Archive | January 2017

Clutter

Jan30

closeup-of-female-cardinal-behind-branches-900-567

I was trying to capture the female cardinal, showing off the other cardinals too. Do you see the red blur in the back? The cardinals were all over the branches. But the female was partially hidden in the branches too. Which proves my point. They were all in the branches, their “hiding” place.

But this is also cluttered because of the branches and headless bird and bottomless female. lol

female-cardinal-looking-at-me-from-rock-900-474

Better. uncluttered. Whole bird. Watching me.

Life can get cluttered too. Do you ever find you’re doing way too much and you need to simplify things?

Writing can get that way too. Too much stuff. Trim it down.

The puppies can get that way. They don’t shed, so I need to unclutter their fur. Brush them to remove the mats so that they’re all pretty again.

Clutter. It isn’t pretty. It’s time to go.

So I was putting out the trash this morning, and I saw grass in my flower beds. Oh, no! So I started pulling it and then I think I pulled something that might be an emerging flower. Oops.

Remember to remove only what needs to be removed and not the stuff you need. šŸ™‚

Have a clutter-free day!!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

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

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I Said No!

Jan29

I agreed to give an author a quote who asked me a while back, despite all the deadlines I’m still on. But I look forward to reading her book at the end of the month. It sounds like a lot of fun.

But I said No! to a boxset that an author approached me on because I just can’t keep saying yes. To everything. šŸ™‚Ā  Plus, it’s really important if I’m going to do it, if it’s the same genre. I don’t think any of them write paranormal. Some readers love to read everything. Raising hand here. But some have specific genres they love. So it’s better to be in a specific genre.

I was in one once where we had a futuristic story, and some paranormal readers felt gypped. There were 21 stories in the boxset for only 99 cents! Just one was futuristic. lol

male-cardinal-looking-at-reflection-in-water-900-597

Is that me, or is someone else looking back at me?–Male cardinal pondering his shadow.

I didn’t meet my word count goal yesterday. šŸ™ I had lunch with the author who needs a quote and had to pick up more goody bags and stuff for the reader’s convention, then got home and did 1200 words, but needed 2,000. *sigh*

Still puppy sitting, so it’s been trips outside a million times, and hard to concentrate. Just as I get in the zone, I have to stop for more puppy stuff.

Off to the novella! Only 5800 words to go! Must wrap this puppy up!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

Male Cardinal on Seed Sock

Jan28

red-cardinal-on-feed-sock-900-266

Great tips on cropping photos:Ā  http://www.companyfolders.com/blog/cropping-photos

Seven thousand more words to go on Night of the Wolf! I promised an author I would give her a quote for her book, so we’re having lunch today. I’m going to run and see if I can pick up some “goody” bags for conference too. I had some for another reader game, but now I have to do another. šŸ™‚

Okay, I’m off and running. Didn’t know where to go with story last night, so I started editing what I do have. And some more this morning. Then I had an idea. The problem with my ideas is that they change other stuff. *sigh*

Have a wonderful day! Oh, need to post another blog too. It’s Saturday, right? Not sure how we got here so fast!

Do days sneak up on you too?

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

Female Cardinal in Bare Branches

Jan27

female-cardinal-on-bare-branches-900

To attract more birds, it helps to have more vegetation around the feeders so they feel safe. But then it’s harder to take pictures of them, particularly when all the foliageĀ  is out. My yard had only 3 pine trees, so I’m working at supplying the safe haven for the birds. šŸ™‚

Plus, it improves the look of all the wood fencing. And makes it not so echoey when you talk outside. šŸ™‚

I’m puppy sitting, and that means having a time getting anything done in a timely fashion. Need to get back to work on Night of the Wolf. I think I made 3,000 words on it yesterday. Over halfway done. Which meant I kept waking up last night and began thinking about where to go with it next. Do I kill a couple of bad guys? Let them live? Such is the dilemma I was facing at oh-dark-thirty. šŸ™‚

Only 9,000 words left to go. Which is why with shorter writing, things happen so fast! šŸ™‚ And they’re fun to write too.

Have a great one!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

 

The Dark Fae–99 Cent Alert!!!

