Category Archives: Single in the CIA

Government Bloat and Bullsh*t

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The next swamp creature we met in the Mingling in the CIA series was Bloud.

…Bloud was an experienced [text is redacted here] officer, in his fifties, whom I had heard much about. Apparently he had done some pretty exciting things years ago and he loved talking about his experiences, holding a captive audience in the young officers surrounding him. He delighted in telling tales of encounters with tigers and serving time in a hole in the ground somewhere in the Middle East. It was hard to imagine this slovenly, obese man doing anything besides eating pork rinds and drinking beer, but the stories were entertaining. He was given the Chief of Operations or third-in-charge position in the office. I did not have many friends in the office and he seemed like an interesting drinking buddy, so one day after work Bloud and I went to a nearby bar for drinks….

The Federal Government Way – Pass The Trash!

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Annie strikes again. Your first introduction to one of the swamp creatures in my series, Mingling in the CIA:

…Her whole career was in limbo and she was going through something called mediation with her former supervisors. This was a process whereby she could contest the citation for bad behavior they had placed in her file. In any other workplace I knew of she would have been fired for not calling in when sick, not to mention dropping the ball on some highly sensitive intelligence during a critical time, but in the Agency there really did not seem to be a way to get rid of people who were bad employees. It was called “passing the trash,” and Annie would just be moved from assignment to assignment for her entire career….

The Cream of the Crop?

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…Annie was another of the many women I encountered at the Agency who made me wonder how on earth she passed the psychological exam to get in.  She was a masseuse on the side and she often told me stories about giving married men “happy endings.”  Some of the men were Agency employees.  She seemed proud of this activity.  One day, after I had come back from my TDY medical exam, she loudly proclaimed that I could not possibly be done with my medical travel clearance because I hadn’t met with a psychologist yet.  It crossed my mind that maybe she should not be so open about this information.  Apparently, if you had red flags in your psychological history, the medical office would have you meet with a psychologist before you were allowed to go on even a brief TDY.  I had not met with one, but was granted my travel clearance, so I was set to go.  Annie was one of the main people who made me question the Agency’s hiring process…

Introducing a New Swamp Creature

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In anticipation of my newest book’s release and launch, I want to highlight some of the swamp creatures we have met so far in my series, Mingling in the CIA. Having spent most of my career in Washington, DC, I’ve had broad experience with many types of swamp creatures. This experience gives me plenty of material for my books.

We first met Annie in my book, Single in the CIA:

…Annie was a twenty-something-year-old, borderline obese girl with the mentality of a twelve-year-old. She had been hired into the Agency by way of the Office of Security, where she was sent to training to become a background investigator. Apparently she had some issues while there, and also did not pass the investigations training class, so she was told to find another job within the Agency. At this point in time, the NCS was pretty desperate for SOOs, and Annie got a job there – the NCS, the directorate most people think of when they think of the CIA and national security – the “tip of the spear.” I noticed this happened a lot – when a newly hired officer was identified as having some issues, instead of documenting it or perhaps even terminating the employee, they were just moved to another position in the Agency. Part of this phenomenon was likely due to the high cost of the CIA’s hiring process and clearing someone for access to classified information – Top Secret clearances did not come cheap, nor did they happen quickly….

Get ready to meet Archie!

It’s That Time of Year!

Mingling in the CIA, Mission: Stand Down, Mommy Thinks She's a Monster, Single in the CIA, The Adventures of Shelly Beach, The Lemon Seed, ,

It’s time for my annual self-promotion, hopefully just in time for your holiday gift-giving. If you have any book lovers on your list, try out one (or more) of my books this year! I’ve seen some delays in shipments of hardcopy books, but e-books won’t have any delay and are perfect for last minute gift-giving. I have adult-themed books about my time working as an intelligence officer in the CIA, and I have children’s books that have nothing to do with the CIA – both picture books and a new elementary-grade chapter book series, just begun this year! My books are available online anywhere books are sold, and are likely in some brick and mortar stores (authors always love it if you request their books in brick and mortar stores because then the stores will order copies!).

My books:

My first book, Single in the CIA, is a comical memoir of my life in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency. It takes you through my adventures as a young, single woman in the intelligence world, and focuses only on my personal relationships while I was there – no work talk! It’s meant to be fun, but it ends up being sort of sad, if you realize that the book is set in the “premier spy agency”. Kind of disturbing, actually. This is the book I am most known for, and it began the series of books that I have now written, and continue to write.

My series, Mingling in the CIA, takes readers into the lives of officers in America’s premier spy agency. These short novelettes each focus on an actual real person I knew at the Agency, and takes the reader on a (hopefully fun) journey into their lives. I am currently working on the latest in this series, where you will meet a new character!

Mission: Stand Down, is a true-to-life spy thriller – my most controversial book yet. This one had the censors up in arms! It is highly redacted, but I still think you can get the gist of the book and it is one of my best.

Mommy Thinks She’s a Monster is a touching children’s picture book about moms and motherhood written from the perspective of a young child, who only wants their mommy to be present in their life. This was my first children’s book, and it was so much fun to do. I worked with a great illustrator, Paul Sewell, on this one – he was a delight to work with and he really brought my idea to life.

The Lemon Seed is a children’s picture book about thriving in adversity and flourishing, even in dismal circumstances and environments. This was my Covid shutdown project. In the very beginning, when we were the first in the country to be shut down and masked (Washington state had us beat on the first shutdown), I decided to challenge myself and see if I could illustrate my own book. It might not be perfect, but it is meant to look “homemade” and I’m really glad I did it.

