Archive | February 2017

Update Headers!

Feb28

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Note to self: Every once in a blue moon, update headers!

I always forget to do this. I just created this for Twitter, and the Colorado wildflowers are from Pixabay. Since the cougar shifters run Yuma Town, Colorado, it was perfect for the header!

I was up since 5 am and I still haven’t gotten anything done! How did it get to be 8:30 already?

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I way overexposed my pictures yesterday, ugh, he was sooooo bright green and even his eyes were green. Talk about a chameleon, only he needed to be white. 🙂

Have a great one!

Terry Spear

“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

In the Dark of Morning…

Feb27

 

Doesn’t that sound like a great opening for a scene? I’ve been messing with trying to capture a picture of lights that mysteriously illuminate trees to one side of a home. My problem is I can’t tell when the lens is focused. It’s too dark for me to see. But I thought these were interesting anyway.

Only in reality, they are much more clear! 🙂 <3

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And here is a roadrunner at the pizza place where I had lunch yesterday. No camera, just my phone. And I saw those interesting birds that I have no idea what they are when I was near home. Some kind of water bird with black heads, really long snake-like necks, and their bodies rest beneath the water. They dive for fish. Three of them in the most beautiful pose with water fountains behind them and all standing on a rock. There was no place to park, no camera, and I’m sure if I just parked on the road to try and capture them with my phone through the windshield even, they would  have flown away. I even had the idea of heading back there on foot, but the last time I tried that, the animals (fawns that time) were long gone.

I was also playing around with fluorescent “white” African Irises in oil painting filters with Photoshop. 🙂

I’ve been trying to find the skyrocket holly to plant, but no luck.

Okay, back to the book!!! It’s waking me up at 4, keeping me from going to sleep. I’ve got to finish it so I quit thinking about it! And get on with the next one. 🙂 I think it’s another Silver Wolf book. I can’t remember. lol

Cougar’s Mate–ENT’s Book of the Day!!!

http://ereadernewstoday.com/book-of-the-day-cougars-mate

Today’s Book of the Day is a Paranormal Romance novel by USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear and it’s 80% off for a limited time. Cougar’s Mate has a 4.5 star rating and is on sale for only 99 cents – save $4!

“It was a very strong adventure all the way!!! I loved it!!!” Teresa – Amazon Reviewer


Cougar’s Mate
by Terry Spear
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal
Price: $0.99 save $4

 

Cougar’s Mate – Nook
Cougar’s Mate – Apple iBooks
Cougar’s Mate – Google Play
Cougar’s Mate – Kobo

🙂 Have a super wonderful day!

Terry Spear

“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

Double Cougar Trouble $25 Amazon Gift Card

Feb26
Click on the link to enter:  https://www.nightowlreviews.com/V5/Blog/Articles/Double-Cougar-Trouble-Giveaway-by-Terry-Spear

Terry Spear’s Double Cougar Trouble Giveaway – $25 Amazon Card & an eBook

Enter to win a $25 Amazon Card and an eBook from Terry Spear! Along the way be enchanted by the blurb for her book, “Double Cougar Trouble”. Twin four year olds need their father!

Comment Question: What paranormal shifter is your favorite? Wolf, Cougar, Dragon, Badger, Rabbit, Cat, Dog, etc? Have fun!

Giveaway Open International
18 and older to enter

Terry Spear

“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

Loving the White Bear–Print Version Approved!

Feb25

Finished proofing Loving the White Bear! I approved the final version. The print version should be available soon! https://www.createspace.com/6918350

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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 he’s clairvoyant, they’re both stunned. He witnesses a fight with an enraged grizzly; she sees a polar trying to eat her, which he interprets to mean he’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 he’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 she’s determined to take this trek even if it’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 he’s unwilling to share

I also discovered the links are now available to preorder the next 3 books coming out this year! 🙂 <3

Between a Wolf and a Hard Place
April 2017

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Another Silver Wolf Novel!
April 4, 2017

SEAL Wolf Undercover
August 2017

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/SEAL-Wolf-Undercover-Terry-Spear/dp/1492645141

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seal-wolf-undercover-terry-spear/1125022685?ean=9781492645146

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/seal-wolf-undercover/id1203903299?mt=11

Kobo:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Terry_Spear_SEAL_Wolf_Undercover?id=lnsFDgAAQBAJ

Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/seal-wolf-undercover/9781492645146

 

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Dreaming of a White Wolf Christmas
Oct 2017

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-White-Christmas-Terry-Spear/dp/1492645176

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dreaming-of-a-white-wolf-christmas-terry-spear/1125526072?ean=9781492645184

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dreaming-of-a-white-wolf-christmas/id1202348414?mt=11

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Terry_Spear_Dreaming_of_a_White_Wolf_Christmas?id=KHwFDgAAQBAJ

Kobo:

Indio: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/dreaming-of-a-white-wolf/9781492645177

 

So I was cutting back the esperanza after the freeze killed it back. I wasn’t sure if the leaves would come back on the branches, but they weren’t. They’re coming from the ground. But then I saw a wondrous site. 🙂 <3 It pays to pay attention to detail.