Jan26
New deal on Terry Spear ebook
The Dark Fae by Terry Spear The Dark Fae
By Terry Spear

From a USA Today bestselling author: Alicia keeps her ability to see fae under wraps ā€” but when she protects a friend from the pranks of dark fae Deveron, her secret is revealed. Now she must rely on Deveron to get her out of troubleā€¦
$0.99 $3.99
 Amazon Ā  Barnes & Noble
Apple iBooks Ā  Google
Kobo Ā 

https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-dark-fae-by-terry-spear-2017-01-20

I Am So Far Behind!

Jan26
Goldfinch considering her next move, Red-bellied woodpecker watching me, goldfinch that insists the sunflower seed is really her size.

I worked on the novella last night for Heart of the Wolf and wrote 4,000 words! I have 8,000 now, and need another 12,000. So I’m nearly halfway there, which means the downhill slide. šŸ™‚ Then it’s back to working on Flight of the Wolf once this is done. Way behind on it. BUT, that’s because I didn’t have all these other deadlines that popped up in the middle of it.

And I need to do the print versions of Galaxy Warrior and Loving the White Bear. And a Letter to Readers for Heart of the Wolf.

So long ways to go. Doggie sitting the corgis for the next several days. And have a reader’s convention to go to. And have 6 books to read for the Ritas.

Okay, so that means I have no time to take pictures.NOT.

Have a great day!!! I’m off to get to the halfway point on Night of the Wolf, until I come up with a better title. That’s the one I had when I started it.

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

Loving the White Bear and Galaxy Warrior are Out!

Jan25
loving-the-white-bear-generic
Loving the White Bear
Jan 2017
Rob MacMathan and his brother and a friend run the White Bear Wilderness Adventures Tour, White Bear, where polar bear shifters have staked a claim. This is their last tour group of the season, but when photojournalist, Alicia Raycroft, touches Rob and envisions what he sees, though her paranormal abilities deal with psychometry, whereas heā€™s clairvoyant, theyā€™re both stunned. He witnesses a fight with an enraged grizzly; she sees a polar trying to eat her, which he interprets to mean heā€™s wearing his polar bear coat and trying to save her. In no way can he reveal the truth to her. Yet, just that connection between them pushes them to go beyond his self-imposed boundaries with both a client and a human.
Alicia is fascinated with Rob, not only because heā€™s rugged and handsome and just as interested in her, he intrigues her like no other man has ever done when her touching him reveals he has abilities like she has. She envisions a white bear coming for her as snow swirls about her in the Alaskan wilderness, yet sheā€™s determined to take this trek even if itā€™s her last. She believes fate is predetermined and nothing she will do can change the outcome anyway. Alicia and Rob are already headed down one dangerous path, so why not risk a chance at love too? Only he has more dark secrets heā€™s unwilling to share

Galaxy Warrior
January 2017

Passionate embraces men and women

Heā€™s a fighter pilot fighting the good fight in the Great Galaxy War, but when his spacecraftā€™s navigation is sabotaged and heā€™s stuck on an inhospitable desert planet awaiting repairs to his ship, he believes one woman might make his stay on the planet more thanā€¦hospitable. But the woman isnā€™t like any that Quaid Lassiter has ever met. She has secrets that can get him killed.

Zaira Cole is a shapeshifter, a pacifist, and is helping her scientist brother to turn the desert planet green. Her people must find the scrolls to give the High Council legitimacy and solicit help from Quaid Lassiter to train their pilots to fight in the war headed their way when theyā€™ve always been a neutral planet. But she wants him for more than that. Itā€™s mating season, sheā€™s just turned of age, and sheā€™s selected him for her mate. Now all she has to do is convince the Prince of Orion, he wants the same. And so the battle begins.

I’ll add links as I get them. I’m working on the novella for Heart of the Wolf now, then back to Flight of the White Wolf!
Have a terrific day!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

Romantic Times Magazine Reviewers Choice Best Book Awards Nominees

Jan24

Our mascot–Snoopy, who was an outdoor cat only at night. The rest of the time he came in to curl up beside us or beg for food in the kitchen.

A couple of the Austin romance writers and me (far left) shopping in Fredericksburg.
The ladies all working hard at their manuscripts. Everyone did. It was great!
One of the authors getting the eggs for morning breakfast!
And even late at night, everyone still working away at their books. šŸ™‚
Okay, I am so excited about this. It doesn’t mean I’ll win. I have huge, well-known authors I’m up against, but even to be in this position is truly wondrous!

