UPDATE: The winner is…Laura!
*~*~*

I’m generally a very cheerful person. I believe in smiles. I remember reading about a study of depressed people who were told to stand in front of a mirror every day and smile at themselves. And weirdly (or maybe not!) their depression improved. I get that. I smile at myself, too. I tell the kids a smile can be a choice. I love finding reasons to smile.

So, here’s a little list of 10 things that make me smile, listed in no particular order. Finding the emojis to correspond with them was so much fun! See? I’m already smiling.

• ☕ First morning coffee with my dd.
• 🧜🏼‍♀️ Floating in my pool.
• 🍅 Making a Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions.
• 🤝 Holding the little one’s hand.
• 👩‍🎨 Painting flowers.
• 🏃‍♀️ Writing an action scene.
• 🌅 Watching the sun set on the ocean.
• 🌸 Fresh flowers in a vase.
• 🍫 A small square of dark chocolate after dinner.
• 📖 Reading a good book with a kitty on my lap.

You know what’s coming next! 😈

For a chance to win your choice of a download of any of my backlist of books, tell me five things that make you smile!

UPDATE: The winner is…ButtonsMom2003!
*~*~*

I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face-up are the ones you use to riff off a story.

Now, I’d like you to tell me a story based on what you see on the cubes. Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some of the images or use all of them.

Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll… 

To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…

UPDATE: The winner is…Rebecca Merz!
*~*~*

I’m heading into town to my favorite destination! We go early to avoid crowds. Once we’re past the desk, we head to the stalls, where there’s no one around and we can pull off our masks. (They have open doors and run fans all over the place!) Then it’s pure nirvana!

So, you probably guessed where we’re going. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me about your weekend plans!

UPDATE: The winner is…Beverly!
*~*~*

Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me today. You’re very kind.

I’ll admit a secret – I didn’t think the current war would happen.  I follow politics and world events, and I couldn’t conceive of this happening.  From the beginning—from the first bombs falling—my worldview changed. I felt powerless and, as atrocities continue, my heart breaks a little more each day.

So, what could I do? I can’t influence politicians. I can’t solve the crisis. And asking for world peace, although laudable, isn’t realistic. I donated to a worthy cause. I reached out to my Ukrainian friends to offer unconditional support. But I continued to feel powerless.

Then a friend told me Dakota Willink was putting together an anthology to benefit Ukraine. I’d seen several before, but this one provided me an opportunity to sign up.  I immediately threw my name into the ring.  I’d written a novella previously for another charity anthology, so I knew I was capable of writing a 10k word story in a short period of time. And I have a world to set that story in, so that was easy.

Still, I wanted to do more.  I have another pen name, under which I write very different books. I asked them if I could write a second story, and they agreed.  In fact, I’m not the only author who’s done that. With my task at hand, I sat down at the keyboard.

To be clear, none of these stories are about the conflict. We recognize that it’s far too painful for many readers to tackle at this point.  But love?  Our readers are always up for reading about love.  The stories span broad categories such as contemporary, paranormal, and dark, and delve a little deeper into gay or BDSM or other subgenres.  There’s something in here for everyone.

My first story is The Lightkeeper’s Love Affair.  From my description, it’s a 10k lighthearted gay romance with forced proximity, a loner, a future schoolteacher, and Buddy, the adorable beagle. So, a little something for everyone.  The story takes place in a fictional world I’ve created in British Columbia, Canada, and has some familiar sights to those from here.  If you’re not, I invite you to immerse yourself. This book is under my pen name Gabbi Grey.

My second story, Toronto Tryst, is also, clearly, based in Canada.  I’m showing my roots.  Again, from the description, this is a 5k word BDSM-light romance short story with a surprise that will delight. My dark erotic BDSM series, under the pen name Gabbi Black, is, frankly, very dark. It touches on black places but always with a happy ending.  That series takes place in Vancouver. The final book in the trilogy is coming out early next year, so I didn’t want to disrupt the series.  Yet I wanted to write the story for the anthology. My solution? Pull someone from the BDSM club on the west coast and transport them to Toronto for a nice evening of fun. Don’t be afraid of the BDSM—this is definitely a fluffy read.  A nice sampler for those who are new to the subgenre, and a amusing story for those who are more familiar with it.

