Blog post for April 1^st.            A 50/50 month 

As a Christian, I have faith that God will keep an eye on me when the going gets tough. But I think He took some time off at the beginning of the month and left me to flounder as I grappled with technology and near cardiac arrest (I’m joking about that). My Facebook account got hacked and my account was closed down after £400 had been paid out in error. It would be an understatement to say I was pee’d off and tearing my hair out — not that I have much. 

I had to call my bank and ask them to lift the block I’d put on Facebook. Simple request, eh? Have you ever had to deal with a call centre? I had to explain to the lady that I had no idea what she was saying because of her accent. Eventually, she passed me on to a chap who also had the same accent. It took almost thirty minutes to resolve the problem. It meant I could now open another FB account and post another Ad campaign. So, heart rate back to normal, and a smile on my face.

Until I decided it was time to change my Tesco Mobile phone. 

I went to the Tesco shop in Shripney and ordered a new phone with a contract extension. No problem — my phone would be delivered the following day. I took it in two days later for the changeover. The guy made a start and then told me it would take two and a half hours for the transfer to complete, which meant I had to stay within Wi-fi range of the shop. To say I wasn’t pleased would be another understatement. Why didn’t he tell me this before he started? 

By now, my birthday month was on a downward spiral. I ordered a slow cooker, thinking it might improve my cooking skills. I bought a small one (£15) and popped down to the new butcher in Pagham Parade for some lamb. I Googled the why’s and how’s for lamb stew and a slow cooker and set myself to become another Gordon Ramsey. Suffice to say I shouldn’t have bothered; the whole thing was a failure, and the cooker has ended up in what I call my Room 101. 

And if you think my month could not have gotten any worse, I picked up a speeding ticket in Chalcraft Lane where I always obey the speed limit (so I thought). Cost me £100. But there was light at the end of the tunnel, and God was stirring. It was my birthday on the 18^th (84), and over that weekend, I had visits from two of my boys, my grandson, Adam, and his partner, Agata, and plenty of cards and cake at my Church House Group meeting. 

So at last God was beginning to smile on me and giving me the nod of approval for my next foray into the world of technology and advertising. I decided to create a campaign for my WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris. What happened next is beyond belief. My book started selling and gathering Kindle page reads at, for me, a phenomenal rate. It reached number 10 in the top 20 of Historical French fiction, even leapfrogging Kate Mosse! Last night, the end of the month, it had notched up 42 orders and over 11000 page reads. And the trouble is: I don’t know what I’ve done to make this happen — my ads usually notch up a few sales, but nothing on this scale. The campaign is due to run until April 21^st, so I’m hoping it will stay strong until then when I’ll create another campaign. 

Another project I started on was to edit my short novel, Max and Emma. It’s the pure love story from my family saga, Past Imperfect, I got the rights back for that book from my American publisher, which I can republish after April 21^st. But I published Max and Emma and immediately unpublished it a couple of years ago so I had the paperback in my hand. Now I’m planning to put it out as a stand-alone Romance with a ‘spoiler alert’ inside to explain that it has been taken from the full-length novel. 

Meanwhile, I have two manuscripts with two separate publishers who will almost certainly turn me down. This is simply because of my age and the fact that my ‘career’ is behind me rather than ahead of me. It happens all the time, so I know what to expect. The two books have already been published, so I will have lost nothing. 

And despite all that has gone before me this month, I still had to walk the dog, do the washing and ironing, gardening, church, visit my Granddaughter, Gemma and her family in Brighton, go to a book club meeting in Littlehampton and grab 15 minutes in the armchair each afternoon until Tuppence wakes me up to remind me it’s time to share an apple (yes, she does, the little sod). But I mustn’t grumble; life’s okay, the sun is shining, and, thank God, we are not living in an earthquake zone. I’ll be back next month with more tales of… Whatever. Wish me luck!

                                                                                                                               Michael.

 

 

 A spanner in the works.

