It’s all about books. 

When September dawned, I knew it would be a bleak month for my WW2 series, and I was right, but it was what I expected, and I was happy to see sales and page reads bump up the bottom line. I wasn’t advertising, so I could not expect anything else. Instead, I used the month to edit Books 1 and 2, in readiness for the new campaign starting at the beginning of October. I used Gemini AI on Google to check the files for any errors, and what it came up with was an eye-opener. Not only did it correct the usual errors like typos, punctuation, and hyphenated words, it also corrected the French and German spellings and pointed out historical timelines that needed addressing. Although it also offered a ‘polished version’ of the uploaded files, I didn’t use it because I felt it would create a subtle change in my ‘author voice’. I simply went through each correction by hand. It was slow work, but necessary in my view because of the need to offer readers a virtually error-free book, although I doubt whether that would be possible, and there would still be some readers who just want to find fault and give a low review. 

The reason for doing this was because I had a Zoom meeting with a book marketer, Lesley Sainty, on September 30th. I contacted Lesley through the online Company, Reedsy, which I have used before. However, the whole point of this was to hand over the marketing of my series to a professional and let me get on with what I do best, and that is to write. 

Lesley had already done a book audit before the Zoom meeting and highlighted several things I could do on my Amazon product pages and in my KDP pages. She also came up with several ad options for me. We discussed these, and after the meeting, Lesley produced the images she would be using for the ad campaign. It all kicked off on the 2nd of October, and although it’s early days, there is a slight increase in my sales and page reads. Oh, and the daily royalties so far have covered my costs. I know it could all crash and burn, but that’s the chance we take in the world of books. The campaign will end on October 14th, when Lesley and I will have another video call to discuss the next steps. Should be fun. 

I have also started reading through The Eagle’s Covenant, using Gemini to check the errors, etc. The reason I’m doing that is that I discovered, quite unexpectedly while checking my overall book sales, that in ten years I sold 22,000 copies of The Eagle's Covenant. It is my best-selling book so far. Now, I started a sequel a few years ago but gave up on the idea because I couldn’t think of a way to develop it. Once I’d seen the sales figures, I had a long think about it and decided to give it a try. But what I did, rather than trying to come up with some ideas, was to upload the entire book and the sequel I’d started (14000 words) to Gemini and ask it to give me some plot ideas. The speed of response was mind-blowing; it took about three minutes. It produced some incredible plot ideas, choosing individual characters to be placed as good guys or bad guys, and all the usual twist-and-turn stuff that makes a thriller enjoyable. I printed the result out and have six pages of ideas. But despite all that, I’m not completely convinced that I will complete the project. I have a few things going on in my life not related to books that might prevent it. Who knows? 

Added to this is, of course, the upcoming publication of Book 3 in the WW2 series. This will complete the trilogy, and if I am still spending money on Facebook campaigns, and they prove profitable, I may be asked to write another war story. You may wonder who it is that does the asking; it’s usually people who have no idea what it means to sit down and write an 80,000-word novel. But it’s also the little demon who sits on my shoulder and nags away at me to keep on writing. 

My life outside of books is uncomplicated, and much like a lot of people who are in a similar situation to me. I’m battling with my garden and losing, no matter what I do. My domestic duties are the usual round of chores that my lovely wife took care of. I spend my money unwisely, mostly on spur-of-the-moment ideas that often end up in my Room 101, and I keep telling myself that I have to play my piano more. But on the whole I have little to moan about at my age. 

Those of you who have got this far will be reading this on my new website. My son, Terry, built it for me, and also made the trailer for my Shadow Over Paris novel. He’s a clever boy, but what can you expect from someone who was a Harrier pilot in the RAF? He’s still flying, but at a more sedate pace. 

So, that’s it, my blog for September. Hopefully I will have more uplifting and inspiring news in my next blog. Wish me luck!

                                                                                                                               Michael

 Coping and Hoping July Blog 

After a reasonably successful run of sales and page reads, I find myself back down among the bottom feeders, thinking about launching another Facebook campaign, but this time in the United States. I made the mistake of reading Kristin Hannah’s book, The Nightingale. It is set in Occupied Paris, the same as my book, Shadow Over Paris. Wow, what a blisteringly good writer she is, and I’m up against that kind of talent? I did manage to get to No 7 in the top ten, Historical French Fiction category. Kristin Hannah was at No.1, so I was only six places behind her (for a while). 

I finished writing the third book in the Shadow Over Paris series, so the Trilogy is complete. The Word file is with my son, John, who will be reading it for me and checking for typos and errors. No doubt he’ll find a few. Once that’s done, I can ask my cover designer to come up with a jacket as good as all the others he’s done for me. 

Now that I’ve finished writing, I find myself with precious little to occupy my mind. It’s been two months now since I had Tuppence put down. I do miss the little sod and often feel guilty because I made the decision to have her put to sleep; something I struggle to get my head round. 

