UPDATE: The winner is…Brenda Rumsey!
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©Diana Cosby 2021

I enjoy my time walking in the woods, around the pond, or through the marsh, and seeing nature’s beauty.  Taking photos of the wildlife I see is the perfect inspiration to refill my muse.  On rare occasions, I’ll see a Cooper’s Hawk.

At the marsh, I was thrilled to see a young buck with a thin velvet skin on its antlers.

The kits have grown so big.  I was fortunate to see one before it leaves the den to begin his own life.

I see the Yellow-crowned Night Herons at the marsh and sitting on their nests.  In the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to seeing their young.

A couple of weeks during late spring, the Ruddy Turnstones migrate through.  It’s a fun challenge to see if I can catch photos of them before they’ve flown through.

Locally, an unofficial start to summer is when Laughing Gulls arrive.  The gorgeous birds remain until the beginning of fall when they’ll head south, and their familiar ‘laughing’ cries fade.  Though I’ll miss seeing the Laughing Gulls as other migratory birds, I look forward to the cooler weather and return of the winter birds.

Contest

ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Nature – The Perfect Inspiration To Refill My Muse!,’ on Delilah’s blog between 13 June 2021– 20 June 2021.  I will sign a copy of Born To Bite for the winner.

About the Author

A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.

After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothers series and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.

Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
The Forbidden Series

I’m on a downhill slide to the finish line with my story Chase! So, I’m keeping my head down and not letting distractions interfere with me reaching The End. The story is ten times sexier than I thought it would be, but that’s because Chase is a very high-T guy. Yup. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. In the meantime, be sure to check out all these open contests! Two of them wrap up tomorrow, so enter today!

Open Contests

1. Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Short Story Anthologies (Contest–3 Winners!) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
3. What’s about to happen here? (Puzzle-Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Anna M. Taylor: Where and When I Enter (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. A Question for You! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. A Funny Thing Happened… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!

Just for fun, and because I’m going to be writing like a demoness today, and this is something I have had on my mind lately, here’s a question for you to answer!

If you could add one business/store/restaurant to your home town, what would it be? Answer for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

For me, it would be a movie theater. We’re a town of approximately 11,000 people, with two colleges, and we don’t have one! It’s a travesty! Also, we just plain don’t have a lot to offer in the way of recreation unless it’s parks or the nearby lake. How about a skating rink or bowling alley?

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
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Some years ago I read a book by Paula Giddings entitled When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. The stories I read about women who made history from Ida B. Wells to Shirley Chisholm inspired me then and inspire me still. But the book had an unexpected outcome on me. At least unexpected by me, but I suspect not by the author.

Giddings’s title made me stop and think about where and when I enter history as well. School has trained us to think of history as something made by others, but you and I make history in small and large ways every day. As a minister, I have worked with at least a hundred churches and their ministers and lay people seeking how to share their faith and resources with their communities. As part of a community organizing group, I helped address issues of inequality in the communities in which I lived and worked.

As I look back on the last year and a half, I am filled with awe and pride by the creative ways neighbors have helped one another get through the tragedy of this pandemic. These acts of kindness—both random and intentional—will be included in books written about this time. Those who acted will be cited by name just as Giddings’s book names women like Anna Julia Cooper and Mary McLeod Bethune, who chose to challenge the racism and sexism of their day.

However, there are many more who will remain unnamed but whose acts will have touched hearts and minds and spirits, enabling everyone to be encouraged during this difficult time. The smile you share with a stranger from a distance or a phone call you make to someone who is homebound create ripples of goodness that touch the universe in many pay-it-forward ways we may never know. I wonder if this isn’t why history has always had my heart.

My initial idea for this post was to share unsung Black history events that took place in June, events that aren’t getting the attention June 19^th—Juneteenth—is getting. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when in Galveston Bay, Texas, the Union army announced the official end of slavery to more than two hundred and fifty thousand enslaved people. There’s a move to make Juneteenth a national holiday but is anyone commemorating June 17, 1775 when Peter Salem and Salem Poor were commended for their service at the Battle of Bunker Hill? As I made my list of such lesser-known events for this post, I realized even Peter Salem and Salem Poor had their names recorded in a place where I could find them and their deeds. Inspired by the title of Giddings’ book, I switched gears and decided to make this post a place where you and I could share when and where we enter history. That way someday someone can come across this post and read about where and when you entered history.

