Terry Spear's Blog, page 394

A Giveaway--1st at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales!

I'm up at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales!!!

That's me! A petit four and hot tamale rolled up in one! LOL! Yuck, you say.

I'm talking about the fun of putting your book in print--NOT--and about learning new things, like....diving into the world of jaguar shifters!

So please come by and say hi! It's my first tour date and thanks to Carol, one of my critique partners, she reminded me I was up there today. Why was that good? Remember I mentioned earlier this week I was excited to be there?

I have the date on my big calendar even! It's right there in bright red marker! And...I didn't write the blog. :) I was POSITIVE I had sent it. I mean, except for 6 interviews I haven't received yet, ALL the blogs are in.

Except for that one. The first one.

In my article I mentioned It's a Monday!? Well, that was part of the reason I wrote that article the way I did!

SAVAGE HUNGER!

So I'm leaving you with a hot hunk of a jaguar shifter and returning to the hunky Highlanders in Highland Rake. I know. I'm totally fickle.

Oh, and I loved John Carter. What did I love most about him? His muscles, and after he married the princess, he was wearing a Scottish sash. *sigh* And through most of the movie that counted he was wearing nearly a kilt. But a little shorter to show off allllll those muscles.

Have a super great Wednesday!! And Happy Hump Day!

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

Redressing My Hero and Heroine--Need Cover Opinion

 I needed to change the color of his kilt because he's a MacNeill and it's primarily blue. I kept thinking her skirt looked too modern, so I made it blue to match his sash and kilt. :)  Then I changed out the color on her blouse to make it all one color. I like the contrast, but the women didn't wear blouses and skirts like that so if I made it a uniform color with her skirt, it might look a tiny more authentic. What do you all prefer in a cover. Which would catch your eye more?

The smaller version is what you'll see on the book sale sites.




Original cover


Dougald MacNeill takes Lady Alana Cameron to his laird brother James's Craigly Castle when he finds her roaming the heather on the MacNeill lands. But who has sent her there and why? Her uncle, laird of the Cameron clan, and warring with the MacNeill for years, has made a marriage arrangement with another clan and now that is even at stake.  Having witnessed her father's death, and even believing he had returned her home when all along he had been dead, Alana discovers she has the gift, or curse, of seeing the newly departed and sometimes those who should have long ago passed over. Her own deceased brother continues to plague her, the rake, and now another, who is very much of the flesh, Dougald MacNeill, has her thinking marrying a rake might just have its benefits. Dougald's sister, who is one fiesty ghost, has offered to help Alana keep Dougald in line if he thinks of even straying.  But who sent Alana on a fool's errand in the first place to remove her from the Cameron's lands and set her squarely in Dougald's care, and who really killed her father and her brother, and what has it all to do with Alana? Will she and Dougald learn the truth before it is too late? The Accidental Highland Hero is now in audio also! I don't remember if I mentioned it!



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Lady Eilis Dunbarton’s life undergoes a drastic change with the death of her cousin, Agnes. Now she’s faced with the disagreeable prospect of marrying the man who was to be her cousin’s husband. Not by a change of contract, though. Instead, by deceit—pretending to be her cousin. But if her husband-to-be discovers she’s not really Agnes, her life is forfeit. So what choice does Eilis have but to flee?

When Laird James MacNeill’s clan rescues a half-drowned lass from the sea, there is speculation she is of the enemy clan, especially since she doesn’t remember her own name. James is immediately enticed with the lady, but his focus must remain on finding the proper bride. For if he does not wed soon, he must give up his holdings to one of his younger brothers.
Focus slips away with each day Eilis is close, and James finds himself contemplating the thought of taking her to wife without knowing her true identity.
But how dangerous would the end result be?
And what will happen if Eilis’s husband-to-be comes looking for her only to find her in the arms of another man?

Back to writing the story! Have a super Monday!

 Terry

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

The Vampire...In My Nightmare...

