New Cover for Lady Caroline and the Egotistical Earl!

I am writing, honest! Three more blogs done. I added 3 more, so that means I'm down to 10 to finish...again.

But I really wanted to change out the background on this picture and make the title clearer to read.

So what do you all think?  That's a Medieval background with towers in the back, but the Lady Caroline and her Egotistical Earl wanted to take center stage so they sort of blocked the town from view. Did I ever tell you how much my characters take over in a story? Even on the cover!

Lady Caroline has one mission in mind, helping her mother maintain their estates after her father's death, while knights posing as the earl's men continue to kill their livestock. But as soon as her mother wishes the earl's intervention, Caroline has a new problem--the earl is intrigued with her and wants her to reside at his castle and serve his mother.

Caroline refuses, but as the raids on her family's lands turn more deadly, Lord John Talbot forces the issue. Caroline continues to attempt to uncover who is behind the raids, and with her unnatural ability to remember details, she intends to see justice done.

The lady may be his undoing, but the earl decides she is the one for him and no other will do, if only he can keep her safe from the danger that follows her every move until he can wed her.

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Okay, off to write more blogs!!!

Have a super great Friday!!! TGIF!!!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

My Heroes and Heroines are NOT Cooperating!!!

Okay, so here is the story--they've fallen in love from day one. Or...maybe not that early. But close enough. I mean, I've got to write at least 90,000 words! And they can't fall in love like that. No way. It won't work. Readers will be disappointed. Right?

Sure they will. It's disappointing to me, and I'm supposed to be thrilled with their progress. All the great internal conflict. They can't, they can't, they can't, then don't want to, they...well, maybe. No. Yes. No. Maybe...yes! They can't. And ahhh, they did.

See? It's that easy! Truly. So get it together folks. Play a little harder to get. Or a LOT harder to get. Yes, you can lust after each other. That's perfectly acceptable. Desirable. Really wanted! But no: I want you now, forever, and forever, and forever from page one.

Unless...did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the characters are ripped apart just as they're ready to make that commitment.

So what do we need? Not external conflict. Oh, sure, that's important to the story. But for the romance element it's not the external conflict that drives the story.

How many have read a romance where the hero and heroine are making out and it's just really getting good when the phone rings? No, no, no! That's a writer cop out. Why? Because there's no emotion going on between the hero and heroine. Frustration at the external intrusion, but not between the hero and heroine.

Unless...oh, yeah, did I mention how the world is full of exceptions? Unless the internal problem between the hero and heroine include that the he or she is a workaholic, and no matter what, has to answer the phone. Then it's an internal issue. Even for an intimate moment like this, he/she won't give up the call to duty. Yeah, maybe it's really important. But you know what? It's ALWAYS important. But is the relationship between them THAT important? The choice has to be made. Choices. Tough choices. That's what it is all about.

So in that case it works. It's part of the internal makings of the hero/heroine. It's what can come between them.

I'm working on two Highland stories and Silence of the Wolf and guess what? All the characters are not cooperating. Not with me. With each other, they're doing great. I can't have it! Readers can't have it! We have to have a drastic change.

Ever watch the Twilight Zone? I'm going to have to pull some strings. I've got to step in and thrown in some emotional monkey wrenches. These Highlanders and wolves are not going to want to get emotionally involved with each other.

Do I feel like an evil puppet master? Yes.

Really, I mean if they're happy, they're happy. Why should I mess with their lives? What gives me the right?

First of all, someone's got to do it if anyone wants to read their story.

Ever know of the perfectly lovely couple and their perfectly lovely family and how everyone is perfectly happy? First off, I hate them. Think, Stepford Wives and there needs to be an uprising.

Second, even if these people exist, NO one wants to read about them. :)

So if these characters want their stories told, they're just going to have to get with the program.

I just watched The Hunger Games and really enjoyed it. The hero and heroine had to kill each other. Like in The Highlander, there could be only one. Perfect for conflict. They might care about each other. They might be falling in love. But in the end, their job was to survive.

Was there a puppet master? Absolutely. When things looked to be going too well, or not, the puppet master stepped in. But in reality, we want the characters to be their own people. We want the issues to be deeply buried in them. So I'm not going to just throw some external issues at them to get them to cooperate. It won't work. I've got to dig into the psyche and give them some past history that will cause them to back off--from each other. They might be great at what they do...but when it comes to the hero and heroine relationship, it sucks. They don't want each other...but they do. The push/pull of the relationship!

