tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55438369669758926922024-03-13T13:13:16.441-07:00Dig It! Gardening Tips for DogsGardening from a dogs point of view. Dogs have ideas about gardening that aren't necessarily the same as our ideas about it. We all have a place in the garden, and it's up to us to work out how to do it without tears and tantrums!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-73350660206274611172018-10-15T23:17:00.001-07:002020-01-03T00:09:16.158-08:00Buster the Dog has Views!Buster the Dog is very much an unreal beast. He lives in the head of author Carolyn Cordon, and sometimes he insists she write things for him. Carolyn has written three books with Buster the Dog so far, and there is another book planned for 2020.<br />
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That book will include another author, Janette Menhennet, and a cat named McTavish. Hopefully, a fun book, in the vein of Buster's first three books, can come of this new partnership. Janette and Carolyn are friends and colleagues, both being members of the executive team for Adelaide Plains Poets. They have successfully worked together for that group for around six years so far, and have achieved fine results. They hope this book writing thing will also have fine results!<br />
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The books Buster has written have been illustrated by another talented friend of Carolyn's Allyson Hean. These books are all about different things, from a dog's point of view (Buster's). Buster is an opinionated dog, and he doesn't mind who knows it. He's like Carolyn in some ways (many ways, actually), he knows a little bit about quite a few quite different things.<br />
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So the books Buster has written with Carolyn, in order of their publication are:<br />
1/ Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs<br />
2/ Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View<br />
3/ Dog Buddha's Thoughts<br />
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Carolyn and Buster the Dog had a blast writing these books, especially the third book. Carolyn has thoughts of being some sort of a secular Buddhist kind of person, without having much real knowledge on what it's all about. But she read a book about it, and thought about how dogs might consider the whole thing, and so the book got written. To get copies of any of these books, take a <a href="https://carolyncordonwriter.wordpress.com/my-books/">look here</a>.<br />
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The link above will be information for all of Carolyn's published books, - three by Buster the Dog and Carolyn, five by Carolyn alone. May you find something amongst the list of books that interests you.<br />
<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-46245020195326446372017-11-05T23:49:00.000-08:002017-11-05T23:49:25.093-08:00Garden Looking Good, Not So DogsIt's Spring, and our garden is flowering and growing nicely. My husband and I had some strawberries pick and eaten within seconds, as we were standing on our back veranda. Delicious! The strawberries are in hanging pots, up higher than the dogs can reach, much higher.<br />
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And I looked at our tomato plants which are in a part of our garden the dog's can't get into, unless we let them - the tomatoes are on the verge of turning red, and I'm hoping the warmer weather forecast for the next few days doesn't damage them, but helps with the 'going red' process instead. Time will tell.<br />
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Having dogs is lovely, having a garden is lovely, and having a productive garden is a fantastic thing. So a healthy garden is a lovely thing. Unfortunately, the situation with our dogs' health isn't quite so lovely. One of them isn't eating his dinner, another threw up last nights, and the other one, while well enough, is a very old dog with her own issues.<br />
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That's the nature of things though, isn't it? It's the cycle of life, born, live, healthy, sick, healed, to dead. Whether it's pets, pests, wild animals, weeds, vegetables, fruit, flowers, people, everything, sickness and health come and go, and at the end is always death. I know I'm getting a bit morbid here, but it's a fact of life, and I can't hide from the truth of it, it's right there in front of me.<br />
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I hope the sick dog thing is better again soon, a trip to the vet of Wednesday for the one who's not eating very well is possibly going to happen soon. Another trip to the vet is going to use up more of our money, but that's the role pet owners have to deal with. You look after them as best you can, feeding them, cleaning up after them, loving them, looking after their health.<br />
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We've had many dogs in our lives, and we love having them there, they're interesting, funny, and keep us involved with the natural world. Shoosh, don't mention snakes. Because of course, Summer follows Spring, and with summer can come snakes. Our hounds are hounds through and through, and whenever they're outside, they're lookiing for prey ...<br />
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I hope snakes stay away from our place this Summer, but if they don't, oh, more vet bills, and the ever present fear of a fatal snake bite ...Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-78865795474126699882017-10-18T20:31:00.000-07:002017-10-18T20:31:28.905-07:00Marketing Books & GardeningHi People. I'm writing here about two things I sometimes do that I find quite difficult, for a variety of different reasons. The book marketing reasons mostly relate to me being a disorganised person who is unsure of the best way to go about 'selling myself' well enough. I fear irritating others, yeah - as if that's the worst thing in this troubled world ... I am somewhat known, in some books and writing related circles, so I'm not completely hopeless at this though, so I won't lose hope in the chance of getting better at this 'Book Marketing' thing. So this one is a Mental thing.<br />
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The Gardening thing, that's related physical reasons. I'll never be as strong or physically able as someone would need to be to keep all of our place tidy and under control. I can do little things, sometimes, but none of the big things. Some things I can't do, others I don't do. I've never started a mower in my life, for instance, and can see no reason why I should start doing it now. I can't cut down big branches, or heft heavy things. My husband is able to do these things, and I support him in this by keeping out of his way.<br />
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Both of these things have benefits of course. If I can find a book reader who would like to buy one of my books, I'm more than happy in signing a copy for them and selling them a copy! If someone wanted me to talk to a group of people who may be interested in my books, I am always happy to talk about the stuff I've written, whatever it is. Speaking in public is scary to many people and used to be scary to me too, but fortunately I'm over that now. (So if you need someone to talk, give me a call!)<br />
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The benefits of gardening are quite different. A garden gives beautiful things to look at, sniff, and eat. A garden brings birds and other creatures along, and I love watching the birds that visit our garden! I love the strawberries we have growing at the moment, I loved the capsicums we had until hubby pulled up the spent plants, I love the herbs that go into meals or cups of herbal tea. We have lots of garlic growing at the moment, and I love that we're going to keep up with our 'garlic' needs for a good few months (I hope). I love the fact that very soon, our tomato plants will have little cherry tomatoes that are red not green, as they ripen, yum!<br />
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The garden is blooming, but most of that is thanks to my husband's work, not mine. He is my carer as well as my husband, and he's doing a superb job of caring for me! He doesn't help with the book marketing side of my life though. He recognises that I'm the one who knows more about that stuff, even if I don't do lots and lots of it. I do have lots of books in my car, ready to sell to others, at any time though ... It would be lovely if it were as simple as just driving somewhere and opening the back of my car to sell books to hordes of desperate book buyers waiting for me ...<br />
