Tag: anthology submission

covid 19, Uncategorized, writing opportunities

First Idea, Isn’t Necessarily Best Idea …

carolyncordon

Today was a day to visit, rather than a day to write … I did talk about my writing project though, when I visited my Mum, and she is thinking about what she may write if she actually writes something for the anthology I’m currently working on. I’m not demanding she write for me, but she knows I will be happy to receive something, if she does write it.

I’m not a demanding kind of person, asking, with no pressure is more my style, and that is working well enough for this Anthology I want to publish. The idea of having lots of different sesponses from a range of people, all about Covid-19, and the crazy times it has brought to us all, seems like a great thing, and I’m thrilled with both the quality and quantity of responses received, so far, and there’s still a few weeks to go until the submission closing day.

This image is a silly front cover image that occurred to me when I first started work on this project:

First idea, not best idea!

Having ideas, and being prepared to drop them when better options come along is an important thing in writing, and in life too, isn’t it? So when I was able to speak with a young man with artistic abilities far better than mine, and saw he was very interested in assisting me with the front cover of this book, I was thrilled. I’m sure the front cover of “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19” is going to be much better than the photograph as above, that was my first idea.

When I had the idea for this book thought, that I put out the word for submissions for an anthology about Covid-19, and gather them all into a fabulous and historical book, well, that first idea is still a fabulous one, no need to change it. It has grown, though, and the format has slowly came into being, and without being too overly prideful, I think it’s going to be a great and interesting book.

We’re living in times not many of us have ever had to deal with before, and different people have different thoughts and ideas about this time. We went from silly toilet paper things, to more nuanced ideas about community, politics, and a great number of other things. I look forward to getting this book finished, and launched.

I feel like this was a task I had to do, and while I know I’m not the only person with the idea of writing something about this time, I feel my book will be one of the books to show a wide range of the responses of people to this strange time.

So I’m still collecting more submissions, and if you’d like to have your work considered, this is what I’m looking for:
Poetry – up to three poems of up to thirty lines
and/or
Prose – up to three pieces, of 400 words or more, with a total of prose of up to 3,000 word.

If this interests you, please send work to me at kittycordo@gmail.com – I’ll let you know promptly if I would like to use your work. There is no payment for works accepted but accepted contributors will receive a free copy of the book, and extra copies required will be at a lower cost. I will sell copies out for free, to Australian contributors, and with contributors from other countries, will ask for postage to be paid for.

As I said, I hope this is interesting to you!

covid 19

My Writer Life

carolyncordon

At the moment, in my lock down Covid-19 life, I’m performing a variety of roles, mostly from the comfort of my sofa, with laptop on my lap, or at the computer.

I am the Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle monthly newsletter, I’m the competition secretary for Adelaide Plains Poets national poetry competition (entries closed last Friday, I have to write up the most recent poems that have come in, and take photocopies of the entries accepted via email, because of possible postal delays. And I’m also collecting submissions for an anthology about this Covid-19, which is making life difficult for so many of us.

But today, I was able to send some of my books to a purchaser, who will pay for them, as soon as she can, and this woman is expecting to enjoy reading my words, once the books arrive, as I have enjoyed reading the words she has written in her entries to that poetry competition I’m organising. Making connections, whether in real life or online, the honesty is beautiful, and words will further connect us, for who knows how long.

Friendships maintained can keep us safe, from many things in life, let’s hope this friendship will keep going, and who knows when I finally get my passport organised, and travel to New Zealand, we are sure to meet up. She lives just up the street (30-40km?) from my brother, who I will be staying with if or when I get to NZ.

Life hey? I love the way connections like this happen. And one of the poems this person entered in the competition, refers to Covid-19, and I will be glad to have it in the anthology I’m working on. Swings and roundabouts, it’s awesome. Did anyone mention toilet paper? Oh yes, plenty of people did … I’m so looking forward to having this anthology finished and launched, so I can meet more of these wonderful writers who have shared their word with me.

And before that, we will be announcing the winners of the Poetry Competition, and I don’t know yet, if that can happen in real life, or if it will have to be an online thing. This is in a month’s time from now, or a bit earlier actually, and things are still a bit up in the air, on the question of what is safe … But at least I have enough toilet paper, for now, anyway.


covid 19, writing opportunities

An Anthology is ? Pages …

carolyncordon

I don’t know if there’s a ‘rule’ on how many pages an anthology is, or should be. And if there is such a rule, I’m not going to follow it. I am creating an Anthology, with the help of lovely poets and writers who are sending me their words.

The title of this book, is “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”, and at the moment it is 76 pages, in total. I know there are at least three more pages being worked on now, and hopefully there’s another page of two, these are from members of my writing group, some of whom have already submitted work, and had it accepted.

So if I add those pieces to the current total, that would make a book of over 80 pages, but only just. I’m certainly happy to have received so many wonderful words, but I want more. I want to hear from someone who’s had to cancel things, sport, theatre, school, business, whatever. If it relates to Covid-19, it deserves a place in this book.

A friend of mine has declared this work to be a needed historical record, or words similar to that, and he is a man of much knowledge, and I respect what he says. And so the anthology will be more than eighty pages, how many more could I or should I expect it could be? I put the call out for responses to this Covid-19 crisis we’re currently working through, in a variety of different ways, and I put a closing date of 31 July for accepting submissions.

Shedding light …

Reading the variety of words that I’ve received so far has been wonderful, and it’s been humbling. The honesty in the words I’ve read has been soulful and I hope those who need it will find comfort in reading their words in this book, and the words of others living through the same thing, in a similar or quite different way. We all do things in our own way, and there is no one way for anything in life, really, and certainly not for getting through what could have been tragic circumstances.

