New Release: Phantom Fae!

Human turned phantom fae Brett has to survive mage trials when he has only just learned he’s a mage. And dragon fae shifter Ena is warned that the dragon fae kingdom is in turmoil, something that she vows to help put to rights.

When Brett is forced to fight alongside the phantom fae, which means take a stand against Ena and her kind, he’s not doing it. She will always have his loyalty, though when she learns he’s one of her enemy fae, and a mage on top of that, she might not feel the same about him.

Still, Prince Grotto is their common enemy, and if it means fighting him, maybe they can work together. Yet, Brett wants more than that with Ena. Will she ever see him as more than just a human fae seer she took as payment for rescuing the kingdom’s princess?

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SKCY59C
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/512923
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/phantom-fae
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/phantom-fae-terry-spear/1121100973
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-phantomfae-1732037-143.html
Google Play: Coming

Normally, I like to have a story that is ended, no cliff hanger because it frustrates readers when they don’t know when the next book is coming, and I never know when I can finish a book when I have so many other deadlines that absolutely have to be met: ie for a publisher.
With Hawk Fae, book 5, it had to be left like it was or it would have been two books in one. And truly, I loved the way it was ended, with resolution, but with something more devious going on coming up.

With Phantom Fae, book 6, resolution. I have two covers for two more fae stories, no idea where I want to go with them at the moment, or titles for them. But when I have some time, I’ll share.
Because I worked on finalizing this up all day yesterday, I didn’t have time to work on SEAL, so I’m behind, but I’ll hopefully catch up on word count today. I will be working on the Phantom Fae print version soon, but needed to get my word count for SEAL because it’s so much harder to manage when it gets really behind. Hopefully, I’ll be at the halfway point today, if I get caught up.

It’s been raining a lot, which is unusual in the winter, but we so needed the rain again. I slipped on the wet pavement when I went to take the dogs out at 4:45, so need to find a different pair of shoes that hopefully are less slippery, or figure out something else. I have a conference to go to in a little bit and I don’t want to be running around in airports on crutches.

Oh, and I had asked my editor if they’d be interested in a historical wolf story series some time ago because I love writing historical, but she said no. My wolves also have long lives, so often I slip some of the historical aspect into them. So I thought it would be neat to have two series, the historical ones and the contemporary ones. But when she said no, that was fine with me. A rejection means an opportunity to excel. With today’s publishing options, I can just smile and say, “Okay,” and go on my merry way and write the books of my heart anyway.

A couple of years ago I listened to a NY Times bestselling author who was writing a historical series, and she had this idea for a really cool Irish historical romance series. She was so excited to write it and her agent said if she tried to push it, he’d dump her. Now, she was a highly successful author and he was making a ton of money off her, but he was afraid if he didn’t squash this far out notion, she wouldn’t make any money and he wouldn’t. So she dumped him and got a new agent, sold the series, and made bestseller status on those books. We have to write what our heart tells us and hopefully our readers will love them every bit as much.

I wonder if the agent is regretting his decision. Even if the sales hadn’t taken off, the author had to do this. It’s what we do. Create. From the heart. And if that creativity is squashed, we end up hitting a brick wall of writing block.

Editors and agents will sometimes steer us in directions that aren’t right for us because they think that’s what the market wants. But we’re still creating the stories and we have to be able to write what we can to an extent because otherwise the story just won’t come.

So here is the cover, still need to come up with a series name and title, but I think for series name: Highland Wolf Clan. Not sure on title. It will be historical, wolf, Highlands.
And I thought this was such a fantastic cover, I had to buy it for the first book. :)

That’s it! I’m listening to the rain, and it’s pouring out, typing this up, working on making the changes to SEAL that I worked on when I went to bed last night and then I’m off to write.
Have a super great Thursday. Puppies are sleeping on my lap and all is well.
:)
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

Giveaway at Reading Between the Wines

Kissing the Highlander final (438x640)

I’m still formatting for Kissing the Highlander. When I received everyone’s novellas, the italics were stripped out, argh, and some of the authors have tons of italicized words. That, and trying to make everything uniform as far as front and back matter and section divisions, etc. If I do this again, hopefully, we can all be on the same page next time and I won’t have to do so much reformatting.

Phantom Fae

Phantom Fae has gone out to my first beta reader. And then after I make changes and read it over again, it will go out to another.

But what I really wanted to say was that I am here with a giveaway!!! Go to Reading Between the Wines, comment and enter for a chance to win A Highland Wolf Christmas!

Highland Wolf Christmas-300 (390x640)

http://www.readingbetweenthewinesbookclub.com/2015/01/behind-author-terry-spear-giveaway.html

And now I’m off to get to work on the formatting again. Feeling anxious because the time is slipping away and I need to get started on the next SEAL wolf book due Mar 1. And I haven’t started it. I’m trying to come up with a great new opening scene to set the stage. Must have first meeting soon, show something of the world, a wolf sighting early, conflict, mystery, romance and adventure.