I spent a few days away; went up to Norfolk for a long weekend at my eldest son, Vincent, and his wife, Jackie’s place. After leaving them, I popped in to see my brother, Jim. While I was there, his son, Colin, brought a young Italian woman to the house. She was called Ludovici (Ludi), and Colin has known her for several years after driving a Medical Wagon around Italy.

Ludi, probably in her late twenties, wanted to know how to get a book published. She had written a Contemporary Literature novel, which she wanted traditionally published. Naturally, I was able to give her a lot of pointers and useful information. It made a pleasant hour for me because I love talking about writing. When I left my brother’s, I went up to Sleaford to spend a couple of nights with my friend, Pauline. 

During the last month I got involved with a book publicist in America who helped improve the way my work appears on search engines like Amazon and Google. It cost me money, and I can’t honestly say I got the bang for my buck I wanted, but maybe that will be a kind of underlying improvement when it comes to my campaigns on Facebook. 

I was approached by email from a woman representing Authors Manuscriptia. (No, me neither). She produced an incredibly detailed history of my career as a writer, even to the fact that I gave up writing to nurse my terminally ill wife. After an exchange of emails, I said thanks, but no thanks. I used Google’s Gemini AI to ask who these people were. They were genuine but lacked results and charged a fee for a pointless document, professionally edited, that would enhance my reputation, not just as a writer, but as a person as well. 

Looking ahead, I have two separate medical conditions that are being looked at, either of which could mean me having to make decisions I’ve no wish to. I’m due to walk my grandson, Adam’s fiancée, Agata, down the aisle on August 4^th, and after that I’ll be going up to Sleaford to bring Pauline down here for a spell — her and her little Chihuahua, Daisy. And the (almost) entire family from Australia, America, Canada and Scotland (England too!), will be here for the wedding. They say they will be popping in to see me as well, even though we’ll be together at the wedding. Should be fun. 

And my current reading? The Women by Kristin Hannah. I’m a glutton for punishment. Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 Writing can be a lonely, soul-destroying business, or it can be fun and uplifting, depending on what kind of writer you are. I know of some writers (not personally) who can knock out a prodigious number of books in a month, and I suspect they are always in a good place, overwhelmed with ideas and probably writing the next book in their heads as they write down the words of their current project. I am like the tortoise in the fable, except I always cross the finish line, but a proverbial country mile behind the hare. But that’s my lot; I am antediluvian, old school, and it usually takes me about a year to complete a book.

 

For my current project, I am over halfway down the road, about 60.000 words into the third book of the Shadow Over Paris series. There’s an old saying, Irish I think, that says “May the road rise up to meet you”. I love that, and I see it in the way I have struggled to come up with a plausible tale for the third book. I reached, not just a roadblock, but a proverbial mountain as I struggled to find a way to interlock all the pieces of the jigsaw I’d scattered along the way and wasn’t sure I would get to bring them altogether to complete the picture. Well, I think I’m on the other side of the roadblock, and I can see daylight.

 

At my current rate of progress, I expect to have the first draft complete, but unedited, by the end of this month (June). But there’s a ‘but’. Isn’t there always? I’ve had two medical appointments for two different things in the last seven days, and each of those means a referral. Just when the sun is beginning to shine, the clouds come over to darken the day. I will still be writing, but I’m not in control now; that will be in the hands of others. However, I still expect to publish the book, hopefully, in November. I’ve chosen that particular month because Shadow Over Paris and the sequel were both published in November (2024 and 2025). It does kind of round it off nicely, and perfect for the build-up to Christmas.

 

I have entered the first book into a Goodreads Giveaway. These are supposed to be an excellent way of attracting readers, and there is a prolific amount on Goodreads. The current giveaway begins today (June 1^st) and runs for 14 days. I will be giving away 20 copies. This may not seem a lot, but I am going on the advice of a professional book publicist. If the giveaway is successful, I could do another, but it costs money. Doesn’t everything? That’s the rub; there’s no such thing as a free lunch, so they say. If you want to try your luck, go on to my website, facing page, and you will see the ‘Widget’ that will take you there.

 

I’m currently running a campaign on Amazon for the book, but I’ve never had any success running campaigns on Amazon. I suck at it, to be honest, but so do a great deal of authors. We can write books, but we cannot as hell, advertise. To do that successfully, you need the help of a professional with the usual costs. But Amazon promoted my book in April (for nothing), and I enjoyed healthy sales during that month. And the upshot is, readers are beginning to buy the sequel. It has actually sold more than the first book this month, because readers want to read it (natch). That’s another good reason for me to get the third book of the trilogy out by the end of the year.

 

On the domestic front, sadly, I had to have my lovely cockapoo, Tuppence, put to sleep. She was terminally ill and had been under treatment for several weeks. It was so sad. Tuppence was the centre of my universe. Now she’s gone and my house is empty. Sometimes my soul feels like that because I no longer have the two girls of my life: my lovely Pat and my lovely Tuppence.

