Well, yesterday it was all on! Gawler Poets at the Pub started off with the much loved five word poetry competition and then leaped right into a jingoistic poetry performance from the much love Martin Christmas! Who'd have thought Australia Day celebrations could look like that!
Great work Martin, I love the way you've taken on poetry and shaken it up and swished it with theatrical dust! Well done. I was pleased to be there on the day, assisting in a tiny way to help this performance come to life in front of us at the Prince Albert Hotel!
I think your performance added a little extra to everyone's performances on the day. It wasn't the biggest number of people we've ever had, but all of the people reading their poetry did a fine job with it. It was great to see a new person come along to see what it's all about. I hope she'll be back with us again, maybe reading her own poetry...
And it was lovely to catch up with Colleen Sweeney, one of my dearest poetic friends. It's been a long time but I'm so glad to have you there with us all!
Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great day, and I look forward to seeing you all again next month. Same place, but different time.
Martin Johnson is holding a Fringe event 40ks Out of Gawler. His show starts at our usual time, 2 pm, we're starting two hours earlier - 12 pm, and we'll finish up just before Martin Johnson starts. So if you want to take part in both events, you can! Just let the hotel know beforehand 85221865
I hope to see all of my poet friends there on the day!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The poetry competition closes, another competition starts!
Well today I handed the entries received for our 'The Elements' poetry competition to the judge. I hope they poems meet her approval, and she finds winners in there!
I very much enjoyed reading all of the poems entered, and I'm looking forward to learning which of the poems the judge preferred. The winners of this national competition will be announced at the Gawler Poets at the Pub event in March, that is, at the Gawler Prince Albert Hotel, from 2 pm, on Sunday 31st of March.
There's been an added boost to the prize money, from sponsors, so the prizes are even more bountiful than in the past. Many thanks to Tom and Maxine Varcoe of the 5th Element Unearthed Olive Oil. So if you entered this competition, you will find out what the results are in late March. Those who gave me their email address, or who sent an stamped envelope will be sent the results.
The next exciting thing for the Adelaide Plains Poets, is the short story competition. This is a first for Adelaide Plains Poets, and it comes about because there has been a new group formed, within, or in addition to, the poetry. We now look at longer pieces of writing, and include prose, both fiction and non fiction. This new group is called 'Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse'.
Members of this group meet weekly at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, on every Thursday, starting at 3.30 and continuing into the afternoon and evening. Sometimes dinner happens, but always writing and talking of writing happens! If you're interested in joining this group, leave a message here!
The group is holding a short story competition - the theme is 'Fairy Tales Twisted Sideways' there is a maximum limit of 2000 words, and entries close on 30 June 2013. Send an email to jeebers@aussiebb.com.au and entry form and guidelines will be sent.
I very much enjoyed reading all of the poems entered, and I'm looking forward to learning which of the poems the judge preferred. The winners of this national competition will be announced at the Gawler Poets at the Pub event in March, that is, at the Gawler Prince Albert Hotel, from 2 pm, on Sunday 31st of March.
There's been an added boost to the prize money, from sponsors, so the prizes are even more bountiful than in the past. Many thanks to Tom and Maxine Varcoe of the 5th Element Unearthed Olive Oil. So if you entered this competition, you will find out what the results are in late March. Those who gave me their email address, or who sent an stamped envelope will be sent the results.
The next exciting thing for the Adelaide Plains Poets, is the short story competition. This is a first for Adelaide Plains Poets, and it comes about because there has been a new group formed, within, or in addition to, the poetry. We now look at longer pieces of writing, and include prose, both fiction and non fiction. This new group is called 'Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse'.
Members of this group meet weekly at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, on every Thursday, starting at 3.30 and continuing into the afternoon and evening. Sometimes dinner happens, but always writing and talking of writing happens! If you're interested in joining this group, leave a message here!