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Buster the Dog, who is always with me, even if I don't acknowledge his presence at every moment of my life, he would do these things differently, I suspect. Buster is more of an excitable type, more Me, Me, Me! than I am. I'm quieter, more subdued. Of course I'm real and Buster is a figment of my imagination, so life is easy for him ...<br />
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So that's it for now, if you'd like to know more about me and my writing, get in touch! Woof!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-13417684199354779262017-09-11T20:48:00.003-07:002017-09-11T20:48:51.509-07:00Book Written Published and Launched - What's Next?Books can be like gardens, I think. And writers can be like gardeners. The writer toils away to do their very best, planting their words into some kind of ordered way, pruning anything not needed, taking away weed-words to let the useful and/or beautiful stuff prosper.<br />
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A book that has been written well, will bring joy to many, as a well-made garden can bring joy to others. Both books and gardens, if neglected can turn to unwanted rubbish too, though. Many writers, like many gardeners, can begin their task, but due to a variety of reasons, neglect to finish off what they began, and so what could have been lovely, languishes in a far less than lovely condition.<br />
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When you do the work though, what lovely gardens and books can come into the world! I'm a writer. I think about things, lots of different things, and I look at the world, think about the world, in a variety of ways and in a variety of forums. Twitter and Facebook have been places where I have placed many words, perhaps wastefully, or perhaps not. Who can tell if and when something a person writes might connect with someone else and inspire more, and one may hope wise, words.<br />
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The garden related images here are both from our garden - the rose bush the rose bud grew on has now been pruned and is ready to burst back into action now that Spring is rapidly approaching. The bush with the orange flowers is a Cape something or other bush (I always forget its name). The two bushes were already growing here, as the rose was, when we moved to our home nearly forty years ago. My husband has done much of the work in our garden, and I certainly am thankful for that. He toils outside as I toil inside, with my writing. We both work at what we do, with good results, most of the time.<br />
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The book here, '"Dog Buddha's Thoughts", is my most recent one, a funny book, which is the third in the Buster the Dog series, which began with "Dig It - Gardening Tips For Dogs", many years ago, and which gave the name for this blog. We moved out to the country so we could breed dogs, and we did that, and the related dog showing for quite a while. But life changes and things we want to do, and get joy from, can change too. When the fun faded with showing our dogs, it was an easy enough thing to simply give it all away, and retake our weekends for other pursuits.<br />
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Life and meaning go together, and to live a life well, you must be able to find meaning in the living of that life, I think. This issue is one I've begun thinking much on in the past days, and perhaps my next book will be an exploration of meaning, and senses. The 'senses' issue certainly follows on from the "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" book. In the book, Buster the Dog has a bit to say about the sense of smell, well quite a bit to say, actually. Who knows, maybe the writing of those words has prompted me new mindful meanderings around various 'senses'.<br />
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Until very recently I hadn't consciously thought about the senses that go beyond the obvious basic ones of senses of taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. But there are so many more senses - sense of self, sense of self-esteem, sense of wonder, sense of understanding, sense of humour, and I'm sure many more. As I wrote, I've only just begun thinking about these things, there may be plenty more to come!<br /><br />Thank you to readers of this blog, and if anyone knows the name of this plant, please tell us! I will send a copy of the second book of this Buster the Dog series of books to the first Australian person who leaves a comment here! This second book is "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View".<br />
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I am going to check myself to find the correct answer, and will award this prize to the person with that correct answer.Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-44752000188037655762017-08-02T00:24:00.000-07:002017-08-02T00:46:23.233-07:00Third Book in the Buster the Dog series is Launched<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The dog in this photo is not Buster the Dog. Buster the Dog is an imaginary dog who lives inside the head of Carolyn Cordon, the person whose blog this is. Carolyn knows the full parentage of Buster the Dog, because he came out her life and out of her imagination. Carolyn also know all about the dog n this photo.<br />
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This is Missy, who is a beautiful Pharaoh Hound, and a lovely pet (in almost every way you might imagine). Missy is relatively obedient, and even the bad points about Missy are not too terrible. The reason for this photo on this page is to draw attention. Carolyn has books to sell, Missy is being used, because she is beautiful, and because Missy is also sort of Buster the Dog's half-sister. Confused yet?<br />
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If Buster the Dog isn't real, how can he be Missy's brother? it's like this, Buster the Dog is based on puppies that happened that were never supposed to happen. One of Carolyn's Schnauzers (Nena) got far too friendly with the Pharaoh Hound she had (Kharis), when the schnauzer was having her first season, around thirteen years ago. Nature did its things, and yes, Nena had cute little puppies she should never have had ... The illustrator of the Buster the Dogs books is a friend of Carolyn's and she saw those puppies, so knew exactly what such a dog would look like.<br />
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A step has been missed here, hasn't it? The step is that Carolyn gave her friend (Ally Hean), some funny words about gardening, written as if she was a dog. The dog at the time of the words first being written was Carolyn's first Schnauzer and the piece was printed in the Schnauzer club newsletter years before Carolyn and Ally even knew each other. Ally took the words and used those puppies as the model for her drawing. They both enjoyed the results, so they decided to take this idea further.<br />
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More words were written, more illustrations created and so the pair decided to take this idea to a local printer, Grandeur Press and so the book, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" was created! The first print run and all subsequent print runs have been small, and certainly book sales are in the hundreds, rather than thousands. But many people who have read the book have enjoyed it. Carolyn was happy to sign copies of her book, and chat to others about dogs, and gardening, as well as getting some money to cover the costs for bringing the book out into the world!<br />