In Forbidden Love, the heroine, a huntress, has the hero, a vampire, on her terminal list! What could be better?

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 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.

***************
In this story, she has the mission to kill him. He has the goal of convincing her that she has always loved him and turn her back on her own people.  Lots of touch choices. And it works.

So I'm off to cause some real trouble for a bunch of heroes and heroines. They won't be really happy with me or with their h/h. But that's just the way it's got to be.

Wish me luck!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

The Visitant--My Best Friend's Husband Produced the Movie!

I have to share this. When I had to move from Florida, my junior year in high school, the hardest part was saying goodbye to my best girlfriend. We had plans to room together in college, but with the layoffs at the Cape, we had to move. I gave her a locket, and she kept it all those years.

I've kept in touch over the years, losing contact, then regaining it with email. Her husband is a film producer and in the latest release, The Visitant, the actress in the story is wearing the necklace I gave my girlfriend. That's what I call real friendship and I had to share!

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www.thevisitant.com

Ironically, when we were girls, our mothers would buy used ballroom gowns for us and we'd trick-or-treat in my neighborhood as fairy princesses, of course, and then return to my house where we made a tent out of the ping pong table. With only the eerie glow of the flashlight, I'd tell spooky stories.

We lived across from a jungle-like swamp (see why I can write about the Amazon?) and we used to explore it. But I always envisioned stolen pirate's treasure and ghostly beings living there--always the vivid imagination. Ghostly Liaisons was the YA book I wrote about it. :) 

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Amazon

Emily Rundle’s curious nature causes her big problems when she moves with her family to Florida. First of all, she’s different. Really different. Then the nightmares begin. The kind she can’t escape. Somehow she has to unravel the mystery of the ghosts who plague her before it’s too late.

Michael Shipley just moved to town, too, and realizes at once Emily is trouble with a big T. If he becomes involved with her, his life will change forever. Premonitions he has that Emily’s life will be in danger forces him to make a stand to protect the girl who’s gifted with extraordinary abilities like him. They instantly bond as the two weirdest kids in school.

Back to writing guest blogs!!! 13 left to go and the RT article is done!

Terry

"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"

www.terryspear.com

Yes, I'm Writing, but....

Okay, I've been writing 4 blogs a day...so I AM writing, worked on Tom's story in Silence of the Wolf and it's now at 13K, and two Highland historicals romances that I had started, both at about 20K each now. So I was looking for another cover for a Highland romance and came across this. No, it's not a Highland romance cover, but I loved it.

I have some fantasy books I've written, and so this will be the cover for one of them. Isn't it gorgeous? Kayden McLeod of Otherworlds Publicity created it and she's making me a Highland cover for my other book, simply, The Highlander. But I still need to do a ton of work on the fantasy stories that are done--revise, edit, revise some more.

Here are two other covers I fell in love with. Did I mention I'm incorrigible? One is for a fantasy, the other for another historical. :) What I was looking for was a Highland cover and I need a vampire cover for Dangerous Liaisons, the sequel for Deadly Liaisons. That book is about 20K. See a pattern? I just need to finish the books! I began writing all these books in between books. And then ended up with deadlines and had to set them aside. But when I'd get stumped on a book on deadline, I'd go back to working on the other books that are partially done just so I could take a break and get unstumped on the deadline books. Makes sense. Right?

Some writers take a vacation, go do something else to jumpstart the muse. Me? I write another book!

Elaine does a beautiful job too. I still want to play around with some of my earlier covers on some of my books with Photoshop...but in the meantime...I've got to get back to working on some more blogs. 18 more to go!

Well, then there was Vampire Redemption.  

I'm still working on the sequel to Huntress for Hire, but I found this cover and had to have it. Adonis's younger sister is the one causing all the trouble now! Actually, she caused it in the first book too. So it's time for her to get her comeuppance. Eventually. :) 

I actually was working on the sequel to Deadly Liaisons, Dangerous Liaisons, but still haven't found a cover. So I might have to finish this one first. 

However, first is Highland Rake and Dragon Fae and then Silence of the Wolf! :) 


 

Dougald's story, 3rd book in the popular medieval Highland series.

Dougald MacNeill is the next to youngest MacNeill brother and he's not about to settle down, until Lady Alana Cameron is placed squarely in his lap...and then, the trouble begins.

When Dougald finds Alana roaming the heather on the MacNeill lands, he takes her in hand to see his laird brother James at Craigly Castle to determine her fate. But who has sent her there and why? Her uncle, laird of the Cameron clan, that has warred with the MacNeills for years, has made a marriage arrangement with another clan and now that is even at stake.