 

Writing a monthly blog shouldn’t be too difficult, and it’s not as if there was a deadline to meet other than a self-imposed one. My intentions were honest and sincere at the beginning of the year, but somehow, February came along and screwed up all those good intentions. I decided to revisit Facebook ads, something I hadn’t done for several months, with the intention of pushing my WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, and capitalising on the strength of Facebook advertising. But the trouble came after I’d set up a short campaign — my account got hacked and I ended up losing it. Facebook closed it down because of a ‘Violation’ of their terms. Long story short: I had to block FB from taking money from my account until I could resolve the problem. It proved beyond impossible to do that; the recovery codes FB sent me to recover my account proved to be invalid. I Googled the question only to learn this was a common problem. I have since started a new account using a different email address but am now in the throes of rebuilding my ‘Friends’ list. 

My book sales were bouncing along at about one or two a day, and my Kindle page reads were building nicely, reaching almost 4000 during the month. I then got interested in a promotional advert for ‘Click-testing’, which, if it worked, could result in phenomenal book sales each month. The challenge was to accept that it would not be cheap — $30-$40 a day, and what promised to be a lot of work. I watched the promotional video; it was 30 minutes long and was encouraged by what and who I saw: people I’d met and others I was aware of. I was psyching myself up to bite the bullet when the Facebook fiasco started. Consequently, because the Click-testing strategy relies on FB ads, I had to give the idea up. However, I’m seriously considering diving into Click-testing but probably not until sometime into next month. 

I went to a book club meeting in Littlehampton where I met an incredibly talented and determined woman by the name of Sarah Jouault. Sarah has been competing in Ironman championships and triathlon events for twenty years. She is seventy and competed in the World Ironman Championship in New Zealand last year. Coincidentally, our Grandson, Jamie, who lives in Canada, competed in the same event. That made an immediate connection between me and Sarah. You can learn more about this extraordinary woman on her website https://jouault.uk. 

At the moment I am not writing. It’s an unusual situation for me, and one I don’t enjoy; I need to be writing. But I just can’t write anything without some kind of inspiration. I did think I would be writing a follow-up to my WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, and even bought a couple of books to continue with the research, but unfortunately, I’ve lost the urge to write. I hope it won’t last long although I do have a project on the go.

Over three years ago my book, Past Imperfect was published by the Wild Rose Press in America. It was originally published by Robert Hale of London several years ago. The story is a family saga stretching over forty years with a modern love story paralleling the saga and finally merging in the end. I produced a paperback of the love story (not for publication) because I thought it would make a good novella. I asked WRP for the rights back, which they granted, and I will be able to publish the love story after April 21^st. Perhaps once that is out there, I might find the inspiration to write again. 

I am still advertising, but on Amazon, and although I am selling the occasional book, my page reads are building. So far this month (17 days), they have reached just over 4000. With luck, they could hit 5K by the end of the month. It’s my birthday tomorrow (I’ll be 84), so more book sales and page reads would put a beaming smile on my face. Wish me luck!

 Leading up to Christmas 

Those of you who follow my monthly blogs will know I missed last month (November). But here I am almost at the end of December and thinking back over what I’d done and what I’d achieved. This includes my domestic chores, keeping body and soul together and walking Tuppence. And, of course, there’s my world of books. But looking back to the beginning of November, I see in my diary that I went to the Travel Agent to book a flight to Atlanta in July next year to see our fifth great grandson, Elliott; and that is probably the most significant and important thing I did. I detailed in my October blog the surprise family visit I had in when I met Elliott for the first time. He was about 3 months old. I was smitten! Anyway, I plan to be with him and his Mum and Dad when they celebrate his first birthday. I’m flying Business Class having told the grandchildren the money is coming out of their inheritance. 

