Ever wonder what it feels like to be haunted? I hadn’t…until this past Fall.

Inspired by my visit to the African Burial Ground, I took the self-guided African-American Freedom Trail walking tour. The National Park Service has compiled twenty-one sites commemorating places/events of significance to African American history. From south to north (1 Bowling Green to 67 Lispenard Street) and east to west (Roosevelt Street between Cherry and Oaks Streets to Chambers and West Streets), I visited where slave revolts and draft riots took place, where the original sites of Mother A.M.E Zion and Abyssinian Baptist churches were located, where notable African Americans lived changing history. Black abolitionist Thomas Downing used the cellar of his Oyster House, and David Ruggles used his rooming house as stops on the Underground Railroad.

I’d expected to find plaques like the one on St. Peter’s church in memory of former slave and Haitian philanthropist, Pierre Toussaint or actual edifices like Fraunces’ Tavern, owned by Samuel Fraunces, a West Indian of French and African ancestry. Instead, I arrived time and time again at a corner with no marker or an address that no longer existed. So I tried to imagine the boys and girls who learned at the African Free School or the free blacks who owned farms situated north of the African Burial Ground as far as 34^th Street. I felt their spirits accompany me as I moved from site to site.

I worked as a secretary in a law firm on lower Broadway. I walked these streets to and from work or window-shopped or ate on my lunch breaks, unaware of all this history. How easy it is for one’s story to be lost or erased, not always intentionally or maliciously, but simply because life goes on.

My self-guided tour took me from contemplating the centuries-old histories of Africans and African Americans to wondering about other people and their histories. Where were their plaques, their walking tours? The Gustave Haye Museum of the American Indian is now a Smithsonian museum relocated in 1994 to the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House near Bowling Green. Beautiful as its new location is, I was glad I took my Sunday school class to visit the collection in its original home on 155^th Street and Broadway. I hope one day to visit The Tenement Museum at 97 Orchard Street and learn about the lives of European immigrants who came to New York in hopes of a better life.

I ended my day by taking the 2 train from Wall Street to Court Street in Brooklyn and sitting on the Promenade where a wreath hangs memorializing the September 11 Broken Sky event. Two beams of light displayed against a night sky to symbolize where the Twin Towers once stood and to honor the lives lost that day.

As I sat staring at Manhattan across the East River, a line from the musical Hamilton came to me: Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? That line haunted me then. It haunts me still. What haunts you?

One Breath Away

Sentenced to hang for a crime she didn’t commit, former slave Mary Hamilton was exonerated at literally the last gasp. She returns to Safe Haven, broken and resigned to live alone. Never having been courted, cuddled or spooned, Mary now fears any kind of physical intimacy when arousal forces her to relive the asphyxiation of her hanging. But then the handsome stranger who saved her shows up, stealing her breath from across the room and promising so much more.

Wealthy freeborn-Black Eban Thurman followed Mary to Safe Haven, believing a relationship with Mary was foretold by the stars. He must marry her to reclaim his family farm. But first he must help her heal, and to do that means revealing his own predilection for edgier sex.

Then just as Eban begins to win Mary’s trust, an enemy from the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…

Excerpt:

“It’s a really hot night.” He turned his hand palm up in a silent plea. “Perhaps you’d find a waltz more cooling.” He eased his fingers into her clenched hands. “May I beg the honor of this dance?”

“Beg?”

“Yes, Miss Hamilton.” He tilted his head, slanting his smile to the right. “Beg.”

“You don’t strike me as the begging type, Mr. Thurman.”

“To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” He tongue-swiped his full lips as if he’d just tasted something he wanted to taste again. “I know when it’s time to beg.”

She pursed her lips into a frown, fought back the urge to grovel and won. Barely.

The fingers around hers, clean and huge and strangely slender, hadn’t moved, hadn’t trembled. Their stillness aroused her. His stillness aroused her. Her lips quivered. She inhaled deeply against the surrender summoned by that tiny tremor.