So I left the lizard’s hiding place alone.

Back to all the deadlines! 🙂 <3

Have a wonderful weekend!

Terry Spear

“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

Between a Wolf and a Hard Place–4 Stars, RT Reviews!

Feb24

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BETWEEN A WOLF AND A HARD PLACE by Terry Spear (4 stars) RT Reviews! Yay!!

The newest addition to the Silver Town Wolf series is dark, sexy and replete with a haunting spin. Readers will get a kick out of the author’s vivid imagination. This steamy tale of love intermingles perfectly with the more thrilling moments, and can easily be read as a stand-alone.

Ellie MacTire and her sisters own the Silver Town hotel. In addition to being a wolf-shifter, Ellie also has the ability to communicate with the dead. She has an inkling that Alpha werewolf Brett Silver has something up his sleeve when he donates a family heirloom to the hotel. He’s had his eyes and heart set on Ellie, and nothing will stand in his way until she’s his. Unfortunately, there are some creepy things occurring around town. Can Ellie keep her family and the town safe? And will she be able to keep her composure around Brett in order to find out who’s behind the mysterious happenings? (SOURCEBOOKS, Apr., 352 pp., $7.99)

Wooing a she-wolf isn’t as easy as it looks in this bold paranormal romance from USA Today bestseller Terry Spear

In Silver Town, the secrets run deep…

Alpha werewolf Brett Silver has an ulterior motive when he donates a prized family heirloom to the Silver Town hotel. Ellie MacTire owns the place with her sisters, and he’s out to get her attention.

Ellie is even more special than Brett knows. She’s a wolf-shifter with a unique ability to commune with the dead. Ellie has been ostracized, so she protects herself and those she loves by revealing nothing—not even when strange and dangerous things begin to happen in Silver Town. And especially not to the devastatingly handsome and generous wolf who’s determined to win her over…

“A master storyteller.” —RT Book Reviews for Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply, 4 Stars

Destiny of the Wolf ebook by Terry Spear Book 1
Wolf Fever ebook by Terry Spear Book 2
Dreaming of the Wolf ebook by Terry Spear Book 3
Silence of the Wolf ebook by Terry Spear Book 4
A Silver Wolf Christmas ebook by Terry Spear Book 5

Silver Town Wolf Series:
Destiny of the Wolf (Book 1)
Wolf Fever (Book 2)
Dreaming of the Wolf (Book 3)
Silence of the Wolf (Book 4)
A Silver Wolf Christmas (Book 5)
Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply (Book 6)
Between a Wolf and a Hard Place (Book 7)

Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Another Silver Wolf Novel!
April 4, 2017
Just did an interview on my books, 2 blogs for Casablanca, need to do one for Fierce Romance, and have to: Keep up with my writing on Flight of the White Wolf (5,000 words ahead on it from my new word count goal when I missed my other self-made deadline!); need to finish proofing print for Loving the White Bear and Galaxy Warrior; and the narrator for Taming the Wild Cougar is finally submitting chapters to review. I really like his voice, so if this works out, I could be seeing if he’ll do Covert Cougar Christmas and Double Cougar Trouble. He’s 2 months late on working on the project, so we’ll see.
And I still need to do taxes. Yet, I have to have me time too.
Renee Doiling of Floating Lights Photography shows a video on how to use Photoshop to create oil painting versions of your photos.
It takes a second, and really has some beautiful results. Imagine my surprise to see the “heart” shape reveal itself so well in the photo of the rose. It’s there in the original picture, but it is much more noticeable in this one. Snoopy the cat was at our Writer’s Retreat, such a sweet, poseable model, and the male red cardinal, also at the retreat, and the garlic chives flower blooming in the pot on my back porch. I’ve eaten the chives all year since last spring. They never died back, not even with the hard freeze we had.
And I’ve been gardening. I put out zinnia and salvia seeds, so we shall see if anything comes of them. While I was planting them, I found tons of fire ants too. Ugh. ‘Tis the season.
Okay, I’m off to get to work. I really, really need to whittle down these projects. I feel overwhelmed when I have this many. I need to make another cover, this one for an audiobook for Taming the Wild Cougar. So many things to do, need, want, so little time!
Have a smooth, oil painting kind of day. 🙂 <3

Terry Spear

“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

Do You Notice the World Around You…

Feb23

Even in the dark?

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Terry Spear

“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

Bears and Birds

Feb22

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This is a yellow mohair bear and the last I’ll be making for a little while.