 

But life goes on. I’m having a stall at a car boot sale here on our site this coming Saturday. I’ll have some of my books plus a lot of stuff that I’ve had in my Room 101, wondering what I’m going to do with it all. About ten days after that, I’ll be travelling up to Norfolk for a weekend with our eldest boy, Vincent and his wife, Jackie. Our No.3 son, John, will be there for a day. Then it’s off to Lincolnshire to spend a couple of nights with my long-standing friend, Pauline. While I’m there, I plan to call on my granddaughter, Sarah and her family at RAF Cranwell. Oh, and on my way to Lincolnshire, I will be popping in to see my big brother, Jim, who, unfortunately, cannot do much, so it will be nice to have a chat with him and put the world to rights.

 

So you see, there’s life in the old dog yet, and all the time I’m healthy and fit enough, I will try to maintain that journey as the road comes up to meet me. Wish me luck!

 

                                                                                                       Michael Parker

 May 2026 blog post.

 

Looking back and looking ahead. 

My last blog post was in February, and reading through it, I seem to be quite enthusiastic about my progress in the Indie world of books. But the reality, unfortunately, has been a little different. Although my book, Shadow Over Paris, was doing well, followed by the sequel, I started losing inspiration. And then Amazon sent me an email asking if I would like them to promote my book, free of charge, for the month of April. They’d done this for me in December, same book too, so I wondered what is was about my book that ‘clicked’ with Amazon.

 I used AI to ask what Amazon’s algorithms look for when selecting a book to promote. It came back with eight different reasons, and my book ticked every one of those boxes. During the promotion, I watched the book climb to No 7 in the Historical French fiction category, it nudged itself into the top 20 Historical fiction and came a respectable 70^th or so in Historical literature. It also peaked at 4120 in Amazon’s overall list of titles. This meant I needed to find a way of keeping the balls in the air once the promotion had finished.

And there’s the rub; I was cleverly scammed last year, which left me feeling violated and, let’s be honest, quite stupid to fall for the trickster. This meant that I could no longer trust anyone who contacted me by email, promising to elevate me and my work to a higher place. The majority of them never addressed me by name, it was always ‘Hi author’, ‘Hello’, ‘I read your work (which work?)’, and so on and so forth. I decided it was down to me to run another campaign on Facebook, which was responsible for acquiring over one million page reads for the book in six months. I tried Amazon ads, but I suck at them and achieved nothing. So, where to go from here? 

Quite by chance, I received an email addressed to me but wanting to discuss my book and maybe do some publicity stuff. I returned the email with the words: ‘Not my book’. But the woman wrote back, and from there we exchanged about twenty emails, and in that time, I used AI to check up on the authenticity of this person because I was convinced it was a scam. I looked at other sources as well and now find myself enjoying a small uptick in my sales. She opened my eyes to the mechanics of using the correct keywords etc, changed my blurb, told me to use a recent photo, and then we dived into the dreaded world of Goodreads. Wow, that took some doing, but we finally managed it, and now we will be looking at a Goodreads giveaway, followed by (maybe) a 30-minute Zoom call to see where we go from there. Am I excited? No, not yet, but it’s time for me to up my game and see just how I can reach higher and enjoy some real validation in the world of Indie books.

On a sad note, I had to say goodbye to my ten-year-old Cockapoo, Tuppence. She developed a terminal illness that couldn’t be controlled despite the medication and change of diet. She has been my constant companion since I lost my lovely Pat over five years ago; she has been the centre of my universe, and the reason I couldn’t make any decisions without considering her welfare first. Now she’s gone, and I find myself living in an empty house. I’m going to put a little memorial to her in a pot beneath the bird feeder. That was her favourite place in the garden, and I would often see her sitting there, wagging her tail, waiting for the birds to drop something.

 So, from here? I’m working on the trilogy (slowly) and planning a trip to Norfolk to see my eldest boy and his wife, then my elder brother Jim, followed by a quick trip into Lincolnshire to visit my friend, Pauline. And while I’m in Lincolnshire, I hope to catch up with my granddaughter, Sarah, and her family. So, things are looking up, but I still have mountains to climb.

 Wish me luck!                                                                                Michael Parker

 

 January 2026 Blog post

 Looking up and wondering if...

The beginning of 2026 was the point where I could relax and forget about all the jottings on the calendar for December and the build-up to Christmas, but life gets in the way, and it’s kind of a situation normal again. I often tell people that if you want to put a smile on God’s face, just tell Him what your plans are.

I was looking forward to going to Atlanta again for our great-grandson, Elliott’s 2^nd birthday, and to see the new addition to his family, who is due in April. Boy or girl? We won’t know until April. But I’ve cancelled the trip because they will all be here four weeks later and, yes, they will be coming to Pagham to see me, so I decided to save myself a few thousand quid and cancelled the trip. They will be here for our Grandson, Adam’s, wedding to his fiancée, Agata, in August. 

