Archive | February 2021

Freezing Rain and Finally Electricity in Texas

Feb18

Tried to blog and nothing would work, so had to get on a technical chat this morning. Finally working!

May be a closeup of nature and tree
Freezing rain, snow on the ground, electric out

After 15 hours of no electricity, we finally got it back. I had just gotten up and was about to write my blog when it went out. I’m hoping it doesn’t go out again, but this time I’m getting my hot tea first thing.

We had freezing temperatures all day and freezing rain. We put our food that needed to be refrigerated outside, and bundled up inside. Our phones were dying. I still had 20% on mine, but I couldn’t call to tell my daughter I had D batteries she needed, or matches. It wouldn’t let me email anyone either. For a little while, I could do FB chat messages and then I no longer was able to do that either.

My son called from Omaha, but the calls wouldn’t go through. He finally got through to my daughter and they drove over, the roads fine. She brought me an extra lantern. I gave her the batteries and matches.

May be an image of bird
Sleet

At least we had water and after using a heater to warm up under the kitchen sink for 3 hours yesterday, the pipes unfroze. Hopefully they didn’t crack. My daughter and her family had a time getting their garage door open manually because the opener thingy was bent so they had to use a sledge hammer on it, just to get their car out of the garage and drive over. And he sat in his car for a while, charging up all our phones. I still only had 24%, but at least I was able to send a couple of messages.

I wrote, cut, pasted, rewrote sections of White Wolf for 7 hours on my laptop. The length of how long my battery would last on the laptop. I think it had a half hour to go, and then I gave up on it.

I went to bed at 7:30, too dark to do anything else, and at 9:30, the electric finally came back on. As soon as it did, I was plugging in my laptop, making sure my phone was charging, and working on the story some more, saving it to my main PC so I wouldn’t lose it, and I don’t want to go to bed. It’s 11:30 and I want to write and work on this through the night. Just in case we lose our electricity again. lol

May be an image of dog and indoor
In the Dark with dogs, keeping warm and working on White Wolf

In any event, we’re electrified again!

I was so annoyed when I heard some woman say she wasn’t going to lower her heat–she keeps it at 74 year round, when they asked people to please reduce electric usage so we wouldn’t lose our electricity. She said she refused to wear a ton of clothes when she was inside her home. Well, I hope she was happy with no electricity at all then.

I knew as soon as they asked people to please cut down electric usage, we would have people like her saying no one was going to tell them what they could do. I watch a lot of apocalyptic survival stories and she’s one of the people who would be a problem. lol You think in bad situations people wouldn’t act like that, but they do.

Sigh.

So we’re good for the moment, hope it stays that way, I think I feel a story coming on, and I hope everyone who has been experiencing power outages has theirs returned soon. It’s amazing what you can’t do without electric. It was really too dark to even write by hand by the time my laptop was out of battery power.

Have a great one! And stay safe!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
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Texas under Snow and Ice

Feb16
Azalea in snow
People pushing a car free after spinning out in the snow in Waco, Texas, yesterday.Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald, via Associated Press

I used to work in Waco. But it’s a mess here too near Houston.

Texas is under snow and ice! And a lot of other places in the south that normally aren’t either. Electric outages all over. Rolling blackouts. Water isn’t being pumped to some homes.

I’m afraid my sprinkler system probably broke, despite trying to weatherproof it. And my kitchen sink pipes froze last night. So I’m hair drying it, trying to unfreeze it, hoping I don’t have a flood of water like I did in Oklahoma one time. And the worst? It was Christmas Day. I had to have a friend turn off the water for me because it was frozen and I couldn’t budge it, and when the plumbers came the next day, they found termite towers in the wall behind the plumbing they had to repair. Talk about costly!!!

Anyway, still frozen, still writing tons and rewriting tons and moving stuff around in White Wolf. It will be a mess for a while, but it’s getting better. I’m up to chapter 7-8 and those are mostly like I want them. 15 chapters to revise, rewrite, move around. 🙂 But it’s getting there!

Now if I can only unfreeze my kitchen pipe and hope I don’t have a crack in it!

Frozen rose. Flowers blooming before the deep freeze hit.

