NaNoNeNow . . . Na Nu Na Nu??

November is apparently the month in which to write a novel. I know, I know, you’re thinking but people write all the time. But it’s like OFFICIALLY the month. Somebody somewhere a billion years ago declared November the national month to write a book. It even has a spiffy sounding title, though for the life of me I can never remember what it is. The whole point of this is to write 50,000 words in a month. I’ve thought about doing it in the past, but never really got on the bandwagon. My reasons are endless, but the main one was I was a classroom teacher and didn’t have the time or energy to put into anything other than teaching. Now, though, I am a museum educator. I’m still a teacher, but don’t have all those pesky teacher things to deal with . . . say for instance, kids. So this year I could do this. I could, but wasn’t planning on it until the phone call.

Last night, my bestie Jessica Jarman called me and told me she was doing this novel in a month deal. The reason? A challenge . . . she was challenged by her daughters! Her thirteen year old tossed it out first and then the eleven year old joined the fray. Hello? Who wants to be whooped up on by two kids? The oldest asked if I was doing it and Jess asked me to join them. To sweeten the pot we decided to throw a reward out for the one who writes the most words. Each week we are donating money toward a Starbucks gift card to the person who writes the most. Oh, baby, I am there!!! I love Starbucks. I live for Starbucks. So who’s going to be writing a novel in a month? This girl is! Hell, I might even write 2, you never can tell with Starbucks as a motivator. So I will say may the best person win, but I already know it’s me. So I guess the
best person will win. Heh!

Inside Looking Out Part 4

Okay, so I was going to whine . . . I mean write all about how hard writing is. But I got sidetracked and decided to share with you that I lead a double life, a secret life. Mild mannered writer by day and by . . . ummm, other day I'm a spy. Yep, that's right I am a spy. I know it's unbelievable and pretty cool, but there you have it. And who you ask am I a spy for? Or should that be whom? Whatever, I am a spy for the Union and the Confederacy. I'm sure you're wondering how the heck I ended up being a spy for two groups that haven't really existed for 150 years. It's all about the history museum. So we're opening our new exhibit entitled Civil War: My Brother, My Enemy and I happened to be riding the elevator with one of our curators. She and I were talking and I told her if she needed help to let me know. That's when she gave me my assignment: Be A Spy. I shrugged and said, "Sure." Heh. We spies are cool like that.

She brought me two replica cypher wheels, one from the Confederacy and the other Union. My task was to create three messages for each one and then put them into code. I didn't want them to be incredibly long since I knew visitors were going to try and break the code, but I didn't want them to be super easy either. It took a good hour or so to come up with them and put them into code. I had one of the people I work with check them all to make sure they were right and whammo I had created 6 secret messages.

So, if you happen to come by the museum and run into those cypher wheels you can see what a writer/spy does during the day. You can also try your hand at decyphering them, but just know I'm watching you. You may not see me, but I can always see you. We spies are tricky like that.

--GC

Inside Looking Out Pt. 3

Have I mentioned that most of us working at the museum are total history geeks? Well if I haven't, let me just say that we are. And we aren't just your typical history geeks we're . . .unique, unique history geeks. To illustrate this point, let me tell you about the "fight" that's currently going on between some of my geeky co-workers. These people will of course remain anonymous to protect their identities, blah, blah, blah. For the sake of the story they shall be dubbed Jodi and Kelly, because those are sooooooo totally random names. Anyway, so Kelly, um wait . . . "Kelly"is one of the absolutely fabu curators that work here taking care of artifacts and creating exhibits. Jodi . . . sorry, "Jodi" is a really good friend and she's also my boss in the education center.

