UPDATE: The winner is…Beth!
*~*~*

We’re starting to pick up ingredients for the Thanksgiving meal from the grocery store. Last year, who’d have thought premade stuffing would be so hard to find? Or turkeys?!

We’re looking forward to the kids having time off from school. The time from Halloween onward always feels like a march to the New Year, doesn’t it? Celebrations every few weeks. We love the season and my dd has become quite the Thanksgiving dinner cook. I’m the dishwasher, since no one wants what I can cook.

Anyways, Thanksgiving is on my mind today, so I thought I’d put it in your brain, too. Solve the word search then tell me what things you’d add to my list of “Things I love about Thanksgiving” for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…K. Campos!
*~*~*

Last night was interesting. We had a very weak tornado touch down a couple of miles from us. One of the 18-year-old’s friends called her to say he saw it and was chasing it toward Malvern. I kind of wished he would’ve stopped by here and picked me up. My dd and I always wanted to be storm chasers. (And yeah, I know how weird that sounds.) But we gathered the kids in the basement. The 9-year-old hates storms and cried until we strapped her bike helmet on and told her she was extra safe. Our basement is very quiet. It really mutes the sounds, so we watched the forecast and complained about how long the tornado warning was lasting. I occasionally would have to “go pee” so I could take a look outside. When it was finally canceled, we were all ready for bed.

Do you have tornados in “your neck of the woods?”

Puzzle Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me something about the man in the picture. Tell me a story if you like…

Open Contests

Enter these open contests while you still can!

1. Word Nerds! Qualities I love in a Book Boyfriend! (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!
2. Happy Cliché Day! (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!
3. Storm’s coming… (Contest) — Win an Amazon Gift Certificate!

UPDATE: The winner is…Sara DoMoe!
*~*~*

I’m late posting. The day’s overcast, and we have some rough storms heading our way, but our power went off for several hours this morning, which does not bode well. With nothing else to do, I took a shower in candlelight, using up the rest of the hot water in the heater. Then I worked on straightening my art room since it gets some sunlight (my office does not—it’s a basement room). The power came back on a half hour ago, so everyone’s charging their devices because we very often have outages during the kind of weather we’re projected to get (thunderstorms with the possibility of tornados).

So beyond charging our devices, we’re planning on getting takeout early so dinner prep isn’t interrupted. We’re going to feed and walk dogs early so we’re not doing it in the rain. Any chores that need doing, we’re getting out of the way early. We checked the gas cans in the shed to make sure we can power the generator if we need to… I think that’s it. Oh, I have candles and a lighter in a place I can find in the dark.

So, do you have to plan and prepare for storms? If so, what’s on your preparedness list? 

Reading devices charged up with a book or two to keep you happy in the dark? Dry snacks on the counters so you don’t have to hunt them down?

Answer for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…flchen1!
*~*~*

Yes, it’s a thing! And don’t you learn the least important stuff on my blog?

What are some of your favorites? Or maybe some tired ones you’d rather never hear again?

Here are some I’d love to go away: “Love is blind!” “All’s fair in love and war!” “A fool and his money are soon parted!” “Cold as a witch’s tit!” Okay, so maybe that last one isn’t quite so famous. My ex-Irish-husband liked that one a lot. (And no, he was not talking about me.) 🙂 We’re very good friends still.

So, with clichés in mind, let’s have a contest! Of course, we’re having a contest!

Tell me your picks for most annoying clichés and those you love for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift certificate!

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
*~*~*

I’ve included some of my favorite qualities. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and then tell me what qualities you love! Have fun!

This puzzle is hard, so I’ll give you some hints—#3, the third letter is a G.
#1 starts with a C and has two Ls.
#5 starts with an H and ends in ST.

UPDATE: The winner is…Chelsea K!
*~*~*

We have a full weekend before Halloween hits, and the kids are on pins and needles waiting for the day. Their mom and I figure we can spend one night this weekend watching something fun to get ready—so forget about horror movies, y’all!