I completed my Historical novel, Shadow Over Paris (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DMWDMQQY), and published it on the 13^th. But I decided to try traditional publishers as well. I knew what the outcome would be because I am an author with his career behind him; whereas publishers would prefer those who have their careers ahead of them. But I submitted my manuscript to about twenty agents/publishers after gleaning the appropriate names from the Writers and Artists Year Book 2025. Needless to say I have been rejected by them. I’m not surprised. One cheeky thing I did was to contact the Shakespeare Company Bookshop in Paris. I explained the book was set in Occupied Paris in 1940, and would they like a copy? The bookshop is well known among the Parisiennes having been a favourite place of Ernest Hemmingway and his colleagues. They sell English language books by the way. Anyway, I haven’t heard from them either. C’est la vie!. 

Another significant and major event in November was the marriage of our granddaughter, Gemma, to her partner, Max. It was held in the registry office at Brighton Town Hall with a pub reception nearby. There were a lot of kids wearing Fairy Wings, including Gemma, but not while she was getting married. Naturally I enjoyed it, but not the way I used to enjoy weddings when I was a lot younger. I spent much of the time just looking on and smiling at the antics of the kids. Lovely time though. 

During the research for my book, I read a great deal about Paris under the Nazis and, of course, the bravery of those SOE agents who risked their lives during that time. I asked our grandson Adam’s partner, Agata Stasiak, if I could use her name. She is Polish and now features in the book. She was delighted. I’m glad I was able to do that because it kind of honours the part played by the Polish women who worked for the SOE and those who gave their lives. But one agent who fascinated me was Phyllis ‘Pippa’ Latour. She only revealed her part as an agent until shortly before her death in New Zealand last year. She was 102 years old. I bought her book, The Last Secret Agent, and took it with me on a short break to Eastbourne. Pippa Latour was, in my opinion, an absolutely fascinating and outstanding woman. Her book is compelling reading and an absolute revelation. I loved it. 

The trip to Eastbourne was an organised “Turkey and Tinsel” break, and mimicked the three main days of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. I would like to say I enjoyed it, but being on my own made things difficult; walking round the shops meant there was always an empty space beside me. I knew several of the group and was able to chat to them from time to time. My companions at the meal table were new to me, but I got on well with them. The weather wasn’t too brilliant either. 

Getting back to normality meant Christmas decorations. And as much as I tell myself I can’t be bothered because I don’t have my lovely Pat anymore, I put them up because she would want me to, and I don’t want to become that sad, lonely old man who doesn’t like Christmas, which I do of course. Mind you, I don’t go scaling ladders and trees to get my garden decorated; I rely on one of those projectors to throw a moving, Christmassy scene on my house wall. But I have a tree with flashing lights etc. and a decorated mantlepiece with lights. Oh, and Santa coming down the chimney! 

I watched the performance of Dua Lipa at the Royal Albert Hall. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but one of the reasons I wanted to see her was because of a documentary I watched over a year ago. She came across as a well-balanced, ordinary girl who has been blessed with good looks and talent, and I’ve been a closet fan of hers ever since. It will fade in time though, I guess. 

I had planned to bring my friend, Pauline down here for a couple of weeks over Christmas. We’d arranged everything, including the fact that Pauline would have to take over the kitchen for me because I’m a lousy cook and exist on mainly frozen ready meals. We had visits out planned and I would have had her here in time for my Church House Group Christmas party. But unfortunately, Pauline had a problem, which meant an appointment at the hospital. She’d been under the consultant for a while and was coping with it. Then this happened and we had to cancel.  It left me in a kind of limbo, but often life gets in the way, and we have to deal with it. I tell people that if you want to put a smile on God’s face; tell Him what your plans are. 

But back now to the books. I picked up The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn. The reason for that was to try and learn how other writers tell the story, whether fact or fiction, about life under the Nazis. Edith Hahn was a Jew, by the way, so you can imagine her problem. She was asked to sit as a judge at the Nuremberg War Trials (she was qualified) but refused because she said she would never be able to make a judgement without prejudice. 

My book sales are on the up as well. I’m not making huge waves, but in the world of Michael Parker books, it has put a smile on my face. I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a happy New Year.

