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

Sick Puppy and Playing Catch Up

Max was throwing up all late afternoon, then got me up at midnight and didn’t make it outside for some of his other hurried business. But despite all the drama and cleanups, I managed to write 7,000 words. Then they wanted back out at 5 and so I stuck them in their crate for another hour of sleep afterward. But of course I didn’t sleep.

I was thinking of my next scene in the book. I left it at a cliff hanger. Heroine is in wolf form, lunges at hero. Normally, this means play time. In A Howl for a Highland Wolf, the heroine tackles the hero because he was late for a date and broke into her house, for good reason. But still, she was the perfect little guard wolf. In others, purely wolf play time. But in this one, she’s totally pissed off.

So that makes for a really fun, different scenario. :) She’s brand newly turned. And what does that mean? A puppy that doesn’t know its own bite power, only she’s armed with adult WOLF teeth, which can crush bones. And he’s in his human form, so stopping an angry wolf makes it a tad difficult. I so love conflict. In my stories. Not in real life. I much prefer no drama. Like yesterday with a sick puppy.

You’d think that if a dog got sick on something, it would teach it not to eat it again. At least one of my dogs that I took in was not that smart. Every time she could get hold of any chocolate, no matter how much I safeguarded it from her, she devoured it and would be just as sick as Max. Didn’t matter. Next time, she’d do it again. I wish I knew what he got hold of. I have them both on leashes when we go out, but he’s tugging one way and Tanner’s tugging the other, so I have a time watching both sometimes.

Okay, so though I wrote a great number of words yesterday, I didn’t write enough. I needed 11,000 to catch up. That means 6500 today, at least trying, then I’m back on track tomorrow.

Max with his hair pulled back

The little devil behind Max that ruined his coiffure.

Max has been so good to allow me to rubber band his hair. I still need little ones. This was a big one and I had to wind it around his hair a number of times to get it to be tight enough. He was sooo patient with me.

Then? You see the little devil dog, Tanner, an angel in disguise behind him, chewing happily away at a piece of rawhide? Well, later, they were playing and Tanner pulled out Max’s rubber band and bit it in two before I got it away from him and threw it out. *sigh*

For those of us who love to read romantic stories, I thought this was so cute.

SEAL Wolf Hunting

This dude sat down next to me on train. He’s so romance novel handsome I’m going to assume he’s a rancher navy seal billionaire werewolf.

All I’ve got to say is I hope she caught her man!

 Okay, puppies sleeping for the moment, so off to finish writing the scene with the lunging wolf. Yep, there she is, mid-air and what’s going to happen next. That’s a real cliff hanger. Oh, and my editor always wants the first kiss by page 60. So I try to have it before because with edits, my pages grow and then I’m past page 60. Dumb, I know. The kiss should happen when the kiss is supposed to happen, not on some arbitrary page number. But still, I was worried about it when I was thinking of the lunging scene.  Have I missed the obligatory kiss by page 60????

Yes, see the dilemmas I have when I have a moment to contemplate the novel?

And OMG, yes, I missed it by 5 pages. I was thinking in the lunge he was going to have to kiss her. Wonder how I was going to do that. But now, can’t do it. It’s got to be at least 5 pages before that. Bummer.

Have a super great wonderful…Saturday? Whoops, need to write another blog. Have fun!

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

Juggling between Edits, Writing, Blog Tour, and Publishing…oh yeah, and Puppies

I spent hours yesterday getting Kissing the Highlander ready for preorders and it’s up now at Kobo and Smashwords. Amazon to follow.

Five new Highland novellas by Bestselling Authors of Highland romances that will delight with mystery, intrigue, romance, drama and much more! From the authors who have provided countless hours of reading pleasure so that fans can slip away to the past and live among all those hot Highlanders.

His Wild Highland Lass by Terry Spear

http://www.terryspear.com

The Highlander’s Charm by Eliza Knight

http://www.elizaknight.com

Heart of Stone by Willa Blair

http://www.willablair.com

Kilts and Kisses by Victoria Roberts

http://www.VictoriaRobertsAuthor.com

My Captive Highlander by Vonda Sinclair

http://www.vondasinclair.com

His Wild Highland Lass by Terry Spear

Lady Sorcha Barclay fled her brother-in-law’s castle because of his unwanted advances. An awe-inspiring circle of standing stones captures her attention and she captures the attention of the laird who owns the land.

Laird Ronan Daziel takes Sorcha to his castle to protect her and give her a home. Before long, he wants much more. He’s duty-bound to take a wife whose clan wishes an alliance with his. So why does he long to have something more? Everyone loves the lass as much as he does. But he has pledged his loyalty to his clan. Taking Sorcha to wife could lead to battle on several fronts. How can he wed another when she stole his heart from the first moment he laid eyes on her near the ancient standing stones on his lands?

