Tag Archive | Cougar’s Mate

Do You have Change for a Million Dollar ($1,000,000) Bill?

Feb13

wilson-100-grand

chase-10000

million-dollar-bill

Credit for Images

Okay, so I was researching about the various high dollar amount denominations so that I can make an issue in Cougar’s Mate realistic, and ran across this article on the various amounts of these currencies still left.

As of 5 years ago, only a little over 300 of the $10,000 and $5,000 bills are in circulation. But over 150 thousand $1,000 bills, so we’re good.

But what I found so funny was the two articles that related to individuals using “million dollar notes” to buy goods at Walmart. One was in Georgia, the other in North Carolina. Don’t they know that Walmart clerks are trained in not giving out that much change for a million dollar bill?

Chuckling here.

Can you imagine??? “Okay, wait, I don’t have $999,524 in my register. Let me get some from all the clerks’ cash registers, a few banks and….”

Yeah.

Haven’t they ever watched those movies that show that using counterfeit dollars of a small denomination, though still not easy, is a safer bet? Especially when a $1,000,000 bill doesn’t even exist?

The other thing you have to be careful of is spending a $1,000 antique bill at the bank. Well, trying to cash them in. Especially if you’re a teenager and on the lam after robbing a parents’ safe of the $1,000 bill. Yep, all three of the boys got nabbed.

Okay, see, this is what happens when I do research. I learn all kinds of things I didn’t know!

Did you know any of this?

Have a great Thursday! And may your dreams be filled with million dollar wonders, but if you ever receive one of those million dollar bills, don’t try to spend it at Walmart.

Jaguar Valentines copy (640x420)

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com

Taking a Minute to Play with Photos!–Happy Valentine’s Day Early!

Feb12

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For all my snowbound friends, I’m sending the wolves to warm you up!

While my computer was broken, I couldn’t do some of my fun photo magic, no photoshop, and so I finally downloaded a bunch of brushes, again, and I’m all set to work. Not that I have a lot of time for it, but sometimes I just want to do something special. Like create a wolfish Happy Valentine’s Day statement. Of course, when I do this, I feel guilty about not writing. I kept telling myself it’s okay to take a break every once in  awhile. But my goal was to write 5,000 and reach 60,000 on Cougar’s Mate, and I did it! So see? I can do both! 🙂

It’s early, but if I didn’t want to spend all that time creating something of such wolfish beauty and only use it for one day of the year. 🙂

How I did it:

The bride pictured is from: http://faestock.deviantart.com/

The wolves and background I purchased from Bigstock photos. The wolves are two separate photos.

I used mist brushes from: http://www.obsidiandawn.com/mist-photoshop-gimp-brushes

And that’s the magic!

My parents were both artists and they both had written stories. I didn’t know about their writing, though dad made up stories to tell us when we were kids, until I began to write my first novel and they shared with me. Dad was also a photographer. But early on, my dad told me I wasn’t an artist. Don’t try. lol

I kept thinking that maybe I was. Maybe not with paint or watercolor, but with fabric when I began to create things that they couldn’t. My parents made doll carriages later on and their creations were wooden art. Beautiful. But my bears received all kinds of awards and were featured in magazines and newspapers, so that way was my contribution to the art world. And writing after that in the form of books.

And then I began playing around with creating my own book covers. Horrible. But the more I learned, the more I loved doing it, and just even creating pictures that wouldn’t be used for book covers, and they weren’t so bad after all. 🙂

My parents and I were really close and every year I see something new that I know they would have loved to have done too, and wish they could see all that there is to see. I’m not sure if my mother would have wanted to learn how to create pictures on the computer, but dad would have loved it. And he would have loved the new cameras and all that they could do. And both my parents gave me their stories to publish someday, if I could.

So for someone who can’t create artwork, it’s not too bad, don’t you think?

Okay, I had a light bulb moment on Cougar’s Mate, so off to work on it. I also have the audio files stacking up on The Highlander that I need to go over to ensure they’re accurately synched with the manuscript, and I need to pre-post another blog for the blog tour for Silence of the Wolf. Four more interviews to go, haven’t gotten them yet, and I’m all set.

Are you an artist? What is your medium of fun?

Terry

http://www.terryspear.com

Silence of the Wolf Review! And Jaguar Fever and A Howl for a Highlander–$2.99!

Feb11

1c2a7-silencewolf121212a“Exciting romance with sweet, sexy wolf shifter hero!”

Silence Of The Wolf
Terry Spear

Reviewed by Miranda Owen
Posted February 10, 2014

Romance Paranormal

SILENCE OF THE WOLF is Book thirteen in Terry Spear’s Heart of the Wolf series. As a fan of Terry Spear and this series, I have been waiting for gray werewolf Tom Silver to have a story of his own for a long time. He is my favorite of the three Silver brothers.

