When I pastored in Brooklyn, visiting members at the Susan Smith McKinney Rehabilitation Center and Nursing Home was a regular part of my week. I never gave much thought to the woman for whom the care center was named. This month, I make up for that oversight.

Susan Smith McKinney Steward was born in the black Brooklyn town of Weeksville in 1847. Her father was a prosperous pig farmer and fierce abolitionist. Her eldest sister, Sarah J. Garnet, who I blogged about in December 2023, became the first African American female public school principal in New York City.

In 1870, Susan graduated valedictorian from medical school and became the first African American woman doctor in New York State and only the third African American female doctor in the country. From 1870 to 1895, she practiced medicine in Brooklyn serving patients of all races. She co-founded the Brooklyn Women’s Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary. She served at as well as helped establish other hospitals for African Americans and the aged. She continued her medical education, becoming the only woman in the 1887-1888 post-graduate class at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. She focused on homeopathic medicine and gained a reputation for her work treating malnourished children. She was elected into the New York Homeopathic Medical Society in 1896.

In 1871, she married Reverend William G. McKinney and had two children. Four years after his death, she married Theophilus Gould Steward, chaplain of the 25th U.S. Colored Infantry. She continued to practice wherever he was stationed. In 1898, Wilberforce University hired Dr. Steward as a resident physician. She taught health and nutrition there until her death in 1918.

No surprise Susan had talents that extended beyond medicine. Early on, she was organist and choir director at two prominent black Brooklyn churches, Siloam Presbyterian and Bridge Street AME. In politics, she was active in the Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn, and as a member of the Women’s Loyal Union, she lobbied Congress from 1894-1895 to investigate lynching. In social reform, she served as president of her local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. In the 1880s, she published two papers, one on a pregnant woman’s incorrect diagnosis and the next on childhood diseases. In 1911, at the Universal Race Congress in London, she presented a paper on famous African American women, and in 1914, she gave a speech to the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs on the history of women in medicine from Biblical times to 1914.

Dr. Susan McKinney Steward died aged 71 in Ohio on March 7, 1918. Her body was returned to Brooklyn and buried in the famous Green-Wood Cemetery. Hallie Quinn Brown, the subject of my February 2024 and October 2023 D.D. blogposts, delivered the eulogy.

Writing this blogpost has taken me back to the streets of Brooklyn where I, like she, served as a community leader. I hope I left a legacy of work as impactful as hers. For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card leave a comment about Susan or another woman you’ve found inspiring.

“The Patience of Unanswered Prayer” by Michal Scott
from Cowboys

Kidnapped and destined to be another victim of Reconstruction-era violence, a feisty shop owner is rescued by a trail boss whose dark secret might save them both

Excerpt:

The sounds of horse hooves clopping, drunken laughter, and saloon music had faded long ago. Only chirruping crickets, croaking bullfrogs, and Sheriff Radcliffe’s lies penetrated Eleanor’s covering. Where were they taking her?

The wagon wheels creaked with every rut they hit. Eleanor wheezed, desperate for fresh air. Nausea roiled at the base of her throat. Would she die choking on her own vomit? Fear squeezed her chest as yes flitted through her mind like a lightning bug.

The wagon lurched to the right. Her nausea intensified.

“Mind how you go there, boy. We don’t want to be accused of mistreating the prisoner.”

Being arrested on false charges didn’t count as mistreatment? How about being abducted by ones sworn to uphold the law? Eleanor’s agony mirrored that of Christ’s on the cross.

My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?

She moaned, her spirit smothered by despair. The pressure at the small of her back eased only to be followed by a sharp jab to her spine.

“Shut up, damn you,” Radcliffe snapped. “Your days of troubling me will soon be over.”

“What was that you said, Sheriff?”

“Thank God this trouble’ll soon be over. We’ll have delivered her safe and sound to the county seat tomorrow.”

“Safe and sound,” Deputy Jim Flyte said. “Thank the good Lord.”

His tone, full of innocence and ignorance, penetrated Eleanor’s cloth prison and killed all hope that he’d be of any help. She stifled a groan lest her tormentor kicked her again. Flyte was too young to know that safe and sound to Sheriff Hobart Radcliffe meant only one thing: Eleanor’s death.

Buylink:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zfDpo2

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
*~*~*

Christmas decorations are still up, but it’s time to make some plans for the New Year!

Is this something you like to do? Do you set resolutions? Plan to join Weight Watchers? Sign up for yoga classes at the local rec center? Set a budget to improve your finances? Maybe plan a trip or two?

