The First 10 Poetry Tips...

The first 10 poetry tips from '101 Poetry Tips', which is available on Amazon. Paperback details here.

101 Poetry Tips Ebook (Amazon.co.uk)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CNRB6QK?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B00CNRB6QK&linkCode=xm2&tag=peacefreedpre-21

101 Poetry Tips Ebook (Amazon.com)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CNRB6QK?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00CNRB6QK&linkCode=xm2&tag=thedoctowhofa-20

1. Don't pester people with your work. If a poem's been accepted don't then bombard a publisher with several submissions in a week or month. Also don't send whole manuscripts to small press publishers with no return postage, as many are struggling financially as it is.

2. Don't forget to practice writing poetry. As the great golfer Gary Player once said: "The more I practice, the luckier I get." In the case of poetry that should read: "The better I get."

3. Don't believe the myth about how magical a poet's life is. It's hard graft for little money for all poets initially, and involves gradual steps towards success - unless you really are one of those loathsome geniuses who finds it easy and who is quickly appreciated.

4. Don't copy Byron's lifestyle - unless you want to have the paparazzi outside your front door 24/7.

5. Don't ignore constructive criticism, but judge whether it's fair comment. Violence rarely solves things...

6. Don't use too many big words in your poems as it'll seem like you're pretentious.

7. Don't stick to one poetic form, but experiment with several, which will then help you find out which are the best poetic forms for you.

8. Don't go anywhere without a notepad. Inspiration can come at any time.

9. You don't need to set a time period regarding when to finish a poem. If it's midnight and you're tired, consider it finishing it the next day.

10. Don't sulk if your work gets rejected. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that.

Keith Levene - Commercial Zone Campaign

PiL legend Keith Levene's new project - get involved!

 

101 Poetry Tips Kindle Book Introduction

'101 Poetry Tips' Introduction

After producing my first collection of poetry in 1980, when I was 20 years old, I've gone on to select and publish hundreds of poets from around the world via Peace & Freedom Press magazines, paperbacks and booklets. I'd like to think that I've learnt something along the way! '101 Poetry Tips' is intended to help you get the most out of your poetry writing. Good luck!

 

101 Poetry Tips - Kindle

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CNRB6QK?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B00CNRB6QK&linkCode=xm2&tag=peacefreedpre-21
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CNRB6QK?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00CNRB6QK&linkCode=xm2&tag=thedoctowhofa-20

Nonsense Creatures For Children Aged 3 To 120

12. The Three Humped Camel Car of Cairo

Three Humped Camel Car of Cairo,

Was more careful than a tyro,

Children sat on his humps,

And there were never bumps,

Camel Car took bridges real low.

1 of the 12 Nonsense Creatures Limericks and Illustrations by Paul Rance.
Book 1 out now on Amazon. For children (and adults) of all ages.  

Paul Rance rediscovered Edward Lear in 2009, and began creating his own nonsense creatures - in the form of illustrations and limericks. Originally published in 2009, and now currently available only through Amazon, here are the first batch of limericks, which should appeal to children aged 3 to 120.

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Amazon.co.uk

Paperback
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1481272470?ie=UTF8&tag=peacefreedpre-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=1481272470

Kindle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nonsense-Creatures-Limericks-Illustrations-ebook/dp/B00AQL52PG/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358360930&sr=1-2

Amazon.com

Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Nonsense-Creatures-Limericks-Illustrations-children/dp/1481272470/ref=la_B004P2ALYY_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357048205&sr=1-4

Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Nonsense-Creatures-Limericks-Illustrations-ebook/dp/B00AQL52PG/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358360348&sr=1-2&keywords=nonsense+creatures+limericks

Thelma Rance Biography - Chapter 17 Extract

Extracts from Chapter 17 of 'Mother Becomes Stardust'. See my other blog posts for more details about this book, which is about my late Mother's struggle with the twin effects of breast cancer and a stroke.

Chapter 17 - Chinks of Light (extract)

I would walk up to Cedar Falls with stuff like The Sex Pistols 'Pretty Vacant' on the MP4 player. It'd get me to get me pumped up as I strode towards the home. It'd feel almost like a marching song at the beginning, and prepare me for any confrontations.

Mum has another hospital appointment, on October 4th. Dad was buried 10 years ago on this date, so another thing to think about.

