Tag: covid 19

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My New Poetry Collection(s)

carolyncordon

I’ve had a busy day today, as have many others, who Marched 4 Justice! I thank them all for doing this, and am glad I at least consciously wore black and let it be known I was doing so in solidarity for those who did the hard work.

Today I spent time at Gallery 14 in Hamley Bridge, South Australia, being the Writer in Residence, writing two new poems. Then I had a coffee and ‘cake’ at another cafe in Gawler this time, with a friend, which was lovely. Not so lovely was spilling my cup of coffee, almost all of it, over the table I was sitting at, and affecting the new book I was reading, while waiting for my friend to arrive … Not my best move, but all cleaned up by the lovely guy who makes the coffee.

Then it was time to go home again, and get to work on my next poetry collection, hooray! This collection has had a title for well over a year, I think, based on the poem I wrote with the same name, a poem I’m quite fond of, and a title that should attract interest … So “Leonard Cohen Is Dead” is on the way, and I hope it will be sent off to publishers by the end of the month, if not before then, and with luck will be accepted …

This collection has the sub title of People Poems, and includes my thoughts about things, as well as other people doing things, some real, some from my imagination. It’s an interesting collection of poems, I think, and hope it is accepted for publication, and comes out soon enough … I have other writing related things going on at the moment as well as this poetry collection, the Covid-19 related anthology where I have collected a variety of written works about Covid, edited them if needed, and put them all together, in a book that is well worth reading, in my opinion.

That collection, titled “Plague Invasion”, will be launched at the Gawler and Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2021 (Recovery) which will be the sixth Festival put on by the Adelaide Plains Poets writing group. I am very excited about this book too, as well as my own Poetry Collection. There is plenty of room in this world for more and more creative writing, and I am more than happy to play my part in bringing interesting words into the world!

Writing

The Actual Book Is Taking Shape

carolyncordon

A book is made up of words, words placed in particular places, with particular purpose. For every book you need a title, if it’s an anthology you need a list of the contents inside the book, and the names of the writers of each piece inside. You may well have a foreword (written by someone other than the person writing the book), and an introduction (written by the author of the book).

And you need a front cover, something relevant and eye-catching. You also need a back blurb, that is short, and interesting enough to encourage potential readers to get the book, and read it. As the person editing this anthology, I have an idea for a possible front cover, and I may have a go at producing a photograph that will suit. (but I may not be able to get a good enough photo, it needs to be clear and sharp for the best result). I do, however have friends who are excellent photographers, wait and see what we might be able to come up with.

I spoke with one of my friends, at my writing group meeting (which are now happening online), and she is certainly keen on being involved, in fact also wishes to submit non fiction to this Anthology, as do some of the other group members. This is an exciting time for me, and I’m thrilled I have friends coming along with me!

I have another friend, who has written a blurb for me in the past, and I’m hoping he may well do the same again, when I ask him, which I’ll be doing soon. (I asked, and he said yes, yay!). What else does a book need? Well obviously, a book needs content, lots and lots of content. At the moment the draft copy of the book has the introduction, a few poems, and one piece of prose (the Introduction). It needs a lot more than just that. I have a vision of a book with at least around 76 to 80 pages, and hopefully more than that.

But for this to happen, I need other people to write on this compelling subject of this Coronavirus pandemic. There is much being written on Social Media, but that isn’t any good to me, I need things sent to me, if they’re to be printed in this book. I have a few things on offer from other people, and have had some encouragement about the need for a book like this, so that keeps me hopeful.

If you are interested in taking part in this exciting writing opportunity, please send your submission to kittycordo@gmail.com. The guidelines are:
3 poems (up to thirty lines each poem), and/or prose (up to three pieces, with total word count for the prose of 2,000 words).

Send you work as an attachment of an email, with the subject heading of – ‘Plague Invasion submission (your name)’

I know this is going to be a challenge, and will take time. But I have the time, and the determination, and so, it will happen, I will make sure of it! So keep an eye out for “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”.

This will NOT be the front cover image of the Anthology!

