UPDATE: The winner is…Christine!
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Contests… *sigh*

Why do I do them? For the same reasons every other author does: To get people curious to come to check out my blog then subscribe to my blog, so they never miss a chance at winning something they’d like to have. And maybe along the way, they discover I write really fun, sexy books, and they become lifelong fans! (Psst! That subscription thingie is on the left under “Follow My Blog”.)

For the most part, I give away ebooks and Amazon gift cards because they are easy and immediate. However, I know ebooks can sit forever on a reader’s Kindle before they read it. And a winner might spend their gift card on TP, which kinda kills the idea of getting readers hooked on me.

For purely selfish reasons, I also like to change things up on my blog. Yes, I have new and interesting guests all the time, but I like to do things here, too. I love sharing what I’m doing, what I’m writing, what I’m painting or crafting. For instance, I’ve been sharing, mostly on Instagram and my Facebook friends page, the paintings and collages I’m doing every day for the #100dayproject challenge. Think about that. At the end of the challenge, I’ll have 100 things of widely varying quality to trash, hold onto, give away, or sell.

Which gets me back to contests, or rather the prizes I offer…

I love offering books for the reason I stated before, but there are more possibilities, for instance:

A handmade painted/collaged/or beaded bookmark

A handmade piece of jewelry

A handmade pendant

A piece of art that might be on a postcard or a greeting cardYears ago, I ran a “fugly” ring contest. I’d found a gemstone (I think garnet) and silver ring with caribou dancing around the gemstone. It’s hard to see from the terribly unfocused pictures, but I described it well at the time. I had a ton of people enter to win that truly fugly ring. I have another fugly ring that needs a home…

Poll & Contest

Win a $5 Amazon gift card. This is all you have to do. Vote in the poll, and then tell me in the comments below which of the ideas appeal the most!

When I was last here, (April 6 to be exact), I chatted about my linked erotica titles, His Purchase and His Filly, before turning to what still consumes most of us—Coronavirus or whatever name you call it by. I mentioned that my son’s cancer surgery had been canceled at the last moment. We had no idea when it could be rescheduled. Well, two weeks ago he got The Call and a week ago today he underwent 7 hours of surgery. The operation took place in a major hospital five hours from where we live. Pulling rank, he and his brother insisted that Mom stay home and said brother would take, stay there, and retrieve him. (They actually spouted some nonsense about my ‘advanced’ age putting me in a high-risk category.)

I’m hugely relieved to report that the patient is home and recovering. (We live together.) We went to the local wound center yesterday where the nurse practitioner said the surgeon’s work was the best she’s ever seen. No infection. Wounds from laparoscopic surgery healing. He still has a long road ahead of him, but something happened to me on the way home I want to share.

For the first time since the diagnosis a year ago February, I truly want to write. I need to! I’ve pounded out words to meet contracts and because that’s what I do, but my heart and concentration hadn’t been in it. Now the damnable tumor is gone from the body of one of the two most important people in my life! (Of course, his brother is the other.)

I’d wondered and half-believed the drive, the need to create, that has always been a vital part of me was gone. I’d never get it back. That writing came in such a poor second to the risk to my son’s life that my career longer mattered. But it was there all this time, waiting for my mind and heart to unlock.

I’m more than halfway through my latest story. Diving back into it today will be a celebration. I want to share that celebration with readers. This is what I’ve come up with. If spanking stories are your thing and you’re one of the first five readers to contact me at VonnaWriter@gmail.com and mention you saw this on Deliah’s blog, I’d love to send you a free copy of either His Purchase or His Filly. No strings attached but if you leave reviews on Amazon and are so inclined, that would be wonderful.

To give you an idea what you’d be getting, here are a couple of Amazon links plus cover images.

His Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/His-Purchase-Society-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07FNHM37V/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=His+Purchase+by+Vonna+Harper&qid=1587579243&sr=8-1
His Filly: https://www.amazon.com/His-Filly-Society-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07FNHRK6S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=228PI8UYUL3CT&dchild=1&keywords=his+filly+vonna+harper&qid=1587579211&s=digital-text&sprefix=His+Filly%2Caps%2C220&sr=1-1

So I’m sitting at my table at the big Shameless Book Con sale with copies of my Brewing Love series spread out in front of me. A browsing shopper pauses. “What are these about?” she asks. “They’re about a craft brewery in a Colorado mountain town,” I explain. “The brewmaster is the heroine of the first book, Love On Tap, and her brother, who also brews, is the hero of the second book, Saison For Love. They’re both trying to get their brewery back on its feet and find a little romance along the way.” “Oh,” says the browser. “I don’t like beer.” And off she goes. Sigh.

