AN UNLAWFUL ORDER jumps more than 100,000 in 48 hours!

Okay, I said I wasn't going to watch stats, and I haven't been. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I get email alerts about how the book is doing. I didn't ask for these email alerts, so I'm just going to chalk it up to life just being fortuitous.

Here's the latest: AN UNLAWFUL ORDER has jumped 100,000 in sales rankings in the first 48 hours.

That's more than a jump. Frogs jump. This -- a 100,000 gain -- is a major leap.

I feel like the little engine who could.

Youcandoit...youcandoit...youcandoit.

If you build (write) it, will they come?

So my novel actually went up for purchase on one bookstore site yesterday. I sold three copies. (Thanks, Mom, and two Marine buddies -- you know who you are...)

You know, you wonder when you write something like this, toiling away for a year or more, whether anyone will find your little book, much less find it interesting enough to purchase. After all, consider all the choices. Still, you write and you write and you write...and one day, if you don't quit, you have a book.

Fellow writers are telling me I'll drive myself nuts in a few weeks when An Unlawful Order hits Amazon and Barnes & Noble. They say I'll waste hours a day, hitting the refresh button on my computer in an effort to track sales and revenue. Really? I hope not.

What I do hope for, however, is that enough readers enjoy this novel so that I have a reason to write a sequel.

Right now, sales are pretty easy to track, all three of them.

Galley copies of AN UNLAWFUL ORDER arrive!

I really didn't think by this point that I'd be over-the-top excited. After all, I've read the dang thing a hundred times in the past several months, even the pdf version.

But nothing could quite prepare me for the feelings that rushed through me as I cut through the box and lifted out copies of my first book. It's so pretty, Ya'll. Sorry for gushing.

Now the wait begins for the book to hit Amazon and Barnes & Noble distribution. The ePub conversion is also underway. Both steps take 4-6 weeks, I'm told.

Woman Marine, 8 months pregnant, forced to run PFT?

Are you kidding me?

Retired Marine, Mary-Julia Hill, opens up to Tracy Crow on her new blog, First Marine Moms. As I read about the challenges Hill had to face, I felt sick to my stomach. Honestly, I think maybe our generation has taken way too much for granted.

Be sure to check out Mary-Julia Hill's story at First Marine Moms.

New blog you MUST check out

Tracy Crow has started a new blog, and this one reveals a little known legacy from our women Marine veterans.

First Marine Moms, according to Tracy (pictured here), will honor the legacy of those women who were the first to become mothers as Marines. Honestly, I hadn't thought too much about this whole subject until I started reading Tracy's blog and thinking about our history. Just think about all those women who were forced to choose between motherhood and Corps. Sounds dang near un-American, huh?

Anyway, Tracy tells me she's looking to profile the stories of those women who were First Marine Moms, and those who wish they could have been...

Be sure to subscribe to the blog while you're there.  Oh, and check out all the pages -- In the news, Women Marines Association, etc.