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It seems that one book wasn't enough though, and even though there were no initial thoughts of a 'series' of books for Buster the Dog, Carolyn eventually had another idea for another book by Buster the Dog. She wrote the new book, gave a copy of the text to Ally, and so the process began again. This new book was taken to a different printer, even closer to Carolyn, Bunyip Print & Copy in Gawler. This business had done copies of the first book over the years, when copies ran out. So after this second book "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", had its first print run, Carolyn had an idea, and realised she had a trilogy on its way. This is how and why the new book, "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" which had its first launch during the recent Adelaide Plains Festival of Words, came into being.Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-87520637711435410042017-07-14T22:44:00.000-07:002017-07-14T22:44:11.499-07:00A Friend Read my Book and Laughed and Laughed!If my book was a sad tale and I wanted to evoke sympathy for my struggling hero, that 'Laughed and Laughed' response would have worried me. But "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" is a humorous tale about Buddhism from a naughty, slightly snarky hound named Buster the Dog, and I'm thrilled with the response - Laughter is the best medicine for this author's self-esteem!<br />
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So the reader of my book loved it and found it hilarious, that is certainly a good first step! This book isn't 'out there' yet, but it is due to be launched on July 29, at the P/A Hotel in Gawler, during the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words. <a href="http://festivalofwords.info/">This Festival</a> is an important part of my writing life, and an important part of the writing group I'm President of, Adelaide Plains Poets Chapter and Verse.<br />
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And this funny book is "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" which I now know as the third book in the Buster the Dog series. When I wrote the book that I now call the first in the Buster the Dog series, the book that this whole blog is named after, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs", when I wrote that book, I had no idea of it going as far as it has, I just wanted to have a little bookish fun with my artistic friend, Ally Hean.<br />
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The first book has sold well enough that I keep on needing to order some more copies of it, and the second book, "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", has been selling copies every now and then too. I've been happy about the books selling, of course, but I have a funny feeling this third book will out sell the first two, and who knows, may actually make money into four figures, rather than just three figures ... Books are strange things, readers of books can be strange too, and you never know what people might want to read ...<br />
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Anyway, I have this set of three books, I'm getting ready to launch that third book, in a fortnight, and it's all fun and games. I just have to get the final editing of the book done, and corrections sent off to the printer, and all will be good. I imagine before next weekend, my car/office will be loaded up with the copies of "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" and my nerves will have begun upsetting my tummy! Nah, I'm not nervous, I've done this heaps of times, what could go wrong?<br />
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Hmm, I could get the books and my car could catch fire, I could crash into a bank and my car could be take by the police, I could suffer from amnesia and forget who I am, someone could say all of these Buster the Dog books are totally stupid and I should be ashamed of myself for selling them, cats could finally take over the world and ban books that are nasty to cats. Or cat owners all over the world could lobby and do the same thing on behalf of all cats. Or I could suffer from an acute case of low self-esteem and crawl into a small hole and refuse to come out again ...<br />
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I am a writer. I have sold my books. Some people have enjoyed my books. Some people have even found my books inspiring and have been helped by them (not any of the Buster the Books). I am aware of my ability to make others feel better about life, and smile. I am a writer, I will <a href="http://festivalofwords.info/programme.html">launch</a> this new book and people will smile. Life continues to be good ...Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-2333265898363144322017-06-30T21:52:00.003-07:002017-07-05T02:12:11.994-07:00Book launch at Adelaide Plains Festival of WordsI'm thrilled that my next/new book is almost ready to be printed, and it will be ready to be launched during the "2017 <a href="http://festivalofwords.info/programme.html">Adelaide Plains Festival of Words</a> (Freedom)". I'm excited about this, fun times for dogs and humans!<br />
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And what is this new book about? The new book is the third in the 'Buster the Dog' Series - "Dog Buddha's Thoughts". This is what it will say on the back cover (blurb):<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Buddhism is a thing most humans know something about, but have you ever thought about dogs and how Buddhism is to the canine world? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether you’ve ever considered these matters or not, this book will surely add greatly to your knowledge on the matter. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://festivalofwords.info/programBuster the Dog certainly knows quite a bit about this, and in “Dog Buddha’s Thoughts”, Buster shares what he knows. This book gives some of the thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and Buster the Dog’s interpretation of each thought. </span></div>
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Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-85527777984711186582017-06-20T23:36:00.001-07:002017-06-20T23:36:20.390-07:00What's This Book AboutThis is the first draft version of the back cover blurb for "Dog Buddha's Thoughts":<br />
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“Buddhism is a thing most humans know something about, but
have you ever thought about dogs and how Buddhism is to the canine world? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Whether you’ve ever considered these matters or not, this
book will surely add greatly to your knowledge on the matter. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Buster the Dog certainly knows quite a bit about this, and
in “Dog Buddha’s Thoughts”, Buster shares what he knows. This book gives some
of the thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and Buster the Dog’s interpretation of each
thought. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And Carolyn Cordon, what’s her role here? Carolyn just types
it all up, and puts it in this book, for the spiritual betterment of all!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Does that sound interesting, even intriguing? I hope so, and I hope you're so interested and intrigued that you want to get a copy of the book!</div>
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And this the image that will go on the front cover of "Dog Buddha's Thoughts". Impressive? I think so! I'm so glad that Ally Hean has done illustrations for me again. She is one clever artist!</div>
Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-86150258455106457442017-06-20T22:35:00.000-07:002017-06-20T22:36:09.741-07:00Dog Buddha's Thoughts Book Gets BiggerWell, I've been further editing my next book, fiddling with this and that, and the book just keeps on getting bigger and bigger! I'm seeing the Illustrator (Ally Hean) next week, and hope to have more thoughts and insights about the project arriving with the coffee and possible cake that will be a part of our discussions.<br />
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Self-publishing books is an interesting thing to do, I feel, I just wish I was an absolute star at doing it, rather than just an ordinary person doing it ... But hey,. I'm doing something many people will never do in their lives, and next month will be launching my fourth, no fifth self-published book, and I'm proud of myself for that.<br />
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Yes, it would be nice if someone else did all of the tricksy marketing things, and book setting up things, and getting it in libraries things. I'm certainly not great at those things. I'm a writer, I write, that's who I am. But I'm a self-published writer too, which means I'm a writer, a publisher, a book marketer and whatever else goes with getting the book 'out there'.<br />