To start out the story, the museum is currently prepping for an exhibit entitled Civil War: My Brother, My Enemy which opens in October. Part of the prep calls for the creation of text panels, which of course contain photos. One of the photos that'll be used is of a man named Major John Davidson whose family lived here in Kentucky. Oh, his picture is to the left so you can get a look at him. Anyway, there's a mock-up of the panel with him on it downstairs across the hall from the curators' office. Next to his photo is a sticky note that reads something like "Back up off him you Ho. He's my man." This was written by Kelly . . . wait "Kelly," apparently in answer to some email that had been sent claiming ownership of said man. Next to the sticky note is another one in the shape of a heart that reads "J.L. + J.D. = True Love." Who, you ask, rendered this scathing reply to the Ho note? Jodi . . . "Jodi" of course. Under all that, is another sticky note that reads: "He doesn't want either one of you. He loves me. M" I'm sure you are wondering who the mysterious M is. It's another person who works in the exhibits area named Monty . . . wait "Monty" who figured he might as well jump in and add his dog to the fight, as it were. Now "Monty" is married with a baby daughter, but that never stopped a history geek before right??

Personally, I think he's handsome, but not worth all the carrying on and threats. And, truly, my man could whoop him any day of the week. To top it off, he is a much higher rank that a mere major. Finally, he truly is desperately in love with me. So notes of congratulation can be sent to me and General Ulysses Grant (left) at my email addy. I'll certainly keep you all apprised of our budding romance and how the "Ho" fight eventually ends.

--GC

Hysterical Paroxysm or Hell to the Yeah!!!!

So I'm sitting here watching this show called Curiosity on the Science Channel. Because, as you know, I am wildly interested in furthering my knowledge on any subject. Additionally, I am a life-long learner, as it were. Okay, whatever, I also waste a ton of time when I should be writing. I'm the queen at finding other things to do other than write. But this is totally research, I swear. The show I am now watching is all about the orgasm. See . . . I'm an author of erotic romance so I'm gaining knowledge to use in my books.

I discovered that there is a museum in New York that contains the very first vibrators. These came about because doctors decided that women needed a "hysterical paroxysm" to keep them healthy. So women would go to the doctor to receive one of these. *snicker* Because it got hard . . . I mean difficult for these doctors to get all these women off so vibrators were developed to make it easier to give women the paroxysms quickly. Can you imagine? Going to the doctor's office to pay a doctor to give you an orgasm?? Soon though these handy-dandy machines were being offered in catalogs like Sears.

Anyway, out of this entire hour it comes down *giggle* to it just feeling good and being good for you. Really? It took a bunch of scientists and even more money to come up with this conclusion? Hell, I could have told them that and they wouldn't even have to pay me that much. I mean, look at how well romance novels sell. Who wants to read about a woman who never has an orgasm? Or whose love life is so boring you'd just prefer to eat a bowl of ice cream? Yeah, me neither. We want . . . no we need to read about people having mind-blowing sex usually contained within a relationship. So, hell yeah it's good for us.

But I think this shows us that sex, for women, is all in the mind. In fact, there was a woman in the show who thought herself to orgasm. She didn't touch herself or use a vibrator, nothing, she just thought it. Wow, can you imagine doing that? Sitting on the bus or at our desk and whammo we have an orgasm. Hmmm, now that is a good way to spend some time.

Inside Looking Out Pt 2

Okay, so I'm back again to talk about my totally cool job at The Frazier History Museum. One of the coolest things about the museum are the tableaux that you can find all throughout the floors. I'm sure you are asking about now, "Gwen, what is a tableau?" And I am here to tell you that they are life-like figures that represent moments in history. Such as the one to the left, which represents the Battle of Towton. They are made from fiberglass, but let me tell you if you couldn't touch them (which you can't cause you don't work here) you'd think they were real. :-)

I often get children that come up and tell me the figures move. My first response is the pat thing about not having a cool Egyptian tablet like Night at the Museum so they can't move. They are fake, blah, blah, blah. But sometimes I get those persistent kids that listen, somewhat impatiently, to this line of bull and still tell me the figures moved. One kid told me that a figure winked at him even after I explained that there was no way since the figures are not alive. When he still kept tell me it winked, I of course did the totally adult things and said, "Well did you wink back?" He thought briefly and said, "No." My reply, "Well next time just wink. He gets bored and likes to make friends." He's satisfied, I'm satisfied, life moves on.

So the next time you go into a museum and find they have tableaux. Wink at them. They get lonely and just want to be noticed.