Romantic Times Magazine Reviewers Choice Best Book Awards Nominees

Contemporary Romance
Sara Humphreys
British Isles-Set Historical
Shana Galen
First Historical
Weina Dai Randel
Paranormal Romance
Asa Maria Bradley
Paranormal World Building
Terry Spear
BillionaireWolfClothing_CVR

They are all listed here:Ā https://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-awards.

I’m up against some really BIG authors! So you know what that means. BUT, to even be there is amazing!!!

Finished Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas and turned it in. Rereading Loving the White Bear and then will publish. Have 40 more pages to go.

AND, I have 4,000 written on a novella for Heart of the Wolf inclusion! I need 16,000 more words, but I might write more, just depends on how the story goes.

I have 62,000 left on Flight of the White Wolf and am eager to get back to that too! Corgis are staying with me from Thursday through Sunday.

And that’s if for now!

Have a lovely day!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

 

Birding While at a Writer’s Retreat!

Jan23

My goals: Edit Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas, walk, photograph birds

Walk: Check: I walked 6.5 miles on Saturday. (Friday, we got in, so I managed three miles just in getting ready, packing, etc, getting there, and walking all over to check things out.) Yesterday, I had to leave, but managed 2 miles between the morning and the evening after the 4.5 hour drive.

Photograph birds and other stuff: Check.

A tufted titmouse, male red cardinal, female cardinal, spotted towhee, and a female cardinal and sparrows. Quiet Hilltop Ranch had a birding blind. It was great! I didn’t have to photograph birds through a window!

Edits on Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas. Check. I finished the edits I needed to make on Friday night, and spent Saturday and Sunday re-reading. I have 6 chapters left to re-read and then I can turn it in today.

I was worried about meeting all these deadlines with the two books of edits added in to do, but I’m off schedule, yet, still doing great! Except, now I have to keep writing on Flight of the White Wolf, due April 1st, and write the novella for Heart of the Wolf due March 15th.

So met goals and had a blast! More pictures to show the story coming up.

Off to work! Have a great day!!!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)

Vignette or Not to Vignette

Jan20

 

squirrel 900 on table 002.png

Vignettes can help to showcase your subject, the dark or lighter (if you use a lighter vignetting around the subject), draws the eye in to see the subject.

Some photographers like it. Others don’t. Or want a very natural look, so use the natural vignette and darken it just a little. This is the picture as I took it, as far as the vignetting goes. When I sit at my desk, the window frame and wooden box on my desk acted as vignettes. Not sure what caused it from the upper right corner.

squirrel-900-on-table-center-light-002

The second photo, I used a center light to brighten the picture a bit.The first, I warmed it up a bit to a peachy tone.

Which is better?

So much of photography, or any kind of art, is a judgement call.

Even writing. Say it this way, or that? Which is better? For one person, the one way. For another, a different way.

squirrel-on-table-sooc-900-002

This is the original picture (SOOC), no changes. The scene is much more blue.

I’ve decided I am the “crooked photographer”–only because nearly every thing I capture is tilted. And I don’t even need to have anything to drink to produce them all that way!

It was a dark, dreary day, pouring rain nearly all day long, when the squirrel, a juvenile, was trying to get at the bird feeders. Here, he caught me catching him in a shot!

Okay, so I really am working, and got SEAL Wolf Undercover editing done late last night and sent it in. I need to work on Dreaming of the White Wolf Christmas this weekend, and then get back on track with Flight of the White Wolf. I’ve started reading the Rita books too, ch 3, one book of 6. I want to re-read Loving the White Bear one last time and then put it up for sale. I want to make the changes to Galaxy Warrior, and then re-read one last time and put it up for sale.

I need to write the novella for Heart of the Wolf re-release, going to get a new cover, yay! But I need to re-read Heart of the Wolf to see which 2ndary character I want to use in the story. I actually started one several years ago, so maybe I can use it. Some stories require a full length novel to do them justice though. So not sure. šŸ™‚

The only way to make the deadlines go away is to get on the projects and get them done. Simple! Right!

So off I go on my merry way to save the world–through my heroes and heroines, of course!

Have a heroic day!

Terry Spear

ā€œGiving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.ā€

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spearĀ  (For Releases and Deals)