Self-help and Self-indulgence

July 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Hallo again! Yes, I did disappear for a while. No, I haven't been in prison either. The truth is; I fell out of love with blogging. After going through the trauma of losing my wife and grieving, I accumulated a lot of negativity and carried that around like a burden, which stunted my emotional growth and stymied any pretence I had as a writer. But happily, things have changed to a degree. I made the decision at the beginning of the year to stop writing as Michael Parker and use the pen name of Emma Carney. I promised myself I would write five Emma Carney Romances this year. By the end of May, I'd written and published three. If you check out my website https://www.michaelparker.com you'll see them there. 

I've just returned from a book conference in London where about 800 writers from all over the world attended. It was at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. This event has prompted me to knuckle down and start pushing my monthly blog and my Emma Carney Romances. Please keep an eye out for my blog, and why not send me a note through my contact page on the website? It would be so nice to hear from you. 

Best wishes

Michael Parker

 

Blog for December.

 

 

This Monthly blog for December could be my end of year blog, but it would take too long to look back over 2022, so I’ll just pick out some highlights. The most significant would be my eight days at Headford in County Galway, Ireland, at a Writers’ Retreat organised by my American Publisher, Wild Rose Press — thirteen American women and me! I flew from Ireland to London for the SPF Book Conference in London after that: two days plus an evening party on the first night. The result of my involvement in the world of books restored my ‘mojo’ and I got back into writing again. So much so that I finished writing my latest Crime thriller, A Song in the Night (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHKH6QDW),and, unbelievably, I decided to write a Romance under a pen name. I finished it during the NaNoWriMo gallop with SPF in November and published it as Emma Carney. The title is Happy Lies the Heart (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BQH1F1LK). The romance idea was just for fun, but now I will probably have a new jacket designed by thebooktypesetters.com and think about a series. Just needs some discipline; something I seem to lack nowadays. New Year’s Resolution perhaps?

 

So, what about my December? Well, I put the Christmas decorations up. Not too many, but at least the house was ready for my Church House Group Christmas party on the 13^th. That was good: plenty of food, mulled wine, mince pies (natch) and a finger buffet. I cooked BBQ Chicken wings etc. We had a houseful but were not too crowded out.

 

Being a glutton for punishment, and not knowing my own mind, I dived into a music training session with Jonny May. I joined his group over a year ago. The guy is phenomenal. I’ve learned a few things with him, but this time I started on a Bb scale course. I’m still at it, but I’m managing to achieve small steps.

Another highlight in December was a trip to the UK Southern Book Show in Arundel. The show was arranged by fellow writer, Natasha Murray. I used to have a stall at her earlier events, but since losing Pat, there’s only me and Tuppence left at home, and I can’t leave Tuppence in order to have a book stall all day at an event. Anyway, I turned up with the dog and was able to chat for about an hour with at least six ladies (all writers) who are old friends from the Chindi book club, which folded a few years ago. I also spent time chatting with some of the other writers there. It was really good. And as a ‘bonus’, Natasha awarded me the UK Southern Book Show Super Fan award!

 

One thing we all had to deal with in December was the bitterly cold, Arctic temperatures. We even had a seven hour power failure, which was no fun. When I think of what those poor Ukrainian people are having to put up with, it makes a seven hour power failure look like a minor inconvenience.

 

The World Cup! Loved that.

 

I also attended a Christmas Lighting Service held by St. Wilfrid’s Hospice at Chichester Cathedral. I received an invite because the Hospice looked after Pat here at home during her last days. Naturally the Cathedral was packed, but it was freezing cold.

 

Another welcome bonus was a £5 royalty payment from Heygates Book Shop in Bognor for the sale of one of my books.

 

I made a brave decision too: I took some of Pat’s winter clothes to a charity shop. When I thought of all those people who are either homeless or freezing cold because they can’t afford to turn their heating up, I knew I had to give Pat’s stuff away. I felt quite gloomy after I’d done it, but I knew Pat would have approved. I’ve still got loads of her clothes here, but it will be a long time before I can feel it's right for me to pass them on.