 

                                                                                                       Michael Parker

 

 Life is full of surprises

 

October started with me looking ahead to the most significant date for the month, which was our boy John’s 60^th birthday on October 8^th, but I could never have imagined just what kind of month October would turn out to be. 

I’d planned to crack on with my current work, Shadow Over Paris, not expecting to have it ready before December, but I found that my progress was beyond surprising, even to the point of leaving the TV off so I could crack on. 

The next surprise was a trip to the Jubilee Library in Brighton. My granddaughter, Gemma, had asked if I would like to see 6 months old Liri at the toddlers music group. I turned up and couldn’t believe how big and active the library was. Then I found the Children’s library where hundreds of babies were crawling about all over the floor like a plague of ants. I found Gemma and Liri with Liri’s big brother, Orin (he’s seven), and immediately found myself in raptures over our great grandson. I was on the floor with him wondering if I would be able to get up. But it was such a joy to be there. 

I had another interesting and surprise encounter with my author friend, Paul Asling. Paul came to me about six years ago because he had written a book and wanted my advice. Naturally I gave him a few suggestions and watched him blossom as a writer with his books about London in the fifties and sixties. Paul now sells more books than I do, more so in America where London history seems popular. So, well done, Paul! 

I also started doing a TikTok course, which I did about eighteen months ago, and opened a new account for my pen name, Emma Carney. I probably won’t get very far with that until much closer to Christmas. 

I completed the read through for Shadow Over Paris, and ordered proof copy, which I went through with a red pen and highlighted about 100 changes that were needed. This meant another proof copy, which I finished checking just a couple of days ago. I am now waiting for the new jacket from the Booktypesetters.com.

 But now for the biggest, and most emotional surprise of them all. I had a lunch date arranged with our son, Terry for Monday last week. It had been planned for a few weeks. My grandson, Adam and his partner, Agata, were coming too. But on the morning, my grandson, Charlie turned up from Scotland with his girlfriend, and no Adam and Agata. Fifteen minutes later and our boy, John appears. He’d been on a Mediterranean cruise, and I didn’t expect to see him until Friday. Anyway, we all trooped off to the pub where I was told Adam and Agata were waiting, but when I got there, our granddaughter, Gemma was there with her partner, Max and their two boys, Orin and Liri. Then I saw our eldest son, Vincent. By now this was getting overwhelming, and the tears were flowing rapidly. Then I turned round and saw our grandson, Sam and his wife, Taryn. And with them was Sam’s brother, Jamie. Just when I think there can be no more surprises and tears, in walks our youngest son, Stephen with his wife, Lisa. And Stephen is carrying little three months old, Elliott — Sam and Taryn’s baby. By now I was emotionally wrecked. Sixteen grown-ups and two babies had travelled from England, Scotland, Canada, Australia and America just to surprise Grandad. There were no birthdays, no anniversaries, just a desire to surprise me and show how much they love me and think of me. We did all raise a toast to Pat of course. How I wish she could have been there. I managed to spend more time with them that evening and the following day until I handed Jamie over to Terry in Horsham and came home. I was drained physically and emotionally, which took me about forty eight hours to get back to normal. But the memories will never go away, and we’ll talk about that for a very long time.

So, here I am writing my monthly blog and wondering if there’s a limit to how many surprises we’re allotted. I may have used all mine up, but I hope not. I have a couple of dates to look forward to in November, which I will talk about in my next blog post. But for now, it’s back to my domestic duties, walking the dog, keeping body and soul together and wondering what on earth I’m going to do with my free time now that I am not writing. But whatever comes along, wish me luck!

