inspiration, Writing

Looking for Something …

When a writer is in between projects, or has let one thing rest, and is working towards thinking about it again, and deciding what might do next, they may be looking for the inspirational thing that will pump up the volume, and get them going hard again on their writing. They may look like they’re not doing anything at all, but deep inside their head, there could be mighty ‘thinks’ going on, unknown to the rest of the world, and unknown even to them.

analysis blackboard board bubble
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It can be a time of ‘fluffing around’, doing little bits of writing, bigger bits of totally non writing things. Gazing at clouds and trees and birds may occur. The dog could be let outside, and let back in again, with resultant non-literary work a welcome step aside back to the ‘ordinary’ world.

Then a thought may come, and another, and suddenly that half-written novel or poetry collection springs back into life and the words may flow as strongly as a flooding river! That time can be a glorious one of inspiration, and words, all flowing together in beautiful ways!

If you have ever been in this wonderful time of “flow”, you will understand, if you haven’t been there yet, if you keep on writing, it is sure to happen at some stage, perhaps when you are able to give uninterrupted time to your writing. Sometimes, afterwards, it might feel like the words were written by another person, but take joy in it all, these may be the finest words you have ever managed to write!

Or there may be some bits of dross, stuff that doesn’t make sense to you, but keep on with what you’re doing, it might all come together at a later time. Look for any gems of inspiration, and who knows, it may be that what you wrote is actually a quite different style, that might take time to come to terms with.

If you’ve been writing poetry, perhaps your brain decided to write a novel when you weren’t paying attention, in that state of flow. Look at your work, your words, and prepare to keep an open mind about what you’ve done! 20190618_142947

I find Nature inspirational, the trees, the blue sky and the clouds, lovely!

 

Writing is a strange thing to do, a solitary thing, working alone, as you prepare something you’d like to share with multitudes! So keep an open mind, as I said, and always be prepared to trust your writer’s brain, when things really take off, you never know where you might end up. Sometimes a writing prompt can work like this, you’re given something random to write about, and Bang!, something beautiful happens with your words!

This is what inspiration is, you can’t guarantee it will come, but you should make the most of it when and if it does! If you have a story of a time you were inspired, I’d love to read about it, leave a comment here, and tell us about it!

Uncategorized, Writing

Why Get Published?

What does ‘getting published’ mean?

Getting your words published can mean many different things to different people, and the reasons for wanting it to happen can also be quite varied. For some, posting your words to your own blog, or perhaps getting a letter to the editor in the local paper is enough, for others, getting published by a major book publisher with world-wide distribution is what they want.

There are many variations too. Some people post their words to literary magazines, either print or online, some people publish newsletters with their own words in them. Some people have their words published in newsletters such newsletters, and find that is enough for them.

If you have a hobby and like to write about it, you may write comments or articles on Social Media and find satisfaction in that way of ‘getting published’. And the reasons why can be varied too. Some people are more interested in spreading the word about only one thing, and there is nothing wrong with that. Other people are interested in a wide range of things, and write about a great many things, for many different publishing avenues.

20190505_114825

Publication’ benefits

Whatever the method you find to be published, if you are a writer of any kind, getting your words ‘out there’ is bound to be beneficial. We writers tend to have a desire to tell other people about the things we find important.

So obviously being published is going to be a necessary part of letting other people read our words, and so share our story, tell our truth, teach a lesson, or entertain and amuse people. These are all valid and fine reasons, and being able to do them will help the writer to feel validated, valued, understood, and appreciated by others.

That is a benefit for the heart and soul perhaps, but another less ‘spiritually worthy’ reason for desiring publication is to get payment from the publication of your words. This may be by having books published and sold by a mainstream publisher, or by a printer, or even by photocopying your words and selling little mini-books.

All of these are valid methods for publishing your words, depending on what you write, how you want it to be presented, who you want to read your words, and so on, but all of the methods can result in books you can sell for money. Having a website where you can display your book/s for sale will certainly be beneficial, if you have a book, or books that will attract an audience that will want to buy themselves their own copy.

If you live in Australia, and you publish a book, if a copy of your book is sent to the National Library, and your own State Library by you or by your publisher, you may well receive Public Lending Right, which is a payment the author may receive for each of their books in libraries. It will also show your book to libraries and others wishing to buy books.