After a relatively minor op last November, I now find myself having to visit the nurse twice a week to have the dressing changed on my leg. It’s just a giant sticking plaster, but it means marking it up on the calendar. Oh, and the Gardner is here every Thursday for an hour if it isn’t raining. My church House Group started up again, which meant more additions to the calendar. There’s always a book club meeting at Littlehampton once a month. Church itself, etc. So, with God smiling, I’m busy filling up the days. Oh, and I’m planning a trip up to Norfolk in April, then round to my friend, Pauline, in Lincolnshire for a short stay. And in between all that, I’m trying to write a third book in my WW2 series. 

Those of you who read my last monthly blog post will know that I decided to give up writing, having published the sequel to Shadow Over Paris. I just didn’t want to write books anymore. But after a couple of weeks sitting on my bum with nothing to do other than watch TV  (Netflix and football), I knew I had to do something. So, I picked up my virtual pen and began putting together something for a third book. — a Trilogy. 

But there was another reason too. The first of the two books had done very well in the last few months of 2025, bringing in high sales and page reads. I published the sequel in November, and that started selling, slowly at first, but it was beginning to chase after its big brother. And I wasn’t even promoting them. It was obvious what I had to do, so I began a Facebook campaign in the USA and the UK this year. The pick-up was slow at first, but now they are gaining momentum and hitting figures that are putting a big smile on my face. The trick now is to keep those balls in the air and see how far I can push those numbers, although it will mean spending more money on Promotion and Advertising. 

There is also another reason why I knew I needed to write the third book, and that was the unusual interest I was getting from unexpected sources. I get several emails a day promising me they can advance my book, but they are usually web crawlers and robots out for my money. The difference now is that I’ve been approached by a book club called ‘The Paris Story Book Club’, and another club called ‘The Lisbon Raft Book Club’. I was dubious about them both, but no money is involved (yet!); they simply want permission to feature Shadow Over Paris. They both have different ways of doing this, which is too involved to explain here, but it’s another outlet for me to explore and, hopefully, extend my reach into the world of books. 

After writing that piece, I received an email from the Raft Book Club offering to make a video trailer for me at a cost of $100. See what I mean? It often ends in a ‘rider’ to the ‘free’ promotion they are offering. 

For anyone reading this who has no idea of what kind of level I’m at in this game, I can promise you I am still what I call a ‘Bottom Feeder’. I’ve seen sales figures from other authors like me that would make the fictional Gecko of Wall Street weep with envy, and to reach those heights at my current rate of progress would take me years. But I can dream, can’t I? 

It’s late evening on January 31^st as I’m writing this. I’ve just watched an episode of The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. I watched the series last year, all 30 episodes. When I think of the screenwriters who knock out script after script, week in, week out, I can only marvel at the way they can produce story lines that help keep Series like that at the top. I suppose it has to be said of the Soaps as well, but I do despair at the dross some TV Dramas peddle out at times. But then, I’m not a screenwriter; I would probably find it hard, particularly as it takes me a year to write a book. On the other hand, maybe… 

Anyway, back to earth. I’ve just ordered a non-fiction paperback about the French Resistance during WW2, so it looks as though this could give me something gritty and near the knuckle to include in the third book — as if transporting and murdering Jews wasn’t enough! We’ll see.

 

Wish me luck!

 

 End of year blog 2025

 

Today is the last day of 2025; time to reflect, to look back, and to look forward. My year has been a mixture of highs and lows, although I prefer to think of the latter as ‘not so high’. There are two significant highs, one of which was my trip to Atlanta to help celebrate our 5^th great-grandson, Elliott’s first birthday. The other was a long weekend in Prague to help our Grandson, Adam, celebrate his 40^th birthday. Both events were helped by the addition of several members of the Parker family. In Atlanta, they came from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In Prague, the same crowd turned up, plus others from Scotland and, of course, England. It isn’t necessary to name them all, but in Atlanta, there were five of us to help swell the numbers, and in Prague, there were an additional twelve. Brilliant. My trip to Atlanta included a ball game — Baseball at the home of the Atlanta Braves. I thoroughly enjoyed it but didn’t have a clue what was going on, not that it mattered.

 

The Prague visit in December was an eye-opener. I’ve told people that the place was like a Netflix Christmas RomCom; there were Christmas decorations everywhere. I stayed in an upmarket Airbnb with my family and the baby, Elliott. I did a lot of walking, had some tram rides, and a River Cruise. And the weather was sublime. All in all, a lovely time.

 

The ‘not so highs’ were really all about my health. It seemed to go downhill after my Atlanta trip. It could have been my age or the fact that my lifestyle changed considerably for a couple of weeks, enough to knock me for six. But what the hell, I recovered. It took time, but I got there. Until Prague! It’s almost de rigeur these days that airline travel will come with some kind of bug, and that’s what happened to me. It took two consecutive courses of antibiotics to get rid of my chest infection. But I am back to normal now. Well, my kind of normal.

 

The run-up to Christmas was very busy and, I have to admit, made me a bit downbeat at times. But that’s all down to my age and lengthy recovery periods. Now that it has passed, I can look ahead to some unhurried routine stuff (after taking down the decorations and tidying up!).

