BE SURE TO JOIN JESSICA, KRIS & GWENDOLYN FOR THEIR
11/17/14
FUN & PRIZES TO WIN
INCLUDING THE GRAND PRIZE – A KINDLE FIRE HD 6
General Random Sorts of Questions
for Gwendolyn Cease
What’s a typical day like for you? Right now my typical day is spent going between job hunting and writing. I usually do quite a bit of social media in the morning. After lunch I am on the Internet job searching, then in the late afternoon and into the evening I write.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? I have two greatest accomplishments. The first would be actually finishing a book and submitting it for publication. My second would be going to college. I didn’t go right after high school. Instead, I went out and got a job. Luckily, for me I began working at a local university. I now have 2 undergraduates and a masters in teaching.
Do you have any collections? Unfortunately, yes. I collect dolls, but not things like Madame Alexander. Nope, I go for the weird and eclectic. So I have Begoths, which I love. I also collect music, because I listen to it all the time.
What are your hobbies? I love to knit and I make jewelry. Also, my sister and I are getting into polymer clay.
Are there any skills you’d like to learn? I’d love to get more skilled at knitting. I really want to make my own sweater one day.
What sound do you love? I love the sound of waves hitting the shore. My favorite vacation was when I went to Mexico and sat by the ocean for an entire week. It was amazingly relaxing.
What sound do you hate? Loud, booming music coming from cars. I love music, but when all I can hear is the heavy bass that’s not music.
What’s your favorite curse word? Fuck, of course. It’s a multi-use word. You can punctuate a sentence with it or, even better, it can be used all by its lonesome and everyone knows what you’re talking about.
Dog or cat person? I love both, but I have cats now and just love them.
Coffee or tea? Tea! But it has to be loose leaf and brewed correctly. *sigh* I’m a tea snob.
City or country? Country. My cousin has a 15-acre farm and I love it out there. It’s so quiet and she has a creek that runs through her property with a waterfall. Totally amazing to sit and listen to it. I would love to have a house near the woods one day with my own stream and waterfall.
Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Trek. My dad introduced me to it when I was a kid and I’ve watched every single incarnation of it on TV and at the movies.
Buffy, Angel or Firefly? Firefly because I love Nathan Fillion. He is an amazing actor and just seems to be a genuinely nice person.
Pirate or ninja? Ninja! The whole idea of working covertly is so cool. But if someone does discover who you are, you can just whip up on them and disappear into the night.
Morning or night person? Night. I’ve always been a night person and I find I get the most work done at night. The later it gets the more awake and ready to go I am.
Procrastinator or get things done early? Procrastinator! Ask any of my friends and they will tell you. I’m really bad about putting things off until the last second. On the flipside, when I was in college I tried to get everything done early. I kept a calendar of when papers were due and I would crank them out one at a time.
Introvert or Extrovert? Introvert. I love being with people. I love talking with and learning about people. I love hanging out with my friends. But at a certain point I have to leave because I’m exhausted. It takes all my energy to be ON. So I have to retreat to someplace quiet so I can be alone, read, listen to music, write.
What do you like best about writing? I love making up my own worlds, places and people. I love the process of sitting down and just having the story roll out onto the page.
What do you like least? When I’m forced to do something other than write, especially when the story is flowing and I have to leave it to do something else.
Do you have a day job aside from writing? I did, I worked at a museum as an educator, but was laid off back in July. So, while I look for another job, I am spending all my time writing. So far I’ve finished 2 books so I’ve certainly been keeping busy.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? I have two greatest accomplishments. The first would be actually finishing a book and submitting it for publication. My second would be going to college. I didn’t go right after high school. Instead, I went out and got a job. Luckily, for me I began working at a local university. I now have 2 undergraduates and a masters in teaching.
Do you have any collections? Unfortunately, yes. I collect dolls, but not things like Madame Alexander. Nope, I go for the weird and eclectic. So I have Begoths, which I love. I also collect music, because I listen to it all the time.
What are your hobbies? I love to knit and I make jewelry. Also, my sister and I are getting into polymer clay.
Are there any skills you’d like to learn? I’d love to get more skilled at knitting. I really want to make my own sweater one day.
What sound do you love? I love the sound of waves hitting the shore. My favorite vacation was when I went to Mexico and sat by the ocean for an entire week. It was amazingly relaxing.
What sound do you hate? Loud, booming music coming from cars. I love music, but when all I can hear is the heavy bass that’s not music.
What’s your favorite curse word? Fuck, of course. It’s a multi-use word. You can punctuate a sentence with it or, even better, it can be used all by its lonesome and everyone knows what you’re talking about.
