Tag: writers write

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Writers Write

carolyncordon

Yes, that is what writers, do, they write. But they also edit, fluff around, and procrastinate, as well as thinking about words, editing their work, and various more difficult things regarding marketing of their work …

And they may do a variety of other things, housework, or course, paying bills, and other ‘normal’ things that all of us do at times, when we must. But today I have been a writer-in-residence, sitting with my books at a cafe, chatting to people. And I have connected with others on Social Media, most importantly using 5 random words offered for a five word challenge.

I used those five given words, to write some more of my novel, which I’ve been neglecting far too much lately. And I send that new piece of my novel to a friend, who I’ve been sending bits and pieces of my novel too, since she asked to read it. But the ‘progress’ in terms of story and word count are woefully inadequate …

But another thing I’ve been doing today is going through, and editing my poetry collection I wish to submit to a particular publisher as soon as I can. I went through twenty or so pages today, and hope to get through at least that many pages tomorrow, with the view to send this off before the end of the week, bearing in mind that this will be a shorter week, because of Easter. I’m enjoying my reading, and editing of this book, and hope the publisher will also enjoy reading it, and will accept it for publication.

I’ve also delivered a few more copes of the newsletter I edit, and spoken with one of the advertisers, with good results. I have other writing projects I’m working on, or will be soon, as well as another book I’m thinking about putting together, with a view to self-publishing it. And of course, there is the Covid-19 anthology I am hoping to have out to be launched in late July, at the Adelaide Plains and Gawler Festival of Words …

I’ve seen an early version of the front cover for that book – Plague Invasion – and I like the cover very much, eye catching for sure! This is a very important book, and I am hoping for good things with it, in terms of copies sold. This Covid time has been very trying, and this anthology will show some of the challenges we have all faced, so it can be read about in the future, and hopefully dealt with effectively if we ever need to deal with such a thing in the future, which it seems may well keep on happening. Not happy times, but being forewarned is to be forearmed …

And I have another book idea, a little chapbook, that will include illustrations as well as text. The text is mostly already written, I just need to extract it, and provid the illustrator with the it, so she can provide the pictures … I suspect I will be seeing this illustrator, who is the person who provided illustrations for three of my previous books. This new chapbook will include the same character as the previous three books mentioned.

This will be a fun little project, that may prove to be a winner in terms of sales, who knows? It just seems like a good way to use or more correctly reuse words I wrote for the newsletter mentioned previously. So how many books am I currently working on? I think that was five books, I’ve been busy, and will be even busier! Whew, it’s a good thing I like words, isn’t it?!

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What Are Writers For?

carolyncordon

Why are we even writers, those of us who spend much of our time thinking about, and writing about things? Is it a higher calling, something that invades the most holy of ourselves, reaches in and wrenches out things deep and meaningful?

Well, looking ot some of the trash I sometimes write, that certainly isn’t the case. But sometimes, I do feel something almost holy has reached inside of my mind, and wrenched parts of me that have been sitting there forever, wating for the correct time to emerge, startling me with the depth of meaning there, so I wonder who it was that put those words in my head.

So writing things deep and meaningful, as some writers do, sometimes, is certainly one of the reasons for writers, to show, or to remind others about things felt important enough to write about, and then work to share these words with others. Writers can be almost a conscience keeping people honest, or reminding them anyway, if and when they stray from the path of honesty, anyway.

But writers are fun too, penning limericks, and cute little books for children, sometimes with a pithy thought hidden amongs the funnish and funny parts. Writers of comedy, they bring laughs to us, and surely making others laugh is a fine thing to do, we all need more good laughs, if you ask me!

Writers remember, and comment on things from the past, in the hope others may learn, and do better in the future. A vain hope, that one, it seems at times, but writers are at least trying to make things go better. And of course that’s another thing writers do, they tell people how to do things, based on what they have done, or seen done, sharing knowledge, improving people’s lives.