Having witnessed her father's death, and even believing he had returned her home when all along he had been dead, Alana discovers she has the gift, or curse, of seeing the newly departed and sometimes those who should have long ago passed over. Her own deceased brother continues to plague her, the rake, and now another, who is very much of the flesh, Dougald MacNeill, has her thinking marrying a rake might just have its benefits. Dougald's sister, who is one feisty ghost, has offered to help Alana keep Dougald in line if he thinks of even straying.

But who sent Alana on a fool's errand in the first place to remove her from the Cameron's lands and set her squarely in Dougald's care, and who really killed her father and her brother, and what has it all to do with Alana? Will she and Dougald learn the truth before it is too late?
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I've been playing around with The Vampire is Mine, Sequel to Kiss of the Vampire (YA Blood Moon Series.) :) I still haven't figured out how I'm going to end Highland Rake. :( 

I have 12,000 words done on this story. It's the continuing story about the vampires Levka, Arman, Stasio and Ruric, and Elaine who they picked up in the first book. Arman is the one who's getting them into trouble this time over a girl named Fiona, thinking to protect her from a master vampire, only she's making a declaration of her own in The Vampire is Mine!

What do you think of the title and the cover???  I LOVE this fae. She is soooo perfect for the series! :)

Just a taste of devilment, like the fae. :)



Have a super wonderful Tuesday!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Messing with Covers Again!

The first is the original...the studio background is all that's behind them. I'm just learning how to do this stuff, so it's still not the greatest, but anyway...I changed the background to a grunge woodland scene. It was a pretty blue/green, but I wanted more of a reddish cast for a vampire cover, so I changed the hue and saturation, etc, and then came the title. I liked the original, but couldn't remember the font I used, so I did the bottom one, but thought the title didn't show up as well in a thumbnail size picture.

So I used a font that was more showy, and I thought it emphasized that this is FORBIDDEN!!! Like it's stamped on the act. You know--vampire wants huntress and she's SUPPOSED to be terminating him? So that was fun!

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Okay, off to get the newsletter ready, that you might have noticed I didn't send this weekend because I was trying to get A SEAL Wolf Christmas off and now have only 22 guest blogs left to do! Which I need to get back to. And then??? It's Tom's story and Dougald's story, and the Dragon Fae story, and oh, I'm soooo excited! It's like Christmas!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male were fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Covers! Highlanders! HOT Sexy Jaguars! by Terry Spear

I quit my day job 3 weeks ago and I'm inundated with deadlines! Isn't that terrific! But I wanted to share some neat covers! First, The Highland Werewolf Wedding is coming out in May, 2013! This is Cearnach's story from the Heart of the Highland Wolf pack in Scotland! A Highland Werewolf Wedding is listed on Amazon now!

This is Duncan's story from the Heart of the Highland Wolf pack, coming Feb 2013!

Savage Hunger received 4 Star Review from Romantic Times Magazine! This will be released Oct 2013, just around the corner!

I just finished Jaguar Fever and sent it in. It debuts August, 2013!

I just had to send marketing materials for A SEAL Wolf Christmas, which means they're going to work on a cover! Always something that's totally fun. It should be out October, 2014.

I'm just doing edits now for it! So hopefully will be able to send it in soon.I've already edited it a ton of times so it doesn't look bad so far! 100 pages read, 134 pages to go!

I'll be getting edits soon on A Highland Wolf Wedding.

And my next project is Silence of the Wolf, finally, Tom's story!!! He's from the Destiny of the Wolf pack, one of the Silver brothers. I've had folks ask for him forever! :) So he debuts in Feb 2014! His story is already begun.

Some have asked if I have a lot of time to relax....since I quit my day job. I was working 40 hours per week at that and 40-45 hours per week on writing, squeaking in writing, editing and promoting every waking hour. Now? I'm working 80 hours per week on writing! And I LOVE it!

No complaints from anyone but my characters! :) And I can deal with that! If they get too rowdy, well, I can just cut them out of the story! They're smirking at that. They know I hate to cut out anything. :)

Next on the agenda is writing 40,000 words worth of blogs for SAVAGE HUNGER for the last week in Sept and all the month of October. That means free books daily on each of the days I'll be at a blog site.

Then??? I'm working on Highland Rake! This is the third book in the Winning the Highlander's Heart series. It's started and I can't wait to work on it again! I've been asked forever about Dougald's story!!

