Archive | October 2015

Happy Halloween!

Ahoy Ye Maties!

Ahoy Ye Maties! Hand o’er your booty or you’ll be walking the gangplank!

Sometimes a dog's life isn't what it's hyped up to be.

Sometimes a dog’s life isn’t what it’s hyped up to be.

 

Have a super, fun day!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words, and Yet…

A picture can inspire a million stories.

I took this picture yesterday, inspired by what others have done with water, that I can’t seem to do. But, I loved what I captured anyway, so this is one of the images I caught.

The Original

The Original–only resized, but otherwise just like I caught it.  Rich, opulent, a royal’s golden water because only the royals would have golden water spilling from the tap.

But I wanted to see what would happen if I played with the colors a bit. How different would the story be then.

Brass

Brass–darker, more mysterious, Aladdin’s lamp

Olive

Olive–a Druid’s home, connected with all things green

Silver

Silver–rich, a werewolf’s nightmare (It’s nearly Halloween, right? So I get to keep up with the whole spooky thing)

Black and White

Black and White–a chess game, either…or, life or death

Copper

Copper–or plum, a touch of whimsical

So you see, a picture can turn into all kinds of different stories by changing the color a bit and changing the mood a lot. The same with writing scenes. I was trying to decide on the perfect bedroom for a hot, alpha jaguar male. I looked up male bedrooms and they had a lot of purple featured. Not like dark purple, a royal color, the color only allowed to be worn by the royals. But more soft purple that I would think perfect for a young girl’s room.

A friend sent me a link that was perfect. Black and white, touches of red, but the best? A zebra rug. Now, as he’s a jaguar, he wouldn’t be hunting zebra in South America, but he is a hunter, and a zebra rug was perfect.

So which of these pictures would inspire you? Which do you like the best? Which would feed into your fantasy?

I’m off to write, so behave yourselves and still manage to have a wonderful TGIF!  🙂

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Halloween Flash Fiction: The Vampire’s Mark

I will be a featured author at Coastal Magic and so she’s doing a few early promos. One is Halloween flash fiction stories. So if you want to pop in, you can read mine.

http://booksmakemehappyreviews.com/2015/10/28/halloween-flash-fiction-blog-event-with-terry-spear/

Old Cover

Old Cover

2015CMCHalloweenFlashFiction

New Cover

New Cover

The Vampire’s Mark will be tied into this story. But an explanation on the different covers. He’s a vampire. She’s a huntress. He has been in love with her since they met in the Highlands before the Black Death. So the cover more reflects the historical past. Now it’s the present day, and he’s on her terminal list. It’s more based in the present day, so needs a more contemporary cover.

Oh, I know it doesn’t look like she’s in any mood to terminate him. But that’s the thing. She’s working up to it. In combat, surprise is a key element in taking down the enemy. Really.

Forbidden Love

Ebook By Terry Spear
Category: Fiction » Literature » Fantasy (paranormal)
Huntress Alena MacLeod is given a mission: work undercover to discover a rogue vampire’s secretive work, then terminate him.Ephraim MacNeill, aka Sutton Bastrop, knows Alena is his Elizabeth MacLeod from an earlier time, and he’s determined to return to the past and right all the wrongs to end the curse placed on the love of his life before it’s too late—again.Together, they must risk all to stop a war between a newly formed Brotherhood of rogue vampires, tired of the status quo, and the League of Hunters, who have ruled for centuries over the vampires—both changed during the Black Death—some of the survivors becoming vampires, and others hunters of the same.

Amazon  US  UK   Canada  Australia  Germany

B & N

 Audible

You never know what you'll run into when the full moon is about.

You never know what you’ll run into when the full moon is about. Taken on a spookily cloudy night.

Okay, so it’s over the hump day and it’s nearly Halloween!

Have a super, fun day!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Butterflies are Swarming!

Or playing, flying, settling, having fun in the warmth and sun again.  So I sat out and took some pictures, had one fly next to my ear and I felt like I was in a fairy garden.

butterflies 004 (800x534)

Sitting on the holly, his wings nearly transparent. They usually fly off, but this one stayed while I took a couple of pictures.

butterflies 030 (800x533)

Loved this one and it’s shadow on the tree trunk.

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This one had a brother by the chair in the foreground while I focused on the one in the background.

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A butterfly enjoying a pear. This one was half eaten by a bunny too.

To the right, a butterfly, to the left, a grasshopper

To the right, a butterfly, to the left, a grasshopper

And the pears are what attract them in the first place. Aren’t they pretty? A fairy garden.

Okay, I’m off to write. Have a lovely in the middle of the week day!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Sunset and Bunny-Eaten Pear

It was a dark and stormy night, and then, there was a sunset!

sunset 007 (800x270)And a bunny-eaten pear. But the bunny better watch out, because I keep startling the hawk in my yard as it makes its hawk like call in annoyance and flies away. I startled the bunny out of its hiding place too, while taking the puppies out for their last potty trip.

bunny eaten pear (800x534)Watch out, little bunny. The hawk is eyeing you!