There’s this prejudice about beer: it’s not romantic. Wine is romantic. Champagne is romantic. Even whiskey is romantic (go figure). But beer? Not so much. Maybe it’s all those “bro” commercials featuring guys watching football and getting soused. Maybe it’s the image of beer as part of masculine rites of passage. For whatever reason, nobody seems to think of beer as part of a romantic evening. Add to this the fact that American beer manufacturers seem to have given up on marketing beer to women, and you can see that beer’s a hard sell in the romance department.

But I live in Colorado, aka Craft Beer Central, and I’ve seen lots of women drinking beer, serving beer, and brewing beer. Moreover, I’ve seen lots of couples nuzzling over their steins and grabbing their growlers to go. In real life, in other words, beer is just as likely to lead to romance as any other form of alcohol.
I got interested in doing a series built around a craft brewery as I started visiting some of the local breweries in my town. It takes less time to brew most beers than it does to make wine or whiskey, and it’s not as expensive to establish a brewery as it is a winery. Thus a lot of craft brewers are young people with a talent for brewing and a yen to share their unique beers. That’s the situation with Antero Brewing, my mythical brewery in the equally mythical Antero, Colorado (full disclosure: Antero bears a striking resemblance to the real Crested Butte). Antero Brewing was founded by a brother and sister duo, Bec and Liam Dempsey, along with their good friend and financial backer Colin Brooks. But Colin took off after a couple of years, along with his money. Love On Tap dealt with Bec’s struggle to keep the brewery afloat based on a barrel of imperial stout. She gets some help from Denver brewpub owner Wyatt Montgomery, who manages to save Bec from disaster while the two fall in love. In Saison For Love, Liam confronts his own crisis when he tries to find a way to stay in Antero and convince his own lady love, Ruth Colbert, to give him another chance. In the end, he wins by brewing a special saison just for Ruth.

Wild Love, the third book in the trilogy, begins with the return of Colin Brooks. Bec and Liam are both justifiably furious with him for leaving them in the lurch. And to compound his problems, Colin has lost all the money he had to invest. He has to prove himself to the Dempseys and everyone else associated with Antero Brewing. It’s a tough situation, and the only thing Colin has going for him is Peaches Guidry, baker extraordinaire and collector of lost souls. Colin must prove himself to the Dempseys and show Peaches he’s worthy of her love. And beer plays a big part in his journey to redemption.

So here’s the thing: these are books about people facing tough situations and coming through. And finding love along the way. You can read them even if you don’t like beer. On the other hand, if you’re open to some new tastes, you can find out some bits and pieces about beer and how it’s brewed and how it can make food taste a little better and love work a little more easily.

Beer and romance. Trust me, it’s a winning combination.

Wild Love can be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Google Play.

As I’m an erotic/steamy romance writer, the title of my post can only refer to one thing: the Cone of Learning. Ha, ha. Made you look.

One long ago Easter from my childhood, I made a Sunday School craft that continues to have a lasting impression on me almost fifty-five years later. What I recall is the first part of the tri-fold craft showed Jesus’ body being laid in the tomb. The second part depicted the stone rolled into place. The third showed the tomb empty. I remember thinking “How was that possible?” Precisely the point of the lesson: it was a miracle. I remember being hit with a sense of wonder like a flashbulb going off. Why is it the recollection of that craft has the same impact on me now when I’m sixty-three years old as it did when I was seven or eight? The answer is the Cone of Learning.

I came across this concept when I trained Sunday School teachers. Developed in the 1960’s by Edgar Dale, the Cone of Learning posits these points: people generally remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say and write, 90% of what they perform. In other words, the deeper you go, the longer it lasts. As I think back on that Sunday school craft, I’m sure I heard the story being told while I colored and cut and pasted in the company of other children doing the same thing. I probably read or repeated bible verses, too. That simple little craft took me deep into the cone.

