No, no blowing of trumpets, simply that I was nominated by my Chindi colleague, Helen Christmas, to participate in a summer blog event. It meant spending a little more time on social media than I really wanted, so I’ve taken a shortcut and answered the questions that Helen answered. She did set me new ones, but I’d answered those I saw first and couldn’t be bothered to go through them all again. So, here are the questions that Helen had, followed by my answers. The weekly blog follows the Q&As. When you were little, what did you dream about becoming when you grew up? I wanted to be a Trolley Bus conductor so I could slide the poles out from beneath the bus and lift them to change the pick-up arms on to another set of overhead wires. See? No ambition! What is something you like to do the old-fashioned way? Write with a fountain pen. What is one of your favourite smells? Fresh cut grass. If you could call anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, who would you call? There is no-one outside of my family that fits that criteria, but if it was for someone long dead I would have to choose two people (I know — it said one). Jesus would be my first, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows I am a Born-again Christian. The other is my mother who died a few years before I had my first book published. She was an ardent reader and was never to know how proud I would have made her. What job would you be terrible at? Anything a woman does around the house. If you had a million pounds/dollars, what would you do with them to help the most people? Because it’s not enough to buy an ailing football club, I would try to do my best for local charities, and also my church here in Aldwick. For one day, you can do whatever you want. What would you do? Emulate my son, Terry, and fly a fast jet. Give me three words to describe yourself. Optimist. Talkative. Supportive. What is your favourite food treat? Mince, mash, vegetables and gravy. (I know it’s boring, but I’m a simple man with simple needs.) What is your favourite outfit? I like to dress in spivvy clothes but have long given that up. I used to like wearing a dark shirt, leather jacket and slim trousers. You have one last wish… go for it! A complete cure for cancer. My apologies to Helen for not following the rules. You can find Helen’s excellent blog at https://samefacedifferentplace.wordpress.com/2020/02/26/. So, how as the week gone for me and Pat? She had chemo last Monday, which doesn’t seem to have affected her too much. We understand there is usually a downside, but we’re not complaining. We were called in by the hospital to have a blood test because Pat’s had been done more than 48 hours before. That meant a quick dash into St. Richards, home again, walk the dog, grab a bite and get back for her one o’clock appointment. They have changed the chemo schedule too: it means we’re in again next Monday, and then not for three weeks. We have also been given all Pat’s appointments up to the end of April. I submitted my book, The Boy from Berlin, https://www.amazon.co.uk/B079SSJP9V to BookBub for a featured deal at the beginning of the week. They accepted it but not for the USA. I was given the opportunity to promote it in Canada, Australia, India and the UK. They didn’t give a reason for the ban on USA, but I suspect it’s because the story is about the race for the Whitehouse, and the main protagonist is a right wing, white racist supremacist, and also the chief suspect for the murder of a State senator. The police office leading the investigation is Lieutenant Amos, a black cop! I guess BookBub considered it a bit delicate and maybe have an influence on the presidential election coming up this year? (He says with tongue firmly in cheek). So, Donald Trump can sleep safely in his bed and dream of another four-year term. I finished reading The Auction Murders by Roger Silverwood; his third in the DCI Angel series. I think I have a problem with police procedurals because there seems to be the need for the main character to have a problem, whether domestic, emotional, or physical, and this requires a lot of wandering off plot to fill the reader with narrative that, for me, doesn’t drive the plot forward. It isn’t just this book too; I’m finding the same with the one I’ve just started, but more about that when I finish it (if I do). I’ve heard nothing from Joffe Books about the progress with Past Imperfect. I don’t really expect to for a while; it’s just me getting itchy feet and wanting to see it finished and ready to go. I received an email from one of my new subscribers who had signed up for a free copy of Hell’s Gate. The message was clear: “Stop sending me emails.” I guessed she meant to unsubscribe, which I did for her, and sent her a reply to say I’d done this. I received an email the following day from her asking me if my book was available in paperback! Hmmm! I wonder if she’s bought one. I live in hope. Wish me luck.