When I was reading books on writing, one author said to make sure you have that conflict right from the beginning. The bomb going off in the school, but not. Something that makes you want to read what happens next and next and next. Yet, you have to have character-driven plots for romance, not strictly plot-driven scenarios.

Okay, so I’m still pondering. But I need to get back to formatting Kissing the Highlander.

Have a super great Tuesday!!!

And be sure and drop by at Reading Between the Wines and enter to win!

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

http://www.terryspear.com

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

Being Smarter than the Dog

I can write full-length novels, and do any number of things well. But now is the time to be smarter than the dog.


Every day is an adventure. I’ve discovered this Havanese is a chow hound. Maybe because he had others to compete with back home, so he wolfs down his food and then wants to get up on the printer cabinet where I’ve measured out the rest of his food for the day so I don’t overfeed him.

He’s a jumper, so trying to jump on top of the printer stand, but he can’t make it. Thankfully.

So then his next goal–you see, just like in books, characters have to have all-important goals–so does Max. His next goal is to get the trash out of the wastepaper basket next to my desk. It’s mostly paper trash, though I throw my used up green tea bags in there too. It’s empty as it’s trash day, but I always line it with a recycled plastic bag. So he keeps getting into the wooden receptacle and I put a towel over it. Yesterday, I just put the trash can up above on the printer cabinet, but then I can’t reach it.

Sooo, have to have another solution. He tried to pull off the towel, tried to go underneath the towel, finally climbed on top of the towel. With a new mission in mind. He could use this as stepping stool to reach his food on the printer cabinet.



But the towel sank under his weight.

He’s not going for playing with his ball or chewsticks or rope pull. He wants something different. So we went to down training and he’s doing well. He still doesn’t go down on command, but he’s no longer trying to grab the treat out of my hand. Maybe because I’ve switched the treat to the other hand and he just has to follow my empty hand to the floor.

I will say that we had no accidents in his bed the last two nights and I was working on a final Christmas bear order, I know I keep saying that, but I keep getting last minute bear orders, and I worked so late, he went into his cage to sleep. Woohoo! No fussing, just is totally acclimated to it.
When I bring the other puppy home, it’s going to be a new day dawning.

I did get my word goal down for yesterday, and about 500 extra words, but still about 2500 behind. Which is a lot less than I was behind. I spent a lot of time getting packages ready to ship.


Are you ready for Christmas? I need to pick up some candy, but otherwise, I’m done.   Well, except for finishing the last bear order and then I’ll ship it tomorrow.

Amethyst Bear

It’s an Amethyst Bear like this one.

Off to work on the story before I run errands. Max finally pooped out. :) I think he was waiting for his training.

We had another fun foggy day.

A Cool Vampire Day

Even More Vampire Like?

Have a great Wednesday!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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

Last Teddy Bear of the Year! And Totally Goofy Weather!

Davidson Clan Bear

The clan fabric was ordered in Oct, but never arrived, so they had to ship it again. So here he is, finally! And that’s the last of the teddy bear orders for Christmas. I have 3 boxes of bears to ship.
I’ll be making up some more bears eventually, just to have some more ready for orders next year. That’s the only way I stay ahead of the game–make them to have a back stock. But everything’s clean and I hate making a mess again so soon.  Especially since I’ll have company again for Christmas.
I’ve been working a little on Phantom Fae. But I had 11 chapters to critique for one of the stories in the Kissing the Highlander anthology and then had to reread my chapters and upload them. So that took most of the day, and finishing up the bear and getting him ready to ship.

Now I need to finish the last 2 chapters and epilogue for my critique partner and make the changes she suggested on mine as she sends them to me. I’m also working on Phantom Fae, trying to get a 1000 words a day. Not as many as I usually try to do, but that’s because I’m still working on His Wild Highland Lass changes also. Once that’s finally done, I’ll begin formatting the anthology also for the 5 of us authors who are doing this together. So as usual, lots of projects going on!

Oh, and then before I know it, it will be the new year. And that means new deadlines all over again. Trying to get Phantom Fae done this month. :)

Anyway, I’m up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, so working on Phantom Fae edits!
If I’m not going to sleep, I might as well do something!

Ever do that?

Oh, oh, and I really should check out the weather from time to time. It was 75 yesterday! And this morning at 3:23, 63. By 8 am, it’s going to be 40 degrees. And the high today??? 48 degrees. Talk about goofy weather. And then??? On Thurs, 72, and Fri, 75. No wonder we can’t get used to the weather!

Fog

Have a super great Monday, 1st day of December! Have you got your month planned out?
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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

Fall Colors and Jacques Le Jester Bear

Pear Fall Leaves

I was getting ready to have dinner when I saw the pear tree in fall colors. I had to stop what I was doing and run out with the camera. We don't get much in the line of fall colors here, so I was excited. :) And I'm working on a jester bear for a possible order. An earlier one I made won first place for Best Dressed Bear.

Jacques Le Jester

Shadow and light on fall colors on the pear tree.

Pears still clinging to the tree, frozen, defrosted, still clinging.

Texas Sunset for Fall

And I've finished proofing the print copy of Call of the Cougar, so off to work on Phantom Fae!
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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

Editor Requested Synopsis–Forensics, Cops, Adding to Stories…

I watch a lot of forensic shows, Cops shows, Snapped, etc, because I get ideas for stories. Often not right then. But like in SEAL Wolf Hunting, one of the men in the story is suspected of committing a crime, and SEAL Paul tells him his story is full of holes--that criminals do stupid things, so that doesn't automatically indicate he didn't commit the crime. But he uses a true couple of scenarios to illustrate his point. Both were Cops stories that I had watched some years back and always stuck in my mind and had laughed about. They were so dumb, but some criminals just are. This picture made me think of two of the Forensics shows. The clock sitting here means I took the picture at the time shown on the clock, right? But the clock hasn't run for years. LOL

Anyway, so during the holidays, I usually get requests for edits. It just seems the editors are getting caught up on their reading as submissions slow down. Word to the wise, you might have heard that everyone takes a break over the holidays and no one reads submissions. Not true. I've had full manuscript requests during the holidays. And as you can see from the situation with me, I often have requests for stuff by the editorial staff over the holidays. So right now, I'm rewriting the synopsis for the book that I had written before the book was written. What is the problem with this? I have NO idea what I'm going to actually say in the book. So I had lots of things happen that I had no clue about. My characters are total rogues.

And as I've been rewriting this, I'm like, wow, I really was clueless. Yes, some of the details were there, but most were not as important as what really happened because I didn't know what would happen.

When I was a kid in school, we were always required to write an outline and then write our paper. It never worked for me. The teachers had some notion that planning out your paper was the best thing to do before you wrote it. Now, for plotters, yes, it works. But I'm a seat of the pants, pantser, writer, and it just doesn't work for me. As I'd begin to do research for my paper, I'd realize that I'd need to go in a whole new direction. I've done that with my books too. And so what happens? The outline/synopsis is not anything like what I thought I was going to write.

If I could write the outline with the paper and turn it in, I was good to go. I would write my paper, and then write the outline. :) But some teachers were out to get my kind, so they'd make us turn in an outline BEFORE we wrote our paper. No getting around that. :)

Everyone is unique in the way we think, the way we accomplish something. If you take a group of people to accomplish a mission, and asked each how they would do it, based on backgrounds, personalities, moral compasses, etc, each will have different ideas. We could see this in business models when I was in Grad school, or when I was in leadership reaction or other courses in Army ROTC where a leader was required to ask of his squad if anyone had different ideas of how to accomplish some mission. Some ideas will be better than others. But it's really interesting to see this. Even my dad, when he was a prisoner-of-war in Germany, submitted his ideas to a committee on how to escape the POW camp. He was 16, so no one paid much attention to him, but he actually did escape twice on his own during death marches.

News Flash: Heard an elephant on the roof and thought it was a cat, ran to the windows, no cat. Then saw a squirrel! Tried to take a picture but it wouldn't come out. My birds are all but gone because of the hawk. Maybe also because of the annoying cat, that isn't mine, prowling around, but the squirrel is brand new. I've seen one of the bunnies too. Never had a squirrel out here before. But my live oak trees have gotten old enough that they're starting to produce nuts, and my red oak tree is....

Okay, back to synopses....so I'm stuck rewriting one and need to turn it in today.

The moral of the story is do the job your way and it will get done--probably better than if you had to do it in some weird way that doesn't work for you.

Are you ready for the holidays?

Still proofing Call of the Cougar print version. Then it's back to Phantom Fae. :)

Have a super great Monday!! The good thing about Mondays, is they only happen once a week.

Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
www.terryspear.com
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Renovating, Wildflowers, a Red Dragon Bear, and a Sunset

I made up this bear for an order and have enough fabric to make one more, but it’s also sold now. 

Red Dragon Bear

Lovely Texas Sunset last night.

Wildflowers and Roses still blooming.

A rose

Purple Wildflowers

Old Kitchen, Stove went out

This shows the old tile in the kitchen.

tile in kitchen before grout

old window in kitchen

Kitchen window, ice on inside

This was why I had to change out the window. Besides the wind blowing straight through it and feeling the cold air seeping through the single pane window, I had ice built up on the inside of the window last winter!

new kitchen with the new tile and window–still needs grout.

All these renovations have taken place over the years. But it sure is nice getting them done.
Off to work on stuff.  I’m way behind on Phantom Fae. Too much distraction with the workmen here.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. :)

I think the kitchen has a much warmer appeal than it had before.  What do you think?

Have a super lovely Tuesday!!!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
www.terryspear.com
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website:
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