UPDATE: The winner is…Wendy Vest!
*~*~*

I have this box of conversation-starter cards and thought it would be fun to start something here! So, I’m pulling a card…

Here’s the question:
If you could add one new store to your town, what would it be?

Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…flchen!
*~*~*

October

Work-related:

1. Gunn’s Mission released on October 17th and is still going strong (see today’s ranking?)! Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy!
2. I began work on a standalone book, Little Green Dreams (follow the link to pre-order!)! Something I’ve been thinking about writing for years. (I don’t have a cover yet!)
3. I set up pre-orders for two more books, Malcolm (Book #10 of Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT) and What Happens in Bozeman (Book #3 of We Are Dead Horse, MT).
4. I completed 3 editing projects for other authors in October.

Health-related:

1. I have not been exercising enough. Without the pool to run to every day, I’m falling off the wagon.
2. Through medicines and some diet tweaking, I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155. I had one bad spike this month.

Happiness-related: 

1. I participated in the local art festival! Wind knocked down a panel full of framed art, which hit my sales hard, but it was still satisfying to see how many people appreciated my art and bought tons of bookmarks and postcards.
2. I am still working on and making more great progress organizing my art room, getting ready for the next arts and craft show in December, and then the reopening my Etsy store.
3. As for making new art, again, work has kept me too busy to do much. But I have renewed energy here at the last of the month. Right now, I’m just trying to refill my stock of the small things. Here are some examples…

November

For work-related, I plan:

1. To compile the stories in my Triplehorn Brand trilogy into an ebook and print box set for publication this month! Be looking for it!
2. To complete writing Little Green Dreams which will release in December!
3. To complete 4 editing projects in November!

For health related, I plan:

1. To not make promises about counting points for my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s that time of year and I know I’d be setting myself up for failure. However, I will try to make healthier choices—emphasizing no late night snacking!
2. To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas).
3. To pay attention to my daily steps, trips up and down the stairs, and to incorporate some chair exercises.
4. To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To work on art and ornament-making to get ready for a local arts and crafts event in December!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in November…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

After a few authors mentioned their disappointment that they wouldn’t have their stories done in time, I decided to extend the deadline. So, authors, keep writing those Secret Identities stories! DD

*~*~*

SECRET IDENTITIES:  A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY
Editor: Delilah Devlin
Deadline: December 15, 2023

SECRET IDENTITIES is open to all authors.

Editor/Author Delilah Devlin is looking for stories for a romantic erotica anthology tentatively entitled SECRET IDENTITIES:  A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY.

Why write a short story for this collection? Well, it’s certainly not about making a lot of money, so why do it at all? I’ve said this before, many times, but here are my thoughts…

Writing a short story for a call for submissions is a chance to flex your writing muscle! It can be a chance to experiment with a genre you’ve never written. If you’ve never written a story in first person but don’t want to begin by writing an entire novel using it, start short! For myself, I’ve written stories in new genres or with fresh themes that ended up being so much fun to write they’ve spawned entire series.

You have a deadline! I don’t know about you, but I have trouble keeping my butt in the chair without one!

It’s a promotional opportunity! If selected, you’ll be joined by 12-15 other authors for the launch, sharing your audiences and, hopefully, picking up new readers along the way. Having your story in the collection is another chance to be “seen.”

And remember, you retain the rights to your story, so you can republish it for individual sale or give it away to attract subscribers to your newsletter. You might even decide there’s more story to tell and expand your short story into a novel.

Here’s what I’m looking for…

SECRET IDENTITIES: A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY will include stories that satisfy the reader who craves stories about mysterious, enigmatic men. Perhaps, they’re the new next-door neighbor with a mysterious past that finds him just as he’s meeting a woman he doesn’t want to leave. Maybe he’s an alien from a far-away galaxy looking for his fated mate. Could he be a spy setting up surveillance on another suspected spy? An assassin scouting his target who discovers his handlers lied about the reasons for targeting a particular individual he’s intrigued by? Is he a werewolf living in the human world? Yes! So many ways to go.

SECRET IDENTITIES will seek stories with varied settings here on earth—present, past, or future—or on another planet or moon in this solar system or in a galaxy far, far, away.  Heroes and heroines might be more than human—supernatural creatures or even aliens and cyborgs.