Well, the excitement level went up in the Parker household this week, but it was all about my book world. More of that later. Last Monday Pat saw the specialist who said that her blood test showed that things were normal. This meant she could continue chemo, which would be next Monday. We were a little disappointed to think she had to wait a week, but the prescription for the chemo is made up at Worthing hospital, and takes about three days. She’s been a bit flat this week, but I can’t expect her to be jumping through hoops every day; living with cancer can be soul destroying. Now, the excitement level. Readers of my blog will know I’ve just had the jacket of my romance, Past Imperfect, redesigned. I then began a tentative promotion campaign on Amazon, but so far that has only produced two sales. I was on the point of signing up for a different type of promotion with the company who did the jacket when I received an email, out of the blue, from Joffe Books (rhymes with coffee) wanting to ‘relaunch’ Past Imperfect. I can promise you that it had nothing to do with the redesigning of the jacket. Joffe Books bought all Robert Hale rights about a year ago from Crowood Press. I had two titles left over from Hale that belonged to Crowood but managed to get the rights back over a year ago; this meant I had no connection with any traditional publisher. Somehow, Joffe Books picked up on Past Imperfect and that’s why they got in touch with me. So who are Joffe Books? They publish indie writers; mainly crime but do have an interest in other genres. They are one of the most successful indie publishers on Amazon, having sold 1.4 million books in 2017 and in 2018 held seventeen of the top 100 titles there. When they take on a writer, they do the lot: editing, proof reading, formatting, jacket design, and promotion. It costs the writer nothing. There’s no advance, and royalties are paid quarterly. I first came across Jasper Joffe on a Mark Dawson podcast a couple of years ago, so I have a good understanding of how he works. I did submit a manuscript to him but heard nothing back. He usually takes on about one in a hundred submissions, so to be ‘picked up’ in this way is something of a game changer for me. I now have to wait for things to happen. They have everything they need from me, so hopefully I won’t have to wait too long before I see things moving. The email from them took me back to the seventies when I received a letter from my agent to say that Macmillan had made an offer to publish my first book. I remember standing outside the chicken sheds where I’d been doing some electrical work for the chicken farmer, when Pat turned up in the car, our four boys with her, clutching the letter. We ended up dancing round the yard, me in my overalls and wellie boots, Pat clinging on for dear life and the chicken farmer wondering what the hell was going on. No, I didn’t do any of that when Joffe Books got in touch, but metaphorically I came pretty close. What now? I’ve just got to settle down, keep calm and hope I can look forward to a renewed career. Wish me luck!

It’s been quite a week, one way or another. Pat managed to get through the middle section of her chemo where she has tummy jabs over five days. It’s always a nervy time because of past experiences, both with Pat’s chemo last year and mine in Spain. But we’re through that and looking ahead now to her consultation prior to the next session of chemo on Monday. Hopefully we’ll hear positive news and she will be allowed to continue with the treatment. On the book front, I’ve just finished collaborating with ‘ebookorprint.com’ for the new jacket to my romance Past Imperfect. It took an exchange of 33 emails, start to finish, before the final version was agreed. You can make your own minds up about it, but I really like it. I have the new copy to hand and have ordered a few more. I’m expecting to use this company again for another jacket change later in the year. I am also contemplating a promotion campaign with them but have to dot some eyes and cross some tees before signing up. It isn’t about Amazon or Facebook ads, but something entirely different. If I go ahead, you’ll get to know all about it, whether I fail or not. I’ve been organising a family get-together for when our youngest son Stephen and his wife come over from Australia. It will be their first visit for fifteen years. I’ve booked a local hotel for a lunchtime bash in April. There should be 21 of us all told. There will be four Vegans, five vegetarians and the rest of us meat eaters. Ever tried organising something where there are different dietary requirements? It’s a nightmare. My current reading is a crime thriller by J.D. Kirk called The Killing Code. I saw this author on an SPF podcast. He was a ghost writer for Random House, writing comics, Sci-Fi etc. Been doing it for years and making a living out of it. Now he’s writing for himself and making a better living out of it. Last Wednesday I watched a webinar by Stuart Grant. It was about Instagram. I managed an hour before going to bed, but will be catching up later on the video that’s has been made available to the SPF Patreon group. From all accounts, using Instagram properly is the way to success. Aren’t they all though? I will try to follow Stuart’s excellent advice though; he seems to make it work. I have managed to get some work done on my pulp fiction thriller. The word count is up to 12000 plus. It’s still a struggle though. And of course, almost all my screen time is now on the laptop in the front room so I can be with Pat. At the moment she’s watching a film on Amazon. It’s called The Fisherman’s Friend. I watched it a couple of weeks ago. Lovely film based on a true story. So that’s where I am now: making plans and trying to sell books, but there’s precious little of that happening. Maybe my tie up with ‘ebookorprint’ might yield something. Wish me luck!

