Want to read the intro and first chapter of LIVING BRAVE? Well, you�re in luck� HERE YOU GO!!! I�m a brand new author. July 6, 2021 is the delivery date for LIVING BRAVE, my book baby. I wrote this...

Want to read the intro and first chapter of LIVING BRAVE? Well, you�re in luck� HERE YOU GO!!!

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I�m a brand new author. July 6, 2021 is the delivery date for LIVING BRAVE, my book baby. I wrote this book in the first year following Lee�s death, and I�m both proud of it and terrified/excited (terricited?) for all of you to have it in your hands!

�or on your e-reader or audio book platform because it releases in those formats as well on July 6�

I�m also feeling the weight of the need for success and sales and whatnot. When I signed the contract for this book, it was going to be supplemental income, back when I wasn�t yet a widow and when my husband was positioned to become president of his engineering firm. And then, he died.

Right now, I have most of our GoFundMe money paying for health insurance and expenses, and that will get the kids to adulthood. For everything else, we live off two sources of income:

social security death benefits from Lee, which are limited to only roughly 2.5 people�s benefits given a family max that ignores that we are seven and all of us were supported by his income, and

my writing income, which hasn�t been robust beyond this book because of grief and a pandemic and a massive spine surgery and more, all while being a single mom to six children, many of us with lifelong disabilities.

I�m not sharing any of this for pity. I�m sharing it to be transparent, especially because so many of you gave to us following Lee�s death. presence.

We are okay financially. That said, in order to be present for the kids and care for their needs and my own and continue writing, my book needs to take off.

If it doesn�t, I shift to a different job, which will be difficult given my disabilities. Between that and my health and my six kids, that means an indefinite end to my writing and online presence.

Either way, we�ll figure it out. That�s what I do.

But if you value my work as a writer and want to see it continue, here�s what YOU can do:

Preorder my book. NOW. Preorders make a huge difference for authors, especially new authors. (And where doesn�t matter � choose whatever place is your favorite for ordering books!)

Buy a copy (or ten) for a friend, a neighbor, a family member, your cat, a stray, whoev.

Share why you�re psyched about the book with your friends and ask them to preorder too. (If you�re connected to any grief organizations, suggest that they buy several copies to lend or give out.)

Contact your local public library and ask them to order copies (or to consider ordering more if they already have some ordered).

Some people have accused me of doing certain things just to sell my book. Um, yes, of course

�She lost me when she added a link to her book in her bio. She�s just trying to sell her book,� they say, dismissing whatever came before the bio. �I don�t believe this tweet. She�s making this up to get people to buy her book.� And so on�

Say what?!?

Selling the product of your work is a normal activity for people across many industries. I poured myself into every word of this book and am extending them into the world with open hands, as an offering of �here, this is the best part of me I can give to a weary world.� do.

Doing any work during the first year of my widow life, a year that overlapped with COVID19 showing up with its own grief (and turning me into a virtual school teacher of all six of my children), was like drawing a blood sample with a machete. I bled my love and pain and story onto each page of this book, and I�m proud of it. I wrote each word in hopes it would be read, so of course I want people to buy my book! It would be ridiculous not to.

I don�t want you to just see my book at the mall. (Remember those places where we went into a dozen stores and all breathed each other�s air? Weird.) I want you to read it, to feel less alone, to learn how to dwell in darkness while still remembering some small light, to offer the next chapter to those who heard the story of Lee�s death on international and national news outlet and wanted to know how we�re holding up.

I wrote this for the new widow and the older widow and the griever of any kind.

I wrote this to tell the truth and give others permission to do so in their own lives.

I wrote this because I struggle with faith but can�t shake Jesus from my soul, and I wrote this to say, �yes, that makes sense� to person still wrestling or who landed on a different outcome on the questions of theodicy that come from tragedy.

I wrote this because words matter and I had some to say that I believe will humanize instead of dehumanize and will make a difference to this world that seems damned at least twice a day.

So, will I promote this book? Hell yes, I will.

Which circles us back to preorders.�

Please. Do it. Click any word in this sentence for a different bookseller�s link. It�s a damn good book, I promise.�do.

(But don�t just trust me� go ahead and read the intro and first chapter!)

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