 

Getting your Story Out

If you have an idea, a theme, a life story that you feel others will benefit from, you will want to let others know about it. Getting published is the best way to spread the word about your words. Others may want to know about your story, so if you can get the news of your book, your words published, in the media, such as newspapers or magazines, this will be of great value for your cause.

Having a website is a great and easy way to be ‘published’. It doesn’t have the obvious benefits that a book to but has, but it can lead to other people reading your words, for sure. And if you write enough blog posts, you may well have enough words eventually on your blog, for them to be published as a book, either by you, or by another publisher. If getting financial recompense for your words is something you want, then it’s certainly possible to sell copies of your book/s via your own website, or that of your publisher if your books are published by another publisher.

Self-publishing is becoming more and more an acceptable method for books to be published, circumventing mainstream publishers. Libraries will buy self-published books, if the books are deemed good enough and interesting enough for the libraries readers.

Without being ‘published’ in some form, you will have to rely on less effective ways to spread your words. Word of mouth is useful, but even if you have hundreds of family and friends, they may not all talk about your writing, and may not know many relevant people to talk up your book to! It is a wonderful feeling to sign a copy of your book which someone has just bought!

So if you can get word about your books published, it can lead to more of your books being published, which can encourage you to write more of your words, and that is a fine thing indeed. We can never have too many books in the world!

 

poetry, Uncategorized

On Poetry Competitions

The writing group I am the President of, has been running an annual, national poetry competition right from the time the group began, back in mid 2005. At the time, I was working part time for my local council, as a community worker.

My role was to try to bring about aspects of economic development to the community, and the poetry event competition was all a part of an event taking in the whole of the region where I live, with many towns being involved.

I now longer do that job, the funding ran out, and I moved into the volunteer realm. I enjoyed doing what I did for payment, for sure, but found some of it stressful. Now I’m doing similar things as a volunteer, the pressure is very much lessened.

So poetry competitions … The number of entries my group,  the Adelaide Plains Poets receive, is on a steady rise, in the main, and the overall quality is going up and up, in the current three sections – Open, Secondary Student, and Primary Student. This year, we have a larger entry for the Primary Student Section, because of work done in particular with one local school. This is certainly a good way to increase poetry submissions, if you talk to students and teachers in their schools, they will feel more willing to get involved.

I think we will do more of this, perhaps getting started on it earlier next year. Connecting with schools is fun, for many people. I certainly enjoy talking to a class about poetry, because I love poetry, and I’m working to increase the level of love of my favourite writing genre! If I can engage students, and help them to love poetry too, then I’ve done a good job!

Some people don’t have a lot of money to spare for fluffy things like poetry. That is why our group doesn’t charge for students to enter our competition. We also have a low charge for the Open section, and the fee is structured in a way that encourages a higher number of entries, without sending anyone broke.

We currently charge $10 for the first entry, then $5 for any subsequent entries. This is for the Open section only – students are limited to only one poem each. There has been a lot of variety in the way poets have interpreted the theme of this year’s competition. This is important for a poetry competition, a broad theme will engage more poets, as they consider how they think on the theme.

I have been able to speak to some of the people entering our current poetry competition and have been happy to find so many lovely people who thank me for providing them the opportunity to ‘have their say’, about something important to them. This helps to make this task even more enjoyable.

Then, when the winners are announced we will all find out which poems struck the judges as being ‘the best’. I spoke with both of our judges today, and was pleased with the things they both said. This is the first time we have had two different judges, one fo rthe adults, one for the youngsters, and I feel this has been a good move. It is a different task, judging the poetry of Primary or Secondary school students, compared to judging the poetry of adults, after all.

Finding out who the winners are, and hearing their words will be an exciting thing indeed! If you have ever thought of entering a poetry competition, I say go for it, as long as the entry fees aren’t too high, and the possible prizes are suitably high. Poetry is a fun thing to write, and these competitions could potentially be very rewarding, if you’re good enough! Comparing your own poem, with the winning poems may be just the impetus you need, to make your own poetry shiny bright and perfect!