The writing work had been picking up again, but in the morning I get an email from a writing website informing me that they're letting most of their writers go. You couldn't make it up really. No wonder the doctor in the hospital asks if I'm okay, as I'm obviously looking stressed.

At Cedar Falls, Mum enjoys her orange juice: "Oooh. Lovely." Since her stroke, Mother seems to be more enthusiastic about things she likes, and more angry about things she doesn't.

Mum, up until her stroke, had a photographic memory. She was a big film buff, as well as having wide-ranging musical tastes. Mum would rattle off names of obscure film stars from the '40s and '50s, and name films that they were in. I remember telling her that Morrissey, whose first name is Steven, was named after B-movie actor Steve Cochran. Mozza has said that he didn't think anyone would know who Cochran was, but my Mum did.

There's still good signs re Mum's fight against the dreadful disease. I'm regularly told that the cancer that's already there can only be contained and not eradicated. I'm aware of that, but I appreciate the honesty.

I've bought a Charlie George autobiography for Vaughan, my bus driver and Arsenal fan, as a leaving present. Another driver I liked, Mick, had left in July. I tell Mum: "Reading about (former Gunners star) Charlie George. Do you remember him?" Mum: "Yes, I remember him." She actually remembered a lot of football stars from the early 1970s, especially players at Arsenal, Leeds United, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, Spurs, and Chelsea - though she wasn't into football. Mum had a soft spot for gentleman footballers, including Bobby Moore, Bob Wilson and Frank McLintock. But Mum also liked George Best...

The Breast Cancer Bombshell

More extracts from my book, 'Mother Becomes Stardust', which is about my late Mother's brave fight during her final months on Earth - and what I also often experienced within the system.

Chapter 10 - Cancer (extract)

Cancer, the real c-word. The word itself still strikes terror in people. On March 8th I was talking to Anita, a nurse at Cedar Falls, and she let slip that my Mum had terminal breast cancer. She presumed I knew...

That my Mum had cancer had been known for months, but nobody explained this to me. I'm my Mother's only child and easily her closest blood relative, but that didn't seem to matter. On my Mother's Service Option Form it stated quite clearly that, in the client group, my Mother was classed as suffering from "frailty/temporary illness". Being terminally ill is not a "temporary illness". Whether Social Services were as ignorant of my Mum's condition as I was is open to question. Going back to Mum's Reassessment of Needs form I again looked up "fumigating mass", but I came to realize that it should have read "fungating mass". The verb 'fungate' means: "To grow rapidly, like a fungus." For example, cancer. The reassessment was dated November 12th, 2010. All these months I had been thinking: "At least Mum hasn't got cancer..."

After hearing the news, if a truck had hit me I wouldn't have felt it. I said to nurse Mary that "The brown stuff is going to hit the fan", and, bless her, she was outraged on my behalf that I hadn't been informed of my Mother's condition. She rang the doctor concerned, and I was then given a copy of my Mother's Inpatient Letter, which certainly explained things more clearly. It had also earlier been deemed, by the Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust panel, that my Mother's prime need was social rather than health. My Mother had inoperable breast cancer and couldn't walk since her stroke. I've learnt since my Mum's death that, depending on what prime need is deemed appropriate, there can be differences with how a patient's care is funded. When needs are deemed as social then loved ones are expected to pay more.

I possibly wouldn't have signed Mum even going into temporary care if I had known that she was terminally ill. I also wonder how ill you have to be to stay in hospital exactly. If Mum was going to die, I and she would have wanted it to have been at home surrounded by her two beautiful cats. That wish was denied her.

'Mother Becomes Stardust' is available through Amazon in Kindle and paperback format. Check my other blog entries for more info.

Hurricane Sandy May Become America's Biggest Ever Storm

Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, may become the biggest storm ever recorded in the United States. Though, on Sunday, considered a category one storm, Hurricane Sandy is certain to cause major flooding issues along the eastern seaboard due to its sheer size.

Sandy is expected to make landfall in the US either late on Monday, or early Tuesday. Several states have already declared a state of emergency, and New York City has closed its subway, rail and bus services from Sunday evening. States of emergency have been declared, due to Sandy, in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.

Though winds may exceed 70mph, it's really flooding and high tides that are of most serious concern, as Sandy will merge with another more wintry storm. With Halloween and the US Presidential Election days away it's another example of Mother Nature not wanting to be outdone.

