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