I’m open to any subgenre of erotic romance you want to write. I’ll accept contemporary, historical, science fiction, or paranormal stories, and I won’t be picky about whether the stories are hetero, LGBT, ménage… Basically, you, the author, can go anywhere your imagination takes you so long as 1) the story is a romance, and 2) you have a bad boy somewhere on the pages!

The anthology will be sold at a low price—my intent is exposure for you and your writing. The more readers reached, the better! You will retain the rights to your story so that, at a later date, you can republish your stories individually.

I’m seeking hot and inventive stories from authors with unique voices, and above all, I’m looking to be seduced by tales filled with vivid imagery and passion.

Published authors with an established world may use that setting for their original short story.

This is erotic romance, so don’t hold back on the heat. Stories can be vanilla or filled with kink but don’t miss describing the romantic connection between strong-willed individuals learning to trust and love one another. A deep sensuality should linger in every word. Keep in mind that there must be a romantic element with a happy-for-now or happy-ever-after ending. Strong plots, engaging characters, and unique twists are the ultimate goal. Please, no reprints. I want original stories.

How to submit: Prepare your 2,500 to 5,500 words story in a double-spaced, Arial, 12-point, black font, Word document (.doc or .docx) OR rich text format (.rtf), with pages numbered. Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch and double space (regular double spacing; do not add extra lines between paragraphs or do any other irregular spacing). U.S. grammar (double quotation marks around dialogue, etc.) is required.

In your document at the top left of the first page, include your legal name (and pseudonym, if applicable), mailing address, email address, and a 50-words or less biography, written in the third person, and send to bbbsecretidentities@gmail.com. If you are using a pseudonym, please provide your real name and pseudonym and make it clear which one you’d like to be credited as. Authors may submit up to 2 stories. I will try to respond no later than March 15, 2024, with decisions.

Payment will be USD 25.00 ninety days after publication at the end of that month.

Who is Delilah Devlin?

Delilah Devlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romance and erotic romance. She has published over two hundred stories in multiple genres and lengths and has been published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Entangled, Grand Central, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Kindle, Montlake, Penthouse, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing.

Her short stories have appeared in multiple Cleis Press collections, including Lesbian Cowboys, Girl Crush, Fairy Tale Lust, Lesbian Lust, Passion, Lesbian Cops, Dream Lover, Carnal Machines, Best Erotic Romance (2012), Suite Encounters, Girl Fever, Girls Who Score, Duty and Desire, Best Lesbian Romance of 2013, and On Fire. For Cleis Press, she edited Girls Who Bite, She Shifters, Cowboy Lust, Smokin’ Hot Firemen, High Octane Heroes, Cowboy Heat, Hot Highlanders and Wild Warriors, and Sex Objects.

She has also edited Conquests: An Anthology of Smoldering Viking Romance, Rogues: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Blue Collar: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Pirates: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Stranded: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, Cowboys: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology, and Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology.

Direct any questions regarding your story or the submission process to Delilah at bbbsecretidentities@gmail.com.

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

Hello Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me to visit today!  Earlier this year, I partook in a couple of projects that were published about the same time.  My story Blue Sky Boyfriend was in the Love is All Volume 6 charity anthology.  Then I was part of the HEA Collective (Happily Ever After) and my story Fly Guy Boyfriend came out that same month.  While Blue Sky was on my radar for almost a year, Fly Guy was…last minute.  But I made certain the story didn’t read like I’d written 37k words in 10 days, even though I had.

As I was writing that novella, though, I was putting the finishing touches on Blue Sky.  I had an opportunity, I realized, to create a crossover scene within the two stories.  I’d love for readers to think everything was planned, but I’ll share with your fans that wasn’t the case.  Only as I neared the end of writing did I see the chance to tie the books together.  Because the HEA Collective was a patron-based subscription, I knew many readers wouldn’t have had access to it.  Also, not everyone buys and reads entire charity anthologies (although I say it’s a great way to meet new authors while helping out worthy causes).

Anyway, eventually the stories came back to me.  I’d already picked the premade cover (which had Blue Sky Boyfriend on the cover, so how perfect was that?) and figured I could put the stories together to create an immersive experience for my readers, giving them two great stories in one place.  I set them in the small fictional town in British Columbia I’d created and now the box set out in the world!

I would love to give a $5 Amazon gift card to one lucky commenter.  What is your favorite setting for a romance? Small-town? Big city? Cattle ranch? Mountain chalet? Hot in the sun or leaves changing color in the fall?  One random commenter will win the gift card.  Thanks for hosting me, Delilah!