Have a great day!!! I’m off to do something. 🙂

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Black Friday, Anyone?

cougar black fridaySo they have these insane sales on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in year’s past, though today, you can find a lot of sales online and beforehand, no need to kill people in a rush to get some fantastic prices.

But I was going to write a short story for a promo blog for a review site that is running a Black Friday, or Christmas shopping madness stories for the holidays for Christmas releases. Alphas Unwrapped will be out in December, so I signed up. Then I thought, wait, I don’t have any real life stories about Christmas shopping madness. I often use some real stuff mixed in with the fiction to make it more fun. Oh, and fantasy, of course. After all, cougar shifters…

Well, anyway, so I asked FB friends and fans. And it’s fun to hear others stories. Yes, they did it and never again. No, they’ve never done it. Some work at that time. Some shop online. Some make it a family tradition.

That’s what makes the world go around. Everyone’s different. Then it reminded me that I’ve worked on the day after Thanksgiving! But thankfully not at a retail store. I used to always set up my Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. For years, that was our tradition. We’d eat turkey sandwiches and other leftovers, and just play games or watch movies. We’d make up our Christmas lists.

But once the kids moved out, I saw my son in Omaha for a couple of Thanksgivings, and then this year, my daughter and SIL the weekend before. Which means I’ll be putting up decorations before the real Thanksgiving. I used to go out with my mom to buy at after Christmas specials. Talk about shopping madness.

I found that they had a lot of the stuff I was looking for on sale way in advance, and everything else was so picked over by the day after Christmas, we stopped going.

But one year, I needed a new Christmas tree, so I went to the mall when I was living in Oklahoma, and the mall was in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We stood outside in a long line waiting to enter the store. When we got in, we rushed to the Christmas section. You had to grab a harried clerk and get your name on a tree and within minutes, they were all taken.

Now, when they packaged up the tree, they broke the top. I didn’t open the box until it was time for Christmas the next year, naturally, and when I did, I found my first beautiful tree had to be jerry-rigged so that the broken top could stay on. It was a half-priced tree, a year old, and so there wasn’t anything I could do about it. For nearly 15 years, I jerry-rigged the tree. And by that time, I was also doing the same with branches in support brackets that had broken. But every year, that sad little tree came to life. It was beautiful and no one would ever know that it was tied up, taped up, and whatever else I could do to make the branches and top look like they were there, in place, of their own accord.

old Christmas tree 2009  (600x800)

Finally, my kids convinced me to buy a new tree, which is already 5 years old. It’s not the same as the tree I so sneakily bought. Not that I wasn’t first in line and deserved to get one. But you see, I’m a writer, and I write conflict into my stories for the effect. But when it comes to conflict in real life, I’m not an extrovert. I don’t go looking for trouble. So I was lucky to have found a harried clerk to pin my name on my tree before a frantic 100 or more other women grabbed him. All the other trees had already been sold. It was that crazy! And the big fat, tall tree was mine. We had it through my kids growing up years. And when I finally bought the 50% off tree at a store that has sales every other week, no need to go through any crazy shopping madness, I took my new tree home.

Christmas trees 2012 006 (533x800)

It has lights on it already, which is really, really nice. The branches are already connected, which is really, really nice. But it makes it really heavy for me to set up because it’s in just 3 parts. It’s not my fat, tall tree. It’s skinny, and lovely, but not the broken topped tree I had to lovingly jerry-rig every year to make it look like it wasn’t broken.

Would I go through that madness again?

NO WAY.

Soooo, do you ever fight the crowds to get your sales, or do you chill out and do something else the day after Thanksgiving, or during the holiday gift buying season?

Okay, so I proofed Taming the Wild Cougar print version, and it should be approved soon. And today I’m working on Billionaire edits.

Have a great day!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

Halloween Flash Fiction at Books Make Me Happy

From Oct 25 – 31, Books Make Me Happy and Coastal Magic Convention are hosting the 2nd Annual Halloween Flash Fiction Blog Event.http://booksmakemehappyreviews.com/2015/10/

I’ve contributed a story, along with a handful of my fellow ‪#‎CMCon16‬ Featured Authors. Some of our stories are fun and festive, some are a bit creepy… even downright scary! There are two brand new stories each day, inspired by images from some talented creators at DeviantArt (and there are giveaways each day, too!!) Check out the details, including the full list of authors and post dates. http://wp.me/p5lsir-1ei I can’t wait to hear what you think of my story!

Mark of the Vampire, coming Oct 28, but be sure and drop by starting today to read everyone else’s fab stories and get a chance to win prizes!

