeed.

I have also been the President of Adelaide Plains Poets from it’s beginnings, it is a great group, a writing group that meets every week. The Adelaide Plains Poets also has an annual Poetry competition, and a Festival of Books too. These popular avenues assist in bringing the love of words to many others, both local, and all around Australia.

So there are my credentials regarding creative writing. The reason I want to make this clear, is that I want people to feel confident in sending me their own creative words, to be involved in being published in an Anthology. I have put together poetry collections of my own, and have also had my own creative words published in other Anthologies with other editors. So I know a bit about both collections and anthologies.

my most recent poetry collection

And if I’m going to put my attention, and my money, into putting together a Creative Writing Anthology, I want it to be something that is likely to attract attention, both of writers initially, and of book readers, once it is published. And what is the thing that is taking up the attention, and time of us all at the moment? It’s the coronavirus, or Covid-19.

The working title of this book at the moment is “Plague Invasion”. Does this get your mind working, thinking about possible ideas? A poem about being in Lock Down, and finding it so dreary you turn to creating a vegetable garden? Or an article on the same topic, perhaps. Or you may think about the work being done to keep us all safe, and the craziness of wearing face masks, whether they’re needed or not.

The uncertainty of the whole thing, and the stupid risks being taken by some levels of society, could become an article or a flash fiction story perhaps, of one of the risk takers, whether an eighteen year old person sitting closely together with their mates, or a more mature person just back from their most recent cruise, and infecting others and bringing about the closing down of some small towns.

All of these topics would be suitable, and more. You may have knowledge of all of this from a medical viewpoint, or perhaps you have knowledge of previous plagues from the past. These would be suitable too. I will be looking for as many different ideas, and viewpoints as possible. And as an avid dog lover, I would be very interested in having a look at all of this Locked Down situation from a pet’s point of view.

The memes I’ve seen about this indicate dogs loving having their humans present more often, while cats very much dislike it. What do you think? Write about it and send it in! Anything you have that may fit into this theme, that’s what I want you to send to me.

So, if you have something, please get it to me before 31 July 2020, by sending it as an attachment, to kittycordo@gmail.com, using the subject of ‘submission, Plague Invasion’
If you would like to know more about this, feel free to send me a query, at the same email address, with the subject of ‘query Plague Invasion’.

I imagine there will be around 70 to 80 pages in this anthology, it would be wonderful if it got to 150 or so pages, the answer to the size of the book depends on how many responses are received.

I look forward to reading your response.

Cozy Mystery, Public Speaker, writing prompts

A Day Late, But Here’s the Writing Prompt

carolyncordon

Yesterday was ‘one of those days’ and I didn’t get around to doing much at all regarding my blogging life … I did get some more of my current work in progress though, so I’m happy with that. I’m hoping I may be able to find a way to sneak this writing prompt I’m going to put up here, into my Cosy Murder Mystery, “Winds of Death at Talloola”, which is that current work in progress.

So here is the prompt, do with it what you will! What on earth was that?

So, I’m sure there’s a lot I could do with that writing prompt, given my current work in progress is a Cosy Murder Mystery … Things that go Bang! in the night anyone? My main character (Meredith) is at the moment beginning to wonder about the large number of deaths in her new little town, that she is beginning to call home, and falling in love with. But the local copper doesn’t like her, and doesn’t like her friend, Gert …

But Meredith is also friends with Mister, the dog who lives next door, and she’s going to use him as a warning system, in part, because she and Mister (and other dogs too, it seems), have some kind of an understanding … If Mister doesn’t like someone, Meredith will know to watch out for them too. And Mister is going to show Meredith that her initial distrust of this police officer was wisdom indeed …

This is Mister, a red kelpie something cross, former sheepdog, now, lounger around on the grass, and a fine judge of character in people, helping Meredith to stay safe …

Mister may look a little grizzled (or quite so, actually), but he, like Gert, still has all of his marbles, even though some around town may doubt that. If Mister doesn’t like you, you’re probably not a nice person, not at all.

So in my novel, perhaps Mister is going to help Meredith when there’s a big Bang in the night, and she goes out of her front door to see what caused the sound … I haven’t written any of that yet, but the prompt was there, and it seems like it will fit in well, for my story …

That is the thing about writing prompts, the best ones will have a connection with what is already in your head, or written down, and will, ideally, prompt lots of other useful ideas too. I sure hope this is going to help me to get lots more words written down. Writing a Cosy Murder Mystery series, as I am, seems like a grand idea, and with luck, bit by bit, I will eventually get to ‘The End’, and ‘Winds of Death’, book one in my “At Tallola” Cosy Murder Mystery series will be done. And then book two will be my obsession, as well as getting book one published, of course …

writing prompts

Second Weekly Writing Prompt for March

carolyncordon

So after my Fabulous February month, of a brand new writing prompt every single day, things have calmed down a bit, and I can rest some more. Unfortunately though, as I am resting, other people are resting too, and the numbers of visitors to this blog have also calmed down and not in a wanted way.

I want lots of people to come along to my writer site, to show off what I’ve done, and what I can and will do! So if you come here, take a look around, check out what I’ve written before, maybe take on some of the writing prompts from the previous month, after all, there were 29 of them there for the taking!

And if you like what you see here, or think something else might be interesting, tell me! I will respond to whatever you might write, in an intelligent and friendly way. Unless I think what you’ve written is spam in which case I will delete it. I’m not friendly to mindless spam.

So, March … there is a new writing prompt today, and that prompt is this –

Unfamiliar places

So write about places that are unfamiliar to you, that you may like to explore perhaps, or write about places very familiar to you, but unknown to many others. Write about weird and wonderful places from yesteryear, from science fiction – books, TV, film, just write!