This story takes place in Silver Town, Colorado. Silver Town is a unique environment and it’s nice to re-visit it in this story. It’s a town run by wolf shifters and they make up the majority of the population.

Elizabeth Wildwood is an interloper to this town. She has a lot to be anxious about: she is a red wolf/coyote shifter in a town full of gray wolf shifters, and she is trying to get evidence of her parents’ possible murder. There were many sources of conflict in this story — rogue wolves loose in Silver Town riling up the human farmers, shadowy figures trying to capture Elizabeth, and the mystery surrounding Elizabeth’s parents’ death. All these things kept up the level of excitement and made things interesting.

For me this is a book very much about family. Elizabeth is stunned and deeply touched by how much acceptance and friendship she finds among the gray wolf shifters. Acceptance is something that has always been in short supply for her. The only time she has felt love has been when her mother and father were alive. She was hidden or looked down on by both her mother and father’s families for being both wolf and coyote. It’s this bad experience with family that makes it difficult for her to trust that she can find happiness and attract and hold onto love. Of course this makes Tom the perfect guy for her since he’s such a sweet and sexy combination.

SILENCE OF THE WOLF continues Terry Spear’s tradition of writing strong female characters and sweet, sexy male characters. I really enjoyed this romance and I think Elizabeth and Tom are a great match. I love that they have a teasing, fun flirtation right from the beginning. As always with this author’s books, the secondary characters are great as well and really add to the story. It’s great to catch up with favorite characters from past books like Sam and Silva. I loved this romance and eagerly await the next book in this series as well as other books by Terry Spear!

Learn more about Silence Of The Wolf

SUMMARY

A hunky werewolf and a beautiful stranger collide in this hot new paranormal shape-shifting romance

Gray werewolf Tom Silver is determined to find the wolves who have been attacking local livestock. While tracking the pack through the Rockies, a blizzard forces him into a remote cabin where he hears a plane crash nearby. When he discovers the sole survivor is a beautiful female werewolf/ coyote shifter mix, bound as a prisoner, he knows it’s his duty to hide her. Now, they are both at risk as a search ensues for the missing prisoner. Will Tom be able to protect this beautiful stranger while tracking down the wolves responsible for terrorizing the local livestock?

****

Only $2.99!!!!! For a trip to the jungle with him, wouldn’t you love it???

http://www.amazon.com/Jaguar-Fever-Heart-Terry-Spear-ebook/dp/B00CA3SHDC/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1392051631&sr=8-9&keywords=terry+spear



Only $2.99!!!! And you know he’s worth a LOT more than that! 

http://www.amazon.com/Howl-Highlander-Terry-Spear-ebook/dp/B009RXIV5C/ref=pd_sim_kstore_5

We never get notification of sales, but I came across this yesterday, so wanted to give a heads up! Don’t know how long they will be on sale for!

And I’m off to write! 55,000 words on Cougar’s Mate and counting. 🙂

We’re supposed to have icy rain today, and by Thurs, 71 degrees! The weather has been too weird this year.

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com

Saving, Restoring, and Downright Cheatin’

Feb9

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First, my birds. 🙂

I was having a blast with Cougar’s Mate, just going along nice and linear like, which means from Point A to Point B to Point C, and then something happened. I had the brilliant scene play out in my mind that was the whole ending. Or not.  I thought it was the black moment, and I thought it was the ending, but the characters did the unexpected, again.  What that means is that some of the other stuff I wrote that I had already cut out–the 10,000 words could be used, so I inserted them back in. But they have to all be reworked because they don’t fit now with the new beginning and the almost ending.

So what happens? Can’t sleep. I had another scene, so wrote it, but I wanted to write another scene. Too tired. Hoped I’d remember it in the morning. 1:00 and I’m thinking about the scene I didn’t write. It doesn’t pay to put the muse on hold. So I wrote it, turned out the lights, couldn’t quit thinking and had another scene come to me. *sigh*

The first 6 chapters are great, linear, from the first point through the end point. The end chapters are too, well, the almost end. And then, I have to rework and add a lot in between. Does this mean filler? Never. Conflict, mystery, romance, adventure. If it doesn’t add to the solving of the mystery, to reaching the ultimate goal and a HEA, it doesn’t belong.

When I was playing RPGs, Role Playing Games, I saved a lot. I do with my writing too. But if you don’t save an earlier version, that you might decide you like better, just like in a game, you might find you saved too late. Believe me. I’ve been in really tight spots of no return in a game, and the last saved game means no going back–or to a much, much earlier place where I didn’t have half the wonderful armor or weapons or magic skills, hadn’t solved a lot of the mysteries, and have to fight all the bad guys again.

