Tag: anthology

covid 19

The End Approaches

carolyncordon

Very soon, we will be at the closing date for submissions of poetry and/or prose for the “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”, and once we hit that date, that will be it. There will be no more submissions accepted.

And how does that feel? Well, it means that part of the work will be over, and it will be time to get stuck right into the next part. I have around 110 pages of the book almost ready to go, still a few little things to add, once I put the word out, asking for them, and they arrive. It’s been a great time putting all of this together, and I thank all of the great poets and writers who have sent me their work for possible inclusion in this anthology.

Oh course, when I wrote that title for this blog post, well, it’s not the end of the whole thing, there are still a good few steps to go. I’m still waiting on those other things I mentioned, and once they arrive, I need to place them in their correct place in the book. I still don’t have either the front or back covers, but they are more or less on their way. Once I get them, and everything else, I will have to finish off the pagination for the content section. There are ways to get this done for me, by my lap top, apparently, I’ll have to look into that.

Once that’s all done, and ready, all of the bits and pieces where they should be, I will need someone to read it, let me know of anything that needs more work on it. If they see any flaws, or work to be done, I’ll have to attend to that. And once that is all done, and good, Time to decide how many copies I will need for the book launch, and beyond, how many needed for sending copies out to all of the Australian contributors, and getting their postage addresses if I don’t already have them.

Some of the out of Australian contributors will be wanting copies, so I will get those copies printed too, and extra copies as well to have on hand if and when other copies are needed. I’ll have to send a copy to the National Library, and the State Library of South Australia too. Once I have the numbers of copies needed, then I head off to see the printer, and there the file is worked on to get it ready for printing, and then yes, the book gets printed, hooray.

I have to organise the book launch then, and get together a list of the people to invite along for that. I love book launches! I know where the launch will happen, and that part of it will be easy to organise. I know the venue well, and the people there know me well too. Exciting times.

Will it happen this year, or next? I don’t know yet. But the launch will happen on the last Sunday of a yet unknown month. It can’t happen before September, and that gives me plenty of time. If it happens next year, that might be better, in terms of people who can actually get there for the launch, I hope. And of course if there’s no halt to this Covid-19 crisis, there will be a limit on the number of people who can actually attend the launch anyway …

Who knows when the end for that might come?

Uncategorized

When Closing Date Approaches …

carolyncordon

It seems to me poets, and possible all writers, love to leave things until the last minute. I state this based on my years of experience as the Competition Secretary for Adelaide Plains Poets, a group which has held an annual poetry competition since 2005.

We have a different theme for the competition every year, and I have the wonderful opportunity to read lots of interesting poetry, for free, when the entries land in my letter box. It would be better, for me, if these poets could send their poems in over the entire time period, from when we first put the word out, until the last week or so. That way, I’d be able to give a more considered reading to those poems that arrive in the final days, before I have to write them up and hand them over to the judges. Ah well …

But the closing date that I’m thinking about at the moment, is the 31 July 2020 date, which is the closing date for people wishing to submit work for the Plague Invasion anthology that I’m editing. This anthology is an interesting looking collection of writing about this crazy Covid-19 time, from the silliness about running out of toilet paper and being unable to get more, to the great time when dining out was allowed again, and a whole heap of other things, you may not have thought about.

toilet paper in its natural habitat

This book will have them all, and more. There will be a short writer bio from each contributor too, and I’m hoping to have a forward written by the mayor of Gawler, who is also a nurse, and so dealing with Covid-19 in a ‘close up and personal’ way. I wish her well, and not just because I want that forward! I’m also having the back blurb written by a well known South Australian poet, and fellow (and prolific and entertaining blogger) who is giving me a great photo for the back cover, that is closely related to the times we’re living in right now.

An image is on its way too, I’m informed, by the secretary of my writing group, whose talented son has put his hand up to provide the artwork for the front cover. This is a wonderful effort from friends, longtime ones and brand new ones, and working with other people in this way has been an awesome experience.

So, if you’ve been following the progress of this anthology, by reading be related blog posts here at my blog, or if this is your first introduction to it all, thank you for showing an interest in it, and if you want to get in the book, you’d better get a move on 31 July is getting closer, and closer! All contributors whose work is accepted with receive a free copy of the book, but residents from out of Australia will have to pay for postage.

You can send me your work, or ask for more details at my email address: kittycordo@gmail.com

Uncategorized

Stages and Pages

carolyncordon

Things have slowed down, with putting together the Covid-19 related anthology I’ve been working on, but I’m a bit excited (very excited, actually), to have another piece that may end up in this book.

The book will be called “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”, and it’s very close to being ready to prepare it for printing. I’ve spoken to the person who will provide the front cover image. I’ve spoken to the printer recently too, with hopeful results. Thing are progressing well.

I almost have all of the submissions needed for this anthology. There’s a broad range of works, poetry, prose, fiction, and non fiction, and I’m loving the words people has sent to me. If putting together an anthology is always this much fun, even when the subject matter is not always a fun topic, well, bring on anthology subjects, I may do another one, once Plague Invasion has been launched.

Hmm, an anthology about vegetables? Or perhaps Home Grown as a writing prompt …

No, I won’t think further about that yet, I’m busy on other things, although … No I’ll get on with the other projects already begun, and finish some of them before I get working on that idea. In the forefront of my mind anyway. There’s no telling where the back of my brain might go though, when I’m not watching!

I have to say, I think I’ve never had such a time of creativity in terms of my writing. In this Lock Down time, things are still happening. Online connections are safe and they’re fast, too. And ideas are flowing, a river of them, and all I need to do is catch one in my net, and get stuck into it! The anthology is the most important thing, but things progress at their own pace, and the times in between can be used on smaller things …

At the moment, this anthology is looking like 104 words, or so, with at least another six or seven pages of prose on their way (or at least I hope they are …). So there will be over one hundred and ten pages, and

Time lengthens, shortens, depending on stages and pages …

covid 19, Cozy Mystery

Book Cover Design

carolyncordon

I had a talk with the person who is going to ‘do’ the front cover of the book (an anthology of Poetry and Prose in response to Covid-19), that I’ve been seeking submissions for. I told this person, Patrick, my ideas for a possible cover image, and he told me his ideas. Patrick listened to my idea, which was nice of him, but we both agreed his idea is better. He is going to put some things together to show me when they are ready.

Some of my earlier books, a wide variety …

I like the idea of getting people, especially young ones, interested in things I do. This Anthology is attracting lots of interest from a broad range of people. Patrick is a student, who is in between things at the moment, as many others are also. His mother is a member of my writing group, the Secretary, actually, and Janette is working on a piece of prose to go in the book, so they can perhaps workshop some ideas about what they’re doing.

So this is another step in the process of getting this book up and running, a necessary step. A good cover can make a book, and a bad cover, while not necessarily ‘breaking’ a book, it doesn’t help. Patrick’s idea for the cover, give hints about what readers might find within the pages of the book, teasing them a little. I like that idea!

It’s still quite a while before this book comes into the world, but there are lots of people waiting, and that has to be a good thing. I have high hopes for this Anthology, and if it’s successful, there’s no telling what may come next. Perhaps ‘next’ will be a stepping back to the series of Cosy Murder Mystery books I’d been working on, when the whole Covid-19 thing hit us, and those cute little village mysteries seemed too small a thing to spend my writing time on.

The “Plague Invasion” anthology is a much more important and worthy thing to be spending my time on. Once things are back under some kind of control though, the world may be looking for something lightweight, and my own head may feel better about getting back to my amateur detective, Meredith, and the little town of Talloola, where Meredith does her detective, with her worthy helpers.

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 …