Today is Drive-In Movie Day. Drive-in movies are no longer a thing. If you can find a drive-in theater, it’s a kitschy, retro thing. However, a long time ago (yes, I’m dating myself), these were very, very popular.
When I was a child, my father was an airman in the Air Force and had to work extra part-time jobs to support our family—so, not a lot of money for anything except the necessities. My mother sewed our clothes, sewed Barbie clothes (mine was the best dressed in the neighborhood!), and entertainment wasn’t something we paid for except for special occasions. We had a green station wagon to haul our family around inside. There were six of us, so we had to have the larger car.
One of my earliest memories was a trip to the drive-in. We went to see Cat Balou (released in 1965 and starring Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda). My mother popped a pillowcase of popcorn, brought drinks, and we brought sleeping bags (camping was another cheap entertainment we enjoyed). We folded down the backseat of the station wagon and rolled out the sleeping bags in case the younger kids fell asleep during the movie. We propped the speaker in Dad’s window and watched the show. I can still remember the tinny sound of that speaker, but didn’t mind. It was pure magic.
Cut away to college in the late 70s. We had a drive-in theater in our little Arkansas town, and yeah, we were still cash-strapped. I was barely in college, but had a Chevy Impala with a very roomy trunk. You paid per person rather than per car, so we loaded four or five kids into the trunk while my brother sat in the front seat with me. We had to wait until the sun went down to pop the trunk and let our passengers out. If you can imagine a bunch of teenagers, giggling like mad, farting and moaning, it was hilarious for my brother and me, but we loved going to the drive-in with friends.
The most memorable experience was when I took my sister (Elle James) to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the drive-in. And now, you can imagine what happened. In the middle of the most stressful scene, where we were already sinking in our seats due to the horror on the screen, someone at the back of the drive-in revved up a chainsaw. You never saw cars fly out of a place so fast. We were right there with them, screaming and laughing. Needless to say, we missed the end of the movie.
That drive-in theater closed years ago. It couldn’t compete with the large, multi-screen theaters, and I’m sure there were fewer and fewer folks willing to endure the mosquitoes in a hot humid summer. I miss it, though. I wish there was one nearby so I could share that experience with our kids now.
So, those are my stories. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know whether you’ve ever been to a drive-in movie. Share your experience. Or if you haven’t, what was your most unusual movie theater experience?
Ready for another silly holiday? See how I did that? LOL
Today is Repeat Day. It’s an actual thing. And I can so get behind it.
Don’t like getting up in the morning? Go back to sleep and get up again.
Want to annoy a spam caller? Repeat everything they say to you.
Watch Groundhog Day or Edge of Tomorrow.
See how easy this is? Have fun with it. I think I’ll repeat every silly thing the girls say today, just to see if they catch on. Maybe they’ll just think I’ve finally lost my mind!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me how you plan to celebrate this day! Have fun with this!
In 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa was founded to honor academic excellence and encourage liberal arts and science education. It took one hundred and twenty-three years to induct an African American woman into this society who exemplified their motto, “Love of learning is the Guide to Life.” It took another one hundred and fourteen years for that same woman to be given credit for being the first African American woman so honored. Well, better late than never.
Mary Annette Anderson was born in Shoreham, Vermont, on July 27, 1874. Her father, William John Anderson, was formerly enslaved. Her mother Philomine Langlois was of French Canadian and American Indian heritage. Mary’s younger brother, William John Anderson, Jr., became the second African American man to serve in the Vermont Legislature.
At Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in Massachusetts, Mary excelled in her studies and graduated as her class president in 1895. Upon graduation, she enrolled in Middlebury College. This made her one of the first African American women to attend a New England college before 1900. In 1899, she became the first African American woman to graduate from Middlebury College. She addressed her graduating class as its valedictorian with a speech entitled, “The Crown of Culture.” She also wrote the class song, “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.”
That same year on December 17, this highly accomplished woman was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the society’s Vermont chapter. This made her the first African American woman elected to the society, an honor originally attributed to Harlem Renaissance writer and editor, Jessie Redmon Fauset.
In 2003, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education published biographies of the first blacks to graduate from high-ranking liberal arts colleges. Mary’s 1899 graduation from Middlebury was listed along with her Phi Beta Kappa standing. Thus, an historical inaccuracy was corrected. You can read about this discovery and more about Mary here: https://2024.sci-hub.se/2841/756fc6db1a7880015736393065ee58d5/titcomb2004.pdf
After graduation, Mary taught at Straight College (now Dillard University) in New Orleans then moved to Washington D.C. to teach English grammar and history at Howard University from 1900 to 1907.
