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.

 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!