The Vampire...In My Dreams

I have to say that I had no problem with invisible bugs or ghostly interruptions last night. I woke at 4:30 anyway. This time it was The Vampire...In My Nightmare.

Okay, I'm NOT starting that story too. Well, I have started it. I've got 3 sentences written already. And they're really good sentences too. :) 

But I'm working on getting halfway done on Highland Rake and I'm determined to finish it! And I've got 1/5 of Dragon Fae done, and I'm going to finish it.

But Marissa Lakeland was being plagued by the vampire in her nightmares and I felt badly for her, really. Dominic Vorchowski was nowhere to be seen. And he needed to come to her rescue. Or not.

Sometimes a girl just has to rescue herself!

I'm at The Romance Studio with an interview!

On Wednesday I actually have my first guest blog up for Savage Hunger! Sept 12, Petite Fours and Hot Tamales! I love their name. I'll post the link that day.

So I'm up way too early and typing up my notes for Highland Rake. Thankfully, no vampire stole them last night. :) So things are looking up!

Now, if I could just keep all the things that go bump in the night away, maybe I can have a decent sleep...tomorrow night!

Do you ever get into a bad pattern for sleeping? Awaken at too early a time and then it seems you can't break the habit? What do you do to stop it?

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

Visitation by a Nighttime Ghost...

Ghostly Liaisons
Okay, first, it was the bug crawling on me at 4:30 a.m. that had me jumping out of bed and looking for the culprit.

Wait, back it up a bit. At 10 p.m. I was writing a ghost scene. I couldn't help it. Two ghosts were bickering and I had to write what all they were fighting about. This is in Highland Rake.

But then, it's time to go to bed. 11 p.m., I told them enough. I had to sleep.

It might be all very well and good to say you're not going to think about them, listen to them making fools of themselves, but the truth is they will continue to take space up in your head.

A lady is saying something and I think, I will remember it. Just say her words over a couple of times, and then I will remember it. But I know, come morning, I won't. So I flip on the light, write the two sentences down, that is it! Go to sleep.

Well, it wasn't, because the scene went on for a few more minutes and I fell asleep.

Then, here comes the ghostly bug. I've ignored them before, but it's usually a bug. And NOT a figment of my imagination. LOL

So I jumped out of bed, searched the sheets, me, the floor, no bug. I can't sleep. I'm off to post a blog on my teen blog, played around with redoing a book cover, and went back to bed at 6:30. I hate doing that. Throws my whole day off.

So I get up again, at goddess-awful nearly 10 a.m., horrors!!! I never sleep that late, and so here I am trying to get started on my very late day.

First, I need to grab my two-sentence note from the ghost so I can write that scene that I refused to write last night and it is gone.

Spooky Twilight Zone music plays here.

Yes. It's gone. I wrote it in black ink, very neatly, no scribbling in a hurry. I remember it well because the ink was so black and I had written it so...neatly. And I had turned off my light and kept thinking of more of the scene. And it is NOT there.

Just like the bug. Do I remember what she said? Absolutely not. No clue. *sigh*

Now, if I spoke into a recorder, would I also hear strange voices in the background??? And my words would disappear?

Have a super Saturday!!!

Terry, who is still trying to remember what the ghost told her last night....
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Cover Models in Video!

 I'm not sure this will work, but the model for A Highland Werewolf Wedding is looking sexy on this video.And for Jaguar Fever too!!! Thanks so much to Heather who clued me in! Again!!! You're the greatest!


Off to write! I'm hoping to reach 30K on Highland Rake today and get back to Dragon Fae and add some more to it! I did do 4 blogs and added 3,000 words to Highland Rake and had to water yesterday.

Everything is burning up! When are we going to get some rain??? I had to write it in Highland Rake. I'm sorry I drenched my poor characters, but I was wishing for it so hard, I hoped...well, maybe writing about it would make me feel better. Not them. Just me. :)

Have a super great TGIF!!!!