I think Donna said, “OMG!” When I sent it to her to read. Good? Bad?

Then, “Where’s the rest of the story?” So you tell me–do I need to turn it into a novel? lol

Have a great day! It’s soggy and yes, still raining and raining and raining.
My story will be posted on Oct 28 at this link. It’s not up yet. I’ll try to remember to post it again on the day it goes live. http://wp.me/p5lsir-1eZBMMHHalloweenFlashFictionSquare1

In the meantime,

deep flooded culverts

deep flooded culverts

deep dry culverts before the storm hit

deep dry culverts before the storm hit

lake in side yard and fields

lake in side yard and fields

flooding in front yard

flooding in front yard–I never have flooding there

Same little tree before the storms in the distance hit us

Same little tree before the storms in the distance hit us

So, besides taking the puppies out in the rain all day yesterday, I worked on the print formatting for Taming the Wild Cougar. It’s back to proof this morning, so will be proofreading it and then I still have Billionaire edits to work on and 2 promo blogs. I was going to work on them yesterday, but needed a break. 🙂 <3

I’m off to proof. I think I saw some webs growing between my toes. Not on the puppies though. I think that’s what they’re afraid of–step in the wet grass and turn into a…duck. Or snail. Or toad.

If I ever had notions of moving back to the great Pacific Northwest, I would have a real time with my dry weather puppies.

Getting wet is really wearing

Getting wet is really wearing

Off to proof! 🙂 Have a great Sunday!!!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

It’s Raining! And Raining…and Flooding….and Flood Watching and…Pouring & THE Book is DONE!

snail in the rain 011 (800x534)

Snail on the run…

snail in the rain 004 (800x548)

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Drenching rains mean wet potty breaks

flooded fields 003 (800x533)

Flooded fields and the rain is still coming down

flooded fields 005 (800x533)

Yard is flooded too, but I could only take these pictures under cover. It’s still pouring.

Snails and toads are loving it! Puppies NOT. I have to carry each of them out into the rain repeatedly before they finally give in and potty. lol

ugh

Which means I’m puppy watching in the pouring rain. For each of them. But we did need rain!

I did manage to finish Jaguar Christmas!!!! Off to work on Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing revisions so I can turn it in. And then the print version of Taming the Wild Cougar. And then, I’m FREE!!! For an hour or so. I have a couple of promo blogs to do.

Did one for Halloween, and I have to do one for Black Friday, the shopping nightmare the day after Thanksgiving. I think I’ll show what happens when cougars, as in the shifter variety, deal with Black Friday. 🙂 And another promo I have to do, which I’ll  have to look up. I think it’s a Christmas one.

Soooo, then I can work on a book I’ve been working on. Which one? I have probably 30. Yep.

Have a super great day. It’s really, really, really soggy here! And we’re under flash flood watch through Sunday evening.

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

 

Busy, Busy Honeybee

antenna bee 046 (674x593)

Honeybee on wildflowers

Note the sacks on her back legs full of golden pollen? She has pollen on his antennae too and a soft dusting of gold pollen all over her body. These are wildflowers, the last before it gets cold. Wait, it’s supposed to get cold? Ha!

And rain, right? We have 90% today, and I must be living in the 10% that’s getting no rain. Under flood warnings, too. Where is a wolf that can tell us the real weather forecast when we need one???

wings detail bee 051 (800x717) closeAnd this picture of the little honeybee shows her wings as she held them still for a few seconds. I really went out to take pictures of the last wildflowers of the season, but had fun capturing her too.

wings fuzzd bee 049 (800x604)Okay, well, like this busy little bee, I finished Jaguar Christmas! I’m rereading it from start to finish tomorrow, and then I’m working on edits for Billionaire so I can turn them both in by deadline!

Don’t tell me it’s Friday already. *sigh*

Have a great day! 🙂

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com

A Plane High Above

airplane (800x534)

A Plane High Above

My subjects wouldn’t stay put today. The plane flying overhead kept moving and the sun was in my eyes, so I kept losing him. I didn’t even know if I caught him in one frame.

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A Flighty Butterfly

And then there was the butterfly, up and down and all around. I finally caught him high above on the gazebo. See the moss? That makes it cool, castle like.

I’m still trying to get word count on Jaguar, 1500 words to go, but even after I reach that goal, the book isn’t finished, and guess what??? Billionaire edits came in and they’re due on Oct 30. So I’m still trying to finish Jaguar, and I’m really getting there. If I don’t by the end of the weekend, I’ll stop and work on Billionaire, and send it in and finish Jaguar.

But I was outside with the puppies and had taken my camera with me because of course I see interesting things and by the time I run the puppies in and my camera out, all the interesting things are gone.

Isn’t that always the way?

Okay, I’m going back to work. Have a super great day!!! I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Truly!

Terry

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

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com