Well, I didn’t think I would be back this soon, but I’ve done a kind of ‘workaround’ to satisfy my own concerns with leaving Pat on her own. Followers of my blog will know Pat has been battling with cancer for almost fifteen months now, and to maintain my blog and my writing, it meant spending time in my room while Pat was on her own in the front room. It bothered me and seemed so unfair to her, which is why I called a halt. But now I am able to use my laptop, having transferred what I need, and I can be in the room with Pat while I write the blog. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up my writing again. The desire never left me, but the inclination did. So, where are we with health and creativity issues? Pat has begun chemo again and has now had her second dose. It’s different to the chemo that nearly killed her last year; this is a fortnightly session which will go on for four months. It seems to be more forgiving, but it is chemo, nonetheless. She did well with the first session, safely navigating the two weeks without any major dramas. I still have to give her tummy jabs in the middle section of the two weeks: this is to help her immune system, and it’s at this point in the chemo where she is at her most vulnerable to infection etc. On the book front, I have written virtually nothing; just dribs and drabs. I tested out my ‘new’ way of writing — sitting in the front room with Pat, but it took some getting used to, and there were always distractions, but I need this kind of diversion to help cope with looking after Pat. As most writers understand; writing is a lonely occupation and needs to be done somewhere ‘safe’. A garret in an old town, maybe. But seriously, we all occupy that metaphorical garret when and wherever we sit down to write. I’ve spent some money on advertising; not a lot, simply because I still have to understand the finer points of Amazon ads and how to drill down into the minutiae and sell books. I made one dreadful mistake a month ago. I started a campaign for one of my books and instead of bidding $0.30 (30 cents), I bid $30! I forgot to check where the decimal point was. Consequently, I received an email from Amazon to say my budget had been exceeded — I’d spent $150 in less than 24 hours! I won’t make that mistake again (hopefully). I am in the process of having a new jacket designed for my romance Past Imperfect. Once I have it, I’ll promote it on AMS. The reason for the jacket change is simple: the old one just didn’t work. I sold three copies in twelve months because it has no appeal. That’s about it for now. Oh, I stopped writing this an hour ago and took Pat out for a walk in her wheelchair. The sun was shining, no wind, and a lovely time to get her out. She loved it. Hopefully I’ll post a blog each week, but in my current situation, nothing is written in stone. Just keep an eye open and wish me luck!

The caption says it all: this will be my last blog post. It isn’t a decision I’ve come to suddenly; the thought has been in my mind for a while, no doubt because of the uncertainty with Pat. We saw the haematologist last Thursday, hoping to hear she could go back on chemo, but unfortunately she isn’t well enough. There are two problems, and one needs to be tackled before they can think about chemo, so the doctor has put Pat on steroids in the hope she’ll regain the strength she needs to fight the cancer. The underlying message though was not helpful. Spending time in front of my computer while Pat sits alone in the front room, just so I can maintain an on-line presence, seems selfish and unnecessary, so that’s one of the reasons I’m packing it in. I stopped writing some time ago even though I still retain the desire to write, but the inclination is no longer there. I cannot see me being creative in any way for some considerable time either. At the moment I am committed to a multi campaign on Amazon ads, and will need to check in on that from time to time. Once the ads have run there course, I may not bother to put them up again. I started this blog about seven years ago while living in Spain. The idea was to engage with people and, hopefully, establish a kind of rapport with them. I know that my blog is read all over the world, but the number of readers never rose above about one hundred. My family and friends read my weekly posting, and I know of two ladies in America who became on-line friends after Pat and I met them on an Alaskan cruise who read it. That’s Mary Beth and Julia (in case you two are reading this). So although I know some of my readers will be disappointed, I just cannot summon up the will to compose a chatty column each weak and fill it with good news, little jokes and bonhomie. There is really nothing else for me to say now, other than to thank all of you who have taken the time to comment on my posts, and to wish you all the happiest of Thanksgiving (for my American friends) and a Happy Christmas to all those who choose to celebrate our Christian Festival. And for those who are neither one nor the other, thanks anyway. Mick.