Resist the devil and he will flee.

Silently she called upon the truth in this scripture for rescue.

The devil waited. She stared at the hand on hers, helpless against the appeal, the allure of temptation.

She swallowed hard, opened her mouth to say no, but her tongue refused to cooperate. She huffed out a breath and shook her head. “I—I can’t. I don’t know how to waltz.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” His lips bowed in a smile, full, broad, and hypnotizing. “I’m an excellent teacher and I bet you’re a fast learner.” He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Shall we?”

He really wanted to dance with her. She blinked, speechless. A warning voice protested.

Resist.

Her heart countered.

Surrender.

She firmed her lips, heaved a sigh then accepted his invitation. Felicity’s sputtered shock and Widow Hawthorne’s happy cackle accompanied them to the middle of the dance floor.

He placed his fingertips respectfully but firmly above the rise of her buttocks and held her in place against him. A tickle invaded the wool of her skirt where the tip of his middle finger rested at the head of her crack. Pleasure tripped up her spine and trickled between her thighs. But, from the recesses of remembered experience, a voice of caution persisted.

He wants something, Mary. Beware.

*~*~*

Buy links: 

Wild Rose Press: https://bit.ly/2Oog1Ny
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DmrZWC

About the Author

A native New Yorker, Michal Scott is the pen name of Anna Taylor Sweringen, a retired United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA minister. Using the writings of the love mystics of Begijn for inspiration, Michal Scott writes Christian erotica and Christian erotic romance (i.e. erotica and erotic romance with a faith arc), hoping to build a bridge between the sacred and secular, spirituality and sexuality, erotica and Christ, her readers and a well-written spiritually-stimulating and erotically-arousing story. As an African American, she writes stories to give insight into the African American experience in the US. She has been writing romance seriously since joining Romance Writers of America in 2003 and had her first novel published in 2008. She writes inspirational romance as Anna Taylor and gothic romance as Anna M. Taylor. You can connect with Anna on Twitter @mscottauthor1 and learn more about her and her writing at her various websites: www.michalscott.webs.com, www.annamtaylorwebs.com and  www.annataylor2678.webs.com.

It’s that time of year—regardless of what holiday, if any, you celebrate—it’s time for family traditions. I don’t have much in the way of extended family by blood, but I’ve cultivated a strong family by choice because I wanted my kids to have things I didn’t have growing up. Part of building that atmosphere was to develop traditions.

I have two major traditions that we count on this time of year. One is seeing The Nutcrackerwith my two daughters. We usually see the ballet, but every now and then, we mix it up. A couple of times we saw The Nutcrackeron horseback (the performers all ride horses and do tricks). Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds. This year, we’re going to see a hip-hop version. I’m not sure how well that’s going to go over with my youngest, who dances ballet, but she’s willing to check it out.

While seeing The Nutcracker is a tradition for my daughters, the other tradition is all mine. Every year, my best friend and I get together and bake Christmas cookies that we then give away to everyone we know. We started doing this when we were teenagers, and now, more than 30 years later, we’re still going strong. Through college, dating, first jobs, marriages, babies, divorce—you name it, we experienced it and still got together for cookie baking. It’s quite the production. We usually bake about 25 different kinds of cookie. I’m not sure how many batches total, but it’s a lot.

Over the years, our kids have all had a hand in cookie day. Unwrapping Hershey’s Kisses, rolling dough, sprinkling or decorating, and of course, sampling everything. They count on cookie day as part of their traditions, but it’s a special day for me and my best friend. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it.

Because of my own fractured family experiences, I’ve always been drawn to big, rambunctious families. That’s why I write what I do. I believe family gives us grounding and connection in life. Found family is as real as born family and I think my books reflect that.

I am currently re-releasing my O’Learys series about a big, Irish-American family in Chicago. Next month, the beginning of my Daring Divorcees series will launch about friends who all met in a divorce support group and are now ready for the next phase in their lives.