Hurricane Sandy has already caused dozens of deaths in Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The danger zone for US citizens ranges from North Carolina to the New England states, and the cities affected could be New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

The First Few Paragraphs...

...of 'Mother Becomes Stardust'

1. Friday the 13th Does Its Worst

Thursday evening, August 12th, I watched a DVD of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, 'Notorious', with my Mother. I said to her after the film had finished: "We'll watch the extras later." Later never came, as this was to be my Mother's last evening in the family home.

I'd never seen what all the fuss was about regarding Friday the 13th - until August 2010. I woke up late on that day and saw that the time was 10am. It was a time my Mother and I would normally be on our way to the nearby town of Spalding to do some shopping. Not this time. I couldn't find my Mother anywhere and, when calling her, I received no response. I went into her bedroom and found Mum collapsed by the side of her bed. She could have been lying like that for hours. All the signs indicated that she had suffered a stroke.

This was confirmed when I called 999. I was asked, by a helpful guy, to try and get a series of responses from my Mother. She made drunken responses, but her smile reassured me.

The paramedics arrived very quickly and got Mum to Peterborough District Hospital in Thorpe Road just as quickly. It's a distance of some 16 miles. I remember that the driver looked like a New Age traveller and that we talked about music. A surreal image, but this was just the start of a what would be nothing less than a surreal journey for the next 18 months.

'Mother Becomes Stardust' is available at Amazon. Links to both the paperback and Kindle versions of the book can be found on the Amazon pages below:

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-ebook/dp/B00946Y1VA

Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-Paul-Rance/dp/1479237930

John's Lennon's Best 10 Songs - in My Opinion

Below is a list of what I consider to be John Lennon's 10 greatest songs.

1. Imagine (1971)
2. Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)
3. A Day in the Life (1967)
4. Help! (1965)
5. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (1967)
6. In My Life (1965)
7. Across the Universe (1970)
8. Happy Xmas (War is Over) (1971)
9. Love (1970)
10. Jealous Guy (1971)

Check out our Beatles Portal

What's Not in the Book...

Thanks for those of you who have bought 'Mother Becomes Stardust'. This article includes some stuff that's not in the book.

http://www.booksmusicfilmstv.com/MumAndI.html

A Thank You

Thanks to everyone who showed my Mum and I kindness over the past two years. I've mentioned as many people as possible in the acknowledgements section of a book detailing my Mum's final months - 'Mother Becomes Stardust'.

The book is now out on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback format. Click the 'look inside' link on the Kindle links, and then scroll down to see the names mentioned in the acknowledgements.

Amazon.com paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-Paul-Rance/dp/1479237930/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1347110309&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Mother+Becomes+Stardust+paperback

Amazon.com Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-ebook/dp/B00946Y1VA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347110200&sr=8-1&keywords=Mother+Becomes+Stardust

Amazon.co.uk paperback
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-Paul-Rance/dp/1479237930/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

Amazon.co.uk Kindle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-ebook/dp/B00946Y1VA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1347110039&sr=1-1

Introduction to 'Mother Becomes Stardust'

On Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 my beautiful Mother, Thelma Rance, was laid to rest in the Lincolnshire village of Whaplode Drove. She was buried next to my Father, Peter, who had died in September 2001. The last 18 months of my Mother's life had been traumatic, as first she suffered a stroke and then it was discovered that she had terminal breast cancer. This is a story about my Mother's brave fight and my fight against a system which made things as stressful as possible.

If you believe the scientists we are all made from stardust - literally. My Mother always loved looking at the stars, and as life is cyclical it's nice to think she is now among the objects she so admired - as eternal stardust.