Stay safe and if you’re in the middle of this Polar Vortex–we haven’t had this kind of cold since 1985–stay warm the best you can!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
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A New Book Beginning

Feb15
scenic view of mountains during dawn
Photo by Simon Berger on Pexels.com

I’m so excited! I know to go by gut extinct and something was totally off on the story. The story is there–for White Wolf–but I was taking it in a different direction and there was no real conflict. I was thinking I’d have to write the WHOLE book, starting from scratch, and the time is ticking away. Not only do I have an April 1st deadline, but a new grandbaby coming–a drive-thru baby shower to host (hope it warms up by then), and a birthday party (family only) for my granddaughter to attend. We’re going to the zoo while the kids are in school and we’ll be wearing masks. But I started rethinking the beginning of the book, and then, voila! I had it, by jove! It was there all the time, but I just had to take a different direction to start the book.

Yesterday, I ended up writing 8200 words in the book. I removed the prologue, though if it were an indie book, I’d leave it, but so that my editor doesn’t take it out, I removed it.

So I’m at 84K on the book. I normally have to have a minimum of 80K, and I’m still writing the opening–another 400 words this morning in a few minutes, which makes the book 85K now. And I’m still writing the new beginning and I am excited about it. But I’m going to have to do a lot of rewrites to the rest of the book. And that’s okay. It’s easier to work with something that is there than something that is not. A lot of the scenes I love. I just needed to start with a different opening and now rewrite them to fit with the new opening.

It’s great. I love it. I hope my readers do too!

Have a super great day and I hope I can really make a dent in the rewrites in the next few days. I need to finish this baby up in the next few days.

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
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/u63qP

Follow Me for new releases and book deals: http://www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spear

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Feb14

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My sweet little granddaughter brought me a chocolate bear holding a heart for Valentine’s and I told her sharing was–

And she responded with… “caring!”

And so that’s what I did. After lunch, we shared just a piece of it, and next week we will have some more. She had wanted the whole heart. She would have been on a sugar high. No way. lol

So we got our hugs in, though we do all the time anyway. I hugged her for giving me the Valentine’s chocolate and she gave me a hug for sharing it with her.

Everyone needs hugs.

Years ago, we had a friend who said that his parents were both alcoholics, and so was he. He said the best memories he had was getting a hug from an aunt, because there was no love in his family. His father was extremely abusive.

My dad had horrible parents too–and his favorite memory was of sleeping with his grandmother and cousin in her big bed in winter in an old farmhouse where the two little boys had been dumped. He was mostly in orphanages with his sister, three years older than him, and they couldn’t even touch each other through the fence or they would be whipped. So he remembered how cuddling with his grandmother was one of his greatest joys. My dad was a great hugger.

So even if you don’t have anything else to give, offer a smile and a hug. Show someone you really do care. Share the love.

And speaking of which–distance, wear a mask, and when we can finally get one, vaccinate so sharing won’t mean giving someone a deadly virus!

And Happy Valentine’s Day the whole wide world ’round! Stay safe!

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

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Feb13
rural snowy village during severe blizzard
Photo by Maria Orlova on Pexels.com

It’s not really like that here, but it feels like it, minus the snow! It’s pretty, don’t you think? As long as you don’t have to be the one shoveling sidewalks.

It’s cold out! I know not like north cold but the polar vortex has slammed into us and is going to be around for a week. We usually don’t get much below 29 degrees. But it’s going to be 10 and we might have snow. The last time it got this cold in the Houston area was back in 1989.

I always try to get plants that can survive around -10, but I do have some tropical hibiscus and other plants that are more vulnerable below freezing. I remember years ago that my mother lost all her oleanders to a hard freeze. I lost evergreen shrubs in Oklahoma that were 27 years old to a frigid cold snap.

So fingers crossed I won’t lose a lot of vegetation over this. I tend to believe if I try something and it doesn’t work for all my weird weather–too much rain, not enough rain, way too hot, way too cold, it doesn’t belong in the garden. The problem is the weeds do great in every kind of weather. lol

Hope you all have great plans for the weekend!

I’m working on edits on Saving the White Cougar and Primal Desire and I think I might rework the opening of White Wolf since I need more of a dramatic plot situation. And I’m up to 20K+ on Angel Fae.

Okay, it’s time to get to work!

Hope you all have a lovely day! I’m going to try and stay warm!

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

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TGIF!