What unfamiliar place has this fellow been to?
Photo by Lenin Estrada on Pexel
I’ve certainly never been there, nor would I want to be, I don’t think!
Photo by Suliman Sallehi on Pexels.com

So there are two ideas about unfamiliar places, but others might be homes that you would never live in – up in a tree, or down in an ant’s nest …

Oh, up a tree, how cool would that be? Unfamiliar to me in my adult years, but I’ve been up a few trees as a kid, for sure!
Photo by Jozef Fehu00e9r on Pexels.com
You can’t actually see them in this photo, but there are ants there. The round holes are entries to the ant nest.
my photo

So there are a few ideas, and here are some more ways to consider the writing prompt. I’ve never been to Darwin, but my husband has been, and he’s never been to Alice Springs, but I have been. I’ve never been to a sauna, or to a church during a normal service, only for weddings or funerals. I’ve been to Beijing and walked on the Great Wall of China, as well as walking around Tiananmen Square, that felt like very unfamiliar territory to us Westerners, for sure.

Writing prompts are only prompt ideas and thoughts, you don’t have to slavishly follow what the prompts are, the brain likes to wander off along quite different paths at times, and that is fine. It’s all a part of the creative process, to consider as many different options as you have time for. If creative writing isn’t like that, if it is constrained by many rules and boundaries, then it stops being creative, doesn’t it?

Now that’s possibly a thought for another blog post! I’ve been looking at and writing about creative writing earlier today, and was enjoying the process very much. Thinking about writing creatively. Is it a worthwhile thing, or is it yet another way to procrastinate instead of write, I wonder … I suppose it depends on whether or not the thinking actually leads to words being written, and put ‘out there’, which surely is the main role of a writer, in whatever kind of writing they do.

Writing kept only in a notebook, and never shared in any way, or leading to things that can be shared, hmm, that’s not very useful. No-one ever sold a scribble in a notebook, unless they have lots and lots of actual books written and sold!

So the prompt for this week is Unfamiliar Places, and there will be another writing prompt next week, out on the Monday, and my plan is to go on with that for the rest of the year, a new prompt every Monday morning. Unless, of course, something happens to stop it happening …


Leave me a message, let me know what I’m writing is worth reading

Cozy Mystery, writing exercise, writing prompts

What Comes Next?

carolyncordon

So February is over now. I no longer ‘have to’ post a new writing prompt on this writer blog of mine, and instead I will be actually writing some prose of my own, primarily. Sure, some poetry will be written, because I can’t help myself. I’m addicted to those stripped back words, I admit it!

I will be doing the weekly writing prompt thing that I’ve written about previously though, so new writing ideas will still be emanating from this blog, as well as other writing related things. It would be good if I can get a decent bit of my first Cosy Murder Mystery story written, so I can post an excerpt of it here … 

I learned a number of useful things in February, as I posted the daily writing prompts, and responded to them myself. I learned that having a daily program of writing, every single day, makes it a habit, and the writing simply comes along, because that’s what I now do after breakfast, every day.

I also learned that if you post every day, you definitely increase the number of readers you get to your blog! I sort of knew that, and now have the proof, right there in my blog stats. And I’m getting more likes, and a couple more people are writing a comment here and there, in response to what I’ve written, or the fact that I’ve written something.

Connections are always good, for writers! People interested in the written word, who like what you’ve written, great! And I’ve been expanding what I write, exploring things, doing new things, and that’s gone well too.

I’ve found also, that having prompts, leads to the feeling that what I will be writing has some kind of purpose, and so I put more of my attention into getting it right, as well as getting it written. 

And putting the word out about the writing prompts made it feel like it was something I had to do, so I kept it up, easily, it was just what I had to do in the morning, once I’d finished having my breakfast. Get up from the table, go to laptop, switch it on, and post the writing prompt. Done.

Yes, I’ve enjoyed this, but my next writing mission is to actually get a much larger prose piece written, an actual book, in fact a series of books. And once that first book in the series is written, time to get onto (or back onto) the second book in the series. And get feedback on the first book, edit in response to feedback, and then work at getting it published, another form of writing-related fun!

And then theres that new poetry collection … I have nearly seventy poems for it, I think, and I have a few of the prompts from February that didn’t end up with poems written, so I’ll have to get that all done. A job for later on today, I think. I have time for that right now, so I’ll get it done, right now.

I am going to post a new writing promt still, but it will be happening only once a week, probably on Monday, so this isn’t the end really, it’s the beginning of something easier, and less of a ‘burden’. Not that it was actually a burden to do these prompts, I enjoyed it. But my prose didn’t happen, when I want it to get going … Poetry/prose. Prose/poetry … I can do both, if I give myself the necessary time for both, which is why the once a week prompts are happening instead of daily ones. All good!

writing prompts

Fab Feb Writing Prompts – Day Six

carolyncordon

It’s an important word, ‘After’. After what? Afterwards, after dinner, after school is over, after you’ve left that job you hate, or been sacked from one you loved, after the divorce. 

Today’s writing primpt is that word –      After

There are so many things in life that come along after … After you think about this new word prompt, I hope you’ll find some great ideas to write about! After this, that and the other …

After I realise I said something stupid, that can be an embarrassing thing, but sometimes looking at it and treating it with humour can halt the afterburn! Afterthoughts, oh the wisdom of our afterthoughts …

Further thoughts on what happens after – after the kids start school, move out of home, find someone they love, get married, have children. What about after we die – what happes then, and what will happen to us after we age and become frail …

Some of these things are good, some are not so good, some can be terrible. But they’re all good things to think further on, and to write about. How about thinking about after the operation, after you move home, move to the country, or to the city? 

Big things might happen after … or maybe things stop happening after, and how might that feel? 

So that’s today’s writing prompt, AFTER!