But beware, there are some ‘competitions’ that are blatant rip offs. The fees we charge are reasonable, but some competitions have far higher fees, for very little possible recompense. Leave those ones well alone!

If you have anything to say about poetry competitions, leave a comment, I’d love to read your thoughts!

 

Public Speaker, Writing

I have Transferable Skills

Dear Sir/Madam,

As a writer, I have many skills. I can type on a keyboard, faster than your average trained monkey, and my spoken language skills are infinitely superior to any parrot ever, living or dead.

I have written and read more and better poetry and short stories than probably any current member of the Australian Government. I know how to harness a pacer (harness horse), and how to prepare a Standard Schnauzer for the show ring.

I have a strong feeling for what makes a fine haiku or tanka, and am even able to write them as well! I can write a villanelle, a clerihew, and I am the person who first invented the Cordonostic Poetic Form (Google it).

My skills as an office worker were second to none in terms of slacking off whilst appearing busy, and I am proud to tell you that my Friday night drinks results surpassed what any man has probably ever achieved (my husband of over thirty years is offered as proof – his super pension is probably more than you are currently paid as a full time worker!)

All of the skills mentioned, are what are called transferable skills, and if you employ me, you will be amazed at what I do!

Yours sincerely,

Carolyn Cordon, Poet, novelist, short story writer, blogger, monthly newsletter editor, and so on …

I’m also as funny as a smelly fart in a crowded lift!

poetry

Multiple Copies are Great!

I had an accident today, and deleted all of the poems in the file n my laptop that is my poetry collection that I want to send off to a publisher soon. My intention is to have some other people read the collection, and give me feedback. If I couldn’t get give them the poems, they wouldn’t be able to do that. I wouldn’t be able to send it to a publisher, either.
 
I nearly freaked out, but I took a deep breath, got myself a calming (?) coffee and searched my laptop, for help. I found some of the relevant poems in emails I’d sent to myself, and that worked for finding some of them, and then, hooray, I found another copy of the file, on my laptop, an earlier one I’d emailed to our PC, to make a photocopy,  that had almost all of the poems in it, phew!
When I say ‘I nearly freaked out’ it isn’t true, really. I did take a big breath, and get that coffee, but I would have looked calm to anyone present. I methodically considered my options, and worked away and cutting and pasting, taking poems from various places, and putting them in a new file.
Did my work with looking at Stoicism help me with this? Hmm, I think it may have. I felt quite calm, once the initial ‘oh no!’ feelings calmed down. Once I was sitting again, coffee and laptop present, I worked at it all afternoon, and got it done. I went outside, let the dog out and back in, and she and I both had lunch, but I did a good afternoon of work on it.
IMAG0306
                 Missy slept through most of it, she’s calm like that, most of the time!
It was an interesting chance to look at these poems again too. I did some editing, making several of the poems better, and I added two new poems, and took out two other poems that I felt were too weak. So this ‘disaster’ was actually a good thing after all. I will remember that, and keep calm and work methodically if I ever need to work like this again!
This laptop is still new to me, and I’m very much in the learner stage with it. Using the home PC is easier for me, but of course, I can’t take my PC with me anywhere, and I can’t sit on the sofa with the PC comfortably on my lap!
So now that I have the poetry collection put together in the one file on my lap top, and the other copy there too, marked as Do not delete, it should all be fine. I’ll send that document to the PC tomorrow, and then hand that hard copy on for the review of others.
I’m so glad I found those versions, that’s for sure. And I think this collection is looking far more publishable than my most recent one, that was rejected. When I looked at it again, once I was over the hurrumphing angst of rejection, I could see that it was a bit of a mess, with little to say. Some of the poems were ok, but that isn’t enough, just some …
In this new collection, all of the poems have interesting things to say, and they blend together in good ways, in my opinion. I hope my readers will back up my thoughts on that, and if they don’t, that they will be able to give me pointers about where any failings are.
Giving a poetry collection to others feels like giving your newborn to a stranger, in some ways, but of course, that is something that all writers have to do, if they want to have their words read. And only a strange kind of writer wouldn’t want to be read by others, surely?
What do you think? About having readers before sending off to a publisher, and about how it feels to let your ‘babies’ go? Please leave a comment, if you have something to say about this!