Category Archives: Updates

My website has been a complete mess

Weeks ago, I began to run into problems with not being able to log into my website. We tried all sorts of fixes, hoping to figure it out for ourselves, but I also needed to use my time to handle edits on Captured in Flames since that had to get back to the editor for a final pass. It had a tight deadline if I wanted to stay on track with my publishing goals. I told myself I’d redouble my efforts on the site once I turned in the manuscript. Well, I got the book finished in time for the editor this past week, so that’s the good news.

The bad news is that we (my father who was helping and myself) finally relented and contacted the website host who concluded my site had been hacked. They said I had the option of hiring a security specialist to clean it up or use a backup file. I didn’t want the expense of a specialist so I told them to go with the most recent backup before the problems began. Unfortunately, many of those files were corrupted. The best one to use was all the way back in April of 2016!

I thought about it for a bit and finally succumbed to the inevitable. Without my website, I can’t reach my full audience to keep them updated. They took that old backup and got everything running again yesterday afternoon. Of course, that meant I was back to an old theme, plugins, widgets, outdated pages, banners, etc. It drove me crazy to look at it all and know some readers might stop by the website and wonder what was going on with it. The most recent post was from April 2016, so you get the idea. I had only one Dragon’s Breath book out and none of the Dark Destiny Series. A lot had happened since then.

For those of you who don’t follow me in my Facebook fan group, I had another baby boy a little over 15 months ago named Dean. He’s great and I love him so much, but like his big brother was at this age I cannot get near a laptop without a meltdown. He loses his mind if he sees me on it.

Thankfully, Dean is much better at taking naps and going to bed at night. My firstborn, Adam, saw it as a challenge to make him sleep and keep him down for the night until he was three years old. Now that he’s four, he is much better about that and even good at entertaining himself while I work (usually). The second boy still wakes 2-3 times a night, especially when teething, but he can be relied upon to go to bed on schedule. This allows me to sneak time to work on my book during his nap and after he’s in bed (assuming there is nothing else pressing that must be done while he’s sleeping like shower). This is how I was finally able to get back to writing again.

Anyway, I worked on the website until 1:30am last night updating my theme, pages, header, and adding back the posts between 2016-present that I felt couldn’t be lost (I skipped dozens of others). They look like new since I couldn’t carry over the comments or even back date them. Also, though I checked boxes declining sending notifications of those re-posts, I have heard some people still got them. My deepest apologies for anyone who got slammed with those updates and I promise there will not be anymore since I managed to knock them all out before bed! And if it’s any consolation, Dean had an usually restless night (likely due to teething), so I got woke up every hour until around 8:00am when he was wide awake and ready to face the day. I’ve ran on fumes and coffee since then.

Today, during Dean’s nap today I got a lot more done on other necessary modifications like my Contact page, security stuff, and book pages. I still have some minor tweaking left to do, but the rest of it isn’t urgent. I’m switching my time back to working on formatting Captured in Flames so I can get it up for pre-order as soon as possible. Also, I really want to post the first two chapters in the next couple of days so you all can get a taste of what’s to come.

Once again, I apologize for any inconvenience and promise I’m working every spare minute possible.

Cover reveal for Captured in Flames

This has been a long time coming, but I can finally say the novel is fully written and critiqued by beta readers! It is with the editor now going through first round edits. Once I get the manuscript back from her, I’ll revise and send it to her again for a second look before polishing to publish. Accounting for all of that, I’m expecting a mid-August release date. I do hope to set up a pre-order sometime in July and will post about that when it’s available.

For now, I am pleased to reveal the cover and summary for readers below.

COVER ARTJeff Brown

PHOTOGRAPHER– Josh McCullock

MODEL– Rahela Mahmood

SUMMARY

Dragons arrived on Earth nearly a year ago, decimating modern civilization.

Bailey Monzac discovered she was born to slay them the day they appeared. Though she has ruthlessly killed hundreds since then, she somehow fell in love with Aidan—a dragon shifter—along the way. Their relationship hasn’t been easy, and it’s about to be tested again.

Bailey finally got an opportunity to leave Oklahoma and return to her family’s ranch in Texas. The catch is that she and Aidan must join a war against the pure dragons controlling the territory there. They’ll be facing their largest and fiercest enemies yet with overwhelming forces against them. As they prepare for battle, more obstacles emerge that could ruin their plans. Aidan is with Bailey no matter what it takes, but it’s going to be a difficult journey to finally reunite with her family and hold onto the man she loves.

*******************

For those who enjoy sneak peeks, I will be posting the first two chapters in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, there is a post from long ago where I included a snippet of the novel you may have missed (or forgotten). Click here for that.

Update on the Dragon’s Breath Series and a snippet

I know a lot of people have been wondering when the next installment of the Dragon’s Breath Series will come. So sorry for the delay! There has been a lot going on in my personal life that has caused this, but I am working on the next book. As of right now, my goal is to publish it in mid August 2022. I’ll update more soon.