So being there to help other people live better lives, that is certainly one of the things writers are for. Showing where people have got it wrong too, that is an important task of writers. Making people pay attention and act to prevent the bad things happening is certainly what some writers do, or at least try to do. A fruitless task at times, that one, but at least there are writers working to try to make it happen.

Are writers the positive polly ones, who see things, and work at showing the things, bring better things to others, reminding them about the beauty of Nature? When I write a poem about my bird bath, and the shenanigins happening there, and then go on to share that poem with others, am I hoping I might show, through metaphor, the idea that greed and need are different things, and that there are, or may be, other answers to life’s ‘issues’?

Well I wrote that poem today, who knows where or if that poem will go anywhere beyond the space it was written. Not every word, every poem or story has to go out into the world. Sometimes people are writers so they can write things, issues, out of their heads, and find peace. And sometimes it’s so they can make note of things they find interesting, that will be there to remind them of that interesting thing, if they need a bit of geeing up.

Sometimes writers are for those people to live the life that best suits the how and why they want to live. Writing, sharing or not, their words, thinking, penning poems or prose, pontificating, perhaps, but just being a writer, that is what that person is for, to Be A Writer.

I’d love to know how you feel about this – why are you a writer?

inspiration, Writing

Do Writers Need to be Good at Waiting?

carolyncordon

When you’re writer, there are many times you might have to wait. You wait for the Muse to visit, you wait to find the time to write, you wait to hear back for feedback, you wait to hear whether your submission was accepted.

Then if your work is accepted, you wait for the publisher to do their bits and pieces, until the book is printed. Then it may be that waiting stops, and you are in full-mode marketing of your book, or maybe not. Either way, a part of you will be waiting to get back to your next writing project.

Every star has a story!

And then, when you actually get back to that next project, the wait for your Muse, and the ideas, and then the feedback, etc, etc, comes again. This could be tedious, but if you’re a clever writer, you have a secret weapon. And that secret weapon is that you never actually stop thinking about writing! Yay to that!

Well, actually, calm down a bit … It’s probably a good idea, rather than always be thinking about writing, actually living a life worth writing about, could be the best thing ever. If you can do that, you will be living such a good life, that there is no room for anything tedious. And how do you manage to live that good life?

Living a life, gathering ideas, getting ready to write!

Do the things that interest you, amuse or enthrall you, that confuse you, intrigue you, irritate or bemuse you. Live a life that brings puzzles to be solved, reasons to be bold, challenges, triumphs, but losses too, so that you understand the points of view of everyone who may ever be found in something you might write about.

Books, whether fiction or non fiction, work best if there are winners and losers, heroes and villians, loves lost, loves found. These things make the world of your writing go around, living, and breathing, and above all, worth writing and definitely worth reading!

Well, have you ever thought about why you write? If you have, but don’t know the answer, that’s fine. If you haven’t, because you think the answer doesn’t matter, that’s fine too. The reality of it is that most writers write because it’s the thing that brings them the most joy, than means the most to them, that is the thing that makes them feel like they’re doing the thing that matters the most to them.

If you’re one of those people who writes, a writer, then everything you do is really a gathering of more material, to use when you can next get your words written down, so there isn’t really any ‘waiting’ as such, you just need to be good at using time in the best way you can, to add the most to your writing.

The time in between shouldn’t be considered useless waiting time, but useful gathering time, living your best life, thinking about it, and putting what you have gathered into what you are currently writing. And if you aren’t actually writing anything, are you sure about that? Maybe there’s a spot at the back of your mind that’s busily putting X and Y together, and coming up with story Z!

Getting story Z written should be you most important thing, you know that, don’t you? Your mind had done the work behind the scenes, but you need to drag it from the back of your mind, into the forefront of your mind, so you can look at what you have, and write that story, book, poem, article, whatever your next thing is.

So make the time, give that next writing thing what it deserves, your attention. Whether you work full time, part time, or not at all, but have this or that, in other commitments, realise what you most need to do to do the best you can for yourself, and give yourself time to write. Don’t wait for the time, make the time. It’s your life, and you are a writer, so don’t wait for the best time, the best time is right now, so write!