The Boyfriend Duet

Love in Mission City: The Boyfriends Duet includes two novellas

Mission City is tucked in the charming Cedar Valley in southwestern British Columbia. If you love heartwarming, contemporary small-town gay romances, then come home to Mission City and fall in love with the men who live there. Romance blossoms in the unlikeliest places. And trouble has a way of finding them…

Blue Sky Boyfriend

Wyatt and Tate were high school sweethearts. After graduation, Tate left Wyatt for the big city and university while Wyatt took over his family’s farm. Fifteen years later, Tate’s come home in disgrace. Can Wyatt forgive the man who broke his heart?

This is a 24k gay romance second-chance novella with a small-town farm boy, a big-city fancy boy, and a puppy named Winnie. The novella previously appeared in Love is All Volume 6.

Fly Guy Boyfriend

When Tex is tasked with piloting the shy and nervous Davey in his helicopter, he sees an opportunity to bring the younger man out of his shell. With Tex’s friendship, Davey finds the courage to be his true self. But when things go south with his family, Davey turns to Tex. Will the budding friendship turn into more or are rough skies ahead?

This is a 37k gay instalove romance novella with a daredevil pilot, a nerd in search of the answer to the universe, and what happens when those forces collide in a single bed. If you were an HEA Collective Patreon last year, you might already own this novella.

Links:
Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Love-Mission-City-Boyfriends-Duet-ebook/dp/B0CJ9P69FL
Universal Book Link:  https://books2read.com/Boyfriends

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
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabbiGrey

UPDATE: The winner is…Sara D!
*~*~*

While sources differ on the year, Hallie Quinn Brown was born on March 10, 1850, to former slaves who migrated first to Canada then returned to the US and settled in Wilberforce Ohio. By the age of sixteen, she had graduated from the Chautauqua Lecture School and for the rest of her life gained renown as an eloquent elocutionist in Europe and America, speaking on the issues of temperance, women’s suffrage, and civil rights.

In 1873, she received a degree from Wilberforce College and lived a life dedicated to education as resistance. She taught in schools for the formerly enslaved in Mississippi and South Carolina. From 1885 to 1887, she taught at Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina, and also served as their dean. From 1892 to 1893, she served as Dean of Women at Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Alabama. An interesting side note was provided my research by this Facebook video, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=586553582391209, where Ohio oral historian Kweku Larry Franklin Crowe shares that Hallie Brown not only taught at Tuskegee but literally helped build it “sitting on a mule and dragging logs.” (The video is only 2 minutes long!)

She returned to Ohio to teach elocution at Wilberforce from 1893 to 1903. In the late 1890s, she frequently spoke on African American issues in London.

A firm believer in community action, she founded the Colored Woman’s League in 1896, served as president of the Ohio State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1905 to 1912, and the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) from 1920 to 1924.

As head of the NACW, she helped spearhead African American opposition to a monument proposed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which would have depicted a Black woman caring for a white infant. The “Mammy” statue sought to foster the defeated South’s Lost Cause lie of slavery being beneficial to Blacks. Ms. Brown wrote “slave women are brutalized, the victims of white man’s caprice and lust. Often the babe torn from her arms was the child of her oppressor.” The bill proposing the monument died in the House of Representatives. Ron DeSantis and other Floridian history revisionists should take note.

Ms. Brown wrote four important works during her lifetime, the first, Bits and Odds, in 1880 and her fourth and most popular, Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction, a collaboration with over twenty other women in 1926.

She died on September 16, 1949, in Wilberforce, Ohio. I stand in awe of women like Hallie Brown who not only inspired by her own example but also shared the accomplishments of others as well. I hope in my own small way with these blogposts I’m following in her footsteps.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card share something about Hallie’s story that has inspired you.

The Spirit to Resist by Michal Scott
from Hot and Sticky: A Passionate Ink Charity Anthology

A woman may be made a fool of if she hasn’t the spirit to resist, but what does she do if, for the first time in her life, being made into a fool is exactly what she wants?

Excerpt from “The Spirit to Resist”

The fellows had terms for girls like Florence who made them hard and offered no relief.

Flirt.

Pee wee player.

Worst of all, vanilla.