Terry, who can control the weather! Woohoo! In books at least!
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Should We Say No to Guest Posts?

There is the destination. The castle. Will we make it? That's where we will find safety from all the bad stuff out there. All the warring clans. All the bandits looking to earn a living. All the...well, bad stuff out there.






We move toward the light to see what's out there, taking the narrow stone steps that have been there forever. That hundreds of people over the centuries have walked up.Thousands more that haven't ever lived there.

What has any of this got to do with should we say no to guest posts?

I'm behind again. LOL :)

You see how ridiculously late I am on writing this post? I was writing another guest post blog, and have two more to do today. It's bugging me. I keep saying yes. I can't help myself. I want to get the word out! What word? Lots of words. But I want to say something different! And I'm running out of different things to say.

Not really. That's the problem with being a writer. I have way too much to say. Whether anyone wants to hear me say it or not. :)

When I should be writing on Silence of the Wolf, or Highland Rake, or Dragon Fae.

I did get to 10,500 on Dragon Fae yesterday!

I have to remind myself:

Promo=word gets out about Savage Hunger's release to different people.

Promo=not being able to write on upcoming books--which is what readers are always waiting for, right?

Promo=exploring issues I don't usually explore, so really, having some fun, too.

You know how we have to look deeply into our characters to find what they're made of? Well sometimes that means looking into our own.

I know, I'm getting profound again. But really...what makes us tick? Why do we write about what we do?

I love plants, the forest, the water. I love writing about them. Playing in them. Being one with nature. With writing my stories, I can share this love with readers.

So, even though I feel badly that I have to stop and write tons of guest blog posts that can take away from my writing THE BOOK, I do love writing the posts and sharing something of my quirky world.

Two more to go today, and then it's time to write A BOOK!!! Whichever characters give me the most trouble, I'm writing about them first!

Have a super great Thursday!

And what do you think? Should I say NO???

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

Can't Sleep? Write!

Actually, some of the not sleeping is because the characters have taken up residence in my head. And that can be a good thing really.

As opposed to I'm trying and trying and trying to come up with the next avenue the characters take and I've spent plenty of time doing that.

So what do I do? Keep trying to tell them to go to bed? Which ain't happening because when they're dealing with issues in the story, I can't just turn them off or tune them out. And I KNOW from past experience that if I tell myself I'll write it down when I get up in the morning, most of the time, I won't remember the scene at all. Sometimes I do.

This is who was giving me trouble last night. Doesn't she look like a real troublemaker? Well, she is!


What I've been told by writing gurus is that if you keep remembering a scene even when you don't write it down, it's not going to go away and add it to the story. But the ones I can't remember were great, too. So that's not the reason they didn't stick. I can be taking a shower and the same thing happens. I can visualize the whole scene (not in visual detail as people's features or the setting, but the dialogue and action), and when I get out of the shower, poof, it's gone. Or I'm driving somewhere and by the time I can stop, same thing.

So why does this happen? Why are some scenes so memorable that you can remember them over and over and over again until you quit delaying and write it down, and others are not?

The interesting thing is that if I wrote the scene down, usually when I reread it, I'll be like wow, I didn't remember that. It's a great scene. Great idea. Sometimes I vaguely remember them, but sometimes I really don't. So is it our subconscious speaking and it's so elusive that if we don't capture it on paper, it's lost forever?

You didn't know this writing thing could be so profound, did you?

The bottom line is that I tried to go to bed but the scenes kept coming to me so I figured, what the heck. Time to write some more.

I ended up writing a record 6,000 words on Dragon Fae. I had started out with 400 words to the story yesterday morning and didn't start writing again on it until yesterday evening as I was adding 3,000 to Highland Rake! So not too bad! In a day's work!


