UPDATE: The winner is…bn100!
*~*~*
©Diana Cosby 2022

My sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her wonderful blog and share an exciting update of Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Help Build A Habitat For Humanity Home.

A bit of background.  Romance readers are AMAZING, and SO is Habitat For Humanity, a charity that I love supporting and volunteering for.  Several years ago, I thought, why not pair the two and help a deserving family receive a home?  And, the Diana Cosby’s Romance Reader’s Help Build A Habitat For Humanity House fundraiser was born.

I contacted the Habitat For Humanity office in Grayson County, Texas, where I’ve had the honor of helping with several builds and spoke with Laurie Mealy, Executive Director.  She embraced the project and was thrilled at the thought of pairing romance readers, who love stories where heroes and heroines overcome challenges to make their dreams come true, with making the dream of home ownership for a deserving family a reality.

Goal:  Raise $55,000 for Grayson County, Texas, Habitat For Humanity to help build a Habitat For Humanity Home.

I kicked off the challenge by donating $200.  As I write this, we’ve raised $27,542, and we’re now OVER ½ WAY TO OUR GOAL to raise $55,000!!!  Romance readers are amazing, and I have complete faith that like stories they love, they will continue to join together to raise the remainder of the amount necessary to help give a deserving family a home.

How it works…

As readers send donations to Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County for the ‘Diana Cosby’s Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House of Love,’ the total contributions are updated below the house graphic on the upper right side of their homepage near the top.  Donations can be sent via PayPal by ‘clicking’ on the house, which takes you to the donation page, or by mailing a check or money order to:

Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County
901 N. Grand Avenue
P.O. Box 2725
Sherman, TX 75091

*Please note on your donation: ‘For Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House.’

Again, my sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her blog, and another HUGE thanks to everyone for helping make an incredible difference in a deserving family’s life.  For when they walk into a Habitat For Humanity house, it’s more thank mortar and wood, but a place they can call home.

*Photos used with permission of Habitat For Humanity Grayson County, TX.

Contest

***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my “Exciting UPDATE about Diana Cosby’s – Romance Reader’s Help Build A Habitat For Humanity House” blog on Delilah Devlin’s blogsite between 10 April 2022 – 17 April 2022.  The winner will receive a signed copy of His Destiny.

About Diana Cosby

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.

God bless,

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

Social Media
Website:  https://www.dianacosby.com/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/978803.Diana_Cosby
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Cosby/e/B003YJ1MR4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1417447922&sr=8-1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Diana-Cosby-Romance-Author-150109024636/?ref=ts

UPDATE: The winner is…Jolene!
*~*~*

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, fill in the blank!

UPDATE: The winners are…Denise, Jennifer Beyer, and Stacey Kinzebach!
*~*~*

I love writing short stories. I used to submit short stories to publishers all the time because writing short, getting to The End quickly, gave me a rush. Writing short also gave me a chance to try new things out without a lot of risks. It’s how I discovered my love for writing bounty hunter stories! Eventually, I “graduated” to editing and publishing my own collections of short stories because I love the process of seeking stories from talented officers, making choices regarding which stories work together, editing every precious word, and then sending the book out into the world for readers to enjoy. I’m working on volume #7 of my Boys Behaving Badly Anthologies right now—Silver Soldiers—that I think you’ll like.

It releases later this year! The book will be a big thick volume of shorties and will be dirt cheap—just $0.99—like all the Bad Boy anthologies are. No excuses at all for anyone not to pick up a copy!

You can check out previous anthologies by clicking on the covers. And yes, they are all just $0.99—not because they’re not worth full price, but because the authors of these stories want as many people as possible to devour their stories! They’re a great deal and a great way to find new-to-you authors!

Contest

Comment for a chance to win the download of your choice of
one these anthologies!  There will be three winners!

Excerpt From “In the Wild” inside First Response…

If not for her GPS device, Martika Mills wouldn’t have had a clue where she was. All she knew was that she was soaked to the skin, mud sucked at her boots, and two days into this hunt, she was no closer to finding Marlon Oats.

Earlier that morning, after sliding a twenty to a gas station attendant on the Montana border, she’d thought she was getting close. She’d gotten a description of the car Marlon had “borrowed” on his flight into the wilderness and had found it parked in a narrow roadside viewing point, just inside Yellowstone National Park.