The Highlander’s Charm by Eliza Knight

They should be enemies… But passion and love know no bounds.
Returning from battle to England, Samuel de Mowbray discovers that his two younger sisters have been stolen by Highlanders. Determined to save them from vicious warriors, he convinces the king to send him north. While there, he discovers that his loyalties are wavering and that a headstrong, feisty lass could destroy everything he believes.

Catriona Buchanan must travel north to ask for help in saving her brother and ridding her castle of brutal English knights. Unfortunately, to do so, she must trust in the thing she mistrusts the most—an Englishman. Minute by minute, the man who should be her enemy breaks down her defenses. There is something different about him and she can’t help but be captivated by Samuel, and his steamy kisses.

Heart of Stone by Willa Blair

Riding home after two years away, Gavan MacNabb encounters a lass and her deerhound in a moonlit circle of standing stones. Little does he know the garland of bluebells she weaves and the spell she sings will change the course of his life.

Marsali Murray doesn’t really believe the old wives’ tale that making a chain of bluebells by the standing stones under a waxing moon will bring true love, but she’s desperate to try anything to escape the boring, everlasting sameness of her life.

Gavan has already seen much of the world denied to Marsali. He’s ready to settle down. She is eager to spread her wings. Can they find what they need with each other?

Kilts and Kisses by Victoria Roberts

Since the deaths of her parents, Ceana Gunn has lived in the shadow of her uncle and his family. She wants nothing more than to see her clan the way it was when her father was still laird. But her uncle has other ideas. Ceana soon discovers that the only refuge to be found is in the last place she expects—the arms of her enemy.

Luthais MacKay wants to be left alone. His only interest is training his prized hawks. He certainly doesn’t have time to listen to the petty squabbling of his clan when his father travels to Edinburgh and leaves him in charge. But when Luthais discovers a mysterious woman on his lands, he’s determined to unravel her secrets…one layer at a time.

My Captive Highlander by Vonda Sinclair

Can unexpected passion and a little ancient magic turn enemies into lovers?

During a fierce storm on the west coast of Scotland, Shamus MacKenzie barely survives a galley wreck only to be captured and held for ransom by the enemy MacDonalds. Aided by the gift of second sight, Maili MacDonald, sister of the ruthless chief, senses the handsome, dark-haired stranger will somehow be important in her life. Compelled to help him, she insists on providing him food and a healer to see to his injuries. She knows she is daft to fall in love with this captivating warrior after one forbidden kiss but cannot help herself. With each visit from Maili, Shamus finds his thoughts consumed by the enchanting lass. Can he convince her to help him escape the dungeon and prevent the impending battle between the two clans?

BUY LINKS:
Kobo
Smashwords, which includes Barnes and Noble (because they don’t have preorders available except via Smashwords) and Apple/Ibooks

It will also be out in print!

But you know you have to have glitches. So for whatever reason when I tried to convert the docx in Jutoh to epub/etc, the chapter headings didn’t show up on two of the authors’ works. Have no idea why not. They are formatted exactly the same as all the other chapter headings. Anyway, so it’s a total pain and I’ll have to probably go in this morning and manually book mark the links. That’s why I love Jutoh so much. It does it automatically, no mistakes, normally and it’s done.

So Amazon’s will take a while longer.

Because: I got SEAL Wolf Hunting back for final copyedits. I’ll have one more final proof to go over after this. And I will be getting first edits on Silver Wolf Christmas next. And I received two more blog requests for Jaguar Pride’s release on Feb 3. And I only wrote 300 words of 2500 on SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble. argh.

I really need to get 2500 done a day. With so much to do on the other stuff, Amazon formatting, finishing up SEAL Wolf Hunting, NEED to proof the audiobook on Call of the Cougar, which has been on the backburner now for about four days, bought another book cover (did I ever mention I’m a book cover hoarder, but it was so neat!) and that means figuring out a title, tagline, etc, etc, etc, write the 2 blogs, including this one and another this morning, and now write 4700 words today on SEAL Wolf Diving for Trouble.

And then there are the puppies. Well, they got me up at 4 am, so the routine is they go to sleep in my lap so I can write, for an hour or two. They don’t get to eat until 7 or 8, but that means as soon as they wake, it’s time to potty again. *sigh* The adventures of puppyhood. Luckily, they’re not having accidents, and they’re not chewing on things they shouldn’t, for the most part. I caught Tanner with two of my socks yesterday.

Max is wearing a cone to keep him from chewing on his stitches from being neutered. He’s been grouchy with Tanner, partly because Tanner keeps grabbing his Elizabethan collar and tugging. But I think he might just not feel well either. So I’ve been trying to keep them separate to chew on chewsticks so Max has more time to rest up.

Okay, got to get to work.

Have a super wonderful and fun…Saturday?

Wow, the time is galloping away!