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Dove trying to chase off cowbirds (blackbirds). The cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests so that the other birds will take care of the cowbirds’ and not their own.

So I was glad the dove won out.

Back to the book. Doing edits this morning, which means not really adding a lot. Take out, add some, take out….etc, etc, etc. But it’s necessary!

Have a lovely day!!

Terry Spear

“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

Setting, Setting, Setting

Feb21

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Female Bluebird on a sunny day.

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Mourning Dove on a rainy day.

In writing and photography setting can mean everything. Just think if the dove had been in front of a bunch of shrubs. The raindrops falling on his head would have been lost. The bluebird against the blue sky made for a nice backdrop.

In writing, I try to have a setting that challenges my characters, or gives the reader a new experience. I’m in the Boundary Waters on a canoe trip right now. It’s different from being in Alaska, the Grand Cayman Islands, or …Texas.

Shooting pictures on a rainy day gives a different setting than on a sunny day. The same with a story. It sets the mood. A rainy, foggy day makes you feel different from a sunny, bright day. A place can  make you feel differently about the weather too. A sunny day in Oregon was welcome. In Florida, a stormy day was welcome, to break up the monotony of the constant sunshine.

Night and day photography can change the scenery, even if it’s the same exact scenery. The same with setting. At night, what goes on can be very different from what happens during the day.

Vantage point. I was taking pictures of mushrooms from their level, which meant getting out my door mat so I wouldn’t get all wet from the grass when lying down. Then comes the attack of the puppies. If I’m on the ground, I must be there to play with them.

I do the same with writing as far as vantage point goes. What do the shifters see when they’re in their animal form? They’re lower to the ground, nose to the ground, eye level, totally different vantage point from a human walking upright.

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Sometimes you just want to highlight one person among all the rest. But if that little mushroom didn’t have all his fellow mushrooms standing behind him, would he have been as interesting? Maybe. So it can be with writing–and photography, the secondary characters–mushrooms–that make the one stand out.

And those are my brilliant words of wisdom today–hope you smile–because of course I jest!

Have a great day!!!

Terry Spear

“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

I Am in Charge…

Feb20

Right.

I’m trying to do my taxes, make bears, and write a book. Which means, the taxes are a necessary evil, and if I were in charge, I wouldn’t be doing them.

Making bears, yes, they’re fun. Writing the book, it’s on deadline, so again, I’m not in charge. The deadline is. Not to mention my characters are presenting scenes to me while I’m trying to do other things…like sleep…and so guess who else is in charge???

Minky Bear is a faux mink bear. The one with the suede paws is a little easier to see, and Ivory is a champagne mohair bear.

Then the puppies. Aww, my adorable puppies. I’m supposed to be the alpha, but until I feed them this morning, they will keep hounding me, which means I finally gave in, so, you can see who is in charge.

I am over halfway done on Flight of the White Wolf, yay! And I sewed up a lilac bear for a Mother’s Day bear, which is just the beginning, and finished a golden mohair last night. But it is pouring this morning and still too dark to take a decent outdoor picture.

Off to the book! It’s pouring, the temperature dropped from when I first got up at 5 am, but the thunder seems to have moved off. Uhm, as the sky lightens up with lightning and it immediately thunders after that, my mistake.

Have a wonderful day. I love rain. So it’s a great vampire day. Even if I’m writing about Arctic wolves.

Terry Spear

“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

Cropping Life

Feb19

Mourning Dove in the Fairy Garden

Okay, so say the experts that you should use the Rule of Thirds for cropping, for the most part. So I thought that meant your subject should be in one of the boxes that bordered the photo. One site said the important object should be in the cross hairs. Now, another had said the eyes in a portrait should be above the middle line, if it’s a centered portrait, so maybe it doesn’t have to be in the cross hairs. What do I know?

In the first photo, the dove is in the left box of the Rules of Thirds. The second, it’s on the cross hairs. Which seems like a better crop to you?

Cropping photos is like cropping stories. Getting the meat of the story/picture out there. Sharing what’s relevant and beautiful, not convoluted and boring.

I used to write in a diary–but so much of life needs to be cropped out. 🙂 It’s boring, dull, just the same-oh, same oh… When I tossed my diaries, I tossed a lot of interesting bits of life too. Stuff I couldn’t remember if I wanted to.

I remember listening to an author talk about how he journaled and how seeing something happen, capturing it in words right then and there was important because a year down the road, two years, ten years, the details were gone. Vaporized. The general gist of it he could remember, sure. But the details are what make the scene vivid. Real. Because it was real.

Do you ever listen to someone telling a story, and you so want them to get to the point??? To cut out all the extraneous details?

To crop or not to crop…or where to crop…that is the question!

Tara Lasher’s site has a free giveaway of a Macbook, so be sure and enter! http://contest.taralesher.com/ref/k5200871/

Have a great one!

Terry Spear

“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