Public Speaker, Workshop Presenter …

I have been a poet and writer of prose, as well as a blogger for quite some years now, but the life of being a Public Speaker, in any big way, has long eluded me. But now, oh now, I feel that is all about to change.

I have a disability, Multiple Sclerosis, OH how sad, right? Not really, it’s under control with medication and lifestyle actions, from diet, to exercise, as well as working to live as stress-free and positive life as I can. It seems to be working, I haven’t had a relapse for quite some time. I know, though, that one could hit me at any time.

I was diagnosed with MS back in 2010, ten years ago, so it’s something I know quite a bit about. I’ve also been interested in dogs, in a few different ways, dogs as pets, showing dogs, breeding purebred dogs, doing obedience training too, in a minor way. And writing about dogs, in both serious, and amusing ways, with three books so far, about a dog who lives in my mind, named Buster the Dog!

Not Buster the Dog, but our Dog, Missy, with her little friend Herman the German.

Gardening is an interesting thing in my life too, and I’m currently getting assistance to get my place made safer for me, and with better quality of life. This is paid for by the government, via the NDIS, and I am grateful for that, or I will be once it is all finished.

I also have lived experience of child sexual and other sexual abuse, fortunately from a much earlier time in my life, my life now is much happier. I have a poetry collection I put together when I was in the healing process of becoming more settled in my life over the things that had happened to me, victim to survivor, and now I can say I am thriving.

So my way of getting through life has relied very much on using my words to heal myself, to entertain others, to explore my life, and the lives of others. And I love to speak to people! Sitting down in small groups and chatting, standing up with a microphone and speaking to a crowd, I love it!

So now, I have a support worker, paid for by NDIS, and she and I are looking to find speaking engagements for me. I give her possible groups I could speak to, and she is working toward getting gigs booked. She will assist me too, once I actually get engagements, by carrying my books I will bring, for possible sales, and book signing, fun times!

And soon, the writing group I’m involved with will be holding its monthly writing workshop, and poetry reading, and I am going to be one of the two workshop presenters, hooray! I will be talking about some forms of poetry, the other presenter another one and some tips of getting small poetry forms published in a particular magazine she has been published in, an Australian one.

I definitely feel like my life, even in these awful Covid times, is heading in a good direction.

Why I Love Writing

One of the reasons I really, really love being a writer, is the way an idea will suddenly burst out of my head, scattering metaphorical sparkling insight glitter over my day! It doesn’t happen every day, week, or even every month, but when it does, BANG my whole day is suddenly magical with the new idea!

I’m so thankful when these ideas come, and I try to make a note of them, so they don’t float away, like the clouds that promise rain, but take their precious moisture to somewhere else, and we miss out. I had an idea like this yesterday, and yes, I wrote it down, and I’m so glad I did.

The idea I wrote down is in relation to one of my writing projects, the biggest and most challenging idea I’ve had yet. This idea is the writing of a series of Cosy Murder Mysteries, many of them … This new idea I had today may mean a new book, when I already have titles and brief notes for nineteen different books … This is going to take me a long time to write, so I really should get started on writing the series, I think …

I don’t actually know if I’m going to write all of the books I have titles for, but I’m enjoying the whole idea of it, and I’ve written part of the first draft of the first two books. I feel like I’ve messed up a bit, though, and have to step away from the second book, and complete the first one, first, so I can set the tone for the entire series, but with hints and clues that there may be possible changes to come …

Moving from being a poet, to being a Cosy Murder Mystery writer isn’t that much of a change, words are the tools for both of these genre, and I’m a keen community member, and observer of people. The little town where these murder mysteries take place is a made up town, not a real one, but it bears a resemblance to another town I know quite well, not naming any names, though …

The knowledge that I can go from poetry to murders, and enjoy them both, as well as the other things I write, non fiction, short stories, as well as blogging, what fun it is, keeping me connected with the literary world!

Who Am I? What Am I?

If you ask me who I am, I probably won’t give you the same answer that I may have given you fifteen to twenty years ago, and I most likely will have to think about the answer I actually give you these days. Twenty years ago, I probably would have said, in answer to the question: I’m Jake’s mum.

And of course, whether naming myself that, in answer to the question of ‘Who are you?’ is an interesting thing to think further on. I am Carolyn. That is who I am. But I am also Jake’s mum, for sure, I am proud to be the mother of this fine young man I carried into this world.

But I’m Carolyn Cordon, writer and poet, as well as President of Adelaide Plains Poets writing group, Editor of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle newsletter, and a former dog breeder, breeding dogs with the Kennel name of Holkschter Kennels. I’m a former Public Servant, a onetime (failed) dog food promoter, and a couple of other smaller jobs, including the Mallala and Dublin Towns Coordinator, a role I enjoyed, but one I suffered many sleepless nights because of.

The writer and poet jobs, have been with me off and on for the most years, and they are pretty well always happening every day. Writers and poets don’t really turn off after work in the afternoon, because our workplace is inside our heads, thinking, whether we’re doing it consciously or not. And my role as the Editor of the Crossroad Chronicle is one that happens on the weekend too, sometimes, if a community event of note is on, for instance.

Writers and poets, as well as editors, are always looking for the next big thing to write about, hoping to put together something of interest to their audience, through a story of whatever kind is relevant to their role. And I am another thing as well, I am a blogger, with a few different blogs, of differing subject matter. So – gardening, dogs, writing, child abuse, multiple sclerosis & stoicism, these are all things I blog about, so I am open to anything relating to them all, all of the time, because, well you never know what might happen in this brain of mine, when  things are in there swilling around!

I have a main character from my unfinished novel, Meredith, and even though I am probably never going to complete that novel, I still see things and think, yes, that’s something Meredith would think, or do, or have happen to her. Meredith is with me, whether I want her there or not. I brought her to life, and I’m not going to abandon her, even though she probably would like me to get her story moving along some more …

All of the things that happen to me, may happen to Meredith, or some other person in that novel or in my next poetry collection, or they may come up in the next issue of the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, or one of my blogs. I am who I am, a wearer of many hats, and doing of many things. Life is full of things, good and bad, and I can use them all in various ways, in my life.

And of course, I am a Public Speaker, looking for more work in that role, so I am looking for interesting, informative, amusing things to speak about too. Life truly is a basket of things, isn’t it. Thinking, writing, speaking, being, they all blend together in great ways for anyone and everyone who are interested and are paying attention!

Anyway, the question of Who I Am, is tied up to the question of What I Am, always. Do you have many roles too? And how do you respond to the question?