The group is holding a short story competition - the theme is 'Fairy Tales Twisted Sideways' there is a maximum limit of 2000 words, and entries close on 30 June 2013. Send an email to jeebers@aussiebb.com.au and entry form and guidelines will be sent.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The Year Just Gone
2012 had many, many good and great moments. On thinking about those moments, I can honestly say that most of them involved poetry or poets. I had many amazing Sunday afternoons at the Gawler Poets at the Pub Poetry Readings. The group of poets who come regularly to this event are wonderful, and I'm thrilled to be involved in running this event.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I was doing my Community Foodie work, helping Primary School students discover the delights of vegetables, and teaching them about poetry, using vegetables as prompts for their writing. Lots of fun, and it was great to be able to combine my love of teaching creative writing to others, and also helping others make better choices about healthy eating. Vegetable Victory is a triumph of Poetic Vegetables! Vegetable Victory
Other fine moments have been when I've written a new poem, and felt blessed to have been able to pen the words. This happens far more often when I'm writing often, not surprisingly. The more one writes, the more one writes well. I think they go together.
I don't ever 'Wait for my muse'. Instead I get down there and write, and if I'm lucky, my muse drops by for a visit. I don't think the muse is interested in me if I'm not trying to write well. Do you agree with me on this?
I'd love to read what you think about this idea, please leave a comment.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself when I was doing my Community Foodie work, helping Primary School students discover the delights of vegetables, and teaching them about poetry, using vegetables as prompts for their writing. Lots of fun, and it was great to be able to combine my love of teaching creative writing to others, and also helping others make better choices about healthy eating. Vegetable Victory is a triumph of Poetic Vegetables! Vegetable Victory
Other fine moments have been when I've written a new poem, and felt blessed to have been able to pen the words. This happens far more often when I'm writing often, not surprisingly. The more one writes, the more one writes well. I think they go together.
I don't ever 'Wait for my muse'. Instead I get down there and write, and if I'm lucky, my muse drops by for a visit. I don't think the muse is interested in me if I'm not trying to write well. Do you agree with me on this?
I'd love to read what you think about this idea, please leave a comment.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
My Next Writing Project
I've mentioned my next project on this blog before. Now, though it's almost time for me to get even more serious about it. I now have a first draft done, time to look at it, tweak it and polish it!
This writing project is one I'm passionate about. My next book will be the book I wanted and needed in early 2010. In February of that year, I had a collapse and was diagnosed with a chronic illness, one I didn't know much about.
That chronic illness is one which has a variety of symptoms, and has no cure, only treatments that may or may not work for each different person. The chronic illness isn't one which will kill me, but until the medical world comes up with a cure, it will be with me until the cure for all arrives.
The chronic illness I'm talking about it Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS affects different people differently, depending on where in the affected person's central nervous system scarring of the myelin (insulating sheaths surrounding the nerves) occurs. This scarring (sclerosis) slows down or stops the nerves from passing the messages from the brain to the body.
The consequence of this can be weakness, pain, tingling, cold, heat - a range of things. It may affect the hands, feet, arms, legs, bowel, bladder, all kinds of parts of the body. I'm one of the lucky ones, I have no pain from my MS, except when my weakness or lack of balance causes me to fall over - then I can sure feel the pain! Trips and falls are common in people with MS.
Anyway, I'm going to write a memoir detailing the things I now know about living with MS. The good, the bad and the ugly, it will all be in my memoir. And just to make it even more interesting for me to write, I't going to be written in verse! I'm a poet and this challenge sure has me excited! It's almost all in verse, with some poems about various issues relating to my life with MS, and with some prose, where I have information about the medicines that can sometimes help.
I have a mentor helping me with writing this verse memoir - Ray Tyndale, a fine South Australian poet and verse novelist. Ray has been trying to get me on track with the difficulties in writing a narrative in verse, and she thinks I may finally have it! So, now the hard work begins. Fixing up the part I've written that wasn't on track, filling in the many gaps that will appear/have already appeared. I'm getting over Christmas and in a couple of days, it's time to get stuck into it!
I now know many people who have MS, and I really hope my memoir will help both them and their families and friends to better understand what living with MS is really like. This, I hope, will lead to better understanding of the issues and challenges people living with MS have. It's not a life I would have chosen for myself, but it's certainly not the worst thing in the world.
I have two walking sticks and a walker, I have family and friends who love me, and I have a positive attitude to life. I'm walking bravely forward, looking forward to what will come next!
