Book Release: ‘The Spy at the Embassy’

Happy New Year!

So, I’m a little late getting this news out. (From Christmas through this week ended up being a ton busier than I’d anticipated for a number of reasons.)

That said, I’m excited to announce that The Spy at the Embassy and The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition both released worldwide the day after Christmas!

You can get the regular edition from any store of your choice here, and the Special Edition from any store of your choice here.

Both editions include The Spy at the Embassy novel, but the Special Edition also includes a bonus novella, Danger at the Embassy. This novella actually inspired the novel. (You can read both and decide which one is your favorite. *grin*)

Here’s the cover copy:

Continue reading
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Time Flies When You’re Having Fun…

And, boy, have we been having fun. Well, mostly having fun. The past couple of months have had some great ups, but also a few downs. (I’m sure that’s true for just about everybody reading this!)

Our biggest wonderful thing that happened was the arrival of Baby #5 just over a week before her due date, a little before 6 AM on September 26. (Which also happens to be the date of my husband’s and my eighth anniversary! Now we get to say that we’ve had five children in exactly eight years. {We have six altogether, counting my step-daughter.})

We’re blessed to have this baby with us. She’s a sweet girl and her other siblings love her dearly. I thought for the first week or so we’d have to create a spreadsheet of who got to hold her when, but they’ve settled down a little. 

The biggest not-so-wonderful thing involved another hospital stay. 

Two weeks after I had the baby, I ended up at the hospital again because over the course of a week half my face had drooped and I was having bad headaches and vision issues. (This was on top of feeling absolutely exhausted.) We were afraid I’d had a postpartum mini-stroke or something, but it turned out to be a partial case of Bell’s palsy. My doctors assured me that in most cases, patients are back to normal within two to six months. 

Okay. Deep breath. I could deal with that. (Prayer helped a lot. I’m grateful for all the friends who prayed for me and for our family during that time.)

After a couple of days on medicine, I started feeling human again. (One of those times where you don’t realize how bad you felt until you start feeling better.)

I got used to my face looking weird, and the headaches gradually lessened, but the hardest part of dealing with Bell’s palsy those first couple of weeks was that I couldn’t read

Man, was that tough. Here I was, with more time to read because I was on the couch with a newborn, and I couldn’t. I tried blowing up the text, but it didn’t help much. 

Anyway…as you can imagine, that kinda threw a monkey wrench into my writing goals and plans for this last quarter of 2023. I’d already planned for things to slow down after I had the baby, but this was…something else.

On top of all that, we had the usual organized chaos from the end of October to the Friday before Thanksgiving, when the addiction ministry my husband and I both work for has its largest fundraiser of the year.

So, yeah, life intervened. 

Thankfully, my face finally started improving, which also improved my vision. At this point in time, my vision is back to normal and my face is almost completely healed. I still have intermittent headaches most days (thankfully very mild), but they should go away in the next few months.

I’m blessed. It could have been a lot worse.

Writing Updates

Apart from some progress on a couple of projects in the last few weeks, the only major thing I managed to accomplish this quarter was getting everything done for The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition Kickstarter. (Thanks again to those of you who backed it!)

I’d meant to announce that Blowback, Finder Book 5 officially published on October 24th, but that didn’t happen. (I was still dealing with vision issues.)

You can find it here. I’m excited that it’s officially out in the world!

I’d also intended to do a little more buildup to The Spy at the Embassy’s official release next week (both the regular and special editions), but that didn’t happen either. (You can preorder the regular edition here and the special edition here.)

I’ll be back with an official release blog on Tuesday, Lord willing.

That said, I was able to make some plans on paper for a tangential project I’ve been working on since January. (Thank goodness for wide-ruled notebooks! I usually prefer college-ruled, but when you can’t see well, the wider the better. *grin*) I’d wanted to finish it and announce it in March or April, but having another baby pushed the deadline out farther. Just not enough time or energy in the day during that period.

Should have more to announce on that front by the end of next week or the beginning of January.  I’m very excited. *grin*

Anyway, have a wonderful Christmas! (Or whatever other holiday you celebrate.)

Until next time!

Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash

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We Did It! Kickstarter Funded!

For those of you who supported the The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition Kickstarter, thank you very much!

Now Kickstarter will do its thing and I’ll send out surveys and in a few weeks I’ll be able to send out digital rewards. Paperbacks and hardbacks will happen after that.

Thank you again! Y’all are amazing.

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Just a Few Hours Left!

…And this Kickstarter campaign will be one for the books!

Thanks to all of you who have supported The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition so far. I am beyond thrilled with how this campaign has turned out and I am so looking forward to getting you these books.

Special Flash & Stretch Goals!

We are so close to hitting the special flash goal and the special first stretch goal–I would love to get everybody a bonus epilogue, another story to read, and upgrade the hardback edition to one with a dust jacket!

Thank you for all your support and please help spread the word these last few hours. I think we can do it!

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Special Flash Goal for Kickstarter Campaign!

Special Flash Goal!

If we hit 25 backers by the time this campaign ends at 7PM on Thursday, September 28th, I will write a special bonus epilogue for The Spy at the Embassy!

The Spy at the Embassy is completely finished, of course, but this idea has been floating around in my head the past few days, and I think it would be a fantastic bonus addition with plenty of romance. 

So, please, spread the news about this campaign and help us hit this flash goal! It’ll be fun. *grin*

Thanks again for all of your support! <3

If you haven’t already, check out The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition Kickstarter Campaign!

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Kickstarter Funded and Special Stretch Goal Announcement!

The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition Kickstarter campaign passed the funding threshold last night! I am beyond thrilled! So excited to be able to share this book with you!

As a special funding reward and another way of saying thank you to everyone who’s backed this campaign, we have a special addition. Everyone who backs at the $5 level and above will be included in a special Kickstarter section of The Spy at the Embassy Special Edition’s Acknowledgement page. 

Y’all are amazing and I greatly appreciate all of you.

What happens next? Help me spread the word so we can hit a couple of stretch goals and every backer will get even more fun stuff to read. *grin*

Plus, I have a brand-new special stretch goal to announce….

Special First Stretch Goal!!!

If this campaign hits $500, not only will every backer at the $5 level and above get a digital copy of my sweet romance spy short story, Of Trinitite and Fallout Shelters, but I will also UPGRADE the case laminate hardback editions and give them pretty DUST JACKETS!

I am excited about this! Thank you again!

Again, you can check out the campaign here!

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