My dad used to say he really hated to have to go backward when he was trying to move forward, like heading out, forgetting something crucial, and having to return for it. Or getting lost and traveling way out of his way.  That’s how I felt about having to go to an earlier game and start “all over”. I didn’t enjoy fighting all the monsters again, or finding all those treasures again. I wanted to find new monsters, new mysteries to solve, new treasures.

If you play a lot of these games, you’ll be driving through town and think:  I wish I could have restored to an earlier play. 🙂 If I’d only known the mess I was going to get into driving this route, I could just take a different one. If only I could click a button and I would be back at that point and just take the other road. I think there’s a story in that. 🙂

Or, saving. Wouldn’t it be neat if, like with that thought I had last night, just save it in a game folder? And then open it up in the morning, at a decent hour and it’s all there???

Okay, so saving and restoring are great game play techniques. If I didn’t have them, I’d be dead. Game over. Forever and ever and ever.

Now then there’s cheatin’. I’m going to tell you that if I try and try and try to solve a puzzle and I can’t go anywhere else to continue the game play because that’s a main quest and I have to do it, I cheat. I’m not saying I’m proud of it. But sometimes, I have to have a clue or three to get me on my way. There’s something called an Easter Egg that programmers add to games also, and so you can get a cheat item, unlimited money, magic potion, whatever.  I usually don’t do this. But I was playing Dungeon Siege and it was so glitchy, I kept having trouble. You can’t kill of the monsters and have fun exploring the area. You have to keep killing them. I love the mystery, finding cool stuff, solving puzzles. Killing over and over and over is not my thing. It wears me out. 🙂

So I got a cheat code that made me really powerful. And then I got to the place where I had to fight several wizards and they killed me! Over and over again. I was no longer all powerful.

You see, sometimes you can’t just save and restore and downright cheat. You’ve just got to put your nose to the grindstone, and… work. 🙂

And that’s what I’m going to do.

Have a super great Sunday!!

Terry

Ready for a Cougar Shifter Story?

Feb8

I’ve been working on a cougar shifter story for a while after fans asked me about it. I LOVE my wolf packs. And I LOVE my jaguar shifters–they’re exotic animals, which makes them fun to write. But cougars are all over North America, and so I really wanted to write about them TOO.

And so, coming this year, the first in the series: Cougar’s Mate. The series name will be: Heart of the Cougar

I also have a book I’m revising that I hope to have out this year also:

 
I love historical books. I read them all the time. But my favorite is medieval and there aren’t as many of them. I love, love, love Highlanders. But I had already written a number of English historical romances and so I’m in the process of revising this one to show my other favorite genre to write about: wolf shifters. 🙂
In my wolf shifter books, they have a historical past. They live long lives. So I often have a historical background in my contemporary books. But I thought it would be fun to actually write about that historical wolf and how they coped.
This will be the first of the series. I need to come up with a series name though! 🙂  Any ideas?
I’m also working on those sexy Highland heroes, well, in this case it’s Gunnolf and he’s a Viking, but he’s got to have a Highland lass!
And I’m currently proofing A Hero of a Highland Wolf.
And Silence of the Wolf is coming out March 4, so writing up all the blogs for the blog tour for that!
And having Jaguar Pride beta read before I turn it in.
Oh, and on Cougar’s Mate, looking for second book title, maybe Call of the Cougar?
Have a lovely Saturday!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com

Multi-Tasking

Feb4

Are you the type of person who has to finish a project from beginning to end? A linear type of person?

When I was playing RPGs, role-playing games, I hated the ones that were super linear. My mind doesn’t work that way. If I get stuck, I’d want to be able to either figure out a different way to solve a puzzle, or be able to solve another and then go back to that one.

That’s how I am with everything. I have a ton of things I’m working on at any given time. I love it when I accomplish something, but I always have several more things take its place.

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So the day before yesterday, I worked on The Viking’s Highland Lass and added another 4,000 to it. And yesterday, I made edit changes to Cougar’s Mate, and I just went to town on it. So I ended up writing 6,000 words on it.  This is the story that I threw out 20,000 words of the 30,000 word beginning of the story. 🙂 I saved the “cut outs” because I will be using some of it. But I needed to start over and write it differently. Now it’s working. I do that every once in a while. Write 1/3 to a 1/2 of a book, and then decide I need to go in a different direction. It’s not action packed enough, not enough of a mystery, whatever. 🙂

Sometimes when something isn’t working, and I mean with anything, I take a break and work on something else. Like I took pictures of all the birds in the bird feeders. Yes, I know that one isn’t a bird feeder, but the birds don’t know that, so we’re good.

I would have written more on Cougar’s Mate, but I needed to take a break, so I worked on two bears for a bear order.

Now it’s time to read the last of the Rita books I’m judging.

So do you ever do something different so that you can come back to it and then all of a sudden it all falls into place?

Is it really Tuesday already?

I need more hours in a day.

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male!”
www.terryspear.com