Terry Spear's Blog, page 383

A Countdown to Howl!

Have you any New Year's Goals???

I wrote half of the blogs for the guest blog tour for A Howl for a Highlander before Christmas as the tour is earlier than usual!!! Instead of starting Feb 1 for a Feb 1 release, it's beginning Jan 21!Which means my first New Year's Goal is to write the remaining blogs!!! And finish writing Silence of the Wolf,  start writing the next Highland wolf story and finish it, and the third jaguar story. I've also got to write my next Highland Medieval story as sales are phenomenal, and the next YA fantasy in The Dark Fae series! And I need to pitch another couple or 3 stories to Sourcebooks.

And that's just the beginning.

I'm going to my first RomCon, AAD and I'll be attending RWA Nationals....

Personally, I need to continue cleaning out stuff I don't need or use....I feel so great when I do that...but doing that is hard to do sometimes!!!! I have boxes of stuff in my barn. How much do you want to bet that if I just took them to Goodwill, I'd never miss them? I haven't opened them in 3 years! So it's time to clean out and I've really been working on it. It's almost like losing pounds, which is something else I need to do!!



A Howl for the Highlander (Book 10)

Sourcebooks
Feb 2013
Duncan MacNeill is a Highlander at heart with a mission—find gray wolf and former stockbroker, Silverman who has stolen the family fortune and is purported to be living in the Grand Cayman Islands. As a Highland wolf, Duncan rarely leaves his native homeland and taking a trip to an island paradise doesn’t appeal. But keeping the MacNeill’s ancestral castle depends on making Silverman pay. What Duncan doesn’t plan for is the American botanist who distracts him from his mission and makes him realize what an island paradise really means.Shelley Campbell is teaching botany at a Florida college, when she receives an email from an old girlfriend, who’s renting a villa on the island and wants her to come to stay with her. Figuring she can study the old growth forest while she's there, and lecture about it when she returns home, she has no idea the secrets she might uncover. When her girlfriend’s a no-show, a Highlander turns up instead, and she has a choice—share the villa, or send him away and pay full price for the accommodations—which on her teacher’s salary is stretching things pretty thin. Since he promises to be no trouble at all, she lets him stay. And that’s when the trouble really begins!Amazon
B&N
DebraTaylor, The Night Owl ReviewsScore: 5.00 / 5 - Reviewer Top Pick
"Another fun and sexy read from Terry Spear! The Queen of shifter romance has done it again. Whether it be wolf or jaguar, this author is one of the best in her genre. Howl for a Highlander is the sizzling love story of sexy Scottish werewolf, Duncan MacNeill and his American she-wolf, Shelley Campbell.
If you're in the mood for a fun shifter romance then I recommend trying this awesome story. I guarantee you won't regret it and that, like me, you'll be hooked for life."
Here is the schedule for A Countdown to Howl

1/21 Vampire Romance Books

1/22 Night Owl Reviews

1/23 Sia McKye’s Thoughts Over Coffee

1/24 Literal Addiction

1/25 Under the Covers

1/28 Book Lovin’ Mamas

1/29 Anna’s Book Blog

1/30 Urban Girl Reader

2/1  History Undressed

2/8 Book Lovers, Inc

2/13 Fresh Fiction

2/13 Star Crossed Romance

So are you ready for the New Years? And have lots of new stuff you want to do???

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com 

Vulture with Mohawk

When we're writing, it's fun to use descriptions that readers can really envision and that everyone in the world hasn't already used to describe some critter or situation.

So here is a vulture with a Mohawk feather job. If you notice, the other vultures have the normal "hair" style. So to see one like this, all staticy-cling like, which would be another fun spin on describing his unusual look, readers would envision him differently from all the rest.

He was taking a bath in the otter's exhibit, which is the reason for his different look. But sometimes being out in the world can give us ideas that we can't come up with, sitting in front of a computer screen.

I woke with an epiphany this morning. I love when that happens. I have to tie in the heroine's quest more with the hero's somehow. So I've got to work on that. I knew something was lacking. But I just couldn't come up with what it was. Then, as if a light bulb went off, I had it. Well, maybe not really have IT. I have to still come up with a really good idea...but I know that I need to work on that part of the story. :)

I've known for a while that something was missing, but I just couldn't narrow it down to what. Do you ever do that? You've been mulling over some situation...how to do something, and all of a sudden it comes to you?

Don't you love  it when that happens? Don't you wish it would more often????

Okay, I'm off to work on my epiphany, and I hope you all  have a terrific Thursday!!!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com  

Day After...Lazy, or Harried?

So is your day after Christmas nuts? Like you're running around shopping and crazy stuff like that? Or are you more to play with your Christmas gifts, eat leftovers and chill out???

Today, we're going to a Thai restaurant and then the kids are headed home. We're definitely chilling. It's only 20 degrees!!!

After that, I'm coming home to write!

They got me a Nook, bringing me into the new millennium! Now I just have to buy some books!

I thought I'd reached 70,000 the day before Christmas on Silence of the Wolf. It was wishful thinking. So I've got to make that goal!

Hope no matter what your day is like, you're having a great one!