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But this book "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" has been lots of fun too, it isn't a drag to get it done. I had so much fun writing the bits of text, thinking up the thoughts, and then thinking up Buster the Dog's responses to those thoughts. Buster and I are a great team, and who knows how much fun we might have with the next book, whatever it ends up being. And who knows, maybe one day a real publisher might want to re-publish the three books Buster the Dog and I have already done?! Haha as if!<br />
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This is one of Ally's illustrations. It needs a little editing still, but I love it! There is a great image for the front cover, and I have two more illustrations as well. This book is close to my heart, and I'm glad to be working with my friend Ally again on one of Buster the Dog's books!<br />
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This book is (I hope) going to be finished and printed soon, and then launched at the <a href="http://festivalofwords.info/">Adelaide Plains Festival of Words</a>. The Festival, is also a project that is close to my heart. That project is organised by Adelaide Plains Poets Inc, and we're getting more and more excited about this event, our third Festival. We're a small group, but we're doing big things!<br />
<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-91657531910076474872017-05-11T18:28:00.000-07:002017-05-11T18:28:10.783-07:00Exciting News About the Third Book!I had a great time yesterday, having coffee, lunch a a chat with my friend who is the illustrator of the 'Buster the Dog' books. I gave Ally (Allyson Hean), a draft copy of the text of "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" and she will do the illustrations needed for the book.<br />
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Ally also gave me some great feedback, which is always a good thing when you want what you're doing together to be absolutely fantastic. It means I have more writing to do, but I love writing, so that's not a problem. Talking with Ally yesterday means that I now know what the front cover of my book will look like, and that's super exciting!<br />
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We talked about which breed of dog would be the best choice for the Dog Buddha to be. My ideas before talking with Ally had been leaning toward a kelpie or border collie, but Ally was far wiser than I, she was thinking about Asian dogs, a tibetan spaniel or sharpei. Of course that is the obvious answer to the question - the dog buddha looks like a sharpei!<br />
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Anyway, the book is looking like being a nice sized book, with some fun text and great illustrations. I'm getting more and more excited about it all! I have a launch date, I have enough money to pay for getting the book printed I have someone writing a forward for me, and the illustrations will be done in plenty of time too, wonderful!<br />
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The book will be launched on 29 July, during the 2017 Adelaide Plains Festival of Words. I hope I can attract lots of people along for the book launch, and that everyone there loves my new book! It's been such a great time thinking about what 'Buster the Dog' thinks about these thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and writing it all down for the book. Coming up with the actual thoughts was fun too. My life has been such a lot of fun, it seems like a great dream that I'm living!<br />
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I love writing books, I love selling books! Sharing my thoughts with other people is a fun way to go in life!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-76701126146558694022017-04-18T22:54:00.000-07:002017-04-18T23:15:30.805-07:00Dog Buddha's Thoughts Progress UpdateI'm pleased to be able to tell everyone that I have some progress on the book to report Yay! I have taken the material from one version of the file, and moved it to the new version of the file. Um yay? Really?<br />
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Yes really - getting these two files organised was a huge task, and having them separated was playing with my head, so it was well worth spending the time to copy stuff from on file and paste it in the other file. It may not sound like much, but trust me, it was.<br />
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I now have something I can call a first draft in progress, whereas before I just had two files playing at being something, without much actually there that looked like it could become a book ... The first draft version is in the proper order, and while there are still quite a few words to be added, I know exactly where they need to go now.<br />
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I may have written that a couple of times, but it's an important thing, knowing what you're doing. If I was still adding "thoughts" randomly as I was before, with no idea of which section these thoughts should be it, that would be a useless thing. Please believe me when I say I'm working well, and this book will be ready in time!<br />
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I love book launches, especially when it's my book being launched, and I'm certain "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" will be finished and printed by the end of July, which is when this book is scheduled to be launched. This special date is during the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words <a href="http://festivalofwords.info/">festivalofwords.info</a> go there for a look at the great program of word related things planned.<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-56364546446493825402017-04-17T02:07:00.000-07:002017-04-17T02:07:00.871-07:00Reasons for Lack of Progress ...I know I'm supposed to be working on the third book in the "Buster the Dog" series of books, that began with "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs". I also know I want to finish this third book, and launch it at the 'Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2017 Freedom', which is happening at the end of July this year.<br />
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Yes, I know these things, but why on earth was I fluffing around on the internet earlier today, trying to download the papyrus font to my lovely new lap top? And why have I been on Facebook, when I could have been typing new words for this book, a follow-up to the second book, which is titled "Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View?<br />
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Why, oh I know the reason! The obvious and true reason is procrastination. I'm fluffing around doing anything but actually writing new words. I'm online, flitting here there and everywhere I should be. And where I should be is offline, and typing the words for this new book, which I'm actually quite excited about!<br />
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I want to see this new book printed, but before that can happen, I have to finish writing it. And given that I predict it will be a book of approximately 20,000 words, and it will be illustrated and will have a foreword, both of these things done by other people, based on the words in the book, I have to have at least a first draft done in plenty of time for those other people to play their part in the process ...<br />
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I don't have to find a publisher for this book, because I intend to self-publish again, which takes some pressure, but maybe if there was a publisher and editor putting pressure on me I might find it easier to stay on track with it. Anyway, I've put the word out, and if anyone is interested by giving me a metaphorical kick up the bottom, on this blog, feel free to leave comments on this blog to help me stay on track!<br />
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I'm thinking I should post the current word count, here on this blog post, and perhaps add new posts about the increasing word count every few days. What do others think about that idea, and about the problem of writing and procrastination ... Thank you!<br />Oh the current word count for "Dog Buddha's Thoughts" is around 2,700. So about a tenth of the way through. I can do this, especially with help for others!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-26627239488333421022016-12-25T00:35:00.001-08:002016-12-25T00:35:42.370-08:00Taste of next Buster book - Dog Buddha's ThoughtsThere are two books 'written' by Buster the Dog, (with help from me). These two books were fun to write,and have been well accepted by readers. Now it's time for the next one, and I'm enjoying the process again!<br />