For a chance to win a digital copy of More Than This (O’Learys #1), leave a comment sharing your favorite tradition or your favorite cookie.

I will draw a random winner from the comments by the end of the week.

Social media links:
Web site — https://www.shannynschroeder.com
Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6575201.Shannyn_Schroeder
Twitter — https://twitter.com/SSchroeder_
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/shannyn.schroeder
Book and Main Bites — https://bookandmainbites.com/Shannyn

More Than This

A sexy bartender stirs up a daily lesson plan for an adventurous teacher…

 When she discovers her ex-husband is about to be a father, Quinn Adams is on a mission. Determined to get pregnant without the commitment of a man, Quinn sets out for her own adventure. But everyone seems to think she need to focus on herself first. With a list of challenges compiled but her sister and their friend, Quinn embarks on some life-altering fun.

Her first challenge is to go on five dates within two weeks. After a few disastrous attempts, Quinn’s ready to give up—until sexy bartender Ryan O’Leary offers his assistance. Ryan is the go-to person for everyone in his large family, so it’s natural for him to want to help Quinn. However, as they get to know each other better, friendship with Quinn isn’t enough for him. Now, it’s time for him to show her how serious the Irish can be. Will the bartender quench Quinn’s thirst by mixing up more than she ever imagined?

Buy links:

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-This-OLearys-Book-ebook/dp/B07K28MMGH/

Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/more-than-this-shannyn-schroeder/1113633559?ean=2940161775912

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/more-than-this-24

Apple https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/more-than-this/id1440685177

It always seems impossible until it’s done.
~ Nelson Mandela

I’m in the middle of the last chapter of the book I have to finish by tomorrow! So until then—my head’s down and my fingers are poised…over the keys!

Not what you thought this blog would be about reading that subject line, right? Tsk-tsk!

Later! DD

Here I am again. Crunching up against a deadline. I have a story to wrap up by Sunday. No wiggle room at all.

So, today’s post is shoooorrrrrrt!

I have my head down but have no idea where my story’s going. I need a cup of coffee to clear the sludge from my brain. So, I’m heading to the pot now!

Any encouraging words for me, y’all?

(Told ya this would be short! 🙂 )

 

I want to thank Delilah for hosting me on her blog today. Now that Thanksgiving is over, talking about Christmas is officially fair game, right? 😊

Christmas is always a fun time of year for me. I live in Wisconsin, so the holidays are often accompanied by a beautiful snowfall. And I have two sons, ages ten and seven, so the excitement that goes with decorating, baking, parties, and gift exchanges is ever-present. Not that there isn’t a fair bit of chaos around the holidays as well, but I take the good with the bad!

Last year, my brother and his wife flew in from Singapore and declared that they wanted to make a family Christmas video that would serve as our holiday greeting card to extended family and loved ones that year. My brother had written an entire script, with everyone having speaking and singing roles. It ended up being quite the production and took a good chunk of time to accomplish, but it’s now in our DVD collection and is something I anticipate becoming a Christmas tradition—watching our “Family Christmas Special” on Christmas Eve and sipping hot cocoa while a fire crackles in the fireplace.

My youngest asked me what we were going to do for our Christmas video this year, and I had to laugh. I think that endeavor was a one-time thing, but it’s always fun to make memories, engage in old family traditions or create new ones.

For our family, that means spending a Saturday in December baking cookies all day with my mom, sister and nieces. Eating chocolate chip pancakes on Christmas morning before reading the story of Jesus’ birth and opening presents around the real pine Christmas tree. The kids will play with the “Activity Scene” (what they used to call the VeggieTales Nativity scene we pull out every year). And Christmas is the one day my husband puts on his baggy, bright green Grinch tee shirt—a gift from our youngest a few years ago.

What Christmas traditions do you have? Do the holidays bring you joy, or make you cringe?