 Michael Parker’s September blog

 

The month of September has contained much of the usual stuff for me like gardening, walking the dog, keeping my body and soul together and watching films on TV. Oh, mustn’t forget the football either. But one change to my routines that had an impact was a ‘March For Britain’ demonstration down at the Guildhall in Portsmouth. It was on a Saturday, and I went with my neighbour, Rick. I went because I feel strongly about the collapse of Law and Oder in our Country, the complete intransigence and mendacity of our governments (yes, plural), and simply because I felt there was nothing I could do other than to stand alongside others who felt as I do. Yes, I had my flag of St. George with me. I could spend a lot of time talking about what I saw etc., but it would make this blog very long. I’m happy I went, but my four sons are happy that I’ve decided not to do anymore. And for anyone reading this blog who believe people like me are nothing but right wing fascist bastards, the same crowd are meeting in London on October 5^th at Downing Street to do a ‘March For Jesus’ to Trafalgar Square. Now that’s something I would like to have gone to, but at my age the whole day could probably prove too much for me. 

In my world of books, I’ve had ups and downs as usual. I decided to advertise my Emma Carney Romance on Facebook. I put the offer price at £0.99. After three weeks (ish), I pulled the ad simply because it wasn’t selling. But the truth of it was that the ad had 14,000 impressions, 275 clicks and nothing else. At £0.99 pence I thought I was bound to sell at least a few copies. Seems I’ve no idea how to promote my books successfully. I also spent a lot of time editing the book again (nothing to do with the flop) by going through it with a red pen. It makes you weep when you come across errors that you wouldn’t expect in a Junior school essay.

 Work on my current book, Shadow Over Paris, is progressing at a fairly good rate. I’m using the time saved by not going out in the garden (because of the weather) and putting it to good use on the book. I’ve cracked 65,000 words (total) and expect to reach maybe 100,000 words by the end of the year. Oh, and if any of you think that’s good progress, I was watching an Indie Writers Podcast (I’m a member of this group) earlier this week. There were two writers: James Blatch, who I’ve met, and Cara Clare, who I have never met. Cara writes about 17000 words a day! And has published 45 novels in the last two years. That’s going some, eh?

One thing I may try to do is see how interested a traditional publisher might be in Shadow Over Paris. It probably wouldn’t happen, but as a starter I went along to my local library and ordered a copy of the Writers and Artists Year Book. It’s a handy book to have access to. My plan is to contact about five agents and five publishers offering them an opportunity to see the final manuscript. This might sound a bit presumptuous of me, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will almost certainly be turned down, but having a creditable CV, someone might be interested. I’ve had two trad publishers in the past, so I’m not new to it. Oh, and I still have a trad publisher in America (only one book though). 

Something else that surprised me was a short venture into TikTok. I logged on to #booktok to see what was needed to load a promotional video up, when I came across at least thirty posts of my book, A Song in The Night, and about twenty of one of my Emma Carney Romances, The Girl With No Name. They’d been put there by a Promotion Company called BooksBuzzer — a Company I’d used to promote those two books. Obviously BooksBuzzer had done what I’d asked them too, but the result was exactly the same as my FB ad — nothing! 

But I will soldier on. The Indie Writers Group (who used to be a part of the Self-Publishing Formula) are updating their Amazon Ads Course in a week’s time. It has been prepared by a member of Reedsy (well-known in the industry), and for me it’s free because I’m a paid-up member of the group. I plan to continue advertising my books, so hopefully I will make some progress with this new course. Does that make me a glutton for punishment? What else would I do with all my non-gardening spare time, apart from trying to learn some chord progressions on my Clavinova and making a spectacular hash of that as well. Ah well — C’est la vie in my case.

 I’m off to see my granddaughter, Gemma, next week. I want to catch up with her two boys, Orin and Liri. Orin is seven and Liri is six months. The last time I saw them, I fell over and bruised my hip badly; ended up in A&E. Must be dangerous visiting your great-grandchildren, eh? 

I had a chat with my Aussie boy, Stephen (son No. four) and got brought up to date with our fifth great-grandson, Elliot. Little Elliot had a heart scare, but the local hospital sorted it out, so he’s okay now. Elliot’s mum and dad live in America. I plan to go over there next year for Elliot’s first birthday. 

Last night I was at a Quiz-ine night at my church. It was an international dining experience coupled with a quiz session. My hearing let me down on these occasions, so I was unable to help my quiz table, but I managed to enjoy a chicken curry and rice. 