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, inspiration

Committing to Your Writing Project – One

carolyncordon

Today, I will write more of my novel, a cosy murder mystery featuring the amateur investigator Meredith Webster. I will add at least 500 more words to the first novel in the series today, and will try very hard to do the same every day, until it is all finished in first draft form, then I will have selected others read it, give me feedback, with a view to getting it published.

So, that is my stated commitment, and it is up to me, to get it done, not anyone else, just me. Of course, if other people are a=watching me, and avidly waiting to read this novel, in first draft format, and will be glad to give me feedback, that will be a good encouragement. And while I already have several people lined up for this role, getting feedback on this blog would be awesome to have too!

I’ve never written a full novel before, I have written a lengthy novella though, and I have several published poetry collections, a school reader, and three amusing books about a dog named Buster. I have read many cost murder mysteries, and enjoy them immensely when they are well done. I’ve got characters, a setting, and many ideas about the town and some of the possibilities for murder there, with potential book titles.

Talloola looks a bit like this town …

I am ready for this, all I need to do is to get the first book written. Simple? No, not really. I am letting myself get too distracted by too many other, non-novel things. So that’s why I’m putting the word up here, where others can read it,and I hope give me a nudge if I don’t report back regularly with an ever increasing word count!

At the moment, the word count is at 6,249 words, so by the time I go to bed tonight, there must be at least 6,749 words. If I get more words written than that, that will be great, but I won’t allow myself to count those extra words for the next day, I will work on writing another 500 words, every day, with maybe a day off, every now and then.

So if you are a writer, and have a particular writing project that you really want to get done, then committing to it, planning it and actually writing it is important. Life at the moment for us all, I think is different, many are in lock in mode, because of the Covid 19 virus. And this means we have far more time at home than is usual. So without making light of the real deaths that have happened, it is a time we can use to work on that writing project, and find something good, amongst the bad.

So, that is what I will do, ‘Meredith’ and I will work on “Winds of Death At Talloola”, finding out who the killer is, and getting them jailed for their crimes! I look forward to you all helping me! I aim to check back every week with a new and much bigger word count. Are you going to be on the team to help me get this done? Leave a comment if you are, and it will happen!

Cozy Mystery

Strange Times …

carolyncordon

Thinking about what is going on in the world right now, I’m wondering, is there really any point in getting concerned about what is happening in countries I’ll never visit, people I’ll never know. But of course that is a head in the sand kind of thought. Places, and people, are important. Things that happen in one place bring echoes of what occurs to other places, as people doing things in one place can link with other people in other places.

I’m not only looking at this from the point of view of a world being held in stasis, at home, trying to find new ways to live our lives … The coronavirus, Covid 19 has us all looking and hoping, grasping greedily, some of us, and sharing compassionately some others. I know of city people ‘invading’ small tourist towns, causing difficulties for permanent residents, who are not accustomed to having so many people there, out of tourist times.

As a person with a chronic illness that means I may be affected in worse ways that others, I am doing my best to stay at home, as much as possible. I go outside, often, but only outside my own house, and mostly remaining on my own property. I gather herbs, and make myself cups of herbal tea, or let our dog in and out, for ‘comfort trips’ into the backyard.

But I’m a writer, so this locked in time could be the ideal time to get writing my Cosy Murder Mystery series, but, even though I have indeed written a little bit of the first book in the series, I don’t seem to be able to settle down to getting it all written, my mind is skipping around from here to there, and I write a blog post, a poem there, and perhaps another couple of paragraphs of the novel, but not necessarily in any kind of order.

I have the TV on, mostly on news channels, seeing and hearing the same news, slightly changed perhaps, watching the numbers, worrying, and staying safe inside … If I could, I’d be like Missy, my dog, lounging around on the sofa, and not worrying about anything except having food, and getting to the toilet as needed …

Missy ‘lounging around’

But I’m not a dog, I’m a writer, and even though writing blog posts is writing, what I really want to be writing, is my Cosy Mysteries … Oh brain, please, think about the people and places in Talloola, and write more words for that first book “Winds of Death At Talloola”!

So enough of this blog post, and perhaps back to my novel-in-progress!