The week began poorly for Pat, but she has made good progress now. Her situation prompted me to make two decisions which resulted in a chest X-Ray on Tuesday and then a doctor’s appointment for another problem on Thursday. She is now on a different antibiotic tablet because her infection was resistant to the earlier one prescribed. I constantly find myself in the invidious position of having to diagnose Pat’s problems and hope I get them right. I have now added a finger oxygen monitor to the paraphernalia I use to keep an eye on her. I’ll be wearing scrubs next! On Wednesday evening I went along to the Chindi Christmas Book launch at the Swan Hotel in Arundel. You can see the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feast-Christmas-Stories-Unwrap-Sussex-ebook/dp/B07WSGPKMP/ref. As I mentioned in my post last week, I had agreed to take Beryl Kingston along. Beryl was our celebrity guest: an author who has sold over a million books no less. I knew Beryl had contributed a short story to the book about growing up in war-torn London, so I asked her about that and about living in the big city during the war (me too). It turns out we were both brought up within couple of miles of each other: Beryl in Tooting and me in Wandsworth. I lived in the Garret Lane which ran from Wandsworth to Tooting (about two miles away). So as you can imagine, we got on like a house on fire. Beryl is almost 90 years of age and has a tremendously strong spirit for her age. We spent the car journey talking about London and the book world, and I was also able to catch up with her during the book launch once she’d finished ‘mingling’. Quite an evening for me; not because I had the pleasure of Beryl’s company, but also to be able to indulge myself in the world of writing and talking to like-minded people. Great evening. I had a friend from church come in that evening to look after Pat, which gave me the opportunity to spend a few hours out of the house. My reading this week is a crime novel by Neil Lancaster called Going Dark (1912946068 is the ASIN number if you like well written crime novels). Finally I have a book which I’m enjoying and not moaning about. On the subject of Amazon book numbers (ASIN), I have just finished uploading forty campaigns to Amazon Ads, with another twenty to go. I used ASINs to search for relevant best sellers on Amazon, and from there produced numerous books through a site called Yasiv.com (free by the way). Sometimes I would get as many as 300 connections to one ASIN. From there is was a case of jiggery-pockery and the confusing world of Excel spreadsheets to produce suitable keywords for my campaigns on Amazon. Sound confusing? You bet; it took me hours to learn how to do all this, courtesy of Bryan Cohen’s excellent AMS ads course. Twenty more campaigns to upload and I will have sixty running for a month. This is all for my book, The Boy from Berlin. If all this works, I’ll see a positive upswing in my book sales which are trickling along the flat, bottom line with an occasional spike. Do I worry? Got more than selling books to worry about. Wish me luck.