What’s next on the agenda? Much the same as before. Life goes on and I make progress in some ways and have setbacks in others. But in that respect, I’m no different to most of us. I hope those of you who are reading this and managed to get this far will have a happy and fruitful October. No floods, no roadworks, no tax rises… there I go, dreaming again! 

Oh yes, one other thing; I will be getting new neighbours. They should be moving in around mid-October. I do hope we will get on okay. Wish me luck!

 August blog 

Living a Fuller Life   

The month of August was certainly busy for me, one way or another. There were good moments and not so good moments: a trip to the dentist for one and remembering my lovely Pat’s passing on August 18^th; always a difficult date for me. The highlight of the month on the domestic front was bringing my friend, Pauline, down here for a week. It meant a total of four days on our sadly overcrowded roads of course to bring her down here and take her home again. But that had to be endured. We spent time visiting of course, but with two dogs, my Tuppence and Pauline’s Chihuahua, Daisy, it meant we were limited in what we could do. I organised a Garden Party — ten of us, all singles except for my neighbours, Rick and Anne. I discovered that afternoon the alcohol limit I was once used to no longer applies! 

Another highlight was being over at my son, John’s, to watch the Cardiff Speedway Grand Prix on TV and stay overnight. John and I used to go to Cardiff regularly for the SGP. I would travel over from Spain for that. 

On the domestic front, it was nothing more than the usual. I get no pleasure out of weeding, cutting the grass, pruning and hedge trimming, but like most of us, there’s little choice. The bonus comes often in getting to chat to people passing by, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I’m usually on my knees when they walk by, but it gives me an excuse to stand up and leave the work for a while. 

One of mine and Pauline’s visits was to Christine, an ex-sister-in-law of mine and Pat’s. She’s on her own  now and uses a mobility scooter to get about. We were teenagers together (years ago). Chris brought some old photos out, a couple of which were of her when she was sixteen. I told her I fancied her then, but it was no more than a teenage boy fancying all the girls anyway. It made us both laugh. Happy memories. 

Which kind of brings me on to my latest Emma Carney Romance, Dare to Dream. The story is about ten young people, five boys and five girls at their College Prom night. They are all eighteen years of age and, like most youngsters, have their fancies and their dreams. I set the scene in the first couple of chapters and then take the story forward fifteen years. That’s where the reality of life and our expectations, our dreams, reflect very little connection to the hopes we may all have had as youngsters. When I was eighteen, I was engaged to Pat — we’d been courting for about three years. Happily my dreams became a permanent reality I glad to say. Anyway, I’m digressing. Once Pauline’s visit was over, I got down to writing and managed to finish the book and publish it. I’ve set the price at £0.99, simply because I’m hoping people will buy it and maybe want to buy the other three Emma Carney Romances I’ve published. And since then I have picked up the War story I started at the beginning of the year, Shadow Over Paris, and have started getting back into the extensive research I’ve already done. With luck I might have that finished by the end of the year. You can find Dare to Dream at

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DDYGYQMG. Why not have a look? 

Now that I am well into my senior years, I find myself lamenting the loss to the youngsters in our country of the kind of life I enjoyed as a young lad. I won’t get into a political diatribe here, but I found myself wishing I could have been involved in the protest marches — not the riots, I hasten to add — and waved my English flag along with the hundreds of other like-minded people. Well, it looks like I may have a chance. There’s a March for Britain to be held in Portsmouth on September 7^th, and I’m going with my neighbour. I’ve ordered my flag and am really looking forward to it. Does that make me a “Far Right” thug? I think not; just an Octogenarian who dreams of better things for his family. Dare to Dream?

 

Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 Don't go away, please! I'm back! After several months of indecision, I thought it was time to get back on the bookworld bandwagon. I've published a couple of blogs and I'm writing again. Check out my latest monthly blog post at https://wix.to/tEVDOHj . It's a short, 3 minute read, but packed with good stuff.