Feb12
frozen wave against sunlight
Photo by Hernan Pauccara on Pexels.com

It’s Friday! TGIF! My granddaughter was having her Valentine’s party at school so that means grandma doesn’t have to pick her up and that means??? No errands to run, no going anywhere in the cold and that means writing, editing, writing, editing and maybe playing with a photo or two.

I need to move some scenes around in white wolf and that’s always a mini disaster because I always leave ghosts of Christmases past, or just bits and pieces of storyline that no longer are in the right place. I’ve also been changing names like crazy and that always gets me in trouble. But I had to because some were too similar to others. *sigh* And it’s hard for readers to keep up with all the names. But I will have missed some because though Find and Replace is my friend, I often slip when I’m writing a name that can be spelled differently, and miss those on Find and Replace. And I had the characters eating pizza 3 times in the story. I think I’ve been craving pizza!

I keep thinking the next story needs to be of two wolves stranded on a desert isle so there are just 2 names in the whole story. Just 2. I should be able to keep them straight then.

Have a great Friday and an even greater weekend!

Stay safe!

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

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Sidewalks, Storms and a Scared Dog

Feb11

You know how you see something and you just wonder–why?

When I moved to Spring, I looked at new homes that didn’t have sidewalks. All the other developments did. That was one thing I wanted. For years, I’ve lived in farm country and I finally have to live in a city, and I wanted sidewalks! Walking along the road in Crawford, or running two miles when I had to prepare for my Army pt test, was just dangerous! I was always afraid I was going to be hit by some terror tearing down the road, hurrying to get somewhere. I remember how my brother-in-law ended up getting run off a country road when he was in the Army, running for the same reason as I had to, and ended up breaking his ankle.

When I was a kid, I loved sidewalks. We made hopscotch with chalk, roller skated, walked, ran, biked, and went to the park about a mile away–walking on sidewalks. I remember them fondly. So when the Realtor was really pushing these homes without sidewalks, and how they were next to these really fancy-pants, expensive homes which would make my new home even more desirable at resale, I said, “Where are the sidewalks? All the new developments have them. But this one doesn’t.” So no, and it was a lot farther away from my daughter’s home. I couldn’t have walked to her place. There was no clubhouse there. No pool. No amenities. One little pond. Little.

Where I am now has several ponds within walking distance, fountains, trails all over. It’s a walker’s paradise. And water birds frequent the ponds so I love to take pictures of them. There’s even a lake that I could walk to. Two playgrounds, two pools.

And sidewalks.

So when I see moms pushing their infants around on the streets, I’m like why are you doing this?????

We have sidewalks!

And this was way before COVID so it’s not like they’re trying to avoid anyone. No one on the sidewalks anyway. The chance that someone would drive up over the grass to reach the sidewalk is much less likely than a car hitting someone walking a stroller on the street! And I see the same thing with people walking their kids on the street.

I want to point out the sidewalks and say–That’s for people to walk on. Streets are for vehicles.

If they don’t want to use sidewalks they should have bought in the residences that don’t want to pay the cost of putting them in in the first place. I noticed that they’ve extended our walkways along the main road to another development, and I’m hoping they do that all along the road until it reaches the businesses so people can get out and walk, get some exercise, abandon their cars, but walk safely all the way to the shopping centers.

Trails and sidewalks for a better tomorrow.

Okay, last night was storm night. I crate my dogs. Tanner loves it. He feels lost without going to his bed, and often he’ll go in there during the day. But Max wants to stay with me, so I let him. He didn’t want to go to bed last night, so I left him out. It was as if he knew a storm was coming. Before I even heard thunder, he was having a fit, so I put him in his bed and covered it with a blanket finally and he settled down. Finally. It was awful. Thunder, pouring rain. I like it, but he was terrified. And I couldn’t sleep because of either. *sigh*

So little one and I are going to have a long day, I’m afraid.

I had to call another electrician. Hopefully, this one will fix my circuit breaker issues! I have two different circuit breakers for the kitchen outlets and both keep tripping. I’m in the middle of slow cooking food and it cuts off, and I have no idea how long it’s been cooking. That happened to me twice yesterday. And it’s out again. The other guy didn’t do anything. Hopefully this guy will.

