Tag: books

writing opportunities

What is a Writers’ Lock-in?

carolyncordon

A writers’ lock in is when a group of writers all get together for a set period of time, and they write! Simple, yes? Yes it can be, if the group has a place available that has tables and chairs, and with food, drinks, and toilets available. Such a place is where my writing group meets every week.

It’s a hotel in Gawler, the Prince Albert Hotel, where the Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse group catches up for our meetings at 4-6 every Thursday afternoon, and again on the last Sunday of every month, for the Gawler Poets at the Pub event, which has been going for over twenty years.

And every now and then, our group holds a Lock-in, and today is the day again, hooray. Personally, I have several writing projects I wish to work harder on, and not be bothered by chores at home, so today will be a great day for working on those projects, I can knuckle down and write, knowing that the other people there with me are doing the same thing, on their own projects.

The vibe in the room will be all about getting our words written, that’s it. There will be some talking too, of course, because that’s what humans do, but it won’t be lame rubbish nothing talk. Or hey maybe some of it might be, but that can help with the writing too, to have a joke too, so the pressure level doesn’t get too high. And there might well be some things the executive of the group needs to work on, and this will be a good opportunity for that too.

We’re very lucky to have this great hotel to work in,and work with, and they’re very lucky to have us there too. We have food and drinks there, and bring other people in too, when we have our events at the P/A. Many people have commented on what a lovely hotel it is, very historic, and with fine food, and a great range of drinks.

So I know the Writers’ Lock-in will be starting when the hotel opens at 11.30am, and will go through to 4, for our usual group meeting, and then there might be dinner after, for those interested in that. I hope to get lots done, but even if I don’t dramatically improve my work count, I will definitely get some sort of a start on all three projects.

If you live in or around Gawler, and you write, why not come and join us, you’ll be most welcome!

Writing

Working at Becoming a Novelist

carolyncordon

I have just begun looking at my “At Talloola” Cosy Murder Mystery series again, after leaving it and doing something quite different recently. I broke my ankle at the end of September last year, and my head was not interested in cozy mysteries, it was interested in my ankle. So instead of murders in a little village, I was writing poems about my broken ankle and related things.

Now though, now that ankle book, a poetry chap book is written, having 21 poems about my ankle. It is called ‘Angles on Ankles’, and is available from the publisher, Ginninderra Press, here.  I launched this book recently, and sold some copies, and have more copies available for sale ($5, plus postage) by simply asking me about it, in a comment.

So that poetry book is written now, so it’s time to get back to working at becoming a published novelist! The “At Talloola” Cozy Murder Mystery series is one avenue toward becoming a novelist, for sure, and I have several people who are wanting me to get on with that project, because they want to read them! I have to admit, I do too!

I also have another option though, a book that is already written, and here on my laptop, the first draft of a novel I began and finished quite a few years ago. I lost contact with that book, then discovered it again, sitting on our family PC, as if calmly waiting for me to be in the mood for it.

Once I found it, I did some word on it on my lap top, tidying up somethings, and working more on the story line, and ending. Then other things happened, and I left that one alone too, until now. So I have a bit of a quandary, which novel project do I run with? One stand alone novel, or a series of many Cozy Murder Mysteries, all with the same base cast of characters, and which I’ve begun doing a bit of work on.

I’m not sure, but I keep thinking there’s no need to choose which, I can do all of it, surely? Haha, of course I can, I am invincible! No I’m not, I’m an ideas person, but also a procrastinator … But my writing group is having a writers lock in, in just over a week, and that will give my several hours to put some good and steady work in on whichever I choose to work on.

I’m also without a car at the moment, so am basically stuck at home, mostly. So no excuses for not writing. So, I’ve sent the first chapter of the second book in my mystery series to a friend, because he asked to see it, and he liked it, so that’s another person wanting it.

But that novel in first draft stage, it’s been waiting for me to get on with it for about ten years, one little novel, already there in an early version stage, I can perhaps concentrate on that until the lock in? Maybe. I can at least spend a couple of hours on it today, perhaps to see what I actually have, and where it needs to go from now …

Yes, that feels like the best way, and if after putting this time in today, I decide I’m not that interested in it anymore, so be it, it can go on waiting. But that main character, and the others are still wandering around in my head, at the back, just reminding me now and then, that we’ve all had good times, getting the novel going, and plotted, and planned, and then written!

Yes, there are things that need fixing, but it’s there ready and waiting, and Laani and the other characters have been waiting for a long time. So that’s it, finish off this post, and get working on my novel, “An Ethical Dilemma”. I’m reading the book again, for the first time for some time.

 

 

poetry

Getting Back To It!

carolyncordon

Sometimes life will give you a proverbial kick in the guts, and what you thought you would be working on until completion, has to take a back seat. This doesn’t mean that project isn’t important, or won’t be worked on, it simply means something else is more important at that particular time.

I know what this is like, because recently it has happened to me, and even though my Cozy Murder Mystery series was taking up much of my thought processes, in August and September this year, something bigger hit me, and I ended up writing, and having published, something else entirely.

It was a big thing, and there was nothing I could do to change things around. I fell over and broke my right ankle, needing an operation to fix it, and then a healing and rehabilitation period of two months. In that rehab time, I wasn’t thinking much about cozy murder mysteries, I was thinking about ankles, and healing.

