Report Card

Last week…

1. The big thing that happened last week was that I met with the oncologist. He talked to me about omental caking, told me I very likely have cancer, so I’m letting go of the hope it’s just an infection. We talked about next steps to get a more definitive diagnosis and treatment plan. I hate that I have to wait even a week for what happens next, but oh well. He did give me better pain meds. I’m sleeping well and napping quite a bit.
2. I worked on edits for one author.
3. I swam almost every day. It’s the best thing for stress and mental health.
4. I saw a lawyer to update my will. Just in case…
5. I continued working on decluttering my art room.

This next week…

1. I have a PET scan scheduled on Tuesday. They’ll shoot me up with radiation and take pictures to get a better idea of where cancer may be hiding. Then I’ll be scheduled for a biopsy. I guess they need to know what to biopsy before they go in there. Who knew!?
2. I will finish editing one author’s manuscript and edit the next one in line.
3. I’ll work on finishing the next Delta Fire novella, Ignition. I only have a couple of chapters to write, and I think I can get through it while I wait for whatever procedures I will be going through. I didn’t make any progress on it this last week, but I was too busy napping. 🙂
4. I’ll continue swimming and trying to watch what I eat!
5. I’ll continue working on some small art projects while I declutter my art room.

Open Contests

On the Delilah’s Collections website!

1. In One Picture: Michal Scott’s “My Heavenly Phantom” (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a FREE book!
2. In One Picture: Ava Cuvay’s “What that Alien D Do” (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. In One Picture: Cameron Allie’s “Claimed by her Naga Bodyguard” (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book (3 winners!)
4. In One Picture: N.J. Walters’ “Perfect Stranger” (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!

Here, on this site!

1. Gabbi Grey: What a Difference Seven Years Makes (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Cecilia Tan: A Recipe for Steamy, Steamy Steampunk (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Cottagecore Aesthetic/Trad Wife…? — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Gabbi Grey: Having a little fun… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Word Search: Back to School… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Peach Flower — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Janelle!
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The family has been so wound up with things related to me that it’s nice that the focus is back on normal things. Today was Open House for the local schools. The 15-year-old and the 10-year-old are getting their schedules and school supplies. They’re meeting the new crop of teachers they have to endure (that’s the 15-year-old’s attitude—LOL).

In past years, the 10-year-old liked for me to make her lunch every day because I’d make it interesting. She loved pulling out hummus and veggies, leftover curry from the previous night’s dinner, Indian lentil dishes she ate with naan bread or crackers, yoghurt, fruit, and all the creative things I could think of to make her lunch interesting for her. This year, she’s moving into middle school where they have choices, so she told me she might only need one of my special lunch bags a week. I guess it makes her feel more grown-up or something. I don’t know. I enjoyed spoiling her with good food. She’s not a baby anymore. 🙁

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me if you enjoy or enjoyed this time of year, getting kids ready for another school year!

UPDATE: The winner is…flchen!
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Hello Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me here today to share my new release! It comes out next week, but I wanted to give your readers a sneak peek. Love on the Clock is a new anthology I’m partaking in, and it is about…wait for it…relationships formed at work.  I have to admit I like this setting.  You can fit so many tropes into it: enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, rivals-to-lovers… Okay, there are others.  But you see what I mean.

I, of course, sought the advice of my Plot Whisperer (I swear I can plot stories on my own, and I have a few coming up that will prove that).  Still, I sought help.  I needed a short story in a workplace.  Oh, and I wanted to set it in the small town I’ve created.  And it’s a gay romance.  Plot Whisperer rolled her eyes (can you see an eye roll through chat with people on opposite sides of the world? I say you can…).  We went through any number of different potential places of employment.

We settled on an architect’s office.  With…wait for it…an architect.  Then we figured he needed a coworker.  Specifically, an interior designer.  Oh, and the two had to be complete opposites.  The designer is (stereotypically) a peacock, while the architect is strait-laced.  Dresses more like a funeral director.  Doesn’t do color.  Yeah sure…but you know the designer is going to take issue with that.

Throw in a demanding client, a tight deadline, frayed nerves, and a cantankerous photocopy machine and…voila. A rom-com short story set in a workplace.

Man, did I have fun writing these two characters! In my beloved favorite town.  The story is so tight that I couldn’t include cameos. Have no fear, though.  I suspect these two will turn up again.  Anyway, I hope readers fall in love with Orlando and Knight.

Thanks, Delilah, for letting me visit!  I would love to offer a $5 Amazon GC to one lucky commenter.  Let’s talk settings!  I have to write another workplace romance later this year – where would you love to see one set it?  Random will pick the winner so go ahead and comment!

Love on the Clock

Never mix business with pleasure

This collection of CEOs, assistants, partners and consultants have forgotten Office Rule No.1.

Whether it’s passion over the printer, scandal in the stationery cupboard or loosened ties in the boardroom, these co-workers are getting hot under the collar.

Join us around the Romance Café water cooler to discover the latest office scuttlebutt.

Authors:
Clarice Jayne
Sharon Michalove
Keighley Bradford
Kristine Charles
Élodie Garroway
Lisabelle Chretien
Katherine Moore
Harper Michaels
Sonja Flowers
Abigail Sharpe
Toni Bolton
Francis Black
Gabbi Grey

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc2024loveontheclock
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Clock-Romance-Anthology-Collection-ebook/dp/B0CLN4864V
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200569229-love-on-the-clock

The Office Hotshot by Gabbi Grey from Love on the Clock…

Orlando

I’m a go-getter. Right out of interior design school, I’ve landed a plum job in a well-regarded architecture firm, and I’m ready to help the lead architect meet his deadline. Except the man’s a jerk, strung so tight it’s a miracle he hasn’t exploded. Offering a little stress relief is practically a service to humanity. But in the dark in the copy room, Knight’s a lot more human than I thought. Now stress relief isn’t the only thing I want to give him, and I’m dreading the day I’ll have to leave.

Knight

I’m working under a tight deadline, and all I want is peace, quiet, and an assistant who doesn’t give me lip. Right now, I have none of those things. The new hire is perky, pushy, and unfairly attractive. One hot encounter in the copy room isn’t breaking my oath to never get involved with a subordinate, right? Unfortunately, that one interlude leaves me craving more. What’s so special about Orlando, that he’s making me think about breaking all my rules and asking him to stay?

This is a 15k word gay romance novella with a successful architect, a quirky younger interior designer, and a cantankerous photocopier.

About Gabbi Grey

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.

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary McCoy!
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I am an accidental historical romance writer. I didn’t intend to become one of those folks who gleefully researches fashions and famous people and language of the past, but somehow, I keep coming up with ideas where I must. Where I diverge from the usual territory of “historical romance,” though is that I don’t write Regency (yet). I’ve written a lot set in the 1980s—the era of MTV and Ronald Reagan—and now I’m diving into steampunk with an erotic novella entitled The Blossoms of Summer.

When I sat down to write something steampunk, I discovered that it was much more fun to approach it like a Victorian alternate history than to completely invent whole cloth.

I started with my inspiration in the real-life story of adventuring botanist Robert Fortune, who was sent to China as a spy to steal the secret of tea-making and, if possible, to make off with ten thousand seedlings so that England could start tea plantations in India and break the Chinese monopoly. That’s a bit of a downer, of course, if you’re anti-colonialist, but I decided I did really like the idea of the adventuring man of science who is flung into unknown circumstances. What a recipe for an erotic adventure!

Venturing into the unknown, of course, is excellent fodder for erotica. The thrill of the unknown is a classic spice for adding heat. So is the thrill of the forbidden. Thus, I have sent my naturalist, via airship (of course, it is steampunk), into the hidden valleys of Canton, where truly exotic pleasures await him—though, of course, he is unaware of the nature of what lies in store.

And being a proper Victorian gentleman, my Robert is accustomed to repressing his desires. This also added much more heat than I was expecting. I often write heroes who are un-repressed about their sexuality—rock stars who are kinky doms, for example—so delving into the realm of self-restraint was a delicious change of pace.

The third bit of crucial spice I added in The Blossoms of Summer is one of my favorites and one I don’t see very often: the language barrier. Maybe this one is a bit of a personal kink, but I really enjoy reading stories where the characters can’t actually speak to each other, but the smoldering erotic attraction is undeniable, and they come up with ways to understand each other. Maybe call it “the universal language of love/lust” trope? I don’t see it often, so I have to write it myself!

If you’d like a taste of my steamy recipe, the first segment of The Blossoms of Summer is now live on my patreon, and the novella will be released as a book/ebook on August 20.

What about you? What’s your personal kink, what’s your catnip? Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

About the Author

Cecilia Tan is an award-winning writer of passionate fiction, romance, and erotica. She has written over 30 novels, including the Magic University series, the collection Black Feathers, and many other books. She was inducted into the LGBT Writers and Editors Hall of Fame in 2010. RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won RT Reviewers Choice and the Maggie Award.