 

In my world of books, I achieved a few high points, which put a huge smile on my face. My WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, started taking off once I advertised it on Facebook in March. It reached the top 10 in Historical French Fiction and managed to creep high up into the top 100 of Historical Fiction. And to finish the year off, Amazon chose to promote it for the whole of December in America and Canada at no cost to me. That will finish today as will my own promotion for the UK.

 

Another high in my book world was finishing the Sequel: ShadowOver Paris – Beyond Midnight. It has been out for two months now and is picking up sales and page reads, chasing its big brother up the charts.

 

But then comes a ‘Not so high’ — I’ve decided to give up writing. I made the decision after publishing the Sequel because I found it such hard work that I wondered if I would ever get to the end. And now I seem to have run out of steam and inclination. I realise that I will never achieve what the majority of writers aspire to, and that is bestseller status. I know that if I were to achieve that, a lot of people would want a piece of me, want me to do a speaking event and book signings, etc., which would mean travel. Interviews? Expectations? It isn’t difficult to imagine, but at my age (I’m 84), that isn’t what I want. I might have done twenty years ago, but not now; I just need a quiet life. (But we’ll see).

 

So, what’s to come for Michael Parker next year? There are two significant events: Taryn in America is expecting and due to have her baby in April. That will be our sixth great-grandchild. I’m planning to go to Atlanta in July for Elliott’s second birthday and to see the baby. I’m not concerned about how tiring it will be; I just want to be there. And the other significant event for me is our Grandson, Adam, and his fiancée, Agata’s wedding in August. Agata has asked me to walk her down the aisle, which I will be honoured to do. I’ve got to keep fit for that — no health issues.

 

I will be planning some kind of advertising for my WW2 books in 2026, but I will need to keep a close eye on the cost. My campaigns this year saw me running at a small loss each week while the campaigns were running, but the aim was to push the books and my name. The result meant that once the campaigns had finished, the books, including some of my other titles, managed to garner sales and page reads, leaving me in profit for the year and put a big smile on my face.

 

So, that’s my offering for what has passed and what might come. And you never know, I night even become a best-selling author. Really?. Wish me luck

 

Happy New Year to all of you, even those who have given me one-star reviews (at least you bought my book!). See you in 2026.

                                                                                                                   Michael Parker

 

 Highs and lows of my November 

How quickly time flies. Here we are, just four weeks from Christmas, and it’s time to get the decorations out, write and post the Christmas cards, and decide what and how you want to spend the time. But this blog post isn’t about my plans, but how I’ve got through the four weeks of November, and whether I’m on the road to becoming a best-selling author. That last part is a given: there’s no way I’ll hit those heady heights, but I will keep trying. 

I had the misfortune to be scammed (Catfished?) by a crooked publicist. It was very skilfully done over several weeks, leading me to think I was being helped along the way to achieving those dreams most authors have. It was quite by chance that I cottoned on and managed to extricate myself from their clutches. I use the plural here because I believe it was not the work of one person. The result of being caught is that you feel violated, and it brings home the fact that these people are very good at what they do. I think I can promise myself that it won’t happen again.

 

The highlight of the month was the publication of the sequel to my WW2 novel, Shadow Over Paris. The title of the sequel is Shadow Over Paris — Beyond Midnight. I published the book on the 12^th, one year and a day after the Shadow Over Paris. I have just posted a campaign on Facebook, so it’s early days to say whether the sequel will be as successful as the first. So far, I’ve sold sixteen copies and notched up just over 4000 page reads, so at least readers are catching on. Shadow Over Paris sold 1200 copies and notched up 800,000 page reads, so it looks like the sequel has got some catching up to do.

 

Although I said that was the highlight of the month, there was another, and that was Amazon (KDP) getting in touch with me to say I had been successful in the draw for a book promotion, and they will be promoting Shadow Over Paris during the month of December. The price will be $1.99 in Canada and the United States. Amazon will run the promotion, and it won’t cost me a penny. 

When I check how well my books are doing, KDP provides all the information very clearly and easily accessible. It gives me the opportunity to see a snapshot of everything. One thing that surprised me when looking at November’s sales figures, the third highest country for the book was India. I never would have expected that. The wise gurus will tell me to advertise more, specifically in India, to capitalise on that market. It would make sense, but it would probably cost me more in advertising than I would earn through sales. I still have to concentrate on the UK and the United States, though. But it has crossed my mind to push my Emma Carney Romances. It’s a huge market, but one in which it would be unlikely for me to make much of an impact.

 I have no plans to write anymore; I think I’ve reached the end of the road in that respect. I know you can say, “Never say never”, but I just cannot see any way in which I would be inspired. It occurred to me that those readers who wanted me to write a sequel would want me to write a third book, so I would have a Trilogy of WW2 stories. Well, the truth is; I already have a trilogy — Shadow of the Wolf is set in 1943, so that makes a trilogy, although not in the proper sense, I have to admit. 