Before I go, I want to share about my novella Christmas in Meadow Creek, which is a small town romance that I hope warms your heart. This sweet, uplifting story took only three weeks to write. The relationship between the main characters, Lincoln and Sarah, flowed effortlessly onto the pages. I wanted to keep the subject matter and storyline lighthearted in hopes that this story would bring a sense of love, joy, and belonging this holiday season. And since it’s a novella, it won’t take long to be drawn into the characters’ lives and watch the story unfold in this beautiful, small Wisconsin town.

Christmas in Meadow Creek

Sarah Laughlin left her big-city life and dead-end relationship behind for a fresh start as a fourth-grade teacher in the small, Wisconsin town of Meadow Creek. And it feels like home, too, despite the persistent troublemaker in her class and the lack of familiar faces. But the holidays are going to be lonely this year. Until she meets firefighter Lincoln Thompson. Suddenly, the hope of spending Christmas with someone she cares about is within reach.

Lincoln loves his home town of Meadow Creek, but ever since his long-time girlfriend left him for a better life in the city, he wonders if he’ll ever find love in this small town where everyone knows everyone. Then he meets Sarah during her class’s field trip to his firehouse, and a spark is lit. But when they discover that Sarah’s troublemaking student is none other than Lincoln’s beloved nephew, their newfound relationship is put to the test. Can they navigate through the complexities of family dynamics to find a love that will last.

Order your copy today at https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Meadow-Anaiah-Romance-Novella-ebook/dp/B07K6XLK8B/.

About the Author

Katy Eeten is the wife of a youth pastor and mother of two school-age boys. She works full-time in the business world, but her true passion is writing. She has published Contemporary Christian Romance Blast From Her Past and has another novel, A Heart Held Captive, due out next spring. Her novella Christmas in Meadow Creek just released this month. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found taking walks, baking goodies, dining out, or spending time with her family.

Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatyEeten/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KatyEeten
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KatyEeten/
Website: https://katyeeten.wordpress.com/

This is the time of year where I’m especially thoughtful about all I have to be thankful for. From an author standpoint, I’m grateful that I’m rarely at a loss for writing ideas. Recently, someone asked what inspires me. I responded with a quick answer – almost everything.

By nature, I’m an inquisitive person. I love watching documentaries about history and various topics from science fiction to who killed President Kennedy to how crayons are made. It’s all so interesting, and I always find myself asking the “what if” question. What if I’ve already been kidnapped by aliens and my life is playing out in an alternative universe? What if my character finally figures out who the murderer is but the hunt culminates during a national crisis or a weather emergency? What if the bad guy commits murder by hacking into his victim’s pacemaker?

The sky is the limit on imagination, and I find inspiration in everywhere.

Music is a huge inspiration for me. I’ve attached particular songs for each of my books which  represent the theme of the book or is somehow pivotal for a specific character. I will often play that song on repeat if I’m having an especially difficult writing day or I’m working on a crucial scene. Listening to certain playlists helps me transpose the movie playing out in my head into written words.

Inspiration can come in any form. A weird cloud, the loud, unexpected boom from a construction site, an airplane taking off for parts unknown, or firetruck, siren blasting, rushing by. These everyday images have inspired me to dream and create. I get the greatest joy from creating stories springing forth from various sources of inspiration and it’s my hope that these stories can bring entertainment, intrigue, and escape to others.

The Order Series is a four-book romantic suspense series (book four is in the works now and will be released early summer 2019). The inspiration for this series came after watching a documentary on the Illuminati and Free Masons. Both of these organizations were heavily influenced by the concept of a secret society and held religious undertones. I was particularly inspired by the use of numbers and symbols, employed by both the Illuminati and Free Masons in creating a sense of mystery and maintaining an elite membership. My series is based on a cult-like organization that began with a basis in religion but transformed into a group with a quest for money and power.

What inspires you? To win a signed copy of the first book in The Order series, Order of Fear, let me know your greatest inspiration. One winner chosen at random.

