Tag: At Talloola

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Getting On With Things

carolyncordon

Blog posts don’t write themselves, and nor do novels. I am somewhat embarrassed at my lack of progress with both this blog, and my Cosy Murder Mystery ‘At Talloola’ series. The blog is going to manage fine, because, obviously, I am currently writing a new post for it. The Murder Mystery series though, and my main character, Meredith Webster, are sitting around, twiddling their thumbs.

That looks a little like the Talloola Campground. I wonder who those people are? Possible victims, or possible murderers? Or maybe just people at the opening of the Mallala Campground, and neither victim nor murderer … Yes, well that’s who they are, actually, but it’s fun to play with ideas!

I got excited by my series again last week, when I saw, and both chatted about, and wrote about in my last blog post, a brand new character for my series. I’d seen her whilst lunching with a friend, and the ideas came bubbling up in my mind. The odd stray idea pops up still, regarding that character, but no words for the novel are happening, either the first in the series, nor one particularly about that character, if that’s the way I end up going with her.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but if I haven’t, here goes: Live gets in the way. That’s an undeniable fact of life. There are things we have to do, that are totally unrelated to writing, any form of it. Eating, tending to household duties, looking after the dog. Unless I were writing a blog post on a different blog, or writing a different kind of novel, these things are completely off target, for my blogging/novel writing self.

And there are important other things, my personal health and well-being, for instance. I have a Chronic Illness that has no cure, Multiple Sclerosis (MS). There are treatments, and I’m doing will with the DMT (disease modifying therapy) I am currently taking – the medication Gilenya. This medicine, and my mostly healthy lifestyle and positive life attitude mean I am able to live an almost normal life.

MS might be making me a little more forgetful and disorganised than other people without that disease, or it may simply be my nature to be so, but I certainly feel a little scattered at the moment, and so am behind in a few things, including this blog, and the novel. But when I say I’m a bit behind, it doesn’t mean a lot – my schedules on these things are self-imposed.

I don’t have to write a blog post every day, or other day. I don’t have to write a Cosy Murder Mystery series. I simply decided that’s what I want to be and do, and if I don’t do them, my life will still continue on, regardless. I could go back to being a poet, and member of a writing group, without the pressures of being a regular blogger and novelist.

But if I did that, I will feel a bit like a failure … Ah well, I’m getting back into the blogging thing, with this particular blog post, and perhaps a little later on today, I’ll get some more of my novel written. After all, the idea of being the writer of a Cosy Murder Mystery series is a very attractive idea to me, and I am a bit in love with the idea of spending the rest of my life writing Cosy Murder Mystery books, in the ‘At Talloola’ series.

Do you have an idea of who you want to be seen as, for the rest of your life? I’m middle-aged now, at 57, and while my lifespan might be slightly reduced because of the MS, barring accidents or unknown potential illness, I still have at least thirty years of life left … So that’s what I want to spend that time doing, blogging, and writing Cosy Murder Mysteries. And talking about doing those two things, and doing all of the needed things to further a career in doing the things.

Writing books is only the initial part of being a writer, actually getting books published, and marketed and sold, can take a lot of time too. And living a life worth blogging about, and getting ideas for writing, these take time too. Hmm, I really should get on with that novel writing, goodbye for now, I’ll be back soon, why not let us know how feel about what I’ve written?!

Philosophy

Looking Back, and Satisfied!

carolyncordon

It’s been an interesting year, this year. 2019 – it was filled with opportunities, those taken, those left, and I’m satisfied with what I achieved, even though there could have been more.

There can always be more, of course there can. But less is another option, and sometimes taking less leads to deeper, more meaningful things instead of the big and shiny things. And of course, there are the things that life throws at us, unexpectedly, and we have to try to deal with them, in the best way we can.

So in this year, I attended book launches, included my own, I lead a writing group that put on monthly Poetry Readings, sourcing Guest Poets to bring new interest to the event. The group Adelaide Plains Poets Chapter and Verse, also successfully put on out fifth Festival of Words. Good things happening, with words, are excellent!

I wrote much poetry, and probably have enough quality poetic words for a new full size poetry collection, and will  into taking that further in 2020. I also broke my right ankle, in September, which could have been terrible, but instead lead to a completely different kind of poetry collection being written, and launched in this final week of the year of 2019.

“Angles on Ankles” is a chap book, all about my broken ankle, and contains my thoughts about this whole broken ankle ‘thing’, all written poetically, 21 poems in fact. This book has been declared to be a good little book, and given I only wrote it initially as a kind of therapy as I was in rest and heal mode in October after doing the damage, I’m happy to have got the book published commercially here, or by leaving me a comment below.

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Other members of the writing group have also had success with their own writing, and I am so glad for them for what they have achieved. What else? Well after breaking my ankle, I have begun an exercise/rehabilitation program, using exercises given to me by the physio I saw when I was actually able to stand up and walk.

I added in a couple of my own physio kinds of exercises, including using our family Wii Fit exercise machine. I’ve been doing most if not all of these exercises every day now, for the past week or so, and I hope I can keep this habit going, because it is certainly a good one.

I have also got more into the habit of blogging much more often, on at least a few of the blogs I have. This blog, focused on me as a ‘wordsmith’ – writer, poet, blogger, etc, is my most important blog, but the blog I began when I was diagnosed with MS, has morphed into a blog that took on things related to my broken ankle, because of course both MS and a broken ankle have mobility issues happening, and falls can be lessened with strengthening of the body …

I was going to work at becoming a writer of Cosy Murder Mysteries this year, and did in fact do some planning, and writing in this particular genre. But it was bad timing, because that broken right ankle happened, and my brain couldn’t focus on fictional problems, when my own physical problem was right there with me … But 2020 is a new year, and certainly I’ll be looking at getting back into my “At Talloola”  murder mysteries!

I am happy with all of this, for sure. 2019 has also been a year of becoming serious about becoming a Stoic. Holding to Stoic thought, thinking about things and acting in a Stoic way has certainly aided me in my life, this year. As I was ‘getting over’ this broken ankle, I had a Stoic outlook, rather than a ‘woe is me’ outlook, and so the time went well for me, with the poetry happening, and then the book.

Stoicism helps in so many ways. Thinking things through, then acting in wise ways, rather than acting with no real thought at all, is almost always the best way. It is a work in progress, and I know some of my thoughts are still far from in keeping with Stoicism, but my actions almost always are more considered than those initial thoughts may have been.

I was pleased that a bit of Stoicism made it’s way into that ankle poetry book, and hope to continue working hard at moving upward and onward with my Stoic Wisdom. This is my Stoicism blog – My Stoic Life. I will be using it more and more, and will endeavour to post there much more often, as I go … I look forward to reading comments on my blogs, often! I will follow, if you give good and thoughtful comments

The theme for our writing group’s Festival of Words next year is “Vision”, and I have my own personal vision, of 2020 being the year my writing really takes off!