So, what now for Michael Parker? Next weekend I will be in Prague to help my grandson, Adam, celebrate his 40^th birthday. He doesn’t live there, but that’s where the family is going for the birthday bash, and they are coming from England, Scotland, Canada, the USA, and Australia. Should be fun. Then Christmas to look forward to. I hope all you who read this blog post will have a happy, enjoyable Christmas, with much to look forward to in the New Year. I plan to. 

Wish me luck!

 On a Wing and a Prayer

 

Writing a monthly blog post isn’t something I look forward to each month because it is probably the least productive of anything I do that’s connected with the written word. If I had thousands of ardent fans who hung on my every word, it would be different, but the truth is, it’s only family and friends, maybe some neighbours, who actually read my blog. But it is what it is, so I press on and try to deliver something meaningful and interesting.

 

Looking back through my diary, there are the usual suspects: walking the dog, hoovering, washing, making the bed etc. Going to church, attending an Alpha Course, which is something for new and non-Christians, really, but something I thought I needed to help me get to know a few more people. I did meet someone, not on the course, but in a roundabout way, because of it. She was someone Pat and I knew from our earlier years here on Mill Farm. She came round for tea, and we were able to chat about the ups and downs we’d been through.  After listening to her, I told her she had a story to tell (a good one), but she was reluctant to consider it.

 

Which brings me, conveniently, to the written word. I completed the sequel to my WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, and sent the manuscript to my son, John, after going through it myself. John did a great job, almost like a professional, and sent back his observations and complaints. I dealt with them and posted it on Amazon for a Proof Copy. This came, which I went through with a red pen. Once I was satisfied (will I ever be?), I ordered a book jacket from Nat at the Booktypsetters.com. I posted the final edit and am now waiting for another Proof Copy, which I expect to receive in a few days. The title is Shadow Over Paris – Beyond Midnight.

 

Writing the sequel was not something I can honestly say I enjoyed doing. And that bothered me because I felt I wouldn’t be able to tell the story and achieve the success I had with the first book. Time will tell of course; all it needs is for me to spend money on promotion and marketing (more of that later).

 

I did make an effort to get myself known on TikTok. I posted a few videos of me at the piano, playing a tune and talking about my book, hoping that the video would go viral and I would sell thousands of books. I’m still waiting…

 

So, what about Promotion and Marketing? Well, I can tell you that a good P&M expert, one who isn’t out to scam or con you, would set you back about $4000 (£3500) for their services (no, they don’t come cheap). I promoted my book, first on Amazon Ads, and sold about six or seven books. Then I tried Facebook. Overall cost to me? For six months, I lost roughly £20 a week (not a fortune). I spent $2500 on FB and earned $2000 in royalties. I sold just over 1000 books (Shadow Over Paris) and had over 700,000 page reads. For me that was a success. I stopped advertising because the ad was running out of steam. But I hadn’t given up, which is where Lila Rose comes in. No, she isn’t a character in my next novel; Lila is a book publicist, and boy, have we tussled over the last six weeks.

 

Lila found me in the usual way and contacted me. I immediately told her no thanks and that was it as far as I was concerned. But she persisted and always answered the questions I put to her. I did some research and even spoke to three New York Times best-selling authors with whom Lila had worked. Eventually, I agreed to part with my money, but in dribs and drabs. I’m still with Lila and may end up with egg on my face, but if Lila is all she claims to be, I could be looking at a profitable association with a professional marketing expert. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope my investment proves worthwhile.

 

Of course, there is another way if your are Reece Witherspoon. She wanted to write a thriller, so she thought, why not give Harlan Coben a ring? So she did. And she had interviews alongside Harlan Coben on BBC News, Radio 2, Virgin radio, and, no doubt, half of America. Now she is a New York Times best-selling author. So that’s how you do it — ring Harlan Coben. I think I’ll follow Reece Witherspoon’s advice and kick Lila into touch. 

 

Wish me luck!                                                                     Michael Parker

 

 

 The Intrepid Traveller (my July blog post) 

I usually write my monthly blog post early in the month, but on July 1st, I will be travelling to Atlanta in Georgia, USA. I’m going over to stay with my Grandson, Sam, and his wife, Taryn, to help celebrate their son, Elliott’s, first birthday on July 5th. Sam’s brother, Jamie, will be flying down from Vancouver with his girlfriend, Lexi, and Sam’s Mum and Dad will be over from Australia. Taryn’s family will be coming down from Michigan, so it will be quite a gathering, and I’m looking forward to it very much. I’m flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class — something else to look forward to. 

This won’t be the first time I’ve been to the States. I’ve been a few times, but my first visit was as an eighteen-year-old in 1958. I was in the Merchant Navy working as a waiter with P&O. We did a world cruise, which incorporated a Pacific cruise before sailing through the Panama Canal for home. As a consequence of that, I got to visit Hawaii twice (not an American State at the time), Vancouver twice, plus a short stop and a five-day layover in San Fransico. There were lots of highlights, of course, and I’ll never forget being driven along a Freeway in a pink Cadillac thinking what a blast it was; here in the land of Bill Haley, Elvis Presley (he had a pink Cadillac), Buddy Holly and the Everley Brothers — the list goes on. I was a bit of a dreamer then (still am, I think). 