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Once I have enough material I will forward the text to my illustrator - the clever lady Allyson Hean who illustrated the first two books, and she will give me some excellent pictures yet again. This process is an easy one - trying to find a publisher is a pain and self-publishing cuts through the bull, and I love the freedom of doing or organising it all. A publisher might not like something I love, and want me to change it. I don't have that problem! I'm a little bit precious about these Buster Books ...<br />
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The first of the books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" was never going to be the first in a series of books. Neither was the follow-up book, "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", published this year, going to be the second book in a series of books. This third book though, "Dog Buddha's Thoughts", this book was going to be the third book in the series from the moment I conceived the idea of it. This made me realise the first two books were actually a part of a series ... and who knows where it might end...<br />
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I've been collecting possible 'thoughts' the Dog Buddha may have about life, in the meantime, and it's fun! I'm thinking after this third book, there may be another book called Dog's Dinner or Dog's Breakfast. Dog Days is another possibility or Dog Day Afternoon ... They will both require much research though. A cookbook called Dog's Dinner is the most likely out of these possibilities, I feel ...<br />
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Enough of such talk, I still have to finish book three, and find some more thoughts of the Dog Buddha, and then write up around 250-300 words about each of the thoughts... A fun task, but Christmas has got in the way today and the weeks before.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />
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Are you looking forward to 2017? I am, having a writing project to work on always keeps me happy!<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-8095319686217907622016-12-23T01:10:00.000-08:002016-12-23T01:10:34.551-08:00Things are Becoming Increasingly Progressingish!Well yesterday, a Thursday, was the day for me to be at my favourite Cafe in Gawler or possibly in the entire world - Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery. On Thursdays I go to Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery (PJs), and basically stay there, talking, writing, have food and coffee, until it's time for me to head off to another Gawler venue for my writing group meeting.<br />
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I've been a little sidetracked recently with my writing, I'm certainly blaming Christmas for that ... Things are all skew-if, that's for sure. Anyway, I decided to do some pre-preparation, and printed out some things to do with my work-in-progress "Dog Buddha's Thoughts". When I arrived there were people I needed to talk to etc, but eventually, I had the chance to get to work on my own writing. And work I surely did.<br />
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By the time I left PJs yesterday, I had my next book in the 'Buster the Dog' series organised and I had the writer for the foreword of the book organised (Michelle Kynenburg, who did the same thing for me for book two (Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View). This is a great thing, but even greater is the way I managed to get all of the snippets of book put into separate sections. I whittled my original plan of eight chapters down to three sections, and assigned all of the 'thoughts' I've written so far to their correct chapter.<br />
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I need more thoughts still though. around another four thoughts for each section I think. And then once that is done, by the end of January 2017, I hope, I will send the thoughts all off to my illustrator (Allyson Hean), and also send the manuscript to Michelle for her to begin thinking about and writing the foreword for the book. This is fun! And then once those parts are all done, I do a final read of it, give it to a couple of readers for feedback perhaps, and then off to the printer for getting the books done!<br />
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I love the freedom of doing it myself, instead of the tedious and sometimes disappointing method of the traditional method of getting books out into the world (or facing rejection after rejection and then giving up, another disappointed wannabee writer ... I am perfectly happy to be a self-publisher. These days, this form of publishing has gained far more respect, and most people no longer look down on those taking this path.<br />
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So that's it, my next book is well on the way to being ready to be launched at the Adelaide Plains Festival of Words 2017! And that Festival was also talked about yesterday, and some tasks assigned to sub-committee members. All good again!<br />
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I love my life!<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-4702672216168593742016-11-29T01:17:00.000-08:002016-11-29T01:17:35.092-08:00Progress on Book Three in the Buster the Dog SeriesEvery few day (or sometimes more often) I or Buster, the dog who lives in the back of my brain, have another idea for the new book. The new book is titled "Dog Buddha's Thoughts", and I/we am/are having lots of fun writing all of the 'thoughts' that have to be thought up to make the work in progress a book.<br />
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The fact that I have an event that I already know I must have the book ready for, could worry me, but this day isn't until late July next year. So my silly brain thinks, oh that's a long way away, and doesn't worry. Then my sensible brain says - don't be stupid, the time can come and go in a flash and you'll look even stupider ...<br />
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I think between these two parts of my brain, things should be OK. I/we come up with a new thought, it gets written down or typed up, and the text of the book grows. This book, the same as the first two books, "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" (First book) and "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" (Second book), will be illustrated. The illustrator Allyson Hean, has said she's more than happy to help me out with this again, and so all I have to do is to get a copy of the test to her in enough time for her to get the illustrations done.<br />
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There will be fewer illustrations this time. I've been thinking hard about the setting out of the book, and I think I have it organised, and it will work well. One potential problem is that not all of the current thoughts are actually in the document, which is on my computer at home. Other thoughts are written down in various notebooks and on scraps of paper. These are in my handbag, and in my car. There may be some in the house, but I don't think so. And of course there are many more still inside my head, or out there in the world waiting to be captured by Buster and me.<br />
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The process of writing these books, where there is no pressure to appeal to a potential publisher is a fun process, and I love getting into Buster's brain, and the brains of our four dogs, as much as I can. I want this book to be a fun book again, and I want it to have a level of seriousness too, because of the nature of the subject matter - Buddhism. But remembering the sometimes playful nature of the Dalai Lama, and knowing dogs, there is a good mix of serious and amusing.<br />
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I don't really know a lot about Buddhism, but it does interest me, and finding ways in which dogs could be said to behave in an enlightened way (with a doggy angle). I watch my dogs a lot, and I enjoy it. I hope my dogs enjoy being watched, but you never know. Does anyone else watch their dogs and try to analyse what they do. Please leave a message, I'd love to read about it!<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-38208413469761139142016-10-09T03:05:00.000-07:002016-10-09T03:05:01.255-07:00Our Diggiest Dog - at it AgainWhen you have a dog that loves to dig, and has loved to do it since he was a tiny puppy, it can be difficult to break him of the habit. When that dog also has the gene for digging (inherited from his super diggy dad), well I suppose you have to concrete the entire yard, watch him like a hawk, never let him out or just get used to it.<br />