After that, she’d followed the narrow stream into a deep gully off the road, knowing Marlon considered himself quite the fisherman, or so his mother had said. No doubt he intended to live off the land until the heat died down after he’d failed to make his date with the judge in Helena, where he was due to be tried for robbing a pawn shop in Springdale at gunpoint. His mother had been very helpful, liking the fact that Marti seemed like “a nice girl” who might “ask” her son to let her put him in handcuffs rather than shooting him. His mother didn’t want Marlon hurt, even though his skip might cost her the home she’d lived in since she’d married Marlon’s no-account, long-dead father.

Marti was just about to call it a day, figuring she had just enough daylight left to get back to her SUV parked behind Marlon’s at the roadside park, when she spotted a puff of dark smoke rising over the gully. Noting its direction, she climbed up a steep embankment, seeking footholds in mud and rock and grabbing vines along the sides of the rocky face until she stood at the top and realized the land on this side of the stream was flatter and filled with tall spring grass—and a herd of buffalo that didn’t seem to pay her any mind as she bent over and dragged in deep breaths. She glanced at her hands braced on her knees and grimaced, because they were covered in mud, which she shouldn’t give a shit about because her jeans were streaked with dirt as well.

Marlon had a lot to answer for, but thoughts of the rich bounty she’d score kept her from throwing in the towel. Her mother liked to say that stubborn was her middle name, which was a quality that worked well in her line of work. She always got her man because she never, ever gave up. She’d been bounty hunting for nearly three years now, the last one going solo because she didn’t like sharing her bounty with a partner or an agency, although she was considering working for one again. Agencies often served as bail bondsmen, too, and therefore had the downlow first on the richer bounties. Fetch Winter from Montana Bounty Hunters had been working on recruiting her to join a new satellite office he was trying to get off the ground in Dead Horse, Montana, to service southwest Montana and into Wyoming. He needed hunters with experience, and he’d heard good things about her.

She’d heard good things about the agency, too, if you discounted the cable TV show that followed his hunters out of Bear Lodge. Fetch gave his crews a higher percentage of the bounty than most agencies did, and he’d assured her that he wouldn’t be looking to do any spin-off series featuring his other offices, but he had admitted that the bonuses for the hunters who permitted the production crews to accompany them were very generous. The job was hers, if she wanted it. But first, she had to find Marlon Oats.

Trying her best not to draw the herd’s attention, she walked along the edge of the ravine, keeping within the narrow line of trees standing along the edge of the ravine as she made her way toward the place she believed a campfire had been lit.

As she drew closer, she stayed hidden and peered into a clearing. A small tent had been pitched, one that had seen better days. One of the screen windows was torn, and one of the poles that held up the tarp over the door was missing. But she couldn’t make out whether anyone was presently occupying the campsite.

Just then, she heard movement coming from the stream below and a soft off-key whistling. Hunkering down, she waited patiently until the person climbed over the edge of the embankment and stood.

“Marlon, you sweet idiot,” she said under her breath. Her heartbeats quickened, and she drew slow breaths. She needed calm, not adrenaline, to get closer to her target.

Marlon strolled toward his campsite holding a string of four fish, which he lowered into a pot beside the fire. As he began taking them out, one at time, gutting and filleting them, and then tossing the pieces into a pan he’d filled with oil, she moved closer, choosing her footsteps carefully, grateful for the chorus of gargling grunts from the buffalo nearby that masked the sounds her feet made in the suctioning mud.

She studied Marlon to see what challenges he might present. A rifle leaned against the tent, and he held a knife in his hand. Slowly, she dropped her backpack to the ground and drew her own 10mm Remington from the holster on her thigh, and then began to work her way toward the edge of the tree line, knowing she’d eventually have to expose her position to prevent him from making a move toward the rifle.

Soft chuffing grunts sounded from the herd, but she ignored the animals, keeping her gaze fixed on the more dangerous game in front of her.

Then she stepped on a twig, and it snapped.

Marlon’s gaze swung toward her position, and his eyes widened. His gaze shot to the rifle, but she shook her head.

“I’m a Fugitive Recovery Agent, so you know why I’m here,” she said, keeping her tone low and hard.

Eyes still wide, his body tensed as though he was preparing to bolt upwards and make a run for it.