So for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, but more importantly to be remembered for posterity, share a moment in your life when you made an impact on the history we call everyday life. 

Haunted Serenade

All the women in Anora Madison’s family have lived as “Poor Butterflies”: women still longing for but deserted by the men they loved. Determined to be the first to escape a life of abandonment, Anora fled Harlem for Brooklyn, severing her ties with her mother, Angela, and with the man who broke her heart, Winston Emerson, the father of her child.

Six years later, she comes back to Harlem to make peace, but a malignant spirit manifests itself during the homecoming, targeting her mother, her aunt, Winston, and their little girl. Determined to stop the evil now trying to destroy all she loves, Anora must finally turn to Winston for help. But will their efforts be too little too late?

Buylink: https://amzn.to/3aXifyu

Excerpt from Haunted Serenade…

On September 15, 1963, the one-year anniversary of my aunt Diana’s death, four young girls in Birmingham, Alabama died when their church was bombed for its involvement in the Civil Rights movement.

My mother called that evening and inquired after my health and the health of my daughter Cammie—the granddaughter she vowed never to acknowledge. Fear, anger and sorrow sounded in her voice. Mine too. We mourned those girls, their families and the sister/aunt we both loved. In that spoken grief, I silently mourned what had died between my mother and me.

The following month she called again, this time inviting me to bring Cammie to dinner. Like some sulky child, I felt tempted to ask what took her so long. Instead, I swallowed my hurt and came home.

Cammie squeezed my fingers and stared at 13 141st Street with a wide-eyed wonder only six-year-olds possess.

“Wow. Grammie has a real house.”

I don’t know what excited her more: the prospect of meeting her maternal grandmother or visiting a real house. Single-family homes with front stoops, porches and backyards were things she saw only on television. We lived in a Brooklyn housing project with eight apartments to every floor and eight floors in every building.

All last night she ooo’d and ah’d over the photo of Number Thirteen my mother had sent her. Too wound up to sleep, her pudgy little body tossed and turned like a happy puppy on the double bed we shared. She shook me awake each time a new possibility occurred to her. Did her Grammie really own the whole house? Could she have a room of her own when she spent the night? Could she have a puppy there? No cats or dogs were allowed in the projects. How many staircases were inside the house? Did it have a doorbell she could ring?

The sound of her excitement cleaved my heart. She showed no signs of discontent with our life, yet the smile she wore as she slept told me my daughter had desires of which I was unaware.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annamtaylorAuthor
Twitter: @Revannable
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/355nKv0

UPDATE: The winner is…Rita!
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Puzzle-Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what’s about to happen here! Have fun!

Ending Soon!

1. Cratered Weekend? (Puzzle-Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
2. FREE Read! See what happens when Beauty meets Beast! — Last day to claim your copy! Everyone gets a FREE book!
3. Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Win a $5 Amazon gift card!
4. Short Story Anthologies (Contest–3 Winners!) — Win a FREE book!

UPDATE: The winners are…Mechelle, Cheryl Bowers, and Ani!
*~*~*

I’m working away at a new collection of short stories from some very talented authors—sexy stories all centered around cowboys! In the meantime, because I love to share these books and introduce you to authors you might not know, I want to make sure you know where to find these books. All my anthologies are listed on my Collections website. They are full-sized books—none less than 60,000 words—and ALL of the ones we published ourselves are available for just $0.99! A STEAL. We want you to read them, so we’re making sure cost is not an impediment! Be sure to visit the site and peruse the available titles: Delilah’s Collections

Contest

Comment for a chance to win a download of one of the full-size books below. You can tell me whether you love short stories. Tell me what theme you’d like to see for the next one. Or just ramble about what you’ll be doing while you’re reading the sexy shorties in this collection (passing time in a dentist’s office, reading sexy stories to your significant other in bed at night, etc.). Just be sure to comment!

Here’s what you might win (click on the covers to learn more):

Open Contests & Giveaways

1. Cratered Weekend? (Puzzle-Contest) — Win a FREE book!
2. FREE Read! See what happens when Beauty meets Beast! — Everyone, get your FREE short story! (It’s a sexy one!)
3. Tell Me a Story (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Carol Cox!
*~*~*

I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is (that looks wrong, but I promise it’s not) a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

Here’s the roll…

Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some or use all of them. Tell me a story, or just a glimmer of an idea, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!