Flirts and pee wee players were little girls in burgeoning bodies who tested the limits of their newly acquired womanhood. Timid and coquettish, they longed for, but feared, sexual experience.

Not vanillas.

Proudly defiant and unafraid, vanillas reveled in the effect their teasing had on their targets. The skill with which Florence taunted him proclaimed her Queen of the Vanillas. She’d be heading back to Brooklyn tomorrow. Today’s soiree was his last chance to obtain relief and release from this adept tormenter.

“Mother you’ve got to use every influence at your disposal to make sure Florence attends this Sunday’s soiree.”

His mother shook her head. “I doubt she’ll be making social rounds with all the packing she has to do. Honestly, you surprise me. I got the impression you two didn’t like each other.”

“That’s just a game we’re playing.” His mouth dried as if suddenly stuffed with cotton. He swallowed to free his tongue and spoke the unwelcome truth. “I like her a lot.”

A conspiratorial glint lit up his mother’s eyes. “Alright. We’ll make the Walters family guests of honor. That’ll insure her mother’s cooperation.”

Knowing his mother, her ploy would succeed. Florence would attend and he’d get his chance to put Florence’s teasing to the test.

Smirk away, Florence Walters. Your days as Queen of the Vanillas are over.

*~*~*

Buylinks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5RSJS5M
https://books2read.com/u/3nNDnx

Another Sunday and time to plan out my week. Let’s pull a card…

This morning, I pulled the King of Cups. Who is he? The lute was a big hint. Orpheus, the King of Thrace, was given a lute by Apollo when he was born. Orpheus grew into a gifted singer who could heal men’s souls with his songs. He accompanied Jason on his quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. While he was a healer and a priest and a gifted singer bringing light to everyone around him, his own story was tragic. He married Eurydice who was attacked in the woods by a man when she was alone. She fought him off, but when she ran away to escape him, she was bitten by a snake, died, and was dragged down into Hades. Orpheus used his gift of song to charm his way into the Underworld. Hades gave him a chance to retrieve her. He could lead her out of Hades, back into the world, but he could never look back or he would lose her forever. Yup, just as he was ready to step out of the Underworld, he glanced back to make sure she was there, and she was gone. His end was sad as well. Dionysus–you know the god of wine and pary–was jealous of Orpheus’s popularity, so he sent his minions after him. They tore him into pieces. The Muses were so grieved they gathered his parts and buried him at the foot of Mount Olympus.

So, what does his card mean for me? Gah. Gifts, love of family. Tragedy. I’m not sure. In the picture, he holds a golden chalice and his lute. He wears his crown as King of Thrace. He wears his finery as he sits on his golden throne which sits on firm fertile land but also on the water. So, I’m going to say I can hold my gifts—talent (work), but must balance my seat (my writer’s chair) between my work, which is shared with others and those who hold my heart (my family, like he held his wife).

Knowing NaNoWriMo starts this week, I think it means I have to make sure I don’t shut the door on family while I make my daily wordcount.

See how this works? I stare at a card to divine its meaning, but I see that card through the filter of my obligations. Anyone can read cards!

So, what does The Mythic Tarot book say? “…it is time for the individual to experience this ambivalent side of himself or herself…” That’s helpful?!

Open Contests

1. Flashback: Brotherhood Protectors — Guarding Hannah (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Sweetest Day Celebration! — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. 10 Things I love about Halloween (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Gabbi Grey: Trying It Short! Rise — Out now! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Meet your Weekend Book Boyfriend–Dylan O’Hara–and get ready for Halloween! (FREE Book!) — This offer ends soon! Everyone, get your FREE book!
6. A Reminder & the Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

This is a reminder that my current call for submissions for the next Boys Behaving Badly Anthology is drawing near. I’m considering pushing out the submission date to accommodate writers but want you to keep this challenge in mind. Follow the link to learn more about what I’m seeking. These anthologies are always fun!

The link:  Call for Submissions

The Saturday Puzzle-Contest

Since “secret identities” are on my mind today, I chose a very pretty picture of a possible heroine in such a story! I have to choose a theme for my own story. It’s raining outside. It’s been raining a couple of days now and there’s no end in sight. The temperatures are warm for this time of year, but I’m at last ready for the cold to arrive. This picture feels “fall-ish” or maybe even a little “Christmas-y”—it’s the colors, I guess. Enjoy it!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what sort of secret identity story you’d like me to write. Have fun with the challenge!