So am I bored yet? Not even when I dream.

What about you? Do you find you are happily busy???


Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Jaguar Fever--It's Done!

Besides having a great cover, one of the best things to happen is finishing the book! Writing THE END! Yes!!!

It's not the REAL END...as I'm going to read the book from start to finish today to see if I can catch any other mistakes. But the book is done!

Which means? I can goof off!

Wrong.

Next, I need to pull out A SEAL Wolf Christmas. It's done also. But I need to reread it and see if it needs a lot of editing...or not. Hopefully not. I had to quickly put it aside when I realized Jaguar Fever was needed like fast. So I don't recall how many times I already edited it.

:)

Hey, sometimes I get my projects out of order. What can I say? I had the idea for A SEAL Wolf Christmas, couldn't quit writing on it, scene after scene after scene after scene, so it just HAD to be written! :)

I love it when that happens. It doesn't usually.

And then it's 40,000 words worth of blogs. The good thing is that I was so excited last night about finishing the book, I wrote one of my guest blogs! Yay! One down. Plus I've turned in one interview! Two down. And then I signed up for another guest blog for last night.

The bad thing was last night when I went to bed I was thinking of him. Wade. Yum. I didn't want to let go of him. Really. :)

So today I have one more day of loving him, and then...I've got to get back to Bjornolf and fall in love all over again...with him.

Oh, oh, oh, and Tom!!! Yes! As soon as I finish up these two books and finish the guest blogs and interviews, Tom's story comes next. I've already written the first 10,000 words! Woohoo! I was thinking of him too last night. *sigh* All these hunky guys in bed with me while a cricket was chirping near the bed half the night. :(

I wanted to wish everyone a super great Friday and TGIF while I'm back to reading the book, because I'm DONE!!!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Savage Hunger is in the Jungle!

Woohoo! Savage Hunger had a full page ad in Romantic Times and it received 4 stars!  Thanks so much to Bonnie for sending me a picture of it or I would never have seen it!

I'm off to work some more on Jaguar Fever. It's coming to a close! I just had to send marketing materials for A SEAL Wolf Christmas, which means they're going to work on a cover! Always something that's totally fun. It should be out in October, 2013.

A Highland Werewolf Wedding is listed on Amazon now! 

And they've asked for marketing materials for A Hero of a Highland Wolf due out in 2014! Yikes! Since I haven't written but the proposal, that makes it hard for me! No telling the trouble the characters will get into until I begin writing the book!

Okay, off to work on Jaguar Fever!!! Is it really hump day already???


Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Fairies and Wolves!

A friend gave me the wolf card when she visited Palo Duro Canyon to see the outdoor play, Texas!
This is a fairy doll holding her fairy doll. My mother picked her up at a Doll and Bear Show where they used to go to show their doll carriage creations and my bears.

Here's a picture of one of the creations my folks made for my bears. Sadly, the carriages are all sold. I took them to teddy bear shows and one lady said, "But the poor little bear locked in the cage looks so sad! :)

Curly Sue (top of bear wagon) is a golden curly mohair bear with brocade paws!  She is 15" tall, fully jointed, with embroidered nose and mouth.  $65  Miss Lily (front seat of bear wagon) is a distressed ivory mohair bear with brocade paws!  She is also 15" tall, fully  jointed, with embroidered nose and mouth. $65  Butterscotch (inside wagon) is a plush bear with suede paws standing at 10 ½" tall, fully jointed, with embroidered nose and mouth.  $26

 

Here is another fairy doll. They're very small and have lovely faces. I have several miniature teddy bears that bear artists created. I'll stick to creating the bigger bears!

Have a fun Tuesday!!!

Off to write!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

Jaguar Loving...

imikimi - sharing creativity


As you can see I'm turning away, smiling because they're getting ready to enjoy each others company! :) Note the posture? His ears are back, and her's are forward? He's working up to this nice and slowly. Her teeth are about to be exposed.

Now this is what they call courting. The lick before the bite!

It's all in the research! I have one of the best jobs in the world. :) 

Happy Monday!!!

 Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

 

Notice Anything about this Building?

It's covered in moss over the ages. It's made of ancient rock. And it's covered in killing holes.

Yep, not windows, but arrow holes and then later gun holes. It was created for defense. But the greatest part about this castle? It's still standing!!!

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to say our homes could still be standing thousands of years from now???

Have a super Sunday! Off to see one of the Bourne movies, but I'm working on edits this morning.
15,000 words to go! I know, I'm being a slug at writing!

