Pigeon Post

You were more colourful than my usual pigeon visitor.

At first I thought-magpie rump?

but with your oil- slicked throat and chest 

and your plummage of black, white and brown contending

I reached for my Canon Powershot and google icon.

You turn out to be a feral pigeon-descendant of  rock dove

once native of rock cliff and mountain only

domesticated by monk and liege alike for your fine meat

cliff face becoming dove cote, 

but your tireless, fearless compulsion to reach home

even through war zones, trenches, and no man's land

carrying missives of great import, made you

a name for yourself, making history, making peace.

Today you straddle city street and just occasionally,

if lost or tired, suburban garden.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2024

For an interesting video clip on feral pigeon gallantry during the two world wars follow the link below.

How does a pigeon know where to go?

Wintertime

 

A wood pigeon is doing a solo

performance in the bird table

its head nodding to the beat of its beak

pecking like a maestro on the keys of a piano

up one scale and down the other

while robin sits hopeful in the wings

and blue tit sways to the rhythm

of a wind strummed branch

and Mama pigeon on the table roof

sways and orchestrates the pit

and despite the allure of such temptation

the cat has taken, permanently it seems,

to the chair beside the stove

preferring the hiss, spit and roar

of fire and air complying

and the kettle whistling on the range

signalling another pot of tea.

Copyright Cathy Leonard 2024

Self Publish?

 

Am not writing much these days because I'm doing a course in self publishing and apart from the onerous task of trying to follow all the technical stuff we also look at traditional publishing.

 The big five publishing houses :Penguin random, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster,Hachette and Harper Collins only take submissions via an agent. 

You can research an agent via a free platform called Query Manager but it will probably throw up hundreds of possible agents in your genre.

If you do find an agent to take you on and if they are successful in finding a publisher they will take a commission of 15-20%

In the end you as writer will receive 5-8% commission for a paperback, 15% for a hardback, 20-25% for an e-book and 25% for an audio book.

If you self publish the royalties for a print book are much higher at 60%

and 70% for an e-book on a platform like KDP AMAZON

BUT 

Then you have the task of advertising and promoting your book.

Some of the benefits of self publishing are that it is quick compared to the traditional route

and you have complete creative control.

Costs are not that high.

But You will need an ISBN- International Standard Book Number.

You don't need one for an e-book.

https://www.nielsenisbnstore.com/

A single one costs 93 euro while a block costs 174 euro. As you would need a separate one for a hard back and you are likely to write more than one book it may be more cost efficient to buy 10. 

Amazon will provide one free but this means that your book is only available through Amazon.

COVER

You can download a free book cover using a free tool from Canva.com. 

Start with a template and modify. Make sure you avoid the images with the crown on them as these have to be bought. 

This whole business of cover design I found very tricky so a tech savvy friend would be a big asset.

You can also find a free image on Pixabay.com

and customise it using Canva

For interior design and typesetting a free tool to use is Reedsy.com

EDITING

Most of us will ask friends to read/edit but bear in mind we need

A content edit- the one that takes in the big picture, the structure of the narrative

A copy edit for clarity, coherence, consistency

And a line or style edit for grammar, repetition and style.

It is advisable to have an author website if you want to develop  your audience and you need to do this if you self publish

A website will tell about us, have links to other social platforms, social media links , a mailing list and perhaps a blog.

I started to sign up with Wix.com but ended up with Weebly.com as I found it easier to use 

You can set up a site for free but once it's up and running you will pay a monthly maintenance charge of around 8 euro.

Mine is not yet published as I have links to develop etc. 

I hope aspiring writers find this useful. It is meant only as a guideline. Will keep you posted on my progress!

On reading AE Houseman

 

And of my three score years and ten

most will never come again

and take from that my sixty- nine

that only leaves me one more time

to get it right and get it good

this walking, dreaming in the wood

and watch the tree from bud to leaf

to flower to fruit and then to grief.

I'm hoping four score years and more

become the twenty first century norm

that way I can at least enjoy

for one more decade Nature's lore

desport itself with nonchalance

despite our blatant carelessness.

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

A word about Norse Socks

 I came across this gorgeous blend in a craft shop in kenmare. 

https://www.kenmare.ie/kenmare-item/kenmare-craft-hobby-centre/

75% Superwash Wool, 25% Polymide.

It's a King Cole product and knits up to a lovely pair of Nordic looking socks.

This blend is called after Thor, a hammer wielding God in Norse Mythology. God of fertility, thunder, lightning and storms!!

I was so pleased with the result that I went back and bought a few other Norse Gods.

There's Loki, son of a Norse giant, a trickster God and shape shifter

Then there's Vali, son of Odin who is the main man in the Norse canon of Gods. Vali is the God of vengeance!

Modi, son of Thor, is likewise formidable in his associations for he symbolises wrath

And finally I purchased Skoll, synonymous with treachery and mockery, a wolf that chases the sun.....

Not for the faint hearted these Norse socks.

From left to right Loki,Vali,Modi and Skoll

(Thor is a light blue than Vali)

Autumn

 At the seaside I notice a last desperate flurry of activity before the demise of summer.

 I also notice our elders beginning to don gloves and socks, specifically designed to deal with colder climes.

While the rest of us scurry for comfort, they'll stick it out all winter long...or for as long as they can. This poem is for them.

Autumn

The park has been shorn of its summer mane

and wears a razed pate, smelling of meadow- sweet

and nettle and yarrow- strewn across its salon floor

 And in the garden I practice euthanasia

root out jaded lobelia, cut back and secateur all

that is stooping and failing

And at the shoreline mothers stand lifeguard

while their young take a final plunge

before the tyranny of school timetable begins

And though the temperature is dropping

and lifeguards pack away their red and yellow paraphernalia

our elders wade in, ready to embrace and endure 

This change that has begun to shift 

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

Irish Weather Forecasters

While some appear apologetic, and others defensive,

even defiant to the point of alarming

with gritted teeth and threatening brow

and a tone that defies contradiction

(latter day Cassandras, endowed

 with the gift of prophecy but fated

 never to be believed) 

there's something reassuring about Joanna Donnelly.

Whether she's forecasting an approaching hurricane

with a Saffir-Simpson wind scale of 3 to 4

or weather warnings: red, orange or yellow

or fronts passing in and across and out, 

or hazy sunshine followed by persistent rain...

you almost feel like thanking her for it.

And when she says,"Whatever you had today

you'll have more of the same tomorrow,"

with a shrug that adds,"Suck it up!"

you may as well just order another pint.....

 

Copyright 2024 Cathy Leonard

Water Colour by Marie-Helene Brohan Delhaye Lamb's Head,County Kerry, Sunset  Sky