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You can do a combination of any or some of things of course. We more or less stick with the not letting him out without being watched, combined with having an area where he is allowed to dig. This last area is the dog run, which is just beyond our backyard, and our dog, Holkschter Lah De Dah, a Pharaoh Hound, has dug some fine holes down the back, where he's allowed to dig.<br />
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This dog run has a damaged fence at the moment, and while our dogs don't seem to be jumpers, we know they could easily jump this damaged fence it they wanted to. We make sure the dogs don't have access to the dog run unless they are under some kind of watch. When the fence has been fixed, we can be more relaxed about the whole thing ...<br />
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It's coming to the hotter part of the year though, and we know there are probably snakes around the place. There have been in the past and will be in the future. We also know the snakes around our place are likely to be brown snakes, that can kill a dog with just one bite. Snake bites are expensive to deal with, if your dog (or cat) gets bitten. It's a tragic thing to have happen, and I would be grateful to never ever have a dog of ours bitten again!<br />
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Lah De's little sister, Missy, was bitten a couple of years ago, and I'm happy we were able to get her to the vet in time. It was expensive though, and could easily not have been successful at keeping her alive. Missy is mostly a sweet girl, with a couple of less than sweet habits, but I'm happy she is still in our little pack of dogs.<br />
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I launched a new book very recently, "Tense & Still", a collection of poetry about the various creatures in my life. Missy is in there, her and her brother's mother is in there too, as are snakes, cats, rabbits, and a variety other lovely, and unlovely critters.<br />
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Copies of this book are available from the <a href="http://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/poetry.html">publisher Ginninderra Press</a>, or from the Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery in Gawler on Walker Place. Or you can contact me on kittycordo@gmail.com to arrange getting a copy. The cost of the book is $18 plus postage as applicable. Or you can talk to your local library and request the book, to read the poems.<br /><br />I don't have any diggy dog poems there, but there are certainly some creatures in the book that know how to dig!</div>
Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-73574381346611075202016-09-04T00:42:00.000-07:002016-09-04T00:42:24.053-07:00Getting Organised ...What am I going to get organised? My blogs, that's what. Oh who am I kidding, I am a long, long way away from getting my blogs organised. I know this because, apart from making a guess, that would probably be wrong, I don't really know how many blogsites I actually have.<br />
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I know there are around twelve, no, maybe fifteen. Some of them are Blogger blogs, as is this on. Some of them are Wordpress blogs. I have one of each that gets a moderate amount of attention from me. Well really, it isn't a moderate amount of attention, it's a poor amount of attention. A moderate amount would be one post a week, I think. I spend far more time on other social media ...<br />
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Does that matter? Should I, or could I be doing more on my blogs? Well, I'm a writer, a self-published writer, who has books to sell, of course I should be spending more time on my blogs. Or better yet, I should perhaps be spending far more time on ONE blog, a main blog, a blog for myself as a writer!<br />
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I have a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CarolynCordonpublicspeaker/">Facebook page</a> as a writer, but I can't really format that page very much, and I can't put up lots of links to it, or if I can, I don't know how to do it well. I know a little bit about these social media things, not a lot. And I don't really want to go to much further into these things at the moment.<br />
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What I do want to do is to get one blog for myself as a writer, one blog that is mine, not a free one, as I have at the moment, but a paid blogsite. I know the basics of how to go about doing this, and I recently went to an interesting workshop in such things. Anyway, this site here attracts many view, and maybe I should look doing more with this site? Or maybe the most used Wordpress blog? No, a brand new site, in my own name, that's the way to go.<br />
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So will I do it soon? Oh who knows, I sure don't, I don't even know how many blogs I have! Haha - do you have similar problems to this too? I'd love to know if you managed to tidy things up, and how you did it. No scams or spam though, thanks ...<br />
<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-49609290008790284392016-08-15T02:10:00.000-07:002016-08-15T02:48:22.826-07:00Food From our Garden - Yummy GoodnessFor tea tonight (I'm dining alone for a change), I have decided to make a light meal, using some of the good green things we have growing in our garden, plus other foods from our kitchen. The foods from our garden are garlic, chives and kale.<br />
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I chose leaves from the garlic bulbs in the garden, some chive and kale leaves. I cut up the garlic and chives leaves, and also a small mushroom (cut into small dice), as well as a small amount of cheddar cheese (also cut into small dice). I put a left-over wrap on an oven tray, spread the wrap with sweet chilli sauce and then spread all of the chopped up food evenly over it, and put it in the oven (210 C).<br />
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With the kale, I cut each kale leaf in half lengthwise, along the stem. This left me with half kale leaves that are about the same size (but not thickness) of potato fries. I put these into a plastic bag, sprinkled on a little olive oil, then place them on another baking tray, then sprinkled on a little stock powder.<br />
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I left it all in the oven for fifteen minutes and then checked how it was going. It smelt divine, and when I open the oven, I could see it was nearly ready, the kale crisping up, the wrap getting firmer and browner and the cheese also browning a little, yum!<br />
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I turned off the oven, then finished typing this up. My tummy is saying hurry up, and now the proof of the goodness of the meal is about to be tested. I am certain the end result will be excellent. If I don't come back to report on it, you can be assured it was a fine meal. Not much there for the dogs, although I did share some of the mushroom with the dogs when I was chopping it up - the dogs are always in the kitchen when food is being prepared.<br />
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Off I go, goodbye!<br />
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Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-2526263288593973242016-08-03T01:54:00.001-07:002016-08-03T01:54:39.029-07:00"Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" Launched!Well it was an exciting weekend, the last weekend of July! The 2016 Gawler Festival of Words - Identity was a great success. The people attending have said great things about the Festival events, and the attendee numbers were higher than last year.<br /><br />With excellent ideas, and a team of passionate people running it all, it was almost everything we could have wished for. The things that weren't everything we wanted were few, but we have taken those on board and that will go toward the 2017 Gawler Fesitval of Words - Freedom even better than this year's event.<br />