Thank you so much for your patience. I know it’s been a long wait, and I appreciate every reader who has stuck by me. As a small compensation, I’m including a snippet from Captured in Flames (book 5 of the series) here. Keep in mind this is not the edited copy so there may be some minor changes before the book is finalized. Those of you who are in my Facebook fan group have already seen this excerpt, but I wanted my broader audience to have a chance to read it.

Aidan and I continued moving along and came out from under the bridge, blinking into the bright sunlight.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  Crossing the border always felt even riskier than being in pure dragon territory.  The interstate was littered with demolished cars, burn holes, and rotting corpses to remind everyone—dragons and humans alike—of how dangerous it could be to anyone who passed through there.  No one used those stretches of highway unless they absolutely had to and only as long as needed.

Aidan led me a bit farther into shifter territory until we got behind some buildings where we wouldn’t be easily seen.  It was quiet with only the wind rustling through the trees nearby to break the silence.  Not even the birds chirped.  We were still too close to the border to see any activity except the occasional dragon patrol, but even they weren’t around at the moment.

“We must get you clean,” he said, wiggling his nose at my snot-covered garb. 

The tight pants and halter top I wore looked similar to black leather, but the outfit was really camrium.  A fire-proof cloth Aidan had designed for me that had additional sorcerer spells cast on it so it could protect against blades and bullets.  It was much more flexible than leather, which was important when one needed to move easily and quickly to fight.  More than once, the warrior garb had saved my life.

I looked to the left and right, confused.  Since the dragon cold had started spreading, I’d been bathing at our home before he returned at night from patrols.  This problem hadn’t come up before.   “There’s not exactly a shower around here for me to use, or even a pond for that matter.”

 “Stay close as I shift, and the flames will burn you clean,” he instructed.

“Wow.”  I cocked my head.  “Why have you not mentioned this nifty trick before?” 

Every night this week, I’d had to station myself in front of a wash basin and scrub myself for an hour to get all the snot and spit off of my clothes, hair, and body.  Never mind collecting all the water I’d needed for that.  And all along, there’d been a faster way that would leave me totally sterilized of germs.

“I never had to worry about you bringing illness to my people until now.”

Oh, right.  That would be bad.  “Good point.”

He moved closer until we almost touched and began shifting from human to dragon.  The first time I saw him transform I was terrified, but I’d grown used to the process since then.  Flames licked up his body, fanning against me, and I could just make out a shadowy figure as it stretched and grew into beast form.  After a minute, the fire subsided and his red dragon form appeared.  It was still a bit frightening to see him this way, but I’d learned to love the man and the beast.

I dropped my gaze to inspect myself and found not a speck of snot on me.  That was one impressive sterilization process.  I smiled at him and wagged a finger.  “I won’t forget you can do this.”

************************************************************************

Two more excerpts from the novel have been shared in my Facebook fan group that you can read if you join. If you just want to make sure you don’t miss when Captured in Flames is out though, make sure you sign up for my book release alerts. I’ll also post the first couple of chapters here shortly before publishing the novel.

September 2018 update

I hope everyone who has grabbed their copy of Destined for Eternity has enjoyed it.  As of today, it is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited on Amazon for those who have been waiting for it.  I will keep the series in the program for the next three months, but after that I’ll be pulling it out of KU and making it wide with all the retailers.

For the Dragon’s Breath Series, that will be my sole concentration next.  I’m hoping to have book five out sometime in December (edit- will be released mid-August 2022), so stay tuned for more on that.  I know many of you have been waiting (im)patiently for it!

There are no other major updates for now, but I’ll keep you posted about progress and when to expect more books.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

For those who want to make sure they don’t miss a new novel coming out, be sure to sign up for my new book release alerts here.

Destined for Eternity release day!

Release day is finally here. Join Cori and Bartol in this final installment as they face more danger in the world and a coming child they must protect. You’ll get to see many of the characters from the Sensor Series and discover some surprising twists with a few of them.

I truly enjoyed writing this latest novel and hope you all enjoy reading it!

SUMMARY

Demons and pregnancy don’t mix.

Cori and Bartol have six weeks left to go until their baby is born, but all hell is about to break loose before that happens.  Demons are possessing humans again and wreaking havoc.  No one knows what their agenda is, but it’s increasing tensions between the humans and supernaturals, escalating into violence.  As one of the only people capable of slaying the hell spawns, Bartol has been called upon to deal with them. But impending fatherhood is challenging enough, especially when he’s still struggling to overcome psychological trauma in order to have the relationship with Cori that she and their child deserve.

Unfortunately, an ultimatum from the angels forces Bartol into the fight, and leaves Cori battling her own doubts and fears. Their child is coming—will they be ready?

Word count– 84,000 (approximate)

Add to your Goodreads TBR list- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41813196-destined-for-eternity


RETAILER LINKS

AMAZON US     AMAZON UK

AMAZON DE     AMAZON AU

AMAZON CA    AMAZON FR

NOOK   KOBO   ITUNES