On August 7, 1907, Mary married fellow Howard University faculty member Walter Lucius Smith. She appears to have retired from teaching then. She and her husband kept homes both in D.C. and Vermont. Mary died in her hometown of Shoreham on May 2, 1922, at the age of 47.
In 2015, Middlebury College established the Anderson Freeman Resource Center in honor of Mary and Martin Henry Freeman, the first African American president of a college in U.S. history.
An article on Mary appeared in the 2005 winter issue of Phi Beta Kappa’s periodical, The Key Reporter. It shared that among her grandniece Myra’s prized possessions are a copy of Mary’s Phi Beta Kappa key and this handwritten reflection: “I’d like to add some beauty to life—I don’t exactly want to make people know more—but I’d love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me—to have some better joy or happy thought that would never have been experienced if I had not been born.”
She has certainly achieved that aspiration with me. Learning about Mary added beauty to my life.
For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share your impressions of Mary in the comments.
“The $5 Kiss of Life”
By Michal Scott inside 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:
Beverly sighed. “I’ve always admired that about you, Rob. You don’t care what people say about you.”
He snorted and waved that off. “Sure, I care. I’m just better at handling the slights.”
“No, really,” she insisted. “You don’t seek anyone’s approval. You live by what you’re for, not what you’re against.” She looked at the rates on the booth kissing chart, considered the card in her pocket. “I admire you.” She cast her gaze down. “I wish I were more courageous like you.”
“No time like the present,” he teased.
Beverly looked up and saw him thumb toward the kissing rate chart.
“Do you have the courage to be seen getting a kiss before God and everybody from the town bad boy?”
His cheeky tone stirred amusement in her troubled breast. “I have been toying with buying one or more of these kisses.”
“One of these?” Rob leaned forward. “Or the one on that card in your pocket?”
I completed 4 editing projects for other authors in May!
I found new artwork for a previously published anthology of erotic short stories, Ultra Strokes, Vol. 1. I recovered it and reuploaded it.
I compiled my second volume of erotic short stories, Ultra Strokes, Vol. 2, and published it! It’s my first release of the year! Progress, finally!
Health-related:
I finally went to the optometrist since I’m far enough away from chemotherapy that I don’t think my eyesight is going to further degrade any time soon. I have new glasses, and the screen is no longer blurry!
I fought a second UTI and have completed another round of antibiotics. I feel great!
Happiness-related:
I continued my participation in #the100dayproject. Here are a few small pieces I completed:
June
For work-related, I plan:
To finish writing Ignition! No excuses! This will complete the Delta Fire series, my erotic firefighter stories. The pre-order will be set up this week, and the book will be out by the end of the month!
To begin work on Built Like Mack, the next story in my We are Dead Horse series.
To await the arrival of two editing projects around mid-month. Not having any at the moment is fine with me. Again, I have nothing to get in the way of my writing mojo, other than me.
For health-related, I plan:
To continue to focus on recovery! Rest when I need to, and some light exercise—housework and swimming.
To endure another immunotherapy session this month (I tolerate it so much better than chemo!) and a wellness checkup with my general practitioner.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To spend time with the family during this summer break. We have plans for fun meals, movies, flea market shopping, and lots and lots of swimming.
To complete #the100dayproject and create more art.
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 June…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
I’m going through a nostalgic phase with my TV viewing habits. I recently rewatched Warehouse 13. I’m currently watching three series that I hop between based on my mood, The Residence (a a fun murder mystery on Netflix), Psych (who doesn’t love Gus and Shawn’s antics?!), and Lost in Space. The latter is a show I watched when it began in the 1960s. It started the year before Star Trek and hooked me on Sci-Fi. I hadn’t rewatched it in all these years but started about a month ago. I’ll be truthful. It doesn’t hold up like the OG Star Trek. It’s hokey, the special effects aren’t very special but bundle it with a hot-as-hell daddy and that theme song/intro, and I’m hooked again. I mean, play this video and tell me it’s not special.
My daughter thinks I’ve lost my mind but had fun working with an AI program to come up with a Lost in Space-style image of me…
Yeah, I would’ve fit right in! Anyway, it’s a sunny Saturday. I have some edits to finish today, and then I’m hitting the pool whether the water is warm enough or not! I hope you all have a wonderful day!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me whether you were ever hooked on a hokey TV show that still gives you the nostalgia-induced warm fuzzies!
Hello, Delilah! Thank you for inviting me here today to share my good news! Well, news. As your readers know, I write a lot of books.
A lot.
Which means writing an insane number of words.
Nuts.