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The most relevant event to mention on this blog, is the launch of the follow-up book to "Dig It", and that is "Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View". This book was very well received,and copies of both books sold well on the Saturday afternoon of the Festival. With "Dig It!" being the first book in the Buster the Dog series, and "Doggone It!" being the second, will there be a third book launched for the next Festival?<br />
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Ah, now, who knows ... There are certainly words written, and a probably book title almost decided on. There is even thinking about what the fourth book might be about, with an appropriate title for that book too. Ah, life with Buster the Dog is never boring!<br /><br />The writer is ready, the illustrator is ready and Buster the Dog is ready - just stand back and wait to see what 2017 might bring!<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-69628665478346935222016-06-19T01:08:00.000-07:002016-06-19T01:13:53.999-07:00Books Sold Out! More Available Soon.Copies of "Dig It, Gardening Tips for Dogs" have been flying out of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Poetic-Justice-Cafe-Gallery-1579852282248841/">Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery</a> lately, with none currently available there. There are stocks on hold, as we wait for the launch of the second book in the 'Buster the Dog' series.<br />
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The second book, "Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" is at the printers as I type this, but that one also won't be available just yet.<br />
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What are we waiting for? We're waiting for the Gawler Festival of Words 2016 - Identity. Doggone it will be launched at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Poetic-Justice-Cafe-Gallery-1579852282248841/">Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery</a> in Gawler, on the second day of the Festival, which is happening 29-31 July 2016. So if you want a book, you have to wait. But to make the wait worthwhile, copies of 'Doggone It!" will be sold for the lower price of $15 for all of July and August. Order or buy your book before then and you too can have a signed copy.<br />
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And if you don't already have a copy of "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" order your copy of that one too, and you can get them both for a total cost of $25 (plus postage if you can't pick it up at Poetic Justice).<br />
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The Gawler Festival of Words is shaping up to be the 'Go To' event in the north of Adelaide, with short film screenings, Writing workshops, publishers, a train ride and more!<br />
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Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-80521138111902651602016-06-14T02:55:00.004-07:002016-06-14T02:55:43.691-07:00Follow Up to "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" launched Next Month!"Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" will be launched during the Gawler Festival of Words - Identity -2016, 29 - 31 July. The Festival last year was good, and we hope and expect this Festival to be even better. And with a new book in the Buster series of books, I say woof, woof, be there and have a great time!<br />
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I visited the printer in Gawler today (Bunyip Print, great guys!). I had a look at the most recent proof copy of Doggone it, and after one change, said, yes, it's good, please print 100 copies for the launch! Exciting times, and exciting times call for amazing offers.<br />
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So my amazing offer is this - if anyone buys a copy of both "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" and "Doggone It, Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View", they will get a signed copy at the Festival price of $25.00 plus postage. So here's your chance, send me a message via a comment here, and I will send you my details.Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-17156020936928781542016-06-03T03:03:00.001-07:002016-06-03T03:04:52.647-07:00Living the Good Life, with CoffeeI have many 'roles' in my life, my identity is a many layered thing, as is true for many people. I am a wife, a mother, a former dog exhibitor and breeder, I am a thinking person who cares deeply about many things. I am also a poet and writer, as well as a creative writing instructor and encourager. These last things take up most of my time though, they have done since I gave up paid work with others, and began attempting to make some semblance of a living with my creative writing-related things. I am a blogger too, of course, and this conversation began perhaps when I wrote this blog <a href="https://gardendog.wordpress.com/">Writing Life</a> (I have more blogs than I can really take care of properly, but c'est la vie ...)<br />
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The dogs are a part of my writing life too, and they are fun to live with, and fun to write about too. I'm having so much fun working with 'Buster the dog', in this series of books that began with "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs", and continue this year with "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View". This second book in the series is very close to going to Bunyip Print, in Gawler, to be printed, and I am excited about that.<br />
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I'm also excited about the third book in the series, that seems to almost be writing itself, as I sit and think at my favourite cafe, Poetic Justice Cafe Gallery, also in Gawler. This third book won't be in a postion to be launched until some time next year at the earliest, but I am excited about the way it's going. By 2017, who knows how I will be feeling about it. My thoughts may have gone in a different direction by then ...<br />
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The joys of being a self-publisher are that they enable you yo do exactly what you want to do, with no publisher standing over your shoulder and keeping you in check. Of course, that publisher also has a budget for marketing the books written, whereas I can only print out as many books as I can afford, and that will fit inside my little car/mobile office.<br />
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This is me, at P Js<br />
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I enjoy my writer's life though, taking part in things at the cafe where I am the Writer-in-Residence, where I hold Poetry Workshops every Sunday morning, and am there every Monday and Thursday as well, able to be involved in a supportive group there at lunchtime Monday, and at lunchtime every Thursday, ready and able to talk about books and writing. On the last Sunday of every month, as well as an abbreviated poetry workshop at the PJ venue, I also take part, with another poet and member of the writing group I'm involved with, in running workshops and poetry readings on the last Sunday in every month, again in Gawler at the P/A Hotel (Prince Albert).<br />
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This may sound like a lot to other people, but I'm having a great time doing it, and I am convinced doing all of this is keeping me going so well, as I battle in life with MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Being able to have a positive attitude to the things I face in life works well for me, and I hope will continue to work well for me. Giving to others helps me, and the love and help they give back to me is wonderfully supportive and helps me immensely.<br />
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I find having other people involved in my writing life makes it better for me, and better for others. If you have people who help you with your own writing life, I'd love to hear about it! Please leave a message here ...<br />
<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-9266271788804851102016-05-23T21:52:00.000-07:002016-06-10T19:13:49.010-07:00Doggone It! Mindfulness Ready to Take Over!Well to say it's ready to take over is going a bit far, but the time for the next book in the Buster series to be released to the world is getting closer and closer. This book, "Doggone It! Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" will be a further look into the thoughts of Buster the Dog, and the varied ways he sees the world.<br />