Obviously, I’d love if everyone purchases a copy of the anthology.  It contains hundreds of thousands of words—all written by authors who just want to do their part.  100% of the proceeds go to United Help Ukraine.

Thank you again, Delilah, for giving me a place to share my great news.  I would love to give a $10 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commentator.

Let me know your favorite romance trope!  Mine turn out to be instalove and forced proximity.  And a dog (or cat).  I know pets aren’t a trope, but I just always have to throw one in.  Share your thoughts for a chance to win!

Seeds of Love: A Romance Charity Anthology to Benefit Ukraine Synopsis

You can help us make a difference.

SEEDS OF LOVE is a romance anthology to benefit Ukraine. This collection of short romance stories is not available anywhere else. 100% of the royalties will be donated to United Help Ukraine, a charitable organization dedicated to helping the Ukrainian people affected by Russia’s invasion. They are a grassroots, entirely volunteer-based organization that provides aid to wounded Ukrainian warriors, assistance to their families, and support to internally displaced people.

This anthology features 48 authors. The stories include various sub-genres of contemporary romance, paranormal romance, dark romance, and romantic comedy.

SEEDS OF LOVE is only available for a limited time! Stand with the people of Ukraine and get your copy today!

Participating authors:
Amber Garr, Amy Thorn, Barb Shuler, Brooke Summers, Cassidy London, Cyndi Faria, D.M. Davis, Dakota Willink, DD Lorenzo, Denise Wells, E.H. Lyon, Emery LeeAnn, Erica Himy, Fei Marie Perez, Gabbi Black, Gabbi Grey, Hannah Blake, Heather G Harris, Jenna Lynn, JS Mercier, KA Graham, Kaje Harper, Katherine Moore, Kelly Kelsey, Lane Bellemore, LC Taylor, Liz Durano, LJ Evans, Lux Miller, M.L. Broome, Mel Walker, Miranda Grant, M Guida, Pandora Snow, Persephone Autumn, Raisa Greywood, Ramsey Savage, Remy Reigns, Shelly Hixson, Sophia Henry, Stella Moore, Syd Ryan, Tara Conrad, Tiffany Carby, Vi Summers, Vivian Murdoch, Willow Fox, Yolanda Olson

Links:
Amazon US:  https://amzn.to/3JZ12X3
KOBO:  hhttps://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/seeds-of-love-a-romance-charity-anthology-to-benefit-ukraine
Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seeds-of-love-dakota-willink/1141243081
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60667917-seeds-of-love

UPDATE: The winner is…Roseann Cyngier!
*~*~*

The resilience of the formerly enslaved in the face of societal oppression never ceases to amaze me. Despite violence from groups like the KKK and laws to strip away the rights they’d earned, former slaves refused to be daunted. One of these brave souls was Anna Julia Haywood Cooper.

I learned of Cooper while researching a novella I hope to set in Paris in the 1920s. She received a PhD in history from the Sorbonne in 1924 when she was 66. She had first started her doctoral work in 1914 at Columbia University but had to stop to take care of her siblings upon the death of her mother.

Born into slavery in 1858 in Raleigh North Carolina, Cooper went on to become an author, an educator, and sociologist. She received a scholarship at the age of nine to Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute. She studied there for fourteen years and successfully fought to take classes reserved only for men. She then enrolled in Oberlin College and once again refused to be barred from men-designated courses of study. She graduated in 1884 but after teaching at Saint Augustine’s and Wilberforce College returned to Oberlin and received an M.A. in mathematics in 1888.

Her book, A Voice from the South, published in 1892 is considered to be one of the earliest if not the earliest work advocating education and social uplift of Black women as the way to uplift her race. She is often called the Mother of Black Feminism. That same year she formed the Colored Women’s League with such luminaries as Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Forten Grimke and Mary Church Terrell.

In 1900 Cooper attended the first Pan-African conference in London and presented her paper, “The Negro Problem in America.” She retired from teaching and became president of Frelinghuysen University in 1930. This university was established to help African Americans receive education after working hours so they didn’t have to choose between an education and working to support themselves and their families. When the university could no longer pay its mortgage, she moved the school into her home. She died in 1964 at the age of 105.

When I discover women like Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, these words from Maya Angelou’s poem, “And Still I Rise”, come to mind: “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” Formerly enslaved women like Cooper were their own dream and their own hope. Her example inspires me to reinvent her audacity and resilience in the characters I create in my fiction.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share in the comments a woman from history or in your own life who inspires you.