I didn’t give up writing though, not at all. What I did was write a series of poems about aspects of broken bones, healing, the things I saw and went through as my ankle mended. It’s all more or less fixed now, my ankle, and I now have a completed book, a chap book of poetry related to my broken ankle!

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This chapbook is titled “Angles on Angles”, and I am so pleased with what I have done! I had to rest (a lot) with my injured ankle resting up high, and that was almost the only thing I could do … I had a nifty ‘Knee Walker” that allowed me to get from sofa, to next point, but it was tiring, and I only moved on if I absolutely needed to.

The making of this little book went smoothly and quickly and I am so pleased the publisher, Ginninderra Press, like this collection and printed it super quickly. So, I now have a new book to launch, and I love book launches, especially when the book is one I have written!

“Angles on Ankles” will be launched at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, South Australia on 29 December at 2pm, and signed copies will be available for $5 on the day. People who have seen this little book have loved it, and the more I look at it, the more I’m loving it too. The pain is fading, and joy in new poems is growing!

They say ‘Write what you know’, and I now know a fair bit about broken ankles! Sometimes “life” is the best theme to write about there is!

poetry

My Next Book Launch

carolyncordon

I love book launches, especially when it’s my own book that’s being launched! I’ve never launched this kind of book before, a slim little volume known as a ‘chapbook’ or ‘chap book’.

These books are scaled down versions of poetry collections smaller both in size, and number of poems within the pages. Chap books are excellent for presenting your words to readers at a cost everyone should be able to afford, only $5.00! And they are so small and light, you can easily carry spare copies with you wherever you go, ready for a sale!

If you have a collection of twenty or so poems, all going together nicely why not consider putting them together for the interest of all! You can ask friends along for a coffee, talk about your collection, and then casually reach into your handbag or pocket, and show the book, just like that!

So a chap book doesn’t have to be ‘about’ anything, it can just be random poems, but I think it all holds together better if there is a theme, to be ‘about’ something. So what is my collection about? Well it’s about something painful, and very personal to me. It’s about my right ankle. In particular, it’s about my newly broken right ankle.

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This break happened at the end of September, I fell over and bang, two bones broken in my right ankle, and excruciating pain. Ambulance called, medical things done, hospital to hospital, to hospital, and finally home again. And then foot up, rest, rest, rest, healing happening all of the time.

With all of this rest, the obvious thing for me was to write poems about what was happening, both out of the window near the sofa I was reclining on to rest, foot up to reduce the swelling of my ankle. I wrote about being in hospital, the birds on our front lawn I could see, and a great many other things.

I in fact had over twenty poems, and I had a name for this proposed chap book as well. This book was going to be called “Angles on Ankles”, and it would cover a broad range of subjects related to my broken ankle. I know a publisher who publishes chap books as well as larger books, Ginninderra Press, so I approached them about possibly publishing this book. They were more than happy to have a look at what I’d written.

I sent the poems off, and suddenly, the book was done super quick, like it was meant to be!

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So once a new book comes into the world, the next step after sharing the book with close friends and family is often to launch the book into the greater world, to hold a Book Launch. So I’ve done some sharing with family and friends, and have now begun organising the book launch, at a venue that I know well, and that is happy to have poets there, doing their poetic things.

This venue is the Prince Albert Hotel, in Gawler, a hotel my writing group meets at every week, and one that is the venue for a monthly poetry reading, Gawler Poets at the Pub, held on the last Sunday of the month, every month.

So on the 29th of December, at the Prince Albert hotel, or the P/A as it is known by locals, I will be officially launching “Angles on Ankles”, reading some of the poems from the book, and talking about the whole ‘adventure’ of it all.

Poetry can be written about the most unlikely of subject matter!

Writing

The Writer as Juggler

carolyncordon

Today was not the day for being a novelist, not during the day, anyway. I was the Editor of a community Newsletter, rather than being a Poet, or the writer of a Cozy Mystery book series …

This is how things go, sometimes, we all have certain responsibilities and we prioritise things, and do the best we can with all of the things we need to do … It’s a frustration, but at least I’m in the fortunate position of not needing to do a paid job, so I can arrange my life to suit myself, to a far larger degree than many other writers.

The newsletter needs to be ready to send off to be printed before the end of the week, for preference, the poetry is going to be less in focus for the time being, and the novel may happen if I don’t have access to the household’s PC (because my husband uses it too).

I did manage to write, or rewrite more like, around 500 words that are in the chapter breakdown I began yesterday or the day before, where I’ve been writing notes for chapters, or cut and pasting shorter pieces to their best spot in the novel I’m doing most of the work on. This will be book 2 ‘Kissing Cousins’.

I need another day to put in more novel work, I think, perhaps tomorrow morning dedicated to novel, and leave the newsletter until after lunch, when things I’ve requested to go in there, should have arrived.

It’s a busy writing life, and I love it, juggling from non fiction to fiction, newsletter to novel, and some poetry in there as well. And blogging and other Social Media too, of course. Not as much as that though, as sometimes. A bit of Twitter, and more Facebook than there should be …

It’s all going well though, and as I said, I love it!