In 2014, I wrote a million words. In 2015, I found an editor and worked with her to edit those words, so my word count decreased. In 2019, it started to creep back up. Come 2020, and the pandemic, and I was in my sweet spot. Last year? 832k words.
So, a crap-ton of words.
My first short story was published in 2016. My second short story was published in 2019 with The Wild Rose Press. My first toe dips into the world of traditional publishing. 2020 was my breakout year in terms of getting out there — I had two novellas under one pen name and a novel under another. Plus, a short story in a charity anthology. For me, this was HUGE. I was so freaking happy. My dreams were coming true.
Reality hit pretty soon that publishing a novella with a small press, although very gratifying, wasn’t going to help me break even with all the things I was discovering writers needed (website, newsletter mail service, marketing just to name a few). I kept at it, though. I wrote another novella and a novel for them. Then I wrote a novel that I wanted to keep for myself. That book, Ginger Snapping All the Way is still my best seller.
Yet I continue to work with The Wild Rose Press because they gave me a start. My Past, Your Future was my debut novella. February 2020. I was watching cable news and seeing worrying things across the globe. Little did I know what was coming. Or that the next few years would be all virtual releases. I attended my first signing in summer 2024. By then, I had a table full of books I’d published during the pandemic. COVID was good to me in that I discovered things I didn’t know about myself. Like that, I could, in fact, write at home (I always believed I had to be at a café or restaurant). That I could self-publish (I always believed I needed a publisher). That I could find some success writing in a subgenre I never anticipated (those million words in 2014 were not gay romances).
And now I’m celebrating 5 years in the publishing business.
What does that look like for me? Across my three pennames? 24 novels, 19 novellas, 35 short stories, and 23 audiobooks published as of this month. Plus, tons more to come.
Yeah. That.
So, I’m here to wave and say, “Yeah, I did that.”
Quickly — I was offered the opportunity to write a story to enter a promo where I could collect emails to send interested people my newsletters. I’d never done that, but I sat down and wrote a 32k story. If Catch a Tiger by the Tail is the HEA for Peter and Thomas, then Solstice Surprise is what happens after the happily after ever. I love the novella and have given away thousands of copies for free. I’m offering you a link to that story and encourage you to grab it.
Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me and letting me raise a glass of bubbly (although I don’t drink – does sparkling apple cider count?). Here’s to five more years of insane writing and publishing schedules as I share my stories with everyone. I would love to hear your readers comments. Drop a note in the chat — how often do you want to see your favorite writer drop a book? What’s too much? What’s not enough and you lose interest? I’d love your perspective. As a thank you, one winner — chosen by random — will win a copy of my novella Catch a Tiger by the Tail. Good luck!
Catch a Tiger by the Tail
Thomas Walsh knows the number one rule in the film industry. Don’t get involved with the talent. But resisting the urge to take the big screen to the bedroom can be hell when the lead actor on the set looks good enough to eat…one slow lick at a time.
Peter Erickson’s latest role as a gay man hits a little too close to home. He’s still in the closet and secretly grieving the death of his lover. Then an enchanting production assistant catches his eye, and he’s surprised by the instant attraction that stirs more than his wounded soul.
When the two men are caught on camera in a very intimate pose, both Thomas and Peter are afraid they’ve caught a tiger by the tail.
A blizzard, an urgent plea, a desperate journey, and the most important moment of their lives. Action movie star Peter Erickson is spending the Christmas holidays ensconced with his in-laws and his new husband. In the wilds of Northern British Columbia, they are as far away from the bustle of the city as they can get. Thomas Walsh and his famous husband are deeply in love. Although he prefers the intimacy of their city house, he’s come home to face the reason he left ten years ago, and to finally tell his parents the truth. A desperate phone call has the couple scrambling. Will they get back to Vancouver in the middle of a snowstorm in time for their solstice surprise?
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.
I just named the winner of the first “Clear My Bookshelf” contest! Congratulations to Brenda S.!
Now, here we go again….
As a way to solve my book-hoarding problem and make room on my bookshelves, I’m continuing my Clear My Bookshelf Giveaway! I have a ton of my books, collected over my 20 years of publishing. So, rather than consign them to the burn barrel I thought maybe a bunch of giveaways would be fun. As the first giveaways last summer seemed to garner a lot of interest, I’m happy to offer more opportunities for readers to win a signed copy of one of my old books this summer, too! My daughter is on board with making a trip to the post office for me. She loves it when I volunteer her for stuff.
For a chance to win a randomly chosen by me (I might say, do you want a western, an erotic, contemporary, or a paranormal?) book, which I will of course sign and fill with a bookmark painted by me, tell me whether you have any travel plans for 2025!