A Manatee Miracle, the first in The Adventures of Shelly Beach elementary-grade chapter book series, takes young readers on adventures in the Florida Keys with a magical paddle boat. This book kicks off my newest series – this time for young readers. With this series, I hope to introduce kids to the wildlife of the Florida Keys that I was so lucky to grow up surrounded by.

Happy Reading & Happy Gifting!

My Appearance on American Snippets

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I joined Barbara Allen, author of Front Toward Enemy and What Not to Wear to a Murder Trial, on her show American Snippets recently. We talked about all sorts of subjects – my longest TV appearance yet!

I think I’m getting slightly better at them…..

This episode should also be airing on OpsLens TV – which is now available on Apple TV, Roku and FireTV! Stay tuned!

My Appearance with Kerrin Black of Talent Finders

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Don’t believe the doubters ….I always have many, many doubters. No matter how many times I prove them wrong, they still doubt me, but it’s almost like it encourages me to prove them wrong yet again…

I had a really great interview with Kerrin Black of Talent Finders – you can check it out here:

It All Began With One Book….

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Once I realized the past 8+ years of my work history was a bit of a black hole, I decided to write a book. I had no idea where it would take me, but since I had been a fairly decent writer back in my school days, I decided I would take on the challenge. It proved to be pretty hard to get back into any sort of creative or descriptive writing – I was used to writing cables in the CIA – which is a very robotic style of writing. I spent about a year and a half writing Single in the CIA, through my first pregnancy and into my first child’s newborn stage. I would write on my slow, tiny notebook, balanced on the arm of the rocking chair, while I rocked my newborn son to sleep.

The book was meant to be a fun read, but it also touches on some of the waste, fraud and abuse that was (and I’m sure still is) entrenched in the huge government bureaucracy that is the Central Intelligence Agency. It was truly a swamp! When I worked there, I had no idea how corrupt the government could be – I only knew how vicious the women, in particular, who worked there could be!

I’d like to think my writing has improved a lot since this very first book. It has opened up so many doors for me – from TV interviews to contributor, editor and content writer jobs. It’s even scheduled to become a television series at some point in the future.

Many people ask me about writing books. My advice to anyone who thinks they have a book in them – just write – and keep writing! Nothing is ever perfect – but you have to get started and once you finish – put it out there into the world, imperfections and all!

Life After The Agency

BurpMitt, Cooking in the CIA, Mingling in the CIA, Mission: Stand Down, Mommy Thinks She's a Monster, Mommy's Gone Mad!, Music Singles, OpsLens Media, Single in the CIA, The Lemon Seed

What does a former CIA officer do once she’s no longer a CIA officer and has a family of her own? She writes multiple CIA-inspired books, invents a baby product, goes crazy with a music album (followed by releasing singles), builds an app and writes children’s picture books, of course!


BurpMitt® products consist of super-absorbent, organic cotton products for baby and home. Mommy’s Gone Mad! is a comical music album for small children and parents of small children. The children’s album led to working on some more adult music singles. Cooking in the CIA is an app with recipes learned from years of entertaining and world travel.

If you would like to purchase a BurpMitt® product, you can find them on Amazon.

Cooking in the CIA is available on the App Store.

Mommy’s Gone Mad! (as well as the other singles) is/are on Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Napster and more!

As always, thank you for helping me support my family by purchasing any of my products!

Happy Independence Day!

Single in the CIA

As we celebrate our Independence Day here in the US, I think about the freedoms that are very dear to me.  My freedom of speech is something I take very seriously as a writer and author.  It is also a way for me to make money to help support my family.  

I have friends and contacts on social media from all walks of life, from all over the globe – likely one of the most diverse groups of people anyone has ever seen.  Most people I know from all of the locations I have traveled and lived have been supportive and open-minded and simply great.  If they have not been openly supportive, or do not agree with views expressed in my articles, books or posts, I wouldn’t really know it, as they themselves know enough to just scroll on by.  You see, we all used to be able to have different opinions and views yet still be friends – we could still be civil even in disagreement.  Sadly, more and more these days, this is not the case.

For those of you who have been supportive of me and my family – thank you.  Keep being you and never give up on what you believe in.  Share your opinions freely, but realize you are on social media, where most have the attention span of 250 characters and cowardice and narcissism rule. 

For those of you who have attacked me – be it by arguing incessantly with my friends and family via comments, blocking or unfriending me personally, or whatever – I have this message for you:  I’ve watched some of you change from seemingly happy-go-lucky fun-loving people to angry, outraged trolls.  You spout your self-righteous virtue signaling and I see right through it.  I have always respected all of your opinions, even if I thought they were misguided and misinformed.  I just scrolled on by.  But you don’t want to give me the same consideration.  Get over yourselves and stop with all the outrage.  You are clearly miserable in your life, and you look it too!  Get off of Facebook and make a positive change in your life.  

I get at least 3-4 messages a week from various contacts who are convinced my posts, articles or books are all about them.  It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.  If you think every post, article or book is about you, then you might be a narcissist.

I won’t be bullied or silenced.  Don’t ever try to tell me what I can or cannot say on my own personal page, blog or whatever it might be.  I am a writer, I stand for free speech and expression.  I’m not sure when cowing to tyrants became the norm, but I won’t be participating in that activity.

A word of caution: be careful of using Facebook as your way to stay in touch with people.  I have written articles about this subject.  The dangers of thinking you understand where someone is coming from based on a quick Facebook post are numerous.  Comments made at the click of the button can be easily misconstrued, by a largely ignorant herd-mentality crowd.  Just because you shriek louder does not mean you are right. 

And to those dearly departed UNfriends: over the past few years their tolerance for perceived opinions that differ from their own has waned and apparently have warranted swift unfriending! Here’s to you – Happy Independence Day!  Your bitterness and hate only leads me to more and more success.