Sister Suffragettes, my contribution to this awesome anthology is inspired by an incident in the life of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a Black journalist, newspaper editor and leader in both the women’s suffrage and the civil rights movements.

Because of her outspokenness and refusal to “play nice”, Mrs. Wells-Barnett often found herself at odds with the women’s suffrage movement. As a result, the leaders of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) insisted that she not march with the Illinois delegation at President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, where they were demanding the right to vote. The reason? A black woman marching alongside whites would offend some Southern women.

But Ida had other plans. On March 9, 1913, she watched the parade from the crowd until the Illinois delegation had passed then joined in, protected from angry Southerners by white women sympathetic to the plight of all women, regardless of race.

Please read on to find out more about the anthology and to enter a great giveaway.

It’s finally here. HerStory. Available to the masses. And to honor release day, we’re having a party. Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win some terrific prizes. *U.S. residents only*

Here’s what’s up for grabs.

First Grand Prize

First Grand Prize

Because they have the same agenda: empowering girls/women, Keira’s Kollection owner Mr. Wagstaff has graciously agreed to donate a Strong is Beautiful T-shirt. One very lucky woman is not only going to walk away with a paperback copy of HerStory and be empowered through words, but she will also be showing her empowerment right there on her shirt.

And that’s not all, the grand prize winner also gets a pair of earrings from Cathy from Etsy, who runs Yesware. The earrings sparkle one side and have a message on the other side: the greatest story never told.

Only, we’re telling it, the authors of HerStory. We are telling it.

Author Laura DeLuca has donated an incense diffuser to go along with some handmade soap from Greenchild Creations.

And we’re throwing an e-book into this mix. Why soap and diffusers? What does that have to do with women’s history?

In HerStory, Mathilda of Ringelheim runs a bath house. It seems appropriate to honor herstory this way.

AND as Mathilda seems to know, every woman needs soap and every woman needs time to relax. So one lucky winner will take a nice long shower with her fantastic handmade soap, set her diffuser on a table, and curl up with HerStory on her kindle. Who says you can’t be relaxed and empowered at the same time? (and smell good)

Another donation from Laura DeLuca: an ebook, a Japanese tea set, and an Oriental incense diffuser. How does this tie into HerStory?

In Please Stay, Asuka, a Japanese wife of the 1600s, is preparing the evening meal while awkwardly trying to discuss a matter–somewhat delicate–but of great importance with her husband.

As you get lost in your ebook, in Asuka’s story (penned by Becca Diane), you can pretend you are there. Perhaps you feel your husband’s penetrating stare. But you serve him his tea, straighten your spine, and say what needs to be said…then wait, breath held, for his reply, incense lightening the tension in the air…

One lucky winner will have a chance to make their voice heard on the radio…with a $25 Amazon gift card burning a hole in their pocket!

HerStory goes behind the scenes to locate the stories of women who lived, laughed, and touched the lives of generations…

Now, here is your chance to have your story told to the world….or your mother’s…it’s your chance to talk about the most inspiring woman or women in YOUR life. Shout it out! Tell listeners everywhere about this amazing person. Honor her!

This prize is being donated by Indie Reviews Behind the Scenes.

Four of these tins of mints are being donated by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. That means four lucky winners are going to win a tin of mints to carry around in their pockets and every time they look at the tin, they’ll be empowered!

The tin is also the perfect size to serve as a pillbox once the mints are gone. This is something you can keep for a LONG time.

Author and editor Tara Chevrestt has a secret addiction and hobby. It makes her feel like an old lady, so she keeps it under wraps, but now the truth is out…

She likes to cross stitch!!!

And with the suffragette tales (Sister Suffragettes by Dahlia DeWinters and Chevrestt’s own From You No and Silent Suffragette) in the back of her mind, she found a pattern on Etsy by Patternbird and set to stitching.

Two lucky winners will walk away with these. They are 3.25″ by 6″ and have a hard backing so they may be placed on a wall.