We’ve already watched Hocus Pocus and the second movie. We couldn’t wait for this weekend to do that. So, what’s left?

Make your recommendations for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! What’s something you like watching with the family on the holiday?

UPDATE: The winner is…Wendy!
*~*~*

I’m always happy to contribute stories to charity anthologies.  I’ve done several this year with charities such as Ukraine Aid Groups, LGBTQ causes, and Ronald McDonald House.  All of my contributions have been gay romances, and I love adding that flavor to the books.  All have been instalove with guaranteed happy endings because that’s what I write.  What I want to read.  What I know will both vex readers and make them secretly smile.

After an anthology is removed from circulation, the proceeds are tallied, and the money is sent off to the various charities.  Then the rights revert back to the author to do whatever they choose.  I like to wait a bit of time and then release them so that people who happened to have missed the anthology can snag a copy.  To be clear, though, I always want readers to grab those anthologies, which are always great deals and can introduce them to new authors, and where the money goes to charity.

In the end, though, I like my stories to live on and find new readers.  The problem is the cover.  When the stories are in an anthology, the organizers provide amazing covers.  Life’s great.  When your rights revert, you need to put something on the front of it before sending it out into the world.  Now, I’m getting better at this problem.  I skulk around premade cover sites and occasionally pick up one (or five) for stories I think I’m going to write. Or, frankly, covers I just love.

I was shopping for another story when I came across a cover with two guys and a lighthouse.

I loved it and snapped it up a year ago.  When I came to write the short story for the Ukraine Charity anthology, I remembered that cover.  It still spoke to me, and so I was happy to write a story about it.  An interracial gay couple and a lighthouse.  My imagination took me to Canada’s west coast—to Tofino in particular.  I wrote an instalove, forced proximity, short story that I kind of loved.  I sent the story off to the anthology, promoted the hell out of it, and then—when the rights reverted—I looked at releasing the story by itself.

But as much as I loved the cover that had prompted the story, it didn’t fit with most of my other covers.  It’s loosely part of a series of books I’ve written about a small town in British Columbia, and all those covers have solo men.  I contacted the artist who had done the rest of the series and asked her to make one for me.  I gasped when I saw it. Not only had she found the perfect Isaac, but she’d found a photo of the real Tofino lighthouse for me.  I did a quick clean-up edit for the book, sent off the script to be produced in audio, and published the short story.

And there you have it—a long-winded story to explain how the genesis of the story was one cover, but how I wound up with something else.  To be clear—I LOVE both covers.  Inspiration is a funny thing, and some writers, like myself, take it from wherever we can find in.  Anyway, I hope you’ll snag Ben and Isaac’s very Canadian gay love short story.

After reading all that, I’d love to hear your take. Which cover do you prefer? Drop your comment in the chat for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC to a random commentator.  There is no right answer—I’d just love to hear what you think!

And, as always, thank you Delilah for hosting me.

The Lightkeeper’s Love Affair

Ben

I just graduated. I should be out celebrating. Instead, a storm’s coming and I’ve got no to place to sleep except the backseat of my car. At least I have my beloved beagle with me, but seriously, how is this my life?

Isaac

After a horrific week, I hate being unable to retreat to my island sanctuary. Perhaps sharing my hotel room with a stranger in distress and his dog will take my mind off things. Afterward, we’ll separate and never meet again. Right?

*A 10k lighthearted gay romance with forced proximity, a loner, a future school-teacher, and Buddy, the adorable beagle. This short story was originally published in the anthology Ukraine: Seeds of Love.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/Lightkeeper
Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Lightkeepers-Love-Affair-Mission-romance-ebook/dp/B0BDMQFTHN
Amazon CA:  https://www.amazon.ca/Lightkeepers-Love-Affair-Mission-romance-ebook/dp/B0BDMQFTHN
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62805971-the-lightkeeper-s-love-affair

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
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