Inside Looking Out

By the title of this post you might think I'm going to talk about how I spent my time in the big house, the pokie, the . . . ummm, whatever else people call prison. Yeah, but I'm not because I got nothing for you on that score. But what I can talk about, at great length is what it's like to work in a museum.

When I'm not churning out tales of erotic romance I am an educator at a history museum, which has got to be one of the coolest jobs ever! The museum contains artifacts that date back to the Bronze Age (3000 BCE) and all the way up to the early 20th Century. This makes for a huge mish-mash of knowledge and fun facts I have stored up in my brain. I can't always access those facts, but they're there all the same. I swear! Or as the older people say around here, "I swanee!"

Anyway, Our newest artifact on display is the 18th Century Samurai armor (pictured left). This is ten kinds of cool and what's even cooler? I got to touch it!!!! One of the curators offered me a glove so I could actually handle this amazing piece of history. What girl would turn that down? Yeah, nobody I know. So I touched. *g* Now I've got ideas for a book churning in my head. What else would a writer who works in a museum do, but come up with stories to go along with this stuff? That's the beauty of working here. I never feel as if I'm "wasting" time when I could be writing since my mind is going constantly.

I am someone who can truly say that I love my job!

Resolutions!

Hmmm, can one make resolutions in August? Ah well I never claimed to be a normal citizen so I'm walking my own walk and making my resolutions now. I guess I feel it's time to get up and get moving. My Mom died a year ago in July and to say this past year has been difficult is putting it mildly. A list of my accomplishments for the year is sad at best. I gained 25 pounds (yah Gwen O_o), started 6 books, but didn't finish any and the only exercise I got was walking to the refrigerator. *sigh* Not anything to be proud of, that's for sure. Last Thursday, August 2nd, is when I decided enough is enough. I am now exercising. I've done Tae Bo almost everyday, gave up all soft drinks, and am eating better. This Wednesday I am flying to Philadelphia to attend the Authors After Dark Conference where I will meet up with my writing partner in crime, Jessica Jarman. Together we are going to jump into writing and get moving. I have other things I want to accomplish this year, but so far I am pretty happy with the path I'm on.

Congrats!!!!!!!!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Erin Cavin

2nd PRIZE

Theresa Angelosanto

3rd PRIZE

Tracey D

Congratulations!!

We'd like to thank everyone who entered. We were thrilled at the response and are so excited. The above winners will be contacted via email and will need to respond to Jessica (jessica@jessicajarman.com) within three (3) days to claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Jessica, Devon, Bronwyn, Gwendolyn, Kris and Suzanne

Brand New Fantastical Contest!!!!

The sizzling height of summer is coming! And what better way to beat the heat than with a brand new Nook Wi Fi 3G OR Kindle 3G with Wi Fi!

Six sexy authors of erotic romance are coming together with a fabulous giveaway this summer solstice! And entering couldn't be simpler.

Just visit each of our blogs beginning June 14th, and leave a comment on the contest post with:

* your name (or user name) and contact email, and
* your top two (2) choices from the author's backlist to kick-start your E-Reader library should you win.

Contest will close at Noon ET on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011, and a winner will be drawn at 1:16pm ET from all the readers who commented on all six blogs:

Gwendolyn Cease at gwendolyncease.blogspot.com

Suzanne Graham at suzannegraham.blogspot.com

Bronwyn Green at bronwyngreenblog.blogspot.com

Jessica Jarman at jessicajarman.blogspot.com

Kris Norris at krisnorris.blogspot.com

Devon Rhodes at devonrhodes.blogspot.com


The Grand Prize winner will receive their choice of a brand new Nook Wi Fi 3G OR Kindle 3G with Wi Fi *PLUS* two ebooks of their choice from each author!

Second Prize will be winner's choice of two ebooks from each author's backlist...that's 12 new books!

Third Prize will be winner's choice of one ebook from each author's backlist for a total of 6 books!

More surprises and prizes at each blog, so what are you waiting for? When summer hits its height, you could be the winner!!


Details:

* In order to be eligible for the drawing, you must leave a comment at each of the six blogs with your email address and choice of two books. We're sorry, but anyone who misses a blog or forgets to leave their contact info will be disqualified.
* All comments must be posted by 12:00 Noon, ET, on June 21st.