I attended the final 2022 meeting of the Bognor Write Club. We had a kind of ‘Christmassy’ type do: mince pies, a selection of Christmas Super hero stories (all our own work), and a ‘Bran Tub’  type draw where we all picked out a prize; each one a contribution from those attending.

 

And on Christmas Eve, we had a family Zoom meeting, which included our No.4 son, Stephen, and his family in Australia. On Christmas Day I went over to No. 3 son, John and stayed the night.

 

So Christmas is finally over, the New Year has begun, resolutions will be made and forgotten about, and we’ll all hope and pray for the right outcome to all the problems our broken world throws at us. I can only hope and pray that all of you who read this blog of mine will have a really happy and contented 2023. If you read any of my books, please tell people about me; word of mouth is important.

 

Happy New Year.

 

 

 

 Hi there. If you pick this up, I want to wish you a happy Christmas and to let you know of a Smashwords Christmas sale if nine of my titles at 50% normal price. The offer runs until January 1st. Why not have a look. The link is https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Michael+Parker

Best wishes

Michael 😀

 I forget myself sometimes. Think I've posted everywhere and then realise I've missed someone out. So, here it is: my latest news. After three years I have finally released a crime thriller. I think it's a belter. Why not check it out here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BHKH6QDW? 

Best wishes

Michael

 

Filling my days (April blog)

 

Another month passes and I, like most of us, wonder where it all went, and why so fast? I have continued to make progress with the TikTok course. I’m at 87% so far and intend to complete it before starting on my TikTok adventure. Will I make a success of it? Well, if I was a racehorse, I wouldn’t recommend putting any money on me. But I’m going to try. 

Today (April 30^th) I am promoting my nuclear thriller, The Devil’s Trinity, with the Kindle Book Review featured book deal. I have had a moderate success promoting this book in the past, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to sell. As far as my monthly sales go, they are next to useless at the moment (six books thus far), but that is because I have made no effort to promote anything. The reason for that is because I had planned to wait until I felt confident with TikTok. However, I received an email from David Gaughran (a genius) giving me (one of his many subscribers) a free walk through video on creating a Facebook Ad., in which he talks you through creating an Ad. on FB, and avoiding all the pitfalls. I’ve used FB several times without success, but the beauty of David’s video is that he creates the ad step by step and points out those “suggestions” that FB use to drag your money out of you and says to avoid them. So, that’s my next attempt at promotion. I’ll let you know next month how I got on. 

On domestic front, I have excelled myself in making progress in the garden.It is not my favourite pastime; Pat was the gardener, I just did the heavy lifting for her. But now it’s my responsibility, I have to make sure I keep on top of it. I’ve planted a lot of Geraniums, which was Pat’s favourite flower, and have ordered a bunch of other stuff to add to them. Next thing is to reduce a border I cleared by the lawn and put a line of turf in. 

I was invited by my granddaughter, Gemma, to go foraging with her and Orin (her 5 year old) in the woods near her place. The idea was to return home and cook a meal with what we foraged. Fortunately my son, Terry, came with us, which meant I could chat with him while Gemma and Orin foraged. It was a long morning and we finished with a Pesto lunch. Actually, it was quite good. I think Tuppence enjoyed the walk too. 

I have also been sucked into the technological age and fitted four Smart lamps to be controlled by Alexa. Last night I was watching a YouTube video that included a short ad on Alexa, when suddenly my lights kept going off everything time the name was mentioned. Do we really need all this? 