Every year, always, I set plans in motion. Some goals I achieve, some I lose interest in working on by mid-January, but others, are a constant work in progress. I love the process of planning for a new year—and it always begins with my writing goals. Seeing as I abandoned writing in August due to my diagnosis, I’m a bit wary of setting goals too far in the future, and I have tons of self-doubt about whether I can ever achieve my former productivity, but I am going to set some goals anyway as something to shoot for. And I’ll go for pie-in-the-sky because I’m an optimist, and if I have to adjust later, ah well. I have to have goals and starting points to remain motivated.

So, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle to keep that gray matter functioning, then tell me whether you have any goals for the new year, big or small. 

UPDATE: The winner is…Anna Marie!
*~*~*

All my Advent calendar doors have been opened now! Aren’t they adorable? My daughter bought me a calendar when she bought the kids theirs because she knows I’m just as thrilled (well, probably more so) than they are, opening my daily windows to see what I got. Now I have all these little figurines and I’m trying to figure out what to do with them. I can’t display them because I already have soooooo many Marvel and DC figurines scattered all over my office.

I’m thinking, I might treat them like I would a daily tarot card draw. I could put them into a decorative bowl on my desktop, then close my eyes and draw one to see whose superpowers I’d assume that day. What do you think?

As well, I posted the last Advent giveaway on Facebook. The day after Christmas, we’ll have to head to the post office to get the last of the items shipped to winners. It’s been fun, and my bookshelf was denuded of a few books and my stock of bookmarks needs replenishing just in time for 2025’s #100daychallenge. Any excuse to pull out the paints and play.

Tonight is Adult’s Christmas, and the kids get to open one gift. Then we’ll be up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the kids open their Christmas gifts. It’s always fun.

But for now, I have a puzzle. Do you remember our Halloween black kitten, Binx, that I posted about after my daughter rescued her from school traffic? Well, she’s gotten a little bit bigger and is always in trouble. The 20-year-old keeps her in her garage apartment. The puzzle picture is of her getting into a bit of trouble. She nearly toppled her tree.

Solve the puzzle, then for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, just pop in and share a holiday message. Spread the cheer!

UPDATE: The winner is…Colleen!
*~*~*

Hello, Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss my new short story in a great anthology!  Who hasn’t wondered what happens at last call?  Well, some of your readers might know.  Me? I’ve never closed down a bar…

I signed up for this anthology without a single clue what I would tell for a story. But when has that ever stopped me from throwing my name in the mix? Uh…never?  I had about a year, so I let the ideas flow.

Right.

Nope. I put the entire anthology on the back burner and focused on the myriads of projects I needed to write at the moment.

Now, I’ve mentioned my wonderful Plot Whisperer previously.  I give her the parameters of a story, and she often fills in the richness of any story.  She didn’t have an idea for this one either, but I should tell you one more thing about PW.  She LOVES memes.  She often scrolls Facebook just to find fun memes.  And she’s always happy to share them with me.  Some make me laugh, so bring tears, and some just make me think. I love it when I can learn something new.

Another friend explained that sharing things is like pebbles.

Huh?

When a penguin is interested in another penguin, they bring pebbles.  I’m thinking of you. I love you.

Yeah.

Well, then, I’m the queen of pebbles.  I’m often sharing pictures of sunrises, puppies, and books.  I want to bring happiness and to let people know I’m thinking of them. That I love them.

My point?  PW dropped a pebble into our chat, and it had such an impact that I asked, “Can we turn this into a story?”

She was like…sure…?

Hence The Last Laugh.  I can’t share the meme because it’ll give away the story.  But I’m hoping readers will enjoy the story and get a kick out of the twist.  I’ve also tossed in cameos from other characters to fill the bar on New Year’s Eve.  Hopefully everyone will connect with the last call…

Okay, that’s it!  I loved telling the story.  I usually do.

Thank you, Delilah, for inviting me!  As a thank you, I would love to give away a $5 Amazon GC.  To win, please leave a comment. Where is the most interesting place you’ve celebrated New Year’s Eve? I struggled with this one, but I’d say my mother’s home on December 31^st, 1999.  I was racing back to Toronto from the Yukon to make sure I was home for Y2K.  If you’re too young to remember that, consider yourself lucky.  Leave a comment!  Random will pick a winner.  Good luck!

Last Call: A New Year’s Romance Collection

A little bit of bartender wisdom for you:

Dance like the music will never stop.

Love like it’s your first time.

Celebrate like it’s midnight on New Year’s Eve.

That last stroke on the last hour of the last day has magic in it.

Sounds like a fairytale, doesn’t it?

I’ll tell you another secret.

It’s not.

Find out more in this spicy collection containing exciting stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by The New Romance Café.