* Valid entry comments must be in response to the official Contest post on each blog, although we also welcome comments on other posts, so feel free to poke around!

* The E-Reader will be shipped to the winner's house. Ebooks will be emailed separately to the winner.

* Winner must respond to Jessica within three days or an alternate winner will be announced.

GOOD LUCK!!

Crushing on Some Boy

Okay, so when I was a wee babe, much wee-er (is that a word) anyway than I thought, I had the most horrible crush on Tony DeFranco. Now, those of you who aren't of a certain age are probably saying, "Who the hell is he?" Well he was just the cutest little thing in a skin-tight powder blue jumpsuit with huge bell bottoms you'd ever want to see. Oh and the sequin belt, cannot forget that most important accessory to just overload a guy with manliness. Anyway, he and his family (think the Jackson 5, but not that much talent) had a song out called A Heartbeat is a Love Beat and I loved him. I thought he was the next best thing to a chocolate chip cookie or something like that. He made my little 7 year-old heart go pitter-patter or mayhaps would that be a "love beat."

I'm sure you are wondering why the crap I am bringing all this up. I will tell you, so hold your horses. My BFF and writing partner Jessica Jarman and I were on IM and we were chatting about stuff when I mentioned I had found the song. So I sent it to her. Then I went in search of the video. I knew there would be one. These people had a TV show, though I do not know how. So I found them on www.youtube.com dancing and singing their little hearts out and sent it to Jess. Where we spent the next 5 minute laughing uncontrollably. Between the posh outfits (powder blue jumpsuits) and the incredible dance moves (bad karate kicks and shoulder shrugs) we were weeping by the time it was over.

The point of all this is something along the lines of you can't go back. But, of course, that would be if I were mature and such. No, as most my friends will tell you, I'm pretty much 12 on a good day so MY point is go back and look at who you had a crush on when you were a kid. If you're still crushing on those types of people . . . RUN AWAY!!!!! Because believe me I have way outgrown jumpsuits and sequined belts. . . or not. :-D

Resolutions????

I don't usually make resolutions for the new year. The reason? I never keep them. Oh if I said something like I'll give up rolling skating or I'll eat candy this year then heck yeah I'm all on board. But the important stuff or the stuff I really need to do is a big old zero. But this year is different because I'm different. As many people know last year totally and absolutely blew majorly. I broke my right leg and ankle in 3 places, my dog died, my cat died and finally to top all the crappiness off my mother died. To say I was down is putting it mildly. All I kept thinking was, just get the year over with. And now it is over I am concentrating on making this year the best it can be.

To that end, I've started writing every day, which is something I haven't done in a while. I have nearly 5k on a new manuscript and am feeling great about it. I've signed up to attend Authors After Dark in Philly in August and I am taking my writing seriously. On the personal front, I have slowly started to exercise again. Nothing huge, but any little bit helps. Also, I plan on cooking a lot more. No more cereal for dinner. Will I backslide at times? Probably, but so what? I plan on jumping right back up the next day and getting right back to life.

This year is going to be the best!! I plan on making it that way

--GC

Midweek Thoughts

So here I sit on a quiet Wednesday night. Don't know where any of my loser cats are, they're usually lounging around on the bed with me. But for a change, I'm alone. Wooo, for me. I was going to watch Mythbusters, but decided I would write instead. I opened the file on my current book and stared at it. You know what the biggest pain is for me as a writer? During the day at my other job I'm playing out scenes in my head. I can hear conversations between my characters, word for word. But by the time I make it home and do all the things I have to do . . . it's gone. Jeez louise, this whole working thing totally cramps my style. My friend and writing partner Jessica Jarman and I often discuss winning a huge lottery, but then we realize we would probably have to play to win. As with most things, we'd have to remember to get a ticket and that doesn't happen very often. Oh we talk a big stick about what we would do with the money. Buy, rent, whatever a beach house and live near the water all summer long. That's our big dream other than becoming huge Nora Roberts-esque best selling authors. I figured we could so do both and learn to adapt to our new life styles. But, once again, we'd have to buy that ticket . . oh and win. That's the other thing we'd so have to do. *sigh* Yep, I guess I'll keep my day job at the museum and keep writing at night. But if anything changes, believe me, I will certainly let everyone know. *bg*

--GC

NOOK CONTEST RESULTS!!!