- Paul Rance, August 30th, 2012.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the kindness of the following over the past two years: Colin, Myrie and Edie, Joyce and Susan, Norman, Wendy and Mick, Leila and Nicholas, Chris, Richard and family, Brian, Cynthia and Maurice, Iris, Andrew Bruce, Andrew Savage, Andy Xport, Francesca, Dorothy and family, Rosemary, Irene and Bill, Christine and Richard Bruness, Irini Kotroni, Danielle Olivia Tefft, Mary McGihon, Dave, Shaheen Darr, Larry Burke, Shelly Starkey, Joanne Lynch, Pat West, Tony and family, Rill and family, Valerie and Bertha, Joyce Wilson, Dot, Janet, Hilda, Belinda, Beryl, Ric Klass, Ingrid Riley, Gwynn Watt and Jane Foulger, Leilani Holmes, John Smither, Pat, Margaret, Wendy and family, Greg Brian, Julie Bodeeb, Denise Perrin, Cardinal Cox, Esther Newton, Steve Sneyd, Daisy Hickman, LuRain Penny, Jaipi Sixbear, Vaughan, Hugo, Malcolm, Ali E. McCartney, Lady Samantha, Dan Reveal, Cassie Antares, Bethany Marsh, Theresa Wiza, Susan Elliott, Kira Stann, Natasha Head, Langley Cornwell, Maria Roth, Mary Oberg, Bridgitte Williams, Parm Gill, Tina Twito, Donna Morreale, Diane Zoller-Ciatto, Shana Dines, Valerie-Ann Risely, Bridget Ilene Delaney, Kimberley Beckom, Han Van Meegerin, Loki Morgan and Patti Walden. The staff at Tanglewood Cedar Falls, the nurses at the various Peterborough hospitals, Leanne and staff at Debonair - and the kindness of strangers.

300 Up at Helium.com

I achieved my 300th published article at Helium.com recently. Of all the writing sites affected by Google's Panda they seem to be the most innovative as regards fighting back. Expect interesting new developments from Helium in the New Year.

Helium increased their open assignment prices for the Christmas period from $2.00 to $2.50 per article, which was a nice touch. But it's revenue share which writers need to concentrate on at Helium.com. You're unlikely to make more than a few dollars a year on any one article, but, if you're in for the long haul, you'll earn more there than the one-off article payments on other sites.

Lion Hug Video With Music By The Peace And Freedom Band

An uplifting vid of a lion hugging and kissing his saviour in an animal sanctuary in Cali, Colombia. Music extract - 'When Butterflies Cry' by The Peace & Freedom Band (written by me).

Lady Samantha

Lady Samantha is one of my favourite creatives. She can be wacky one minute, then throw you with something out of the blue like this, re her recollections of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

http://brainystorms.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-shameless-plugging.html

The blog of Lady Samantha covers lots of things, because she knows lots of things. If she's not careful her brain will explode because she has so much stuff in there. Happened to a Russian chess player once. The knowledge had nowhere else to go!

http://brainystorms.blogspot.com/

Murdered By The State Introduction

My intro to my Kindle eBook of various poems - Murdered By the State.

The State doesn't care about individuals. The State cares about the State. People around the world have woken up to this realization late in 2010 and early in 2011.

From cradle to grave we are never truly free. We are forced to go to school, we are often forced to work in dreary jobs - sometimes for decades. But we have been the authors of our own misfortune by not fighting back. Many people's spirits have been broken by the State as a consequence.

The systems around the world are broken. Just maybe Dylan's hope for change will finally come to pass. The State has killed too many - both literally and emotionally.

- Paul Rance, February 17th, 2011.



Murdered By the State (Amazon.com)

The A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima - Photograph By Peter Rance (1930-2001)

More of my Dad's photos here.

Christina Rossetti's Poem Remember; For All Our Departed Loved Ones

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land;

When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

You tell me of our future that you planned:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve;

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.
 

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

The Peace & Freedom Band Nature Video

A video of a 1988 song by The Peace & Freedom Band. Music by Andy Xport (who produced it), with lyrics by me - originally from a poem of mine from around 1980. The song featured on The Peace & Freedom Band album, Life, released in '88.

Adele Becomes A Vegetarian

British singer/songwriter Adele has announced that she has turned vegetarian. Speaking on BBC Radio 1, the Londoner said that she felt a pang of guilt looking into her pet bulldog's eyes when she ate meat, as it reminded her of what other animals went through to feed humans.

More here:
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/09/singer-adele-goes-veg-because-her-dog

Hartlepool Nature And Animal Photographer Andrew Bruce

Hartlepool photographer Andrew Bruce has recently been photographing a variety of animal subjects, including his sister's baby rabbits.

As a long-time vegetarian and lover of all animals, Andrew's feel for his subjects comes through in his enchanting photos.

See his gallery here:

http://www.x53web.co.cc/~andy/