If you have words you feel you need to write about all of this, because they’re filling your brain and you can’t even think straight, write them down, a story shared, can be a healing thing. And of course, if you’re happy with what you’ve written, and think the quality is good enough, feel free to submit them for possible inclusion in the “Plague Invasion” anthology Send them to kittycordo@gmail.com and see what happens. All contributors of accepted words will receive a free copy of the book, and will be able to puchase further copies if they wish to, at a reduced cost.

Words are shared, so knowledge is learned …

covid 19

A Note Regarding Poetry in “Plague Invasion”

carolyncordon

“Plague Invasion ” – It began as a short phrase in my head, and my poetry brain loved the assonance of the phrase and wanted to do more with the words. That ‘a’ sound in the two words seemed important, and worthy of something, something big. I could have written a poem, an important and worthy one. But I wrote something else, I wrote this blog post, and so it all started.

“Short poetry forms give the opportunity to share more thoughts, because four haiku will fit easily on one page … and so one ‘suite of Haiku’, can count as one poem. This may well mean each contributor will be able to share some more of their thoughts, poetically than for instance, on three lined Haiku, they will be able to submit for of them all on one page, as I did in this blog post, previously.

Hmm, I’ll write a post about that, and perhaps will received more small poems to showcase in this book. Haiku and the related Senryu, Clerihew, Tanka, Clerihew, Limerick. An A4 page of one of each will be one submission regarding poetry. The Editor has spoken!”

This was a comment on that previous blog post titled ‘Lines While in Lock down’. The comment was from John Malone, a friend and poet, who is again going to write a back blurb for a word related book for me, this book, . John is a regular commenter on this blog, and I value his thoughts. They often add value to what I have written.

John writes poetry, with a particular skill with short and pithy little poems, which he shares on his blog. In John’s small poems can be much that is important to think on. And isn’t that what good poetry can do, scale back the huge truths that are there, and present it to you, in a neat little package your mind can then unpack and think further about …

So, given all of these thoughts, the upshot is that I, as the editor of this worthy book, “Plague Invasion”, will accept submissions of a page of short forms of poetry, as one ‘poem’. So a ‘suite’ of five Senryu, for example, will count as one submission of poetry. I hope this is understandable, and if you need further clarification, post a question on this blog post, and I will do my best to answer any questions regarding this.

If you want to be involved in this, send poetry and/or prose to kittycordo@gmail.com – up to three poems of thirty lines or fewer, and/or up to 3,000 words of prose in up to three pieces. I will consider your submission, and let you know if it is accepted for this anthology. Contributors whose work is accepted will receive a free copy of the book. If they are Australian residents, the book will be posted to them, if they cannot attend the book launch.

People residing outside of Australia will receive a copy of the book on payment of the cost of postage and handling, with will be advised at a later time, when the costs is known. Stay well, write about what you’re experiencing, and we may meet up at the launch of this book. In the meantime, stay in contact here, on my blog, it’s my home away from home, at my home!

I value any feedback, please leave comments here, we can discuss things further.

covid 19

Poetry and Prose in My Life

carolyncordon

The first time a poem I wrote gained attention, was when I was in high school, in year 8 or 9, when I wrote a poem about a farmer who was talking to his god, and asking whether the god wanted him to kill his wife as a sacrifice. What a sweet thing that is, not …

It was a rhyming poem, not in any particular style, and not very many lines. But it had pathos, and clutched at the heart in the plea the man was making … I think I was supposed to be writing prose, rather than poetry, and I’m not sure which country’s history this was set in, but I do have a strong memory that it was somewhere in Europe that began with a ‘C’, and it might have been Carthage … I’m not sure.

I’m was more interested in writing poetry, than studying history, and this was a way I could do both of them at the same time, but the ‘writing poetry’ bit is the part that has stayed with me into my life, after stepping away for a time after school, and then stepping back in, when I needed it, to help me get through post natal depression …

And now of course, eight books later, I’m a writer, and while not earning a living with my writing, at least making a little money from it. I sell books, sometimes, and I receive royalties, and both PLR and ELR payments. Not huge amounts of money, but nice little payments any way. As someone I’ve met recently said, not a poet for the money, but for the fame!

And yes, I’m a famous poet, to some extent, for sure. I have several poetry collections to my name, plus other books in prose. I’m also the editor of the popular newsletter “Mallala Crossroad Chronicle”, as well as the president of the Adelaide Plains Poets writing group, that meets every Thursday (Online only at the moment, but at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, usually). So yes, words are my thing, poetry and prose.

And now I’m doing something new, that will bring another book to add to my current list of books published. This book will be “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing in Response to Covid-19” will be an anthology containing the words of many others. and I’m currently asking people to send me poetry and prose, for consideration of possible inclusion in this anthology, which I feel will be an excellent book, with a broad range of responses from a broad range of people, from a broad range of places.

There will be some silly things, some serious things, poetry in various styles, and prose, both fiction and non fiction. These will be considered responses in prose, heartfelt poems, song lyrics about silly things, and quirky words about this strange time. Collecting together all of these words feels like a further extension of my lifelong love of words, and my life as a poet and writer, a wordsmith.

I hope many more people will join in, and help me put out stories about how ordinary people have managed to get through this Covid-19 time, when we are having to stay away from the things we love, in most unusual ways.

So feel free to submit your words for consideration for publication in this worthy anthology: send via email (kittycordo@gmail.com with the subject ‘Plague Invasion submission’), up to three poems of thirty lines, and/or three pieces of prose of up to 2,000 words in total.

I look forward to reading your submission for consideration.