I’d had the same trouble with the washer/dryer circuit breaker, they changed it out–different electrician–and no more issues for 5 years. *sigh*

It’s time to get ready for the young-un’ to arrive. The temperature has dropped 30 degrees and I’m cold. But it’s going to get colder. Even a chance for a wintry mix. And Monday–30 degree high and 14 degree low, unheard of for the Houston area since I’ve been here!!! Brrr. Our homes and clothes and plants aren’t winter worthy for that kind of cold. At least little one and I had a long, long couple of walks yesterday!

Okay, I’m off to write! Have a super great day. And stay safe! I noticed in the news the Covid rates are going down because of vaccinations, mask wearing and social distancing. Keep up the good work!

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

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Warm Days–Freezing Days

Feb10
selective photograph of a wall with grafitti
Photo by Toa Heftiba Şinca on Pexels.com

I’m having fun with Angel Fae, still plugging along on White Wolf, started a beef brisket in the slow-cooker and have little one here all day today and tomorrow. We have warm weather today, so I’m going to try and get her out to walk with me. When I pick her up every afternoon on the days I don’t have her all day, I ask what animal she’s learned about at preschool. “I don’t know.”

So we pick an animal to look up and the one was a fox, and listened to the strange sounds they make. Then it always turns into, “I want to see rainbow…horses.” So we look at rainbow horses–beautifully photoshopped or hand-drawn creations, then we see owls that someone has created, and they’re beautiful. And the Awwwwwwing goes on all over again, until Mommy comes to pick her up.

But today is a full day until 6 so we will pick an animal and learn all we can about it–but I suspect, just, you know, off the top of my head, it will turn into a rainbow animal and well, that’s fun too.

We watched how to draw one of her fun little My Little Ponies, and so maybe someday, she will be able to draw and paint like my parents did.  My dad was also into photography.

Me? I love photography and creating digital art through textures and such. I wish I could create the adorable owls that the one lady did, but I just don’t seem to have it in me.

So hope you have a beautiful day. We have 2 nice days, and then the weather is going to turn bitterly cold. Snow even, maybe, on Monday, which is so unusual for the Houston area! Flowers are out, leaves are coming out!

Stay safe!!

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

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To Prologue or Not to Prologue

Feb9
No description available.

I had fun doing a library video conference last night at the Buchanan County Public Library, hosted by the lovely Teresa Matney and including Kate Douglas, Beverly Jenkins, and Melanie James and me! We had a great time! Thanks to everyone who showed up and asked questions!

I’ve been editing White Wolf both last night and this morning, so typing changes first thing. I worked on Angel Fae last night after the conference.

So I got a note from my editor that she has removed my prologue in Jingle Bell Wolf because she doesn’t like prologues.

I disagree with her about prologues. I think they can be an important part of showing something that has shaped who the character is in real time. I oftentimes don’t write them in the beginning, but when I find myself referring to the incident over and over again that changed them forever, it’s TELLING. And if I have a prologue, it’s SHOWING. Then readers can feel that too. Telling doesn’t get the point across as well as showing.

Think of it this way–a person is terrified of flying. He was one of the few survivors of a plane crash. Telling. What if I show that in a prologue? Now it’s more real. We feel him. We feel his pain. We actually see what had happened to him and why he has the fear he has. Even in movies they often employ this.

Sure, if the prologue doesn’t have anything to do with the story, don’t have it. I remember reading a book where you think you’re reading about the main protagonist–and she’s murdered. What? Wait! I was all invested in the story in the prologue, waiting for her to get herself out of danger, or someone to rescue her, and now I have to figure out who the main character is again? You don’t learn that the killer is the father of the woman who is the main protagonist until about 3/4ths the way through the book. By that time, I’ve totally forgotten about the woman or her attacker in the prologue. So yeah, in that case, the prologue wasn’t needed. It just wasn’t relevant. Or the connection made so late in the story, by then it didn’t matter to me.

young game match kids
Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

In any event, a prologue can be important. Will I leave this one out? I don’t know. I need to reread the story because taking one thing out can affect everything in a story. So I’ll have to make sure it will be okay.

So to my readers, if you enjoy an exciting prologue that shows a snippet of something that turned a characters life upside down, you will probably have to read them in my other books.

In the meantime, I’m off to edit and still trying to figure out some conflict for White Wolf! And it does have a prologue too, for the same reason I have one in Jingle Bell Wolf.

Have a great day!!! And stay safe!

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

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