Archive | October 2013

In Editing Mode…

Which means??? I’m not in a cave with him, but working in the jungle…so back to my jungle spot!!! They were due back yesterday. I got the edits yesterday. So you know what that means??? I can’t goof off. Nose to the jaguar, kind of thing. 🙂

This is not the finished book cover, but I love to show it off anyway! 🙂 He has the kind of smirk my character does in the book, sooooo perfect! 🙂

I’m giving a short Halloween story here today!

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

Gates that Lend Mystery to a Setting….

I took these pictures of interesting gates in Scotland. The first is a gate between the bed and breakfast and the next door home. I loved how it had a bell on top as if at one time the neighbors would ring the bell and say, “Hey, neighbor, want a spot o’ tea?”

Gate B and B Scotland spice (600x800)

In the next picture, this gate led out of  a castle garden and you see a glimpse of the well-manicured, spacious lawns and trees in the park-like setting.

Castle garden Scotland (2) (800x600)

This one surrounded by the hedges went beyond the garden at a different castle.  I loved how the hedge was trimmed as an arbor.

Crathes Castle, Oct, hedge arch pop (800x600)

Don’t you love glimpses of another setting? If these had just been walls or solid hedges, or just a walkway, it wouldn’t have been half as interesting. A gate says there’s accessibility. An openness, yet a barrier, too.  But not a permanent barrier. An invitation to explore what’s on the other side.

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality.”

 

Focusing on the Interesting…

Rhinos Bathing

In writing, it’s fun to compare and contrast things–people, objects, places, settings, to make them different, more interesting. Here is a case in point: Rhinos can be plain… boring. If they’re just… standing around. Doing nothing. But when I was at the Omaha zoo, the rhinos were bathing and it intrigued me. It was near freezing out at Thanksgiving time in November, so it seemed ironic that they would take a bath, not to cool down!

Before this, I was visiting the Waco zoo, and this is what I found–rhinos sleeping. So??? But it was the turkey vultures perched on top that intrigued me. My friend, who was with me, told me the rhinos were merely statues. I told her no, they’re real. She couldn’t believe it. We watched for a long time, until she saw one’s ear flutter. And then satisfied they were real, we moved on.

Rhinos sleeping vultures (800x390)

And here is further proof that the rhinos are alive and well in Texas. It was feeding time at the zoo.

rhino (792x800)

Finding something interesting in a setting is like writing about something interesting. We want to focus on that–and not on the mundane, or it will make our pictures, and our writing just that–mundane.

Review: A Seal Wolf Christmas by Terry Spear.

 

A Seal Wolf Christmas by Terry Spear
Series: Heart of the Wolf (# 12)
Release Date:  September 24, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pages: 384
Source: book provided by NetGalley for review
christmasICONUniformICON


Have a super great day!

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

Super Moon in June

Super moon from the airplane over TexasSuper Moon over Texas Airliner

I was coming back from Colorado Springs where I attended a readers’ conference as a featured author, and one of my fans told me I had to make sure I saw the Super Moon!  Only I was flying in really late that night, in airports, had been stormy a lot–so really had my doubts…and if I was on the wrong side of the airplane, if the moon was even visible, I wouldn’t see it.

But all the stars and planets were lined up just perfectly. And there as big as day, the moon and I were suspended in the night sky together. I’m certain the lady next to me thought I was nuts as I was taking pictures. Or maybe… she wished she was sitting where I was… with a beautiful view of the super moon.

Fourteen months and it will be here again–next year in August. I have a different readers’ conference to attend. I wonder where I’ll be when the next one is visible? 🙂 I remember seeing a moon like this some years ago, and running home to get my camera, but the huge, huge moon had shrunk in size by the time I was ready to take a shot.

Did you see the last super moon?

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

Storm Clouds–the Real & the Fantasized

storm with a hole in the cloudshole in clouds fantasy

I thought this hole in the clouds was fascinating, so I quickly took shots of it and then even had more fun with it.

That’s what I do with my writing. I create  fantasy from reality. A werewolf world or jaguar shifters in our world. The myth mixed with the truth.

Like these clouds. The reality is the basis, the fantasy, the added fun.

And an update, The Highlander just released!

Available now, and the print version will be ready in about a week. Looking for a narrator for the audiobook version. Barnes and Noble is still in process. *sigh*

 

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

The Storm Before the Rain…

storms sunset (800x533)

We had rain! It was showing 0%! And rained hard for about an hour. More to come.

This picture was taken at sunset with the storm clouds sitting there as pretty as a picture and the setting sun coloring it a soft orange.

Tomorrow, I’ll show off a cloud with a hole in it. Clouds fascinate me, can you tell? But some are much more fascinating than others.

I’m halfway through writing A Highland Wolf Christmas for next year’s Oct release and it’s the downhill slide now! I love that when it happens. I have to start thinking of coming up with THE END, and thinking of all the loose ends I need to tie up. 🙂

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

Colorful Koi on a Perfect Fall Day…

Everything came together for me when I took these pictures, the soft lighting on an autumn day, the fall leaves coloring the bottom of the koi pool, the movement of the fish and the water, the reflection of the trees up above. When I uploaded them, I found some looked like paintings, surreal, fantasy, fun.

I love when that happens, like when I’m writing and a story finally begins to take shape when I’m moaning and groaning about how I can’t figure out where to go next with my story–remind me when I start the next book and have the same concerns–and then…it’s like the picture all comes together. Or at least a part of it. A scene or two. A chapter. The End.
fish looks like a painting (800x533)

I tend to get a lot of backsides of animals when I visit the Cameron Park Zoo or others, but I still loved the detail and color of the fish in this shot.

koi colorful (800x533)

This wasn’t the best picture, but I loved the character of it–the way the fish all came up to look at me, wondering if I had food for them.
koi looking at camera (800x533)

I’ve tried since to capture the beauty of the koi and the green trees reflected in the waters, but I’ve never had the ideal conditions that I did that one day.

But then again, I finally caught the howler monkeys in perfect form the last time I was there, when I’d never managed before. So when one subject doesn’t want to cooperate, find another. Sometimes I have to do that with my writing too.

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

Don’t Believe Anything the Weatherman Says…

storms 001 (800x533)

Oh, I know it’s not their fault that the weather doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. We were so looking forward to a week of rain, but it keeps slip-sliding away. Still, some days have a projected higher percentage chance, so maybe…

I won’t hold my breath. Still, this was what was brewing last night. Pretty impressive, eh?

I’d thoroughly forgotten we even had a chance of storms, until I saw these.  I watered on Wednesday, figuring the new plantings still needed water even if it rained on Saturday. Hmm, maybe I should water again? Wash my car? Schedule a picnic? And see what happens then!

Maybe it’s like the watched teakettle. If I quit watching the weather, the rain will come. 🙂

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

Ever Aim for One Thing and then…

water droplets

…go in a completely different direction?

You hadn’t planned that. You hadn’t any control over it. Something guided you that way and it’s an avenue you would never have thought of. I do that with creating stories all the time. I have an idea where a story is going, and then my characters take over and they take it in a totally different direction. Or I’m heading out to the mailbox with only one thought in mind–getting the mail. And I see a beautiful sunset and I have to capture it.

Here, I had taken a picture of a flower. Clever of my camera to focus on the drops of water instead, wasn’t it? I would never have even noticed them!

Sometimes we can make all the plans in the world, but the one direction we didn’t think to take could be the one we should.

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

You Know You’re in Texas When…

Shasta daisies 005 (800x676)autumn freesia flowers (800x668)autumn red rose

The heat leaves for two days, the cold comes, the heat returns, and so do the spring flowers.

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