The Order Series

Order of Fear

When Marissa Nash’s life is turned upside down with the death of her fiancé, she is comforted by the friendship of the would be best man, Justin Tanner. But as Marissa and Justin grow closer, they soon discover they’ve fallen into a wicked web of lies and danger.

https://www.amazon.com/Order-Fear-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01ENW8ZCU/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/order-of-fear/id1107420740?mt=11
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/order-of-fear
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/631896
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940158181658

 

Order of Malice

Reid Patterson plans to join the FBI hoping to right the wrongs of The Order, a sinister faction controlled by his family. When he meets Holly Babson, a child psychologist, sparks fly as they both must deal with past hurts and fresh danger.

https://www.amazon.com/Order-Malice-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07318J71Y/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/order-of-malice/id1255377368?mt=11 https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/order-of-malice
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/731433
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940158932281

 

Order of Rage

Carson Maxwell escapes the grip of her family’s insidious organization, The Order, and carefully crafts a new life as a medical researcher in Boston. When her identity is exposed and she meets Adam Forrester, FBI agent, her life careens off course again, delivering her and Adam into the clutches of the very people Carson ran from.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CVQWRS7/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/order-of-rage/id1391242682?ls=1&mt=11 https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/order-of-rage
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/834566
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940162128151

 

Let’s Connect!

Website:https://www.lisacavinessauthor.com
Twitter:https://twitter.com/LisaCaviness1
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/lisaCavinessWriter
Amazon Author page: https://hyperurl.co/lqr3zk
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Newsletter link:https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r1l3r7

My birthday was a week ago today, but I’m still celebrating. I tend to make it a festival, a birthday fest, as it were. I figure another year alive is more than reason enough to celebrate. I’ll take myself out for breakfast one day and lunch on another. I’ll see a movie and go to one of my favorite stores and buy myself something…besides a new book, although buying a new book is always a good idea.

I write paranormal books, which got me to thinking. The number of birthdays I’ll have in my lifetime is finite, but that’s not the case with many of my characters. I’ve written werewolves, who live for about double a human lifespan. That’s not immortal, but it’s still pretty darn good. I’ve also written about vampires, who will survive as long as they drink blood.

Then there are my drakons, the hybrid sons of full-blooded dragons and human women. They have no idea how long they’ll live, although they’ve already been around for four thousand years and show no sign of aging. They may well live forever. I wonder what birthdays must be like after living all those years. Do they even mark the day? Do they even know the day? Back when they were born records of such events weren’t as meticulously kept as they are now.

That’s what it’s like in the mind of a writer. My thoughts wander down these paths asking questions most people never consider. I love my job.

Whether my drakons celebrate with cake and presents or if they just let the day of their birth pass by like so many other days before, I don’t know. But I do know that there is a new drakon book in my series, just released on November 26th.

Even if it’s not your birthday, you might like to treat yourself.

Drakon’s Tear
Blood of the Drakon, Book 6

Dying isn’t an option. I’ve survived a kidnapping, and now I’m on the run from the Knights of the Dragon who want my gift. There’s nothing a dragon loves more than treasure. I’m Abigail Owens, and I can sense gemstones. When I find myself drawn to a beautiful stone bracelet at a tiny shop in Moscow, I can’t help but have it — even though I can sense it’s power. But I didn’t realize with this one decision I’ve just put myself in the middle of a war between the Knights and a Drakon.

I guess I’m just lucky like that.

The only person I trust even a little is Vasili Zima, which is weird since I’m not sure if he wants to kill me or protect me. I’m drawn to him in a way I hadn’t thought possible, and he feels the same way, or he wouldn’t be risking his life to help me. He’s wanted by the bad guys just as much as I am, and staying with me, well, there’s a hundred percent chance I’m about to get us both killed. But I will not be going down without a fight.

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K6F5WC8/
Entangled: https://entangledpublishing.com/drakon-s-tear.html
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drakons-tear-n-j-walters/1129819271
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/drakons-tear/id1441318340
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/drakon-s-tear

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/awakeningdesires/info
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters