If all goes well, Part IV of “An Operator’s Daughter” will go live on Friday, August 12, 2022. Look for new episodes on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.
Enjoy these Kindle Vella titles during those hot August nights.
On Kindle Vella, the first three episodes are always free. New to Kindle Vella, Amazon will gift you 200 free tokens to keep reading (and sometimes 500 or even a 1,000!)
https://books.bookfunnel.com/allkindlevellas/fjhk0x4p7j
Felines have been a large part of my life. Since right before my husband and I were married, we’ve been blessed to always have a tuxedo cat (or four) sharing our lives.
Our first, Horatio Roo, was somewhere between four and six weeks when he was pulled from a litter of feral kittens and throughout his life, he would nurse on my fingers or thumb as he would fall asleep at night. He didn’t see himself as a “cat” and accompanied me everywhere, including to work at a local Seattle television station some evenings.
Because our cats have brought such joy to our lives, I’ve paid tribute to their calming presence and rambunctious spirits by adding them as characters within “The Operator’s Daughter” series.
“Bond” is mentioned in Ashton’s mother’s journals–“a left behind” cat by a former resident of the home shared by LT Gracelynn Wright and CPT Charlotte Lewis. When Charlotte took occupancy of the base-housing bungalow, she found a bag of cat crunchies and a water fountain for him to drink from–as we have found out our kitties over the years prefer drinking from running water. (An Operator’s Daughter – part I.) “Bond” is a smoothie tuxedo, and in my mind he resembles our current kitty boy, Henrik–our “lap leopard.”
As I am drafting out episodes of “An Operator’s Daughter – part IV”, “Orion” will make an appearance as Ashton’s emotional support animal. He is a six-toed Hemingway Maine Coon – greatly resembling the tuxedo Maine Coon who shared our home until just a few years ago. Niko, who was not a polydactyl cat, was the most gentle of our kitties, the largest in size and in the capacity of his heart for us and our other cats. We miss him a great deal.
https://www.amazon.com/author/laurie_anne_brandonhttps://www.amazon.com/author/laurie_anne_brandon
Check our my author page on Amazon at the link above!
It will take until Part III in my “An Operator’s Daughter” series to learn Marcus’s last name, but that is because I wanted everyone to see themselves within this amazing young man who is Ashton’s “bestie” through tough and better times.
Ashton meets Marcus when he’s assigned the role of showing her around the high school the first day she attends classes. He goes about this job with so much enthusiasm, that Ashton doesn’t quite know what to make of him. He wins her over quickly with his welcoming smile, solid advice, and loyalty.
Many high schools have opportunities for students to serve as ambassadors. In some schools this is a club one joins, and in others, it is a selection process based upon teacher recommendation, scholarship and volunteer hours. In Marcus’s case, he applied for the opportunity, and was selected because he is a solid student, willingly gives his time to make the school’s drama productions a success, and applied to be on the school’s yearbook staff–a class where he earns credit, but it will become a full-time job for him despite working afterschool and weekends at his parents’ sub sandwich shop.
Marcus aspires to sing in the school’s elect choir ensemble group and also to be selected for starring roles in the school’s drama productions–especially the musicals. He was disappointed he did not make either during his junior year in high school, but he keeps trying.
Although his parents have high expectations for him to take his education seriously, they are not of the “helicopter variety”. As busy business owners, they leave Marcus to make things happen on his own, while other students’ parents are pushy, or donate the cash, to procure plum roles or selection into elite performance groups for their sons and daughters. Heart and talent do not always equal opportunity in a suburban public high school; a lesson Marcus will come to learn from experience.
To learn more about Marcus, and his friendship with Ashton McAllister, start with “An Operator’s Daughter – Part I” on Kindle Vella where the first three episodes are free, and Amazon will give readers new to this platform another 200 free tokens to keep reading. Marcus will also make appearances in Parts II and III, and even in Part IV–currently in development.
I am deep into writing and editing Part IV of my “An Operator’s Daughter” series and hoping to begin posting episodes within the next week (or two).
The character of Dustin Bryce Maguire, Ashton McAllister’s love interest, points out his truck to her the the evening he returns from his first mission (“An Operator’s Daughter – Part I” Episode 157). He tells her, proudly, that it’s paid for, and she gives him an appreciative smile.
Dustin’s truck is a symbol of his hard work, blood, sweat, and hidden tears overcoming his neglected youth and his fight to make it through Navy SEAL training and on to a platoon.
He drives a later model lifted Toyota Tacoma, a two-door with not-quite a backseat similar to the one pictured below.
Support independent authors and enjoy these titles:
The most amazing thing about Kindle Vella is the variety of genres and authors to choose from. There is truly something for everyone’s entertainment.
Enjoy these title for May!
I was thrilled Rachel Roy reached out to interview me for her author series on her Blog, The Second Time Around Homestead.
My amazing and talented niece, Dr. Charly Jensen, is my cover artist and she just began her surgical residency this…
Hi Laurie I love 💕 your series An Operator’s Daughter. When will part IV be uploaded to Kindle Vella?
Could not have said it better myself, as a 35 year admitted “IT Phony” with two BS Degrees in Bio-Science…
Best of luck on your writing endeavors, and thanks for checking out Kindle Vella.
Some weeks ago, during our Tuesday counseling professional development, we were introduced to a new Career Skills Program. This one is an opportunity for transitioning Service Members to learn a highly sought-after set of skills to work in Information Technology. But while I came away impressed with what the 18-week training program offered, I learned about something else too; something highly applicable to myself and many others.
The presenter brought up the concept of Imposter Syndrome: the feeling you don’t belong in your role because you are a phony or fraud, or you are there only because of dumb luck, and at any moment, you could be found out and sent packing. Our presenter told us that overcoming this mindset was critical to success, but it was more difficult than learning those highly sought-after high-tech skills.
What he explained about Imposter Syndrome hit home for me. I feel like I have been faking it my entire life. It was what drove me to push through dyslexia to be placed in the top reading groups during my elementary years, to kick and pull harder to win races in the swimming pool, and to earn nearly all the Girl Scout badges while a Junior Scout. Later, it had me putting all my effort into the news articles and editorials I wrote for the high school newspaper, giving it my all in every job I’ve ever worked from fast food to legal administrative work, to television graphics, to teaching high school, and finally, educational counseling. Perhaps all the above are positives coming out of that feeling of inadequacy. However, it still doesn’t explain why I lack a belief in my own abilities and the faith those around me will recognize I have those abilities.
Despite knowing a solid work ethic is part of my DNA, I still feel like I must prove myself worthy of being in the positions I am in. Yes, it drives me to dig deeper to find the perfect fit in academic programs for those I now serve and to understand how to help maximize the educational benefits they have earned. But despite being in this line of work for a year now, I still feel like I am drinking from a fire hose, and at any moment, I’ll be recognized for what I am; knowing just enough to be dangerous.
Without realizing what Imposter Syndrome was, I had incorporated it, as a motif, into my serial fiction series, An Operator’s Daughter. Frequently, my characters give and take that advice, that sometimes you must fake it until it becomes a habit, and you truly believe you have what it takes to do it, whatever “it” may be.
So, here is my advice to myself, and to you: it is okay to fake it, to give the appearance you know what you are doing, to try, and sometimes get it wrong, fall down, fail, as long as you pick yourself up and keep on trying. Fake it until you see success and feel you belong.
Enough to be Dangerous 
Thank you for liking my little blog Laurie! Tom Davison