Sometimes it just takes off and at other times...nah...

Oh, and it rained here!!! Torrents! Woohoo! We sooo needed that!

Have a wonderful day!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

I'm Sticking to Writing!

 This was when the artwork had real promise!

Here is  where we had fun in the paints.

 And then it was time to begin.

 Whoops, I missed doing a picture of the grass.
Then the flowers were painted. Those are futuristic irises. Mine in the REAL garden don't look anything like that! Oh, and she kept saying, "Give your grass movement." I had way too much movement. It looks like my garden was full of green snakes. Well, it is, but I didn't mean to paint them.

And there we are...me, Deb, and Nancy, my coworkers in crime. None of us are going to give up our day jobs! We also decided that the Irish Creme definitely made the paintings look better. Most of all? We had fun!!! LOL! Really. We laughed lots!


But hey....

I promised my friends at work I'd keep up with them and so here is what I have to do to stay in touch! Become an artist. Not!!! I'm one of those people who can't draw a stick figure.

Still can't!

 Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

I'm Going to be an Artist! Not!

I promised my friends at work I'd keep up with them and so here is what I have to do to stay in touch! Become an artist. Not!!! I'm one of those people who can't draw a stick figure.

My parents were artists, but it didn't rub off on me. They told me so. Which was disheartening because I LOVED to paint plants. So here's my chance to prove them wrong. In two hours (during the class, not this morning!), I'm going to create this masterpiece. We can bring our own alcohol and maybe that will help some of us. Even if it doesn't look great, after a couple of glasses of wine, it will???

So Painting with a Twist claims to take people like me and show us how to paint--not as Rembrandts, of course. But you remember that even when writing, we might LOVE someone else's books, but we don't want to write the same as they do.

Keeping that in mind...I'll show you what I come up with after the big event!

And then I'll let you know if I'll tell my friends that I'm sticking to going to the movies or hiking with them! :) And no more artwork classes!!!

Want to come with us???

Have a super fab Friday!


Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

My Visit to the Jungle!

imikimi - sharing creativity

I've mentioned how much my house feels like a jungle, well here it is. Caryn said I was having toooo much fun with being off from work. LOL

She's right! I made a trip to a virtual jungle. Complete with a jaguar, and in the trees is Donna's monkey, though he's kind of hard to see. But if I'm going to write about them, I've got to be there with them. Right?

nookbook

Savage Hunger

And Connor and Maya and Kat? They're hanging around. This one is Wade...I'm keeping him for myself a while longer. :) 

My tour dates are full, but if you have a review site and want me...I'm always glad to be wanted...I'll add you in!

Off to work on Wade some more. I mean...Jaguar Fever!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

The Stud!...If You're a Cat....

Okay, I had to take a moment to share the loving with some hunky Highlanders, but now I'm focused again. FOCUS!

Yes, on cats!

Bonnie and I were discussing her cat and mine. She mentioned shaving hers, and we had to shave ours (white Maine Coon who was terribly matted), only when he was shaved, it wasn't a pretty site. He sure was a lot smaller than he looked before the trim, however.

But Bonnie sent me a picture of Andy--the Rag Doll cat--and I had to share. He's adorable!

Now, in Jaguar Fever, I'm talking about Lion Mane (some might know him as the Blond Muddy Guy, for a better visual), and so Andy made me think of a cat with a lion's mane. Really, I do have a point to make here and it really DOES all tie in.

Isn't he adorable? Did a great job on the trim, Bonnie! :) She says he struts around in his new coat...like a stud!

Speaking of stud cats, I need to get back to Jaguar Fever! 

LOL

Have a super hump day!!!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

For Those of You Who Love Highland Medieval Romance...

I'm busy working on Jaguar Fever (27,000 words to go) and will be finishing edits on A SEAL Wolf Christmas first, but I always have to look ahead, and this will be my next WIP as a break before I begin another Jaguar 3 book. :)  Highland Rake is the third book in the Highland series, and it's Dougald's story.

First we had Malcolm, the second eldest of the MacNeill brothers in Winning the Highlander's Heart, searching for an English bride, and becoming intrigued with a Scottish lass trying to avoid the king's advances.

Winning the Highlander's Heart
Nook

And then came James, the eldest, who finds a pearl in the sea in The Accidental Highland Hero.

 The Accidental Highland Hero
Nook

Now we'll have Dougald's story, the rake of the bunch in Highland Rake. :)

And here's the first Scottish castle we visited which has fueled my imagination for the Highland stories of old. Who all is ready for another Highland hunk?