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Getting this book written, and then put together with lovely images from illustrator Allyson Hean was fun and frustrating. The frustration didn't come from Ally's work, it was from the wresting with the Publisher program, and with my head. Buster wisely stayed in the back of my head and left this part of it to me. He's happy to help me write the words, and then he steps away.<br />
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Self-publishing is people business, and Buster knows that. I did the text and Ally did the illustrations and putting together part way back when the first book "Dig It! Gardening Tips for Dogs" came out. I was glad that the book that came from her work has been a popular book, and in recognition of that popularity, I have printed some more copies, getting ready for the glorious day we launch the follow up book. There may well be people at the book launch who haven't already got themselves a copy of Dig It, and want to have the set ...<br />
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Having said 'the set', I have to say I don't actually know what and when the third book may be. I've thought about a couple of different things, but realise I still have plenty of time for the next book. 2017 will be the year to work on that one. Plenty of time. This book creating thing is fun and creative, but there are many other things going on at the moment too. Money is always an issue to consider, and marketing is not my most fun part of it.<br />
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Marketing and doing it well, they are skills I'm certainly no expert in. I can talk about my books, no problems with that, but getting bookings to do so, and keeping things organised, I sure don't star at those things. Still, if I wanted to make mega bucks, I probably would be writing quite different things, and going about the making of the books in a different manner ...<br />
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If you've ever self-published a book, and done well with it, please leave a message, I could do with some tips, and I'm sure others who visit here would appreciate it too!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-30429913465802000112016-04-11T04:13:00.001-07:002016-04-11T04:17:12.942-07:00Why Buster looks like he doesThe story of why Buster looks as he does is a slightly shameful one, one that we hid from, to some extent, when it happened. To go back to the beginning, my husband and I, for many years since we got our first Schnauzer in 1987, spent much time showing, and then breeding pedigree dogs, first schnauzers, and then pharaoh hounds as well. Then we realised our hearts weren't really that interested in the pure bred dog game, that seemed less and less like a fine way to spend our weekends, and we gave it all away.<br />
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Before we gave up dog showing, something happened that made us stop showing for a while, half a year in fact. That thing was something that purebred dog people should never be involved with, and that is cross-breeding. We had two different breeds of dogs at the time. We had Schnauzers and we had one Pharaoh Hound, our first. The Pharaoh Hound was a handsome thing, and one of our schnauzers obviously felt the same about him.<br />
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Nena was having her first season, and was at theat stage when she really, really, really wanted to do something about it. She went through two fences to get to Kharis, he did what came naturally to him, she did what come naturally to her, and Nature did what comes naturally to animals when they mate ... Puppies arrived around 63 days, as is usual, and we then had to find homes for what were certainly not as sought after as our usual pure bred puppies.<br />
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So these puppies are exactly what Buster is, a Pharoah Hound, Schnauzer cross. A lean dog, built a little like a greyhound, with a mostly smooth coat, but with a slightly bushy face. Slightly like a Pharoah Hounds face (big pointy ears), slightly like a Schnauzer face, bearded. It was a mistake that we didn't keep Nena locked up, but it was certainly not done by us, it was done by the dogs.<br />
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We certainly make sure we keep our in season girl dogs well away from out male dog, who is the son of Kharis. We still have Nena, but she is desexed now, and far too old for puppies now anyway. She had some litters of lovely pure Schnauzer puppies after that mistake litter, puppies that had proper Schnauzer ears, not big stick up in the air ears!<br />
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The litters are all over now though, and the dogs just lounge around the house, or race around the yard, with no need to prance around the show ring. Life is good.<br />
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We still have more dogs than the average person (four of them), but we are happy to have our weekends back so we can do the things most (non-show) people do. Being involved in dog showing is the kind of thing that can certainly take over your life.<br />
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Anyway - we just have pet dogs now, so being involved in that bit of cross-breeding is no longer something we have to keep hidden. It was never our idea anyway, it was the dog's idea.<br />
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So, if you were to name the offspring of the mis-mating that happened, you would call them Pharaozers perhaps. Whatever you call them, they were cute enough. Having shown dogs for about twenty years, I was against cross breeding of dogs, and looked down on those who had puppies without pedigrees. I've settled down on the idea about that now, to some extent.<br />
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I have friends with beloved pet dogs, of various shapes and types, and I can see these little bits and pieces pets bring much joy to the lives of their owners. I'm thinking about Cathy's Bess, and Suzanne's Mozart, and I know these dogs are absolutely perfect! Oh except for Mozart's shoe fetish ...<br />
So many shoes chewed ... But he's so cute and loving!Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5543836966975892692.post-50641268629493347622016-04-11T03:49:00.000-07:002016-04-11T04:28:36.654-07:00The "Buster" book series - Book TwoYes, it's official - "Dig It - Gardening Tips for Dogs" is now officially Book One in the Buster book series. The book I've been working on late last year and up until now, "Doggone It - Mindfulness from a Dog's Point of View" is Book Two.<br />
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"Doggone It" will be printed this year, and probably be launched during the Gawler Festival of Words in July. This book has more pages, and and touches on deep life issues. Further to that, while the illustrator is the same as with the first book, she shows more mature in her illustrations, and touches more deeply with the innermost truths of Buster.<br />
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If you enjoyed the fun of Buster having fun in the garden, you will be amazed at the wisdom he shows as he looks closely into Mindfulness. As the co-writer of these books with Buster, I have enjoyed exploring my inner canine, woof, woof! Exploring Mindfulness while channeling Buster has helped me to consider the the various aspects of Mindfulness, whilst looking further into possible differences between my way, and Busters way.<br />
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This enabled me to think about the different parts of Mindfulness, how they appear to the canine, how they appear to humans, what the differences are, and what are the aspects that are the same for both species. It's always interesting to me to see just how alike us humans can be to dogs, and how dogs can sometimes seem almost human.<br />
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It is so easy to see how and why we met up so many years ago, and the relationship gets stronger and stronger all of the time. May it ever remain so!<br />
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Do you have a mindful dog? Or at least a dog that sometimes has mindful moments? If you do, we'd love to read about it, please leave us a comment here. There may be a free book on offer to the best mindful dog story I read!<br />
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<br />Carolyn Cordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16928724006245769572noreply@blogger.com0