Bit of a bumpy ride with Pat this week. Her next appointment is twelve days away, and as much as I hate to say it; I can’t wait for her to go back on chemo. The only medication she’s on at present is a beta blocker and a blood pressure pill, so we’ve no idea what her real situation is. I try to make decisions based on Pat’s apparent condition and what she admits to. I use the BP monitor to keep an eye on her and today I bought a Finger Oxygen monitor. I'm beginning to feel like a doctor, or Quack! Her weight is stable, thank goodness, and she seems to be in good humour, except when I ask her to do some colouring pictures with me; then she acts like a truculent ten year old and won’t. But she does at least attempt the quiz book for seven year old kids. One page every morning: Sudoku, that kind of thing. But that’s for her mental state. So we’re winning there. Back to my other world. I came to the end of my AMS advertising in USA for my book, The Boy from Berlin. Very poor results. I complained to my mentor, Bryan Cohen, who responded with a daunting challenge to put the ads back on with a new campaign that will result in sixty ads. He has given me explicit instructions on how to go about this. I must admit it makes me nervous because AMS ads can sometimes run away with you. Needs careful monitoring two or three times a day: something I have precious little time for these days. My book sales for No Time to Die are trickling along, and the page reads are slowly climbing. I will be coming to the end of those particular ads next week, but will start again with a whole new bunch of keywords. I am slowly beginning to understand spreadsheets: something that is a helpful part of preparing an ad campaign. Made some mistakes in the process though. Two days ago I built a column of sixty ASIN numbers and began the process of copying in the relevant search results on Yasiv.com. Once I had the information I wanted, I edited the results, removing all the characters like commas, colons etc. that are not wanted as keywords. End result? I’d managed to edit my ASIN numbers too because I’d left them on the spreadsheet. I was really annoyed with myself because it took about an hour to meticulously prepare the ASIN numbers. UGH! Next week, on Wednesday, I am going to the Chindi group’s Christmas Book launch. The book is a collection of Christmas stories pertinent to West Sussex, written by some of the group’s members, and available now. The launch party will be opened by best-selling author, Beryl Kingston, also a member of our group, so it should be a good evening. You can see the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feast-Christmas-Stories-Unwrap-Sussex-ebook/dp/B07WSGPKMP/ref I had a quick look at my pulp fiction WIP last night, but soon realised that I simply don’t have the inclination to spend any time on it. Probably won’t now until after Christmas. Then maybe I’ll be able to knuckle down. Wish me luck!

Pat’s situation cheers me up one minute and lets me down the next. We had a trip to the neurologist last Tuesday for a consultation. It means Pat will be referred to a memory clinic for some kind of rehabilitation. She also has an appointment for a head scan in a couple of weeks. But we were back at the doctors the following day because her water infection returned, so she’s on antibiotics again. And this morning I had to take her for a flu jab. She didn’t want to go, but what do you do? We sought advice from the cancer nurse before making the appointment though. She isn’t getting much sleep at the moment, which means I’m not, but that’s the way it is. On to other things now. My book sales are creeping up. Haven’t hit the big time by any means, but the graph is showing signs of early growth. One factor is the jump in page reads on KU. My title, No Time to Die (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WFQMQV4) has reached 773 page reads this month. This gives me something of a problem: I decided to take the book out of KU once it’s 90 days were up on November 11th, but those kind of figures for me are bloody good. So I guess I have no option but to extend the KU for another 90 days. What I am going to do though is advertise the book in USA on Amazon Ads. At the moment it’s the UK ad that is encouraging sales and page reads. I’m also thinking of advertising on BookBub again (not the featured deal), because that seems to bring sales in on D2D. Just got to watch the pennies though. The beauty of AMS is that it’s reluctant to take your money from you unless you’re attracting positive clicks, which is a step closer to selling a book. Oh, and I sold three paperbacks this month: three more than I sell in a year I think. Must be doing something right then. And because I’m picking up a bit on-line, and people are viewing my FB page and my profile on LinkedIn, I thought I ought to tidy up my website. Not being technically proficient in that area, I set about it a couple of days ago with some smart idea of how I was going to blow everyone away with my phenomenally brilliant web page. Well, it’s back to the drawing board and a careful reconsideration of exactly how I should go about this. So, I’m lining all my ducks up in a row and creating new 3D images of my jackets, which I will put on my main page with links direct to the sales pages. With luck, my ‘subtle’ changes will encourage potential readers to click on the books once they’ve landed on my website and go on to buy! I watched a SPF podcast last night (I watched it on my laptop. This means I can be in the room with Pat). It was a writer called Amanda Lee. What a phenomenal woman! She writes 9000 words a day and has written almost 200 books in the last eight years. She turns out one book a month and has an eleven book series in the pipeline. She reads about five books a week as well as editing her own material. She also writes under another name as well as her own. Just watching the interview left me shaking my head. What kind of life is that? Good luck to her if she’s happy. She’s certainly successful and must have a huge fan base. If only, eh? But I don’t think I would welcome success if that was the kind of sacrifice needed. Careful what you wish for. Oh, and talking of wishing: wish me luck!

October 25th. 2019 This is an attempt to set up a Wix blog. I'm not convinced this will work. We'll see.

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