As soon as the jaguar and SEAL story is done, I'm finishing up Highland Rake. Yep, started it and four others a while back. So it'll be time to finish writing Dougald's story. :)

Tomorrow I hope to feature another cat--

Back to jaguars! :)

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality."
www.terryspear.com

Look What I Found!

I love cozy little walkways where arbors, hedges, climbing roses or trees form an archway to walk through. It makes me think of secret gardens, fae worlds, secluded getaways. I didn't realize my pear tree had created such an archway, but it had! If I remove the pears, the branch will elevate some so I don't have to crouch to walk beneath if.

But look what I found in the garden? Well, maybe not exactly in the garden!

Isn't Cearnach beautiful? Someone said he looks like Orlando Bloom's younger brother. What do you think? Wouldn't you love to explore a castle ruin or a secret garden and find him waiting within?

A Highland Werewolf Wedding, coming May 2013!

Hug a Highland Hunk Monday!  Or...any day, really!

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com

First There Be Scorpions!

When writing books, it's important to feel the scenes. When I was writing Legend of the White Wolf, set in winter time during a snowstorm in Maine, it was cold, frigid, the house freezing. Perfect for feeling the cold.

Now, my cold isn't like...Donna's Minnesota cold. But then I'm not used to "real" cold, so it's all relative. Not that I haven't been in that kind of cold. I lived in Madison, Wisconsin, Boulder, Colorado, skied in Killington, Vermont (where you couldn't have one inch of skin exposed or it would have frozen), and Colorado, though it wasn't as cold when I went up there as it was in Vermont. And St Louis was one of the coldest places I've been in, a really wet cold.

We can't always have the "right" weather when we're creating the stories though. Often I'd be writing about pouring rain in Oregon when it was drier than a desert in Texas. It's humid and hot now, so perfect for writing about the jungle in Jaguar Fever. But to "really" get the feel for it, I needed to throw in some more jungle ambience.

I listen to jungle sounds that were actually recorded in the jungle, none of this jungle sounds to wild and crazy music kind of stuff. I scour tons of blogs about visits to the Amazon or Belize, watch videos about jaguars and their hunting habits and other behaviors, learn about the kinds of plants and animals that live there.

Did you know that Tarzan didn't swing off vines? They look like vines, but that's not what they are. Liana.

But what I needed was to bring the real jungle life into my own surroundings. Not. It's happened without my express approval though.

First came the scorpions. I've never ever had them in this area since I lived here, nor since my parents had. Not that they don't live in other surrounding areas that are more rocky than this. Sure, they're around, but I've just never had a problem with them, either while gardening or in the house.

Then came the snake. And yes, I've had one in the house before. My daughter-in-law found a snake skin in the bottom drawer of my master bathroom! Ack! I never knew! At my old house, my dog let one in while I was trying to get her into the house. We NEVER found it!

So I'm out watering yesterday and the snake (big, green and yellow, narrowed eyes...okay, so they were wide-eyed like mine) and I scared each other half to death. He slithered away and I ran inside to get my camera. He's gone. Not sure where he's hiding but because I'm watering, he'll hang around.

Hopefully, he won't come inside.

A friend of mine found one in her bathroom...her husband was naked and yelling for her to save him! He was in the shower, the snake on the bathroom floor. Okay, now what's wrong with this scenario? Nah, it's okay. Sometimes the heroine has to rescue the...er...uhm, hero. :)

Then I walk into the bathroom and it's become a jungle! In the sink is a huge wood spider. They're about as big as my hand. He tries to hide in the drain. He's too big to fit under the sink stopper. And a tiny lizard is hunting a beetle! The lizard's back feet spread out as he got his grip, watching the beetle move. He circles him, goes in for the kill, bites him. The beetle curls up in pain. The lizard runs away, comes back watches him from head on, tiny feet planted--they're like suction cups--then he swings around and attacks from the side again, but this time he takes off with his meal.

I wish I'd had my camera handy!

Two new fresh dead beetles by my bed this morning--I vacuumed all the dead bugs up last night BEFORE I went to bed...and I'm glad I didn't just hop out of bed in the dark and crunch them under my bare feet when I got up first thing!
 
So that's it. My pseudo jungle world. Perfect for creating Jaguar Fever!

Have a super great weekend! And may your world be wild and nasty critter free! Ever had a snake in the house???

Terry
"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality!"
www.terryspear.com