“Don’t even think about running,” she bit out.

He blinked, and his gaze went to something behind her. “Bitch, you might want to think about making a run for it.” Then a smile stretched across his face as he slowly stood and waved his arms.

What the fuck…?

Then she heard it. A deep, gargling grunt. With her handgun still held in both hands in front of her, she darted a glance behind her. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winner is…bn100!
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Ready for a challenge? What? Are you groaning already? Tsk. Tsk. The point is to have fun, so let your imaginations go!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me a little story about this woman. The story doesn’t have to be long or even good. Have fun with the challenge!

UPDATE: The winner is…Paula Hockenberry!
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Quick Question

For a chance to win a FREE download of your choice, tell me where you would go if you were given a free flight to any place in the world!

A Reminder!

The sale price of $.099 ends tomorrow! So be sure to get your copy now! It’s a fun ride! Promise!

Get your reduced-price copy at one of these vendors now!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple

Open Contests

1. Important Question!! (Puzzle-Contest, and Open Contests) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Happy Sunday, or maybe not… (Contest–2 Winners) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
3. Jordyn Kross: Traveling with the Insane Pound Posse (FREE Read) — Everyone, go get your FREE read!
4. Have you pre-ordered your copy of DARK SEDUCTION? (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. March into April (Contest–and more contests!) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. It’s Saturday! Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Rachel Blackburn!
*~*~*

Puzzle-Contest

It’s raining here. So, I was up early and painted, and now I’m getting ready to shower and maybe hit the flea market to hunt for treasure!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know your plans for the weekend!

Enjoy the puzzle! I saw it and yeah, it doesn’t have a thing to do with today’s “theme” but I liked the illustration!

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

March

January’s success has me feeling like everything I’ve accomplished after that has been less than stellar progress! March continues that sentiment—and I need to get rid of that mindset! I did accomplish some big stuff in March. Maybe not as much as I’d wanted to, and my plans were tweaked along the way based on my level of accomplishment, but I still moved forward!

Anyway, here’s what I did accomplish on my goal list…

Work-related:

1. I wrote and published my next Texas Vampires novella, No Tender Mercy.
2. I completed 4 editing projects for other authors in March, including one long novel!
3. I only wrote a couple of chapters of my next book—but hey, I started, so that’s a win, too!

Health-related:

1. I’m continuing with Weight Watchers and can proudly say that I’ve lost 23 pounds as of today! I’m not pushing to lose fast because I like how I feel (which is a good thing because I only lost 4.6 pounds this month!). I’ll continue my daily mantra: Slow is good!
2. I did not keep up with my step count. While I’m feeling better and spryer every day now that I’ve dropped so many pounds, I haven’t upped my physical activity.

Happiness-related: 

1. I’m continuing to work on the #100DayProject art challenge! It’s still HARD fitting in play time, and I’ve fallen behind the daily goal, but here are a few samples of what I’ve done so far…

April

Here’s me putting this out in the world…

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete revising and publish the sequel to Dark Legacy… Dark Seduction! (Have you pre-ordered your copy?!)
2. To get finish writing my next romantic suspense story.
3. To begin work on my next Hot SEAL book!
4. To complete 5 editing projects in April!

For health-related, I plan:

1. To continue with Weight Watchers and hope to lose at least 5 pounds, remembering: Slow is good!
2. To begin some low-impact aerobics, which will include a video workout, plus, add some outdoor activities, like pool maintenance and blowing the patio—counting the things I should already be doing to get ready for pool season. Maybe I’ll do more housework, too. Blech.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To continue working on getting my art room better organized, because I plan…
2. To produce something art-related every day this month for the #100DayProject art challenge—and hopefully catch up!

Contest

I posted this same challenge at the end of last month! I’d love to see if Spring is changing things up for you! Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Open Contests

1. Honest Answers Only! (Poll & Contest–or Poll about Contests?) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Important Question!! (Puzzle-Contest, and Open Contests) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Happy Sunday, or maybe not… (Contest–2 Winners) — Win a FREE book! 2 Winners!
4. Jordyn Kross: Traveling with the Insane Pound Posse (FREE Read) — Everyone: pick up a copy of a FREE read!
5. Have you pre-ordered your copy of DARK SEDUCTION? (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!