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 I 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 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 21st. 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!

And so the year begins.

January 2025 blog post

How time flies; here we are again at the start of a new year probably filled with hopes of renewal, revival, peace and goodwill to all, and a cure for cancer. Fat chance. But it is what it is, and we have to endure whatever is thrown at us, good or bad. For me the start of 2025 has been more like ‘good’ and ‘not so good’, but I can’t complain; I’m still here. Oh, and I wish you all a happy New Year.

I started my year with a glimmer of hope for my latest book Shadow Over Paris because it was selling well and gathering ‘Page reads’ on Amazon since I published it in November. I began campaigns in the USA, UK and France (tongue in cheek, that one!) but none of them proved fruitful. The campaigns have now finished, so it’s a case of back to the drawing board. More about my world of books later though.

My long-standing Dimple Optimyst fire finally gave up the ghost after ten years of faithful service, which meant buying a new fire. The Optimyst cost £900 ten years ago and is now nudging almost double that figure. I ended up buying an electric fire with remote controls and a wizard looking flame effect. It came as a flatpack and took me three hours to assemble it and have it up and running. The old fire went to the rubbish dump. My good neighbours, Rick and Ann, took the rubbish away for me, bless them.

January is something of a special month for me because it includes my lovely Pat’s birthday and our wedding anniversary. Pat would have been 83 on the 14th, and we would have been married 65 years on the 19th. On Pat’s birthday I got quite maudlin, so I took myself off to Bognor for a walk to clear my head. On the 19th. I had an anniversary lunch with my sister-in-law, my niece and her mum over at Nutbourne. My siblings have their dates in January too, although my sister is no longer with us. Oh, and my neighbours, Rick and Ann, took me out for lunch at the Lion because of my special dates. It was a great afternoon. I think I did most of the talking though, which seems to be de rigeur for me.

Back in the world of books, I read my Romance, Max and Emma and decided to see if I could get the rights back from my American publisher, Wild Rose Press. They held the rights to my family saga, Past Imperfect, which are not due to expire until May 2026. Max and Emma is the love story that runs parallel to the saga. I published the book simply to get a printed copy in my hand and then immediately unpublished it. So, I wrote to the CEO at Wild Rose Press and asked if she would cede the rights back to me. She agreed! I was chuffed to bits. I have to wait 90 days before I can publish the book as my own again, but I’m planning a simple edit on Max and Emma and then to publish it as a straightforward Romance on several online platforms. I will also re-publish the full-length saga, Past Imperfect.

A ’not so good’ day happened when I went to use my desktop computer, which I rarely use and haven’t touched since well before Christmas. I wanted to check a file I believed was on there, but my PC wouldn’t switch on. I took it along to Scanstation in Rose Green only to be told it was dead (as a parrot). I decided to have all the files transferred from the hard drive to a memory stick rather than fork out about £1200 for a repair. Fortunately, I have my laptop (two in fact), so I can still be productive (he says).

I also managed to attend an online funeral for an old mate of mine in Australia. Well, not ‘attend’; that would have been three o’clock in the morning. Pat and I used to visit Rod and his lovely wife, Peggy in Adelaide whenever we went out to Australia. They came to visit us when we lived in Spain. But Tempus fugit and, sadly, time caught up with Rod.

I bought myself a patio cleaner. Tried it out briefly and, hopefully, it will go a long way to giving me a clean driveway and footpath. The garden has been on my mind a lot lately because of the weather: it’s been comparatively mild, which has allowed the weeds to keep growing. Like most of us, I’m faced with a lot of hard work once the weather improves; so, my patio cleaner should help a bit.

I’m now faced with an unusual situation, for me anyway, in that I have nothing to write and no inspiration to do anything. It must be something to do with my age and the fact that it all seems to be so much of a struggle. My eldest son tells me I’m suffering from the so-called SAD syndrome — Seasonally Affected Disorder. He may be right, but I think I’m just feeling lazy. Once the sun starts shining, perhaps I’ll spring into life and end up with a brilliant garden and a best-selling novel. I hope so.

I've created three advertising campaigns for three of my books — The Devil's Trinity; Shadow Over Paris and The Eagle's Covenant. (I'm a glutton for punishment!). They will run for February, but I will have to keep an eye on them just in case they start selling, which is unlikely with my record of advertising success. I often say that if I was a racehorse, I wouldn't put money on me.

So, that's it for another month. I'm now five months away from my trip to Atlanta in July. When I booked the trip, it was eight months away. How time flies. I hope you all enjoy a fruitful 2025. Me too!

Wish me luck!

Michael

Leading up to Christmas

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 13th. 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