PRIZE 7, ONE WINNER, FLAPPER-STYLE HATDonated from Rakestraw Book Design.

Toni Rakestraw, one of the HerStory contributors, is stitching this hat so one lucky reader can–in her mind–march in a suffragette parade as she reads HerStory. Or perhaps this is something Margaret Sanger would have worn as she leaves the workhouse in The Woman Rebel.

You’ve heard the term multi-published and many of HerStory’s authors can place that before their name, but how about multi-talented?

Author Morgan Summerfield can not only write as she shoes us in Adella, but she can paint too! She is kindly donating a painting 27″ wide by 11″ high, titled Morning Poppies. The frame is handmade with real wood and she stretches all her own canvases. It is hand-painted-by her!-in multimedia.

And last, but certainly not least, we have a lovely Coco Chanel quote pendant donated by the lovely Jewelry Designs by Lula. One winner will win this delightful pendant that says  A girl should be things: WHO and WHAT she wants.

I could not have said it better.

Enter for all prizes using the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is for three weeks. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond with their snail mail addresses. After 48 hours, new winners will be chosen.

Thank you and enjoy HerStory! Be empowered! Learn something. Believe in yourself and womankind.

Buy links:

Smashwords

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m fortunate. I have an office to which I can retreat and type my little masterpieces. Let me give you a peek into what I look at every day. Enjoy!

A plant that I picked up for two bucks at the grocer’s.  Sale!!

A teapot that I fell in love with at a thrift shop.
Had to have it for 5 bucks.

 Coffee (or tea)  cup – one of many.

Makeup bag.  It’s pretty psychedelic! 

And packed full.

Harley Teddy!  He doesn’t really have a name.

Any suggestions?

As a romance author, I’ve written quite a few short stories and read even more.  I’ve read short stories by industry authors as well as the “classics” by Edgar Allen Poe, O. Henry, Richard Matheson and Stephen King.  In addition, I’ve read anthologies of short stories.  As an author, I feel that I am in a constant state of learning and try my best to expose myself to a variety of writing and writers.

There was one thing I noticed about the good short stories:  they didn’t explain me to death.  Nothing bothers me more than a short story that tries to tell me every detail of each character’s back story in the first three paragraphs.  It bores me.  It bogs me down.  Ditto to the over-explanations after each character does something. “She brushed her hair, something that she had done for years and her mother had done before she perished in a terrible auto accident seven years ago with her father on a rainy day.” Too much information at once.

A fellow author of mine asked me how I wrote a short story.  Given that I’m no great writing genius—believe me, a woman knows her limitations—I gave them the best advice I could:  start in medias res and weave in your back story from there.  Notice I said “weave” in your back story”  I didn’t say “plop” it on the table in front of the reader like an half-baked cake.

I give my readers all the credit in the world.  I don’t try to tell them every single detail about the character from kindergarten on up.  In a short story, I try to give you just enough for you to understand the character in the situation at that moment in time.

Think of the short story as a snapshot from a picnic.  The children are playing in the background, two women are chatting at a table while a man hands a plate to teenage girl with a sad face.  If it is the teen’s story, I don’t need to write you a history of what happened to her in third grade when she lost the science contest, do I?  It’s not germane to the story of the teen girl.

But I do have to tell you that in fifth grade, there was a girl who bullied her mercilessly and the teen has just found out that this same girl will be in her ninth grade class when school starts in September.  Do I need to tell you the bully girl’s history?  I don’t think so, because the story is about the teen girl in the picture at a summer picnic.  She is the main character.

Short stories are difficult to write.  It seems that there is always more to tell of a character’s life, right?  Well, there is.  It’s simply not going to be told in that particular story and perhaps you’ll have to fill that in for yourself.

What are your thoughts on the short story?  Are they fun to read?  Are they fun to write? Leave your opinion in the comments.

Dahlia/TSS