The Cone of Learning takes on new meaning for me now I’m a writer. As I revise and edit my stories I have to do all I can so the 10% my reader recalls is truly memorable. This is why we writers are encouraged to show don’t tell, to evoke as many of the senses and to get as deep into the character’s point of view as possible. Think about the stories that have stuck with you. Think about passages you read over and over again to relive some delicious thrill or surprise. Your senses were engaged by sensory-rich sentences and settings. Emotion coursed through you as the character’s thoughts and feelings became your own. These authors took you deep and impressed you in ways that guaranteed you’d remember the 10% of what you read long after you put the book down.

With this in mind, my goal is to write thrilling, evocative and emotionally satisfying stories, stories so striking that fifty-some odd years later, the 10% my readers recall will be as fresh and impactful as my recollection of that Easter Sunday School take-home craft.

“$5.00 Kiss of Life” from First Response

Trapped by the small-town conventions imposed on her, a pastor’s spinster daughter finds rescue in the town bad boy’s very public kiss…

Excerpt from “$5.00 Kiss of Life”

Loose lips sunk ships during the war, Bev. And still do. Only now the ships are voter registration drives and lawsuits and attempts at economic self-sufficiency. It’s not Nazi spies listening and betraying but law enforcement officers who first tip-off Klansmen and other night riding types then stand by as they target the Negro lawyers, teachers and ministers who educate and encourage the folk of color to claim their rights. It’s not Tokyo Rose undermining Negro pride and confidence but those among our own people who choose the safety of their present limitations to the risks of a future determined by the freedom of true independence. Loose lips sink ships, Bev…and they still do.

You’d expect the ones oppressing you to do all they could to keep you down. But for members of the race to sow envy and fear and suspicion so as to undermine efforts to uplift the race was most distressing.

And most familiar.

A good reputation was the battleship in need of protection where she lived. To keep it afloat peer pressure, tradition and societal expectation waged a constant battle against the loose lips of gossip and scorn and lies.

As the daughter of the town’s minister she’d experienced the looks and the whispers and the dressing downs that kept her in her place. The freedom garnered by her one small rebellion – becoming the town librarian rather than the dutiful wife of her father’s associate pastor – turned out to be as limiting as the choice she’d rejected.

Preorder – https://amzn.to/3dRvwLE

Author Contact –
Twitter: @ mscottauthor1
Website: www.michalscott.webs.com

UPDATE: The winner is…ButtonsMom2003!
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I’m going to share, and then I’m going to ask you to share…pictures, that is!

During this strange time, I decided to take up the #100dayproject challenge. The goal is to do something “artful” every day. Doesn’t have to be big or a big deal or even very good. The goal is to make art a habit. So, I’m at Day 15 of the challenge. I’m a little behind. I’ve posted through Day 13’s efforts. Every day when I finish a piece, I post it on Instagram and Facebook. I also talk about the project and, sometimes, what goes into making some of these little pieces on my other blog: The Emerald Casket. You can head there if you’d like to see everything I’ve done so far.

Here’s Day 13:

So, I what I’m looking to do today, here, is share pictures of things you might be working on. Are you knitting? Canning? Marie Kondo-ing? Send a pic to me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com, and I’ll post it here! And if you send me something, I’ll choose a winner from the posters to give either one of my painted postcards or a collaged bookmark!

Shares

From Susan! Looks like she’s getting things checked off her Honey Do list! A new faucet! Love it!

Below is what I posted on my art blog, The Emerald Casket today. Just in case you want to follow along…

Day 12

I’m not completely satisfied with it. It’s a watercolor on a postcard. I’ll likely revisit it at some later date and fill in the background, but I needed to get something out the door!

Day 13

This one I’m satisfied with, although I painted on some really cheap watercolor paper and you can see lines in the color. Still, I really like my paint-swatch doodles.

UPDATE: The winner is…Fedora!
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I’m still playing catchup after the power outage. I finished a set of edits this week, and now, I’m working on another. Tomorrow, I’ll be starting a new story while editing the remaining shorties for the First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology. As well, I have to work on new art pieces for the #100dayproject. Never a dull moment around here!

I’d love to hear what new things you are doing to keep busy in this crazy time. I haven’t added anything new to my plate, but maybe, some of you are growing bored with your first endeavors.

I’ll give you a little challenge now to help keep you occupied. 🙂

Finish the puzzle, then tell me a story about the image. One commenter will win a $5 Amazon gift card!