My highlights for this trip that I know of in advance include a visit to a Writers’ group, a fireworks display to celebrate July 4th, Elliott’s christening on the morning of his birthday, and, of course, the birthday party. I’m also scheduled to go to a baseball game, something I asked my grandson to arrange. Any game will do, I said, so long as it’s not English football. Anything after all that will be a bonus. Oh, and I’ve been promised a Hummingbird T-shirt. That’s the name of the Running Club my Grandson, Jamie, set up in Vancouver along with a couple of his mates. 

So what about my world of books? Well, my current WW2 story, Shadow Over Paris, is doing very well. It sells every day and is holding it’s own in the top 20 of Historical French fiction, so I’m well pleased. But I’m struggling to come up with a worthwhile sequel, which some readers have asked me to do. I’m just past the 40,000-word mark, which means about halfway, but I need to keep the excitement level up if it’s to emulate the success of my current book. But I am picking up sales and page reads on some of my other books, which is always good to see. It means people are noticing me and are getting curious. Being in Kindle Unlimited helps as well, and I have about eight of my books in KU. I may take the plunge and put all my books there.

 Away from all the glitz and glamour of International travel and the world of books, my domestic routines haven’t changed. I’m sure most of you are in the same place as me. The weather has been good, but not for the garden, except the weeds! The grass is brown, but my pots and hanging baskets are surviving. Life goes on despite the best practices of the international warmongers and the mendacious politicians who think we’re all senile and don’t have a clue. So, don’t worry about things over which you have no control, take life as it comes, and spread a little of your own sunshine. I hope I’m doing that with my books. Wish me luck!

 

 

 Fun, Family, and Fans

Fun, family and fans

 

How does the song go? ‘Where do I begin?’ Looking back on the month of May, there has been a lot going on in my life one way or another. I can see some significant moments as I look at my diary; always surrounded by the usual domestic chores of course. So I’ll skip those routines and talk about memorable stuff (for me, anyway).

 

VE Day was significant. There was an event on our local green area, I went along, took a chair, and, hopefully, dressed the part. One very interesting woman I met was 99 and worked as a Land Army girl when she was seventeen. I’m afraid I can’t remember her name, but it could have been Alice, or Helen, or… I often see her early mornings when I’m walking Tuppence. As we go by in the car, Alice (for now) waves. So to actually get to speak to her was a real pleasure. I was four years old when the war ended, so had nothing other than vague memories to swap with her.

 

Another really memorable day was my Saturday trip to Goodwoof. No, I haven’t spelled it wrong. Goodwoof is a two-day dog event at Goodwood. I met my son, Terry, with his wife, Claire, and one of their sons, Freddie. They had my Great-grandson, Orin, with them, who is eight years old. It was fortunate for me because they took control of Tuppence. I must say the event was brilliant. I imagine I would have enjoyed it even if I’d been on my own. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say it was worth going. If my boy wants to do the same next year, I’ll join him.

 

I had a neighbour, Pam, who is in her nineties, come over for a cup of tea and a chat. Pam is into motoring and has been an enthusiast for a good many years. It’s surprising what you learn about people when they begin to reveal something of their past. Pam loves rallies and that kind of thing, and she told me of an amazing, sponsored London to Moscow trip she did many years ago. Fascinating.

 

Another event was the monthly Arun Scribes book club meeting in Littlehampton. It isn’t always about books; often you end up talking to someone, like Pam, who has a really interesting story that has nothing to do with books. One chap I got talking to (Stanley) was in the Army and did a tour in Belize many years ago. As it happens, our son, Terry, was a Harrier pilot, and did an eighteen-month tour there. Pat and I spent a couple of weeks with him and his family in Belize; a place we would never have dreamed of visiting. So, me and Stanley had a great deal to talk about.

 

Another good day for me was when our Granddaughter, Gemma, came over with her husband, Max, and their two boys, Orin and Liri. Orin is eight, Liri is 15 months. Gemma cooked lunch for us while Max and I kept an eye on the boys. Liri liked putting his hand in Tuppence’s water bowl for some reason and kept throwing Postman Pat in there for a swim. But when I walked into the kitchen and found the dog bowl upside down, I had to get the mop out and put the bowl away. But for all the dramas and the fascination (for me) of watching Gemma and Max dealing with them, it was a pure joy to have them here. I think it might have worn Tuppence out, though. Lovely day.

