Cheques and Specs

It’s been quite a week one way or the other: highs and lows. Well, not really ‘lows’. I saw a brief surge in my book rankings, which pleased me no end. I received a cheque from my publisher which put a smile on my face, but the next day had to pay out for new glasses for Pat, so that took care of the cheque. My Goodreads ‘giveaway’ for SHADOW OF THE WOLF came to an end, so congratulations to Maureen, DJ, Elizabeth, Tabitha and Joanne. A copy each is on its way to you. I hope you enjoy the book well enough to want to read more of mine and maybe put a review on Amazon for me.

I also made some inroads into my latest novel, which is a family saga. Hopefully it will not be the standard saga so many of us are used to seeing. I do try to approach my work from a different slant, although maybe critics of mine would say there is no evidence of that. With so many good writers around these days, it’s difficult to persuade readers that I have something a little special about the way in which I write. This is a new approach for me: an entirely different genre in which I usually write. But I did say in one of my TV interviews (see it on my website www.michaeljparker.com) that a good writer should be able to produce a story in any genre. It may not be as good as the established writers in whatever category you choose to write, but it shouldn’t be a problem. This means I’m sticking my neck out and throwing my hat into the ring with other big selling novelists. Should take me about a year to finish.

Another little string to my bow, as readers of my bio will know, is my keyboard playing. I play less and less these days, and although I’ve never been very good, I’ve always enjoyed it. So last week I signed up for a course on ‘Rock piano’. Nothing expensive mind: I paid $4.99 for the first lesson. It comprised three pages of sheet music and a video of the instructor playing the keyboard. Whether I’ll ever get anywhere is open to debate. But if I apply the same discipline to that as I ‘should’ do to my writing, I’ll get somewhere in the end. Perhaps to the end of lesson 2? Wish me luck!