Happy Christmas after!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Merry Christmas!!!

Storms are knocking out my internet, so really quick, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Thanks so much for loving my books and being wonderful friends! :)

Merry Christmas and I'll be back tomorrow!!!

Terry "Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Birds & Merry Christmas Eve!

Can you tell which of these birds is a predator? 
Merry Christmas Eve! Are you doing anything special? We're seeing the Hobbit! Scratch that. We saw it last night and really enjoyed it!
And we're going to the zoo since the kids haven't seen it, lunch out somewhere, and we're having a special dinner of pasta here and watching a movie. I think The Highlander, since the kids haven't seen it. :)
Merry Christmas Eve!!! 
Terry "Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Coyotes Barking and Howling

Connor had to drop in to say Merry Christmas also!


When working on a story, I love to be able to listen to the sounds that animals make, such as wolves howling, as I heard at the wolf reserve in Texas, broad daylight, but didn't think to record them.

I was on my way to the jaguar pen when the coyotes began to make a racket, so hurried back to see record them.

I missed recording the jaguars the other day as the one was having fits about not being released with the other in the exhibit. So she was roaring over and over again. I thought I was recording and wasn't. So I only got a little bit of the one jaguar doing so the other day. I hadn't before the other times I had seen them. Still, I wished I had caught the sound of the one the other day. She was really upset. And the other was pacing, terribly agitated he couldn't be with her.

I know my videos are a lot shaky, sorry, but I didn't realize (since I couldn't get it to work the last time) that moving in for a closer shot made the subjects blurrier. It looks like in the viewing screen that they're really tiny.

Anyway, I also got some of the tiger cubs playing, so when I'm able to edit both of those, I'll add them.

Have a super Sunday!!!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Bears

I've come to the conclusion I'm just an animal lover. I love bears, and wolves and tigers, Oh My! And pumas and jaguars and...well, the list just goes on.

This is a black bear that lifted his head to see who was taking a picture of him now.

I had a polar bear on the page, but somehow something happened and it was deleted....so no polar bear. He was looking at me too from inside his cave. Okay, neat trick. I had done a preview of the page and it was still up. So I was able to capture the html from it and add it back to this blog. Which was good. I had uploaded these pictures when I was on the faster Internet at my son's house, and was loathe to try it here again! :) He's pretty, soft looking and also nice and dangerous!


Here is a sun bear. He is vicious!!! He will attack. The one in the background doesn't look that mean. Just kind of wrinkly like one of those wrinkly dogs. Can't remember how to spell it. Can you tell I was up too late last night and way up too early this morning?  Sharpei?

I don't recall the name of this bear, but he has a much sweeter disposition. In this picture,  he doesn't look too wild, but he acted like it when we watched him. But from what the post said on it, he will leave you alone. The sun bear? Nope.

We had black bears all over the place when I lived in Oklahoma. Though they didn't seem to be dangerous...they are!

Okay, kids are still sleeping. I should be too...but I'm off to write. :)  Are you doing anything special for your Saturday?


Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Photo Manipulation--A Girl in Water Becomes a Mermaid

Okay, so I had a little bit of fun with some more photo manipulation...I'm truly writing on Silence of the Wolf. But sometimes it's fun to take a break.

http://bellastanyer-stock.deviantart.com/art/STOCK-28-3-Not-Everything-Is-A-Mermaid-That-Dives-340027109
Now it's back to writing!

Don't you ever like to take a break and just have some fun? Speaking of fun, my elfinberries are off getting toys ready for Santa Bear's sleigh. They have to be. I was going to take a new picture of them and can't find them!!! Does this sound like a reoccurring story???


Have a terrific Friday! Tree man's coming! Pest control guy's coming! Daughter and SIL are coming! It's going to be a really busy day!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Sometimes Simple is the Best!

It's fun to see how a simple garland and red bows and wreaths can turn make a place seem so festive for the holidays!

Wanna Coke? I loved this old Coke dispenser. Tried to get a picture of the cat when she was sitting beside it, but she moved. :)

Okay, I'm up at 1 in the morning because the winds are so high, it sounds like my house is being ripped apart. Can't see anything though and I can't believe my satellite is still up.

Hope in the morning I don't find any damages, but it sure sounds awful out there...it says 24 mph winds, but it sounds like gusts are higher...and 21 degrees this morning!

Okay, back to bed. I need earplugs.

Just checked the house to see if it was in one piece in the light of day. Some of the guttering was torn loose and is sitting on the roof by a nail. That's what was banging against the house! Ugh.

Happy Thursday!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Yes, I'm Goofing Off, but...

I should be writing, but... It's nearly Christmas!!! And so I'm entitled, for a few minutes.

Do you recognize these little goats? The 4 Billy Goats Gruff? They were at the Omaha, NE park and were shivering. So I found a nice warm place in a fantasy world for them to live.

I actually played a couple of role-playing games where they had floating islands like this that I had to traverse somehow! So this reminded me of it.

The island and sky and tree are from Smoko-stock!
http://smoko-stock.deviantart.com/art/Wide-Open-Spaces-250528362

Happy Hump Day!!! I'm really, really back to working on Tom's story....no more distractions! :)


Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com