Authors:
Gabbi Grey
Emma Lynn Everly
VK Holt
Jill Brashear
Keighley Bradford
Mila Chase
Katie Baldwin
Chelle Pimblott
Bella Paige
Renee Dahlia
MacKade

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc2024lastcall
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CX1SJ7S7
Add it to Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209467380-last-call

About “The Last Laugh” by Gabbi Grey…

Robbie

My coworker died before I could apologize. That’s a regret I’ve had to live with. Then on New Year’s Eve, there he is—or his living ghost, as gorgeous as ever. He can’t be real, but if there’s any chance to right my wrongdoing, I have to take it.

Brody

This guy staring at me across the bar somehow doesn’t feel creepy or like he’s hitting on me. He seems shocked, almost afraid. And he’s a guy I wouldn’t toss out of bed for eating crackers, so when he gets the courage to come talk to me, I figure what the hell. Maybe I’ll get lucky tonight.

The Last Laugh is a 15k short story about second thoughts, second glances, and second chances. Also, two super-hot men hoping not to go home alone at the end of the night…

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.

Personal links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up: https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey
Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/Gabbi-Grey/e/B07SJVFX1M
Audible Profile: https://www.audible.com/author/Gabbi-Grey/B07SJVFX1M
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey

Report Card

Last week…

1. My sister, Elle James, and I met up in the city for lunch—we drove to meet halfway (I had a driver get me there). It was so great to catch up. We had a lovely meal and lots of conversation and laughs.
2. I completed two authors’ edits!
3. I had a bit of a health setback mid-week that lasted for three days—throbbing back and sternum pain that had to be helped along with some opioids. TG for opioids. I also had a white blood cell count booster shot on Monday. Love those needles—not!
4. I’m still doing the daily Advent giveaway on my Facebook friends page. If you’re not there, you don’t know what fun you’re missing! I’ve given away signed books, pens, hand-painted bookmarks and postcards.
5. I watched Die Hard with the 15-year-old, who proclaimed the movie, the “best Christmas movie ever!”
6. I also took a look at my writing schedule for the coming year and made some plans. I put it to paper that I’ll have some bounty hunters and Dead Horse books out in the New Year!

This next week…

1. I have an appointment in the morning for a blood draw to see whether everything is progressing as it should and to nail down my chemo appointment for the following Monday. MY LAST CHEMO APPOINTMENT, hopefully.
2. I have no authors’ edits to complete this week. And I’m happy to have the break.
3. I still need to upload Once Upon a Legend to sites other than Amazon since it’s no longer exclusive there. I’ll try to get it done today so my calendar is completely clear.
4. I still have Christmas presents to wrap. Ugh.

Open Contests

Be sure to check out these posts and enter to win the prizes that are still up for grabs:

1. Word Search: Last Minute Stocking Stuffers (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Gabbi Powell: On Brand (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a SERIES of stories!
3. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Raindrops — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Krysten Lindsay Hager: New Release: Fake Dating/Pop Star Romance That’s F*R*E*E in Kindle! — Get your FREE read in Kindle!
5. Word Search: Christmas Movies I’ll Watch! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Get your copy now! F*R*E*E READ! MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTER: DEAD HORSE, MT — ELI — This offer ends the day after Christmas! Get your FREE copy now!
7. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Another Night Before Christmas — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
*~*~*

Believe it or not, I was searching for a Night Before Christmas kind of image and came across an illustration that took me down a rabbit hole. There is another Night Before Christmas story, written in the second volume of an 1832 collection of stories, Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. It’s much darker than the lovely poem we read to our kids. It’s set in the Ukraine and begins with a witch flying across the sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket. He wants the sky dark because he has a beef with a blacksmith of a small village and wants to be able to sneak up on him. When he comes down to the town to search for the blacksmith, he finds the witch, who hides him when townsfolk come searching for him. It’s a tale with twists. The blacksmith is in love with the village beauty, who sends him on a quest to steal the Tsarina’s slippers before she agrees to marry him. The witch ends up capturing the mayor and another man and hiding them in coal sacks. The blacksmith, after pretending to be dead, overpowers the devil, and forces him to fly him to see the tsarina (the future Catherine the Great), and she gives him the slippers. All ends well of course, and there is an opera dedicated to the story by Tchaikovsky…but Google it if you want to learn more.

In the meantime, I (and you) have learned there is another Night Before Christmas tale out there!

Solve the puzzle to see Solokha and the Devil! Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’d love to see the other Night Before Christmas story given a bit of sunlight so more people know about it! Would you prefer to see it in a film? Or rewritten as a children’s fairytale?