One Breath Away
by Michal Scott

Sentenced to hand for a crime she didn’t commit, former slave Mary Hamilton was exonerated at literally the last gasp. She returns to Safe Haven, broken and resigned to live alone. Never having been courted, cuddled or spooned, Mary now fears any kind of physical intimacy when arousal forces her to relive the asphyxiation of her hanging. But then the handsome stranger who saved her shows up, stealing her breath from across the room and promising so much more.

Wealthy freeborn-Black Eban Thurman followed Mary to Safe Haven, believing a relationship with Mary was foretold by the stars. He must marry her to reclaim his family farm. But first he must help her heal, and to do that means revealing his own predilection for edgier sex.

Then just as Eban begins to win Mary’s trust, an enemy from the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…

Excerpt from One Breath Away…

The squeak of the indoor pump provided no distraction from the lingering tingle where Eban’s fingers had rested against her spine, where his lips had kissed her hand. She focused on her task to temper her excitement.

Fill the bucket. Lift the bucket. Carry the bucket. Empty the bucket. Fill the bucket. Lift the bucket. Carry the bucket. Empty the bucket.

The pans she filled slowly simmered then steamed on her small, pot-bellied stove.

Her heart seized as she fingered the simple gingham curtains covering Harvest Home’s windows. Harvest Home’s humble kitchen contrasted sharply with the trappings that had graced Mary’s Manor, her Weston restaurant expansion.

She’d looked up the word manor and decided her place would imitate that kind of luxury as much as possible. Brocaded drapes and white, linen tablecloths had dressed up the Manor’s supper room. Slipcovers made from the same linen covered the cushioned chairs. White, bone china and delicate silverware completed the picture of elegant dining she hoped to draw.

A Franklin stove, indoor pump, double sink, polished counter tops and spacious storage cupboards made the Manor’s kitchen a dream made true. Nothing lacked for the grand opening. Picturing couples enjoying themselves in her simple but elegant setting had become her favorite pastime.

Then Judah Little and his lies thwarted her plans. Thwarted. A good word. A true word.

“But not for long,” she whispered. “That dream will come true just as this dream might come true tonight.”

Buylink:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2u5XQYY 

UPDATE: The winner is…Jennifer Beyer!
*~*~*

I hope you have a lazy Saturday, filled with lovely sunshine, phone calls from loved ones, and good food! While you’re being lazy, have fun with the puzzle, and be sure to enter all the open contests!

Puzzle Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and then answer this:

Giant jellyfish or…? No, really. Would you be tempted to raise your hand and say, “Take me!”?

Open Contests

1. Monday, Monday… (Open Contests!) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Flashback: Knight in Transition (Contest — 2 Winners!) — Win a FREE book! 2 Winners!
3. Cara North: Where is Spring? (Contest) — Win a SWAG PACK!

I know I am not the only person getting snow at this point in April. I am not a fan of winter months to begin with. I write a lot of spring and summer romance for that reason. So, here is a list of what I am looking forward to when this season actually settles and acts like it wants to warm up around these mountains I live in. 

1. Trees and flowers in bloom
2. Fresh produce and farmer markets
3. Mild mornings and evenings
4. Putting the thermals away for a while
5. Events and outings!

What are you looking forward to this spring and summer?
I will check back at the end of the week for answers and pick 3 to get a swag pack mailed.
US mail only for this one. 

If you are interested in contemporary, sports romance, and reverse harem style, you may want to consider joining my Patreon team. Even the $1 tier has access to the story I am writing in there before publishing it anywhere else. It is also available on Amazon Vella as a serial short, but well behind the Patreon posting of it. 

Join me at Swift University where a good girl has decided to go very, very bad. Readers get to weigh in on the character development, naming rights, and of course my patrons are thanked in the acknowledgements of the book. 

Here’s a look at the first cover. 

Links:
Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/musesandsirens
Right now, March is a Patreon exclusive! Read it before everyone else does by joining the team. 

Website: https://www.creativewritingwithdrnagle.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCaraNorth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caranorthauthor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caranorthauthor
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/caranorth_author/?hl=en
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20650398.Cara_North
BookBub : https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cara-north
Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B002BLLE1U
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdht9Kg1/