I'm off to type up notes and then get back to writing on Highland Rake. In the first book, Winning the Highlander's Heart, the heroine has the ability to foresee some events in the future. In The Accidental Highland Hero, no paranormal issues. In Lady Caroline and the Egotistical Earl, the heroine has a photographic memory. I always wished I could have one of those!

So in Highland Rake, the heroine sees ghosts.

Off to write! Have a super great Hump Day!

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

 

Savage Hunger--3 Weeks Until It's Time to Party!

It's nearly that time! Just a little less than 3 weeks! On Sept 24, we'll start out with the blog tour:

I'll post actual links to the blogs as soon as I have them the day of the blog! 

9/24 Love Romance Passion
9/25 Sharon Buchbinder 9/26 Paulette's Papers 9/27 Jesse Kimmel-Freeman 9/28 The Lovestruck Novice
Comment on the blog site for a chance at a free book!

Hope you had a lovely holiday! I'm ready for cooler weather. It's not coming anytime soon, so I figure I might as well just give it up and settle into the hot, steamy jungle with a hunky jaguar shifter instead. What about you???


Savage Hunger , October 2012
by Terry Spear

Sourcebooks Casablanca
352 pages
ISBN: 1402266928
EAN: 9781402266928
Kindle: B008BWABXU
Paperback

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

The Full Moon--Summer in Texas

Full moons are necessary for werewolf lore, but not for jaguar shifters! Here is the full moon the other night. I never can figure out how to use my camera to get a really good shot. The other night it was cloudless and without a really good camera lens that can take distant shots, it really doesn't do anything for you. But with the glow of the moon on the clouds, I think it's pretty cool.

Enjoy the full moon while you can. All the crazies are out and about until the next time!

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

The Ancient Fae is NOW in Print!

Barnes and Noble
Amazon 
Smashwords

Print book:
Amazon

Princess Ritasia misses the adventure of getting her brother and cousins out of trouble, but when the hawk fae king arrives to court her, she becomes involved in trouble nothing like she's ever faced before.

The hawk fae king, Tiernan, must find a bride, but being a tyrant king, or so his people believe, he must find a woman who would help him to change his people's view of how he and his queen shall rule. Princess Ritasia isn't anything like what he'd envision his queen would be like. Rough and tumble, unafraid of danger, and speaking her mind, the lady might just be the one for him.

The princess believes the king is a tyrant, at least at times. But she discovers he's not all that he seems, and she wants to learn even more. The problem is that Ritasia stumbles across an ancient queen's magical artifact and nothing will ever be the same between her people, his, and what is dug up at the ancient fae dig site.

Old Cover:
 


I had to work on the cover for The Ancient Fae to create a print copy. So while I was at it...I know, I was supposed to be writing, but I decided I needed to take a day off and get caught up on other stuff, like updating my website and all! ...do I sound guilty, or what???

But while I was messing around with covers, I redid The Siren's Lure and

... Barnes and NobleAmazon SmashwordsOld Cover: 

.....The Shadow Elf. I was just having too much fun!But it was Labor Day weekend after all, and I think it's deserved, don't you? Next, I'm going to work on Silence of the Wolf marketing materials. But you see, after I made the covers, I had to upload them to all the sales sites, and then I had to update my webpage. And then I had to update my blog. And then...well, did you ever read The Cat in the Hat's Spot book? Not sure what it was called, but it was about trying to clean one mess up and creating another, and another, and well, one spot led to a whole house full of spots. It's so very true, you see.
So I'm off to clean up all my spots...Have a super great Sunday! Hope yours is spot free!



Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Smashwords




As you can see some of the covers haven't still been changed on the sites. I received word that Amazon had changed them, but they didn't, so off to work on that again. :)  It's just like with writing...we have to use persistence!

Next, I'm working on putting The Shadow Elf and Lady Caroline and the Egotistical Earl into print, which is one reason I redid the covers also for those two books.

But for now, I'm off to work on Silence of the Wolf and marketing materials!

Have a super Sunday!!!

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