Terry Flood Poet Rhyme

Notes About The Poem

Publish and Be Damned

Publish a book, they say, they say
Only an hour or so out of your day
The six months to write it they overlook
Then ignore the time that the editing took

They don’t count the time at my laptop I lurk
To make that damned PDF converter work
Or tot up the minutes or days that I frown
While stopping the text coming out upside down

They did note the day I found publishing heaven
Until I discovered a third chapter seven
Just for a moment I felt quite elated
But now I’m concerned that my text is outdated

How happy I was when I left-clicked on ‘Publish’
And waited a week for my self published rubbish
My poem called ‘Panda’ I thought was alright
Except I had written that they’re BACK and white

So after more editing and double checking
In hope that my format I won’t end up wrecking
I slip in a poem to fill a blank page
And then I republish… and wait for an age

Unlike the first issue, I’ve ordered a proof
Which might just turn up when I’m long in the tooth
And then it arrives and it looks really fine
But it’s got eighty pages, not seventy nine

So publish a book, they say, they say
Only an hour or so out of your day
Well maybe one day there’ll be folk who have read it
But first I embark on one more ‘final’ edit

                     ***

My full colour tome is a poetic eyeful
Of poems for children, young ladies or chaps
It’s called ‘There’s A Tiger In My Trifle’,
And it’s out sometime soon…. Perhaps, perhaps


[At the time of writing this, I was waiting for that ‘Final’ edit to go live. This should be by Friday 24 June 2022.  Current version (edit 2) has one spelling mistake and one less poem. Will blog when out]

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Gary Radice June 22, 2022 at 12:55 AM Great work Terry and what a brilliant title - for both book & poem. Cheers - Gary Terry Flood June 22, 2022 at 1:07 AM Thanks, Gary. Almost all of the poems in this book were written especially for it. There’s A Tiger In My Trifle, however, was one of the first poems I submitted to Soup that suggested that I can write ‘young’ poems. It was probably the first inkling I got of the idea of a kids nursery rhyme book, an idea reinforced when Eve ran her nursery rhyme contests. Finally got around to it. Terry

Ilene Bauer June 21, 2022 at 3:51 PM a wonderful and amusing description of your efforts to publish your book, terry (which looks adorable!). i congratulate you and give you so much credit for doing so - something i can't bring myself to get started on, but which i've wanted to do for ages. the work to accomplish this seems overwhelming to me, but it appears to be worth every minute spent... Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 4:21 PM Thanks, Ilene. When I embark on a book project, I do so in the sure and certain knowledge that, no matter how it turns out, I won’t crawl on my hands and knees to publishers. It’s for my enjoyment and I simply make it as good as I can for my own satisfaction. In that, it’s worth the effort. Otherwise, you need an agent or a massive fan base. Terry

Deb M June 21, 2022 at 2:25 PM Love this poem Terry it’s funny and really proud of you for finishing and publishing your book…..well done and congratulations!! Debx Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 2:48 PM Thanks, Deb. It’s been a long job, considering it started out as a stop gap while my muse was running thin. I didn’t literally suffer my text being upside down, but the essence of this poem is close to the truth. Amazon have a habit of saying ‘Your book is live’ but still showing a previous version. Should be up to date by the weekend and then, hopefully, my mind will clear and I can try a little Soup. ;-)

Tom Cunningham June 21, 2022 at 12:03 PM Well done Terry, you're becoming a dab hand at this, wishing you every success with it. Tom Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 2:34 PM To be honest, Tom, I barely publicise my books. I enjoy putting them together (even though the process drives me to distraction) but I don’t count on selling bundles of copies. The best surprise I got with this project was that, if I apply myself… I can actually draw. I’ve spent my life saying I couldn’t, so if I sell zero copies, I’m still chuffed. Terry

Jim Slaughter June 21, 2022 at 11:25 AM I've recently gone through this, Terry, so I can fully relate. It is kind of exciting, though, n'est-ce pas? Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 11:39 AM Thanks, Jim. I nearly threw my laptop at the wall when my revised cover came out three-quarter size. Managed to fix though. Terry

Daisy Meadows June 21, 2022 at 10:38 AM A good, funny poem. Well done. Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 11:09 AM Thanks Jeanette. This particular publication fought me all the way… even a next day delivery of my second edit… TOOK 5 DAYS to arrive. But I think it’s done now. Terry

R J. Elless June 21, 2022 at 9:14 AM Terry, fine job. I like the subject. It flows. Howard Terry Flood June 21, 2022 at 11:11 AM Thank you, Howard. A more or less true story. Being in full colour throughout, my usual PDF converter did not want to play ball as the manuscript file was 264 megabytes. Fortunately Amazon will accept manuscripts in WORD format so I got away with it. Terry