 

But this blog wouldn’t be worth posting without a mention of my world of books. I uploaded my family saga, Past Imperfect, after getting the rights back from the American publisher. I had to pay for a new jacket, but it’s out there and, hopefully, it might sell. I am also preparing the love element of that saga as a pure Romance called Max and Emma. It will be published under the pseudonym (Emma Carney) I use for my Romance novels. It will be a novella, which I plan to sell at £0.99. It will mean I have five Emma Carney titles out there. But my favourite talking point (if anyone asks) is about the progress of my latest work, Shadow Over Paris. At my level, which is loosely described as a ‘bottom feeder’, the book is selling really well. But along with that are the ‘page reads’. Last month I had 99,000 page reads. It puts a big smile on my face. I am now working on a sequel to the book, which I find very difficult because I have never written a sequel before. So, that’s it so far. Four weeks from today, I’ll be in America with my family celebrating the first birthday of our fifth Great-grandson, Elliott. Wish me luck!

 

On The Up and Up.

The month of April started with a fraud alert from my bank and their decision to block my card, which meant a conversation with security; fortunately, not a robot, nor someone from a call centre halfway around the world. Once I’d established my bona fide and convinced the woman I needed my bank card unblocked, she ‘graciously’ acceded to my request. I promise you I remained calm (ish). Bring back the old days, please. 

Going through my diary is like walking along the beach with Tuppence, scrabbling around the garden on my knees doing battle with the weeds, scarifying the front lawn, and using modern miracles in cardboard boxes, promising me a lawn that would make the final in a Kew Gardens competition. But it’s all necessary, back-breaking work at times, and the only plus is that I get to speak to people who walk by and say hello. 

But it was not all work and no play for this lad; I spent a few days away (Tuppence came too). I had a long weekend in Norfolk, staying with my eldest son, Vincent, and his wife, Jackie. They like walking! So, we did a river walk in Norwich (probably my favourite city), watched a Peregrine Falcon and its mate high up on a nesting box on the spire of the cathedral — a good crowd puller too, and enjoyed a coffee sitting in the sunshine. We also managed Blickling Hall and Sheringham. I left Norfolk for Lincolnshire to visit my friend, Pauline, but popped in to see my big brother, Jim. He thinks I’m raving mad because I’m going to America in July to see our No. 5 great-grandson, Elliott (1st birthday). Jim can be a grumpy sod at times, but we’ve had a lot of laughs over the years. 

I started filling out a self-assessment tax return, but HMRC informed me I wouldn’t be able to complete it because they didn’t have all the necessary information to hand. I think they meant they were waiting for the Chancellor to make up her mind about how much more she wanted from us in taxes. 

I happen to be a lousy cook, so I thought rather than rely on ready meals all the time, I really should start learning. So, I downloaded the Mary Berry recipe for Lasagne, went to Tesco and bought all the ingredients, and then set about becoming another Mary Berry in the kitchen. No, it wasn’t a spectacular failure, which my home-cooked meals usually are. I made enough for six dinners and have since eaten them all. Marks out of ten? Five maybe, but I will go again. 

I went along to the Arun Scribes book club meeting in Littlehampton for their monthly mid-week get-together and enjoyed chatting to three people about books (what else?), always bearing in mind not to assume those people aren’t as advanced in their writing career as yours truly. It can be an eye opening experience as people reveal much about their lives and their writing, and shows what an eclectic bunch writers can be. 

I took a copy of my latest book, Shadow Over Paris, for them all to see, which is currently selling well. This brings me nicely on to the “problem” it has created for me. I think we’ve all heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for”. Because the book has been well received, I’ve been asked if there is to be a sequel. The story is set in Paris in 1940, which means there’s a whole lot more that follows. But the problem is: I don’t write sequels. I never have. Sure, I’ve used the same character (Marcus Blake) in several books, but they have all been ‘Stand-alone’, not sequels. I published the book last November and it sold a few copies; marginally more than my usual average. I advertised it using Amazon Ads but saw no real progress. Then I advertised it on Facebook on the 22nd of March in UK and it literally took off. The ad finished after four weeks, so I advertised it in America, where it has exceeded the figures I achieved in UK. In April alone I sold 112 copies and notched up 80000 page reads. Those numbers may not be significant to some of you, but believe me, at my level, they are stratospheric. And I’m making a profit; not a lot, but it’s gratifying to know my efforts are paying off. For now! 

Which brings me to the sequel. How, after spending 15 months on SoP, and pouring all my ideas and effort into it, how can I possibly come up with a story that is different, but still the same? I have started on something, the working title is Beyond Midnight, and so far I’ve managed 9000 words. At my current rate it will take two years to complete, so I need to knuckle down and put words on paper. But I can’t do that without research, and that takes time. I do have some ideas knocking about, but I’ve never been a plotter; I’m what’s known as a ‘Pantser’. Yes, writing by the seat of my pants. But it’s what I do, so I will write and hope I can come up with something that is as good as SoP. Or even better. 

And just diverting for a while, I received a contact through my website from a woman in America who said how much she’d enjoyed my Emma Carney Romance, Dare to Dream. 

So there you have it: my grit, my graft and my gratitude for having the talent God gave me to put words on paper and bring a smile to most of my readers’ faces. In May, I’ll be looking forward to my trip to America and trying to add more compelling stuff to my sequel. Wish me luck.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Michael

 

 

 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.

 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!