Dog or cat person? I love both, but I have cats now and just love them.
Coffee or tea? Tea! But it has to be loose leaf and brewed correctly. *sigh* I’m a tea snob.
City or country? Country. My cousin has a 15-acre farm and I love it out there. It’s so quiet and she has a creek that runs through her property with a waterfall. Totally amazing to sit and listen to it. I would love to have a house near the woods one day with my own stream and waterfall.
Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Trek. My dad introduced me to it when I was a kid and I’ve watched every single incarnation of it on TV and at the movies.
Buffy, Angel or Firefly? Firefly because I love Nathan Fillion. He is an amazing actor and just seems to be a genuinely nice person.
Pirate or ninja? Ninja! The whole idea of working covertly is so cool. But if someone does discover who you are, you can just whip up on them and disappear into the night.
Morning or night person? Night. I’ve always been a night person and I find I get the most work done at night. The later it gets the more awake and ready to go I am.
Procrastinator or get things done early? Procrastinator! Ask any of my friends and they will tell you. I’m really bad about putting things off until the last second. On the flipside, when I was in college I tried to get everything done early. I kept a calendar of when papers were due and I would crank them out one at a time.
Introvert or Extrovert? Introvert. I love being with people. I love talking with and learning about people. I love hanging out with my friends. But at a certain point I have to leave because I’m exhausted. It takes all my energy to be ON. So I have to retreat to someplace quiet so I can be alone, read, listen to music, write.
What do you like best about writing? I love making up my own worlds, places and people. I love the process of sitting down and just having the story roll out onto the page.
What do you like least? When I’m forced to do something other than write, especially when the story is flowing and I have to leave it to do something else.
Do you have a day job aside from writing? I did, I worked at a museum as an educator, but was laid off back in July. So, while I look for another job, I am spending all my time writing. So far I’ve finished 2 books so I’ve certainly been keeping busy.
Laira Marshall had to admit—getting kidnapped wasn’t something she’d expected. Discovering her kidnappers were aliens who planned on selling her into sexual slavery, definitely tipped the scales into the truly bizarre. But she’s determined to fight her way through this—until their slave ship is attacked, and Laira’s faced with an entirely new problem.
Rakin and Dev are the leaders of the Sandaki—a race genetically engineered to fight. Using their enhanced traits, they’ve freed their people and have devoted their lives to seeking out those who enslaved them. They never considered the concept of love—or that one woman could bring them to their knees.
With unknown enemies working against them, the three lovers must come together not only to save themselves, but the Sandaki race itself.
Mated is a sci-fi ménage, and, I know from beta-ing it, it’s fabulous. Can you tell us what inspired the story?
It actually came from a dream I had. Totally bizarre, off the wall kind, but when I woke up I thought, “Okay, what would happen if aliens came here to kidnap someone?” I was in school, at the time and I decided to make Laira a student, so it made it easy for me to really identify with her state of mind. Rakin and Dev showed up due to another book I was plotting. The story revolved around two warriors buying a sex slave at auction. So, I kind of mashed the stories together and ended up with Mated.
I’d like to hear a little bit about Laira, Rakin and Dev – can you share a bit?
Laira is a regular, ever day person. She doesn’t possess any special powers or skills. She works full-time and goes to school part-time, just like a lot of people do. I wanted readers to be able to identify with her, even though she’s in this totally crazy situation. Rakin and Dev are warriors and the ultimate leaders of their people. The Sandaki are a race that were created to fight, but managed to free themselves. When the three of them meet, they really don’t know what to make of each other. They know they belong together, but they don’t understand one another.
Can you tell us about any upcoming stories? Will we see more from this world?
The next book I’m working on is called Hard Time and it’s a straight contemporary romance. I think it will release in February. After that I’m back to the Promises vampire series I release through Resplendence Publishing. This book is called Broken Promise and will feature Reaper and Quenton. As for my people in Mated, yes I will continue that story since Laira wasn’t the only woman rescued from the slavers. Her three best friends Chal, Garja, and Isha couldn’t go home so they will certainly need stories.
Gwendolyn Cease has been writing ever since she was old enough to pick up a pen. From the very beginning, her stories involved handsome heroes, tough heroines, and happily ever after. Even as she slogged through two undergraduate degrees and a master’s in education, writing remained top priority. Though she now works full-time as a history museum educator, she still makes time for her characters and their never-ending adventures.
Currently, Gwendolyn lives in Kentucky with her incredibly spoiled cats. If you’d like to contact her, she’d love to hear from you. She loves to hear from anyone who enjoys a good book, especially the ones she’s written. You can email her at gwendolyncease@insightbb.com.