This writing project is one I'm passionate about. My next book will be the book I wanted and needed in early 2010. In February of that year, I had a collapse and was diagnosed with a chronic illness, one I didn't know much about.
That chronic illness is one which has a variety of symptoms, and has no cure, only treatments that may or may not work for each different person. The chronic illness isn't one which will kill me, but until the medical world comes up with a cure, it will be with me until the cure for all arrives.
The chronic illness I'm talking about it Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS affects different people differently, depending on where in the affected person's central nervous system scarring of the myelin (insulating sheaths surrounding the nerves) occurs. This scarring (sclerosis) slows down or stops the nerves from passing the messages from the brain to the body.
The consequence of this can be weakness, pain, tingling, cold, heat - a range of things. It may affect the hands, feet, arms, legs, bowel, bladder, all kinds of parts of the body. I'm one of the lucky ones, I have no pain from my MS, except when my weakness or lack of balance causes me to fall over - then I can sure feel the pain! Trips and falls are common in people with MS.
Anyway, I'm going to write a memoir detailing the things I now know about living with MS. The good, the bad and the ugly, it will all be in my memoir. And just to make it even more interesting for me to write, I't going to be written in verse! I'm a poet and this challenge sure has me excited! It's almost all in verse, with some poems about various issues relating to my life with MS, and with some prose, where I have information about the medicines that can sometimes help.
I have a mentor helping me with writing this verse memoir - Ray Tyndale, a fine South Australian poet and verse novelist. Ray has been trying to get me on track with the difficulties in writing a narrative in verse, and she thinks I may finally have it! So, now the hard work begins. Fixing up the part I've written that wasn't on track, filling in the many gaps that will appear/have already appeared. I'm getting over Christmas and in a couple of days, it's time to get stuck into it!
I now know many people who have MS, and I really hope my memoir will help both them and their families and friends to better understand what living with MS is really like. This, I hope, will lead to better understanding of the issues and challenges people living with MS have. It's not a life I would have chosen for myself, but it's certainly not the worst thing in the world.
I have two walking sticks and a walker, I have family and friends who love me, and I have a positive attitude to life. I'm walking bravely forward, looking forward to what will come next!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Vegetable Victory Strikes Again!
The final session of Vegetable Victory, presented to Primary Schools students, is finished. Vegetable Victory is part of the Community Foodies program run by Lower North Health. the program tells students all about vegetables and why they're great to eat.
The program is in 4 sessions, and covers numeracy, literacy and Social Studies. The students learn about more than just vegetables. They're given to opportunity to try vegetables in ways they may not have encountered them before. And they're also told about poetry, and encouraged to try their hand and mind at writing poems about vegetables.
By the end of the program, the students will have thought about, learned about, written about, sniffed, seen, listened to and felt vegetables! They will have written at least one poem, and learned lots about how to write poetry, as well as listening to a published poet read their own poems and other poet's poems about vegetables. It's all good fun!
Carolyn Cordon is a Community Foodie, a published poet, and she is the creator of 'Vegetable Victory'. The program has taken place in two Primary Schools so far, and Carolyn hopes to present the program in more schools next year.
Every student should be given the chance to learn to love vegetables!
Please contact Carolyn if you would like to see this program in your own school! 0418 806 490
The program is in 4 sessions, and covers numeracy, literacy and Social Studies. The students learn about more than just vegetables. They're given to opportunity to try vegetables in ways they may not have encountered them before. And they're also told about poetry, and encouraged to try their hand and mind at writing poems about vegetables.
By the end of the program, the students will have thought about, learned about, written about, sniffed, seen, listened to and felt vegetables! They will have written at least one poem, and learned lots about how to write poetry, as well as listening to a published poet read their own poems and other poet's poems about vegetables. It's all good fun!
Carolyn Cordon is a Community Foodie, a published poet, and she is the creator of 'Vegetable Victory'. The program has taken place in two Primary Schools so far, and Carolyn hopes to present the program in more schools next year.
Every student should be given the chance to learn to love vegetables!
Please contact Carolyn if you would like to see this program in your own school! 0418 806 490
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