So, back to the world of books. My progress with my latest thriller is very slow. I have reached the ‘writer’s block’ stage and have virtually ground to a halt. I have managed 38000 words, which means I’m not even halfway through the first draft. Last weekend I popped into the Heygate bookshop in Bognor Regis for a chat with Jason, the owner. He likes to support local authors and has quite a few in a special display. He’d managed to sell two copies of my paperback, No Time to Die, and handed me my royalties from that. From there I went back to our local village hall and bought a book from a local author who had an event there. I like the idea of supporting local authors that way. Whether I’ll ever read the book remains to be seen. And finally, I have joined the Bognor Writers Club. They had their first, face to face meeting last Monday after spending two years meeting on Zoom because of the pandemic. Hopefully I’ll make new friends and enjoy time in the book world.

 

See you next month.                                                                                  Michael.

 

Making headway (April 2022)

 

 

March is a busy birthday month for my family: my birthday (81), my son, Terry, and his wife, Claire. Consequently I saw a fair amount of our offspring, which is nice. I also spent some time chatting with our youngest boy, Stephen, in Australia, and while we were talking, John turned up, so he got a chance to chat with his brother. John and I went up to Norfolk for a weekend with the eldest boy, Vincent, and his wife, Jackie. So all in all, I’ve been blessed.

 

Another step in my ‘rehabilitation’ was finally paying for my week in Ireland: a writer’s retreat break for seven days, organised by my American publisher, The Wild Rose Press. I also submitted an extract from my current work for a critique by the CEO who will be leading the ‘Tour’. Yes, it’s called a tour because it won’t be about books all the time; we are also getting to tour the area around Galway. There will be twelve of us, but only me from the UK; the others are from the USA. The extract, by the way, was the first fifteen pages of my W.I.P, which will be returned to me in time for the break.

 

When my Irish holiday is finished, I will be flying back to London and staying for the Self-Publishing Show Live at the South Bank Centre. It’s a two day bash, but I’ll be there a couple of days earlier, which mans some downtime and a look around the city where I was brought up. Well, me and my brothers were often up the West End getting up to mischief. Happy days.

 

I am making steady progress with my current book. The working title is “Desolation”, which has nothing to do with Wyoming, where the story is set. I’ve just reached the 30,000 word mark, so still a long way to go. I’m hoping I will have broken the back of the story by the time I pitch up in Galway.

 

I began the month putting ads on FB, Amazon and BookBub, but within a week, I’d pulled FB and BB. Amazon lasted a couple of weeks. Complete waste of time (I’m useless at marketing), so I opted for a one day ad on ENT, and another burst on Reedsy (I think). So far this month I’ve sold 39 books. That’s like four or five months of sales all squashed up into four weeks. Hasn’t cost the earth and will probably be the way I’ll go until I can see organic growth pushing up the numbers.

 

Another venture I’ve taken is to start a course on TikTok. This is being run by two American ladies, Lisa Dubois and Jane Rylan. They are both phenomenally successful with their book sales through TikTok. I saw them in a podcast on Mark Dawson’s SPF. They gave us a short, five day course (ten minutes each day) to introduce us to TikTok. They have now come up with a brilliant, full length course, which is free to all paid up members of SPF. I made up my mind to stick to it, concentrate and make it my ‘go-to’ app for book promotion. Only time will tell if I have the staying power, but I do need to work at it, so I’ve made that promise to myself.

 

Some time ago I offered local residents on the small estate where I live, the opportunity to get some good advice on publishing a book. The idea as for anyone who wanted to write their own story, maybe for the grandchildren, and didn’t know how. I wasn’t offering a course, just a couple of hours of free instruction to help them on their way. I had one reply. Thankfully the chap came to my house and we spent a couple of hours dotting the eyes and crossing the tees. He went away happy. Hopefully he’ll make the effort. I had another request from a different source. We set a date but the lady bailed out at the last minute. Nerves?

 

So that’s about it for now. From a book world point of view, I feel a little happier and hopeful for the future. I’m even going to join an author group here in Bognor Regis at the end of the month, which I’m looking forward to. Should be fun. Wish me luck!