Links:

• The Blossoms of Summer on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Sp2VDt
• The Blossoms of Summer on Cecilia’a patreon: https://www.patreon.com/collection/624166?view=expanded
• “Historical” 1980s fiction: https://daron.ceciliatan.com

Hi, it’s me again, Darah Lace. In my last post on the Collections website, I mentioned that I’m an avid TV watcher. Anything and everything will do, but lately, I’ve been all about crime drama/mysteries. I’ve never dreamt of a life of crime, but as an author, I have to delve deep into my characters’ minds. Sometimes, that means thinking like a villain, which can be a little dark and a whole lot of crazy.

If I were going to be a villain, though, I’d throw my hat in with the crazies. Loki is my favorite. He doesn’t want to be good, and most of the time, he’s not, but he is devilishly fun when he’s bad. And I just heard that Robert Downey, Jr. is going to play Dr. Doom in the upcoming Marvel movies, so you know he’ll be fun to watch, but I digress, and neither really fit the crime drama/mystery topic.

My question for you is, if you were going to be a villain, who would you want as your partner in crime?

And if you were going to get caught, who would you want to bring you in? I’d pick Jason Momoa in full Khal Drogo gear. I know, he’s not one for seeking justice, nor is he virtuous, but OMG, he wouldn’t even have to hunt me down. I’d be the one chasing after him, begging him to cuff me…and don’t forget the body search!

But if I couldn’t have Khal Drogo, I’d want Asher Sloane. He’s the hot bounty hunter from Most Wanted, releasing tomorrow, July 30 in Secret Identities: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology. Pre-order your copy today!

Pre-Order eBook
Kindle| Nook | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

Most Wanted—A bounty on the line, a hunter who bedded then betrayed her, and a strip club—she’ll bare it all to get her man

About Darah Lace

Multipublished author of spicy contemporary and paranormal romance, Darah Lace lives in Texas where she enjoys a simple life with her husband and two dogs. She loves sports, music, watching a good romance, and penning scenes that sizzle. When she isn’t writing, she’s scouring bookstores for her next adventure.

Connect with Darah
darah@darahlace.com
https://www.darahlace.com/
https://linktr.ee/darahlace
https://www.amazon.com/author/darahlace
https://www.goodreads.com/darah_lace
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/darah-lace
https://www.tiktok.com/@darah_lace_author
https://www.instagram.com/darahlace/
https://www.facebook.com/darahlace/
https://www.facebook.com/DarahLaceAuthor
https://twitter.com/DarahLace

Sign Up for Darah’s Newsletter: https://www.darahlace.com/newsletter/

So, it’s been really boring here on the farm. The SIL and I are quiet people, so we touch base but keep to ourselves. We’re enjoying the peace and quiet. Or at least, I’m telling myself I am. I miss my chaos-makers. They return on Wednesday, so I better appreciate the quiet while I can.

Report Card

Last week…

1. I celebrated and promoted the release of Cyrus, the first book in the new MBH: West Yellowstone series!
2. I completed all edits and assembled the Secret Identities anthology! I sent it to my sis, Elle James, for her to format the book and prepare it for release this coming Tuesday!
3. I worked on edits for two authors.
4. I swam every day for the first part of the week, but the weather turned cool with lots of storms, so that prevented me from getting into the water. 🙁
5. I’m still complying with Weight Watchers. So far, I’ve lost 6 pounds. It’s going slowly because I’ve done a little cheating…
6. I restarted my daily art practice. It’s not going well. I need to remind myself when I get lazy that it’s hard to get back into the swing, and I forget things!

This next week…

1. I’ll be celebrating and promoting the release of the Secret Identities anthology on Tuesday!
2. I will continue editing two other authors’ manuscripts.
3. I’ll begin work on my next novel, Built Like Mack, the next We Are Dead Horse story.
4. I’ll continue swimming and counting those points on Weight Watchers! Plus, while the kids are on vacay, I’ll continue some long overdue housekeeping tasks (exercise)!
5. I’ll continue working on some small art projects while I declutter my art room.

Contests

On the Delilah’s Collections website!

1. GETTING TO KNOW N.J. WALTERS (CONTEST) — This one ends tomorrow! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. GETTING TO KNOW M. JAYNE (CONTEST) —  This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. GETTING TO KNOW GABBI GREY (CONTEST) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book!

Here, on this site!

1. Caviar and Frogs…whuuutt? (Contest) — This one ends tomorrow! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Gabbi Grey: Something a Little Different (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: A Grizzly Beginning (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. What do these images all have in common? Plus, a release reminder! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Word Search: Bounty Hunter Names (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: It Might Have Been — Julia C. Collins, Pioneering Essayist, Teacher and Author (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: While the cat’s away… — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Paula J McGhee!
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