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.

 If you pick up tjis message, it will be because you recognise my name and realise I haven't been around for some considerable time. I am tryying to get back on the bandwagon and resestablish myself again, so I've started a campaign tp attract readers t my books. First shot out of the barrel is the first book in my Marcus Blake series, A COVER WAR. I've priced it at £0,99/$0.99. You can see it here and click on te book to buy it. Best wishes. Michael Parker. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V73HFO8

 A new monthly blog: Into the Lion's Den at https://www.michaelparkerbooks.com/blog. Why not check it out? There's a free offer in there which you might like as well. Have a goo day!

Getting back on track.

 

Blog post for September 2023

 

Going down rabbit holes.

 

Once again I look back through my diary entries for September and see my daily entries are all very similar. The main difference is the amount of research I’m doing for a planned novel (maybe a series) about Occupied Paris in 1940. The books I’ve bought for my research cover the years 1940-1944, so the early stages of my research means I will only use about a third of the material, maybe less, for now. But before I talk about that, a little about what I did during September.

 

I took Tuppence to the vet to have her teeth cleaned. I’ve been advised on how I should clean her teeth. Trouble is — Tuppence won’t let me, simple as that. I give her a carrot or a small chew to help with the process anyway.

 

I took my sister-in-law, Sandy, out to lunch. Sandy was married to my younger brother, Arthur, who died shortly before my lovely Pat. Most times we talk about what we’ve been up to but invariably end up talking about our loss. We went to a dog friendly pub, which meant I could take Tuppence.

I also took Tuppence with me when I visited my granddaughter, Gemma and her family in Brighton. I took them (Great grandson, Orin, and Gemma’s partner, Max) out to lunch at the Laughing Dog Café in the marina. Lovely afternoon with them.

 

I decided to grow tomatoes this year. I ended up with that many I had to make soup. Not a good idea. The only thing it taught me, besides proving that I’m a lousy cook, is not to grow tomatoes again.

 

Another pleasing event was lunch with our No. 2 son, Terry, at Goodwood Aerodrome. We sat in the sunshine at the café beside the airfield watching the flying, eating chips and just having a thoroughly nice time. Tuppence was with us as well (natch).

 

But back to my world of books. I was working on a fourth Emma Carney Romance and had reached about 12000 words when I knew I was going nowhere with it; all I was doing was adding a series of events that were taking me down rabbit holes; certainly not a fitting way to find a reasonable end to a plausible story. I soldiered on for a while until I had my thoughts triggered by a film that had nothing to do with the war but referenced a fictional series about the war in Paris. This set me on the kind of research I used to do years ago before Social Media was invented. I went to the local library and ordered a book about Occupied Paris. I also searched online for more material and ended up buying four books: SOE ‘F’ Section heroines, (written by Sqdn. Leader Beryl E. Escott); When Paris Went Dark (Ronald Rosbottom); Paris in the Third Reich (David Pryce-Jones) and Americans in Paris 1940-1944 (Charles Glass). Three of the books were used, but I bought the paperback of the Library book because I knew I might have to make notations in it.

Looking through all that material might seem daunting, but much of it is repeated in all the books, and for my story, I only want to write about the early period leading up to June 1940 when German troops marched into the open, undefended city of Paris. I expect to spend a lot of time researching before I can put together a plan of how and where I want to start, and where I’ll finish. If I think I have made a success of this, I would be prepared to write a series (if I live long enough!). But the material is there along with fascinating characters and dramatic events. I have already written the opening chapter (twice), but even now I’m wondering if I should wait until I have everything written down that I need before plotting a story.

 

So looking ahead, my weeks will be filled with domestic chores, walking Tuppence, going to church, falling asleep in the chair, watching TV, playing my piano and missing my lovely Pat. Between all this, I hope to be writing my next full length novel.

Wish me luck!

 Self-help and Self-indulgence

July 2023

June was quite an eventful month for me one way or another. I published my third Emma Carney Romance, Chapel Acre. I asked my usual jacket designer for a cover, but he couldn’t commit before August 1^st., which meant at least a ten weeks wait before he could complete, so I went with my own, simple design. The reason for that was because of the promise I’d made to myself to complete five Emma Carney Romances by the end of the year. By publishing Chapel Acre (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C6FKVJBM), it meant I was well ahead with my plan. Unfortunately, I have now hit a brick wall and can’t come up with a story for No.4. I think I’ve used up all my ideas, but I have six months to go yet, so we’ll see.

Having said all that about finding a decent idea for EC4, I have jotted down a few ideas and written about fifteen hundred words as a starter. I have to accept that I am a “Pantser”. I can’t plot for toffees; it just doesn’t work for me. I wish it did, but that isn’t how I write.

But there’s something else that I have done that may affect any chance I have of making a name for myself (I mean, Emma Carney) in the book world: I cancelled my Mail Chimp account. The reason for that was because I’d virtually lost all my subscribers, and trying to resurrect their interest, particularly as they had originally signed up for A&A and Thrillers etc, I don’t think they would have been that interested. To give you an idea, I’d gone from 1500 subs down to an open rate of about 0.1%, and each newsletter resulted in more unsubs than opens.

On June 19^th. I travelled up to London for the Self-Publishing Live Show at the QE Hall on the South Bank. There was an informal meet up at the Mad Hatter pub that night. I went along and bumped into a young woman I’d met last year at the conference. We spent an hour chatting about our books, our lives and our plans. She told me I had enough lifetime experience to write advice and self-help books, or to put out monthly newsletters talking about the events in my life that might be of some help to anyone who was struggling with the kind of things I’d dealt with and managed to live through. I thought it would make me sound rather pompous if I considered myself some kind of life guru who could help people. I told her this, but she wouldn’t have it. I’ve given this some thought, although I don’t expect it to happen, but I have republished a small booklet titled What Happened After (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C951NN89) and will put that up on Social Media feeds (hopefully). It’s a 17000 word narrative on the two years following the death of my lovely Pat and covers my mental state, my ups, my downs, and eventually finding hope again in my writing.

 The book conference was an eye-opener (as always). One presenter was Bella Andre, often referred to as the ‘Queen of Romance’. She has sold 10,000,000 books and hit the New York Times best seller list. Another intriguing presenter was Britt Andrews; another incredibly successful writer. Racheal Maclean was another. Three years ago she was at the book conference as an unknown writer. Last year she was a presenter having sold one million books in two years. She was a guest interviewee this year. One thing about these three women is the incredibly hard work they’ve all put into their craft, which has to be the secret behind their success. I applaud them all. 

So, from the ‘Gor blimey to the ridiculous’. I followed up my presence at the book conference with a book stall of my own at the local ‘Fun Day’ on the green here on our Park Home Residential Estate. I sold twenty four books. Makes you smile, eh? I considered that a good day. I got to chat with people I didn’t know, some I recognised because they are Residents here. One chap came up to my book stall and tapped several of my books saying: “Got that, got that, got that…” He tapped about five books. He told me he’d bought on KDP and thought I was an excellent writer. Makes you think, eh? 

On the domestic front, I’ve had my Park Home clad with insulation. It’s a government scheme for people on low incomes who live in Park Homes to help reduce their energy costs and reduce the carbon footprint. It cost me nothing, so I will say thank you to the British taxpayer; such a generous bunch. I’ve continued my project of turning my garden into a low maintenance garden. I’m slowly clearing my borders and putting weed mats and tree bark down. The idea is to rely on pots of flowers and reduce the amount of time I spend weeding (and breaking my back!) 

For the coming month, July, it should be situation normal: housework, gardening, writing, playing the piano badly and walking the dog. Oh, and some promotional work. Wish me luck!