NOOK CONTEST RESULTS!!!

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Terra Pennington

2nd PRIZE

Miranda (Sweet Vernal Zephyr)

3rd PRIZE

Jason

Congratulations!!

We'd like to thank everyone who entered. We were thrilled at the response and are so excited. The above winners will be contacted via email and will need to respond to Jessica (jessica@jessicajarman.com) within three (3) days to claim their prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Congratulations to the winners!

__GC

Contest Almost Over?? Already??

Yeah, I cannot believe it either. We're almost to the 11th! Heck, we're almost to the middle of the month already. Jeez louise, it goes so fast I often wonder where the time goes. There's only a few more days to enter the contest to win a Nook Color so make sure you jump on it. You have to comment on the actual contest post which is the one below.

--GC

Win a Nook Color for the New Year!!

Six sexy authors of erotic romance are coming together with a fabulous giveaway to usher in the wonderful New Year!! Entering couldn't be simpler.

Just visit each of our blogs beginning Monday, January 3rd and leave a comment on the contest post with:

* your name or user name and contact email and

* your top two (2) choices from the author's backlist to kick-start your Nook library should you win

Contest will close at Noon ET on Tuesday, January 11, 2011, and a winner will be drawn at 1:11pm ET from all the readers who commented on all six blogs:

Gwendolyn Cease at www.gwendolyncease.blogspot.com

Susanne Graham at www.suzannegraham.blogspot.com

Bronwyn Green at www.bronwyngreenblog.blogspot.com

Jessica Jarman at www.jessicajarman.blogspot.com

Kris Norris at www.krisnorris.blogspot.com

Devon Rhodes at www.devonrhodes.blogspot.com

**The Grand Prize winner will receive a brand new Nook Color and two ebooks of his/her choice from each author!

**Second Prize will be winner's choice of ebook from each author's backlist

**Third Prize will be winner's choice of an available print book personalized and signed by the author

More surprises and prizes at each blog, so what are you waiting for? The clock is ticking, and when it comes up all ones, you could be the winner!

Details:

* In order to be eligible for the drawing, you must leave a comment at each of the six blogs with your email address and choice of two books. We're sorry, but anyone who misses a blog or forgets to leave their contact info will be disqualified.

* All comments must be posted by 12:00 Noon, ET, on January 11th.

* Valid entry comments must be in response to the official Contest pot on each blog, although we also welcome comments on other posts, so feel free to poke around!

* The Nook will be shipped directly from the store to the winner's house. Ebooks will be emailed separately to the winner.

* Winner must repond to Jessica within three days or an alternate winner will be announced.

Go to my website (http://www.gwendolyncease.com) and see all available titles. Unfortunately, Blood Bond is no longer available. Sorry!!! If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me at gwendolyncease@insightbb.com

Good Luck!!

--GC

Being Taken to Class

So I'm sitting here watching TV and turned it on the new Oprah channel. There's a show called Master Class, which is people with experience talking about stuff. So here I am, 44 year old white writer, teacher, etc and I discover Jay-Z talking on this show. And damn the man is so intelligent and so . . . insightful. He's talking about integrity and believing in yourself and this constant striving for more in life. Yep, he is taking me to class and I am learning from what he says. I've heard his music before and even have a song on my MP3 player, but beyond that I don't know anything about him. But now, with this program, he is saying things that make sense to me. He is saying things that I can think about and mull over beyond the hour he will be on my television.

I guess the whole point of this rambling is to say that we can learn from anyone at anytime. All we have to do is open our ears and our mind and our heart. We need to listen to one another, no matter what the message is and learn to understand one another. Everyday we are given an opportunity and we need to take it and make something of it. If I learned nothing from last year, I learned that time is short. We need to take hold of life with both hands and get what we can out of it. No matter what.

--GC