Do you ever feel that way? That when you want to do something, take a trip to the islands, or something great like finishing the week of work and you’re OFF, that it takes forever to get there? But if you have a deadline or multiple deadlines looming, the time flies? It’s like if I leave early for an appointment, I hit every green light and have no traffic and am there even earlier than planned, then have to sit and wait. But if I’m running late? Yep, you guessed it….I get behind the tractor trailer traveling 15 mph in the no passing zone, hit every red light and get stuck behind every Sunday driver.

Funny how life works that way. :)

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

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

Picture Bloopers with Pets

Don’t you love bloopers? I thought it would be fun to show a couple of the Christmas pictures that didn’t turn out and a couple that did.

Puppies a Blur

Squirmy Corgis

To better. In the shot with the corgis, I think I had my puppies in the bedroom, which was why both were looking that way and not at the camera. Oh, well, at least they weren’t blurs.

And there you have it!  Lots of bloopers and a few nice shots. I might have to include some of this stuff in a story. I actually have a lot of “real” life stuff in my stories, no matter how imaginary they may be.

So, are you doing anything fun today? I’ve been awake since 3, up since 4, so doing anything exciting beyond writing this blog just wears me out thinking about it. :) The audiobook for Call of the Cougar came back last night, so I might start proofing it today.

What about you? Have any plans? Eat special dishes? Black eyed peas? I’m having stuffed bell peppers since I bought them for when my daughter and SIL were here and we didn’t eat them. So that’s on the menu. :)

Happy New Year’s!!!

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

My Birds are Back!

I've been seeing a lot of my birds come back after the hawk trouble I was having.  And my neighbor's cat was prowling and so when I began to take two little puppies out all the time, the birds watched from the trees and shrubs. Then I saw the whole colony of cardinals feeding. Though I think they lost one of their brothers to the hawk when I was gone a while back.

But it was fun seeing them again. It was getting to be dusk, and I need to clean my windows, and I was afraid to get closer to the window to really be able to stabilize the camera, so my pictures weren't all that great, but it was so much fun seeing all of them I had to try and get a few that might have turned out somewhat.

How many cardinals do you see?

All male cardinals

This really was an amazing sight to me because the hawk got one and then another bird, I found red feathers, so one day I saw a cardinal on top of the feeder that sits in the shrub. He was so wary. This time, all of them were flying down, feeding, sitting in a tree and I couldn't believe it. I would have thought that me going out with the dogs constantly would have made it worse as far as the birds being skittish. But they must realize that we're keeping the hawk and cat away.
The birds eat a lot of bugs, so I'm glad to have them.

Cardinal in the tree closer to the kitchen window

Happy New Year!
Hopefully I'll be back before that, but it's been so hectic with working on housebreaking Tanner, the youngest pup at 8 weeks. Max was housebroken when I got him at 5 1/2 months. And With company.
I started putting away some Christmas decorations, only because it's a chore with having two puppies underfoot. :) So I figure it will take me a while.

And I need to do another new release blog for Jaguar Pride. And I'm still working on Phantom Fae every day, have word count, just need to finish the book. But I have a confession. My daughter and SIL got me PC game Dragon Age: Inquisition. I love the Dragon Age stories, and I'm having a ball. Got all my characters killed off over fighting a dragon, so need to figure out how to do that, but hey, here I'm writing about dragon shifters in the fae world, so this is research. Right???

My daughter, Jennifer, and Max, me, and Tanner

We had to take a lot of pictures of both her dogs and Mike and Jenn and my dogs and Jenn and me. They were all moving, or we were moving to hold onto them.

My birds are back. The puppies are the best. I had a lovely Christmas with family, and it's time to begin the new year with lots and lots more books to write and share with you.

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

Sunset and Max and the Christmas Tree

Sun Setting

I was walking Max last night and saw this sight, ran back in the house with him, grabbed my camera and ran back out. Isn’t it great?

Sun Setting

Trees on Fire

Dark Descending

Christmas Tree Max

Okay, so Christmas is coming, ready or not. And I have to pick up Tanner today. He’s 3 months old. Max, pictured above, is 5 months old.  I have to say he’s very good about the tree. He pokes his nose at one of the balls every once in a while, but that’s it. I tried to take a picture of him closer to the tree, but he won’t sit long enough for the camera to focus on him for a picture. He comes to greet me instead. Can you tell he’s just about ready to move? So here, I had backed up yet again, told him to sit, and tried to take the shot. The first 3 were blurred Maxs. But he had been closer to the tree.

Tanner

This is Tanner from last week when I picked up Max. He’s much smaller, though bigger than the puppies from the other litter. She had two litters both born on the same day. :)

So now I’ll be training two puppies instead of one, but hopefully, fingers crossed, if they both have each other to sleep with, Tanner won’t be fussing tonight. Max has been fine since the 4th night.
We’ll have to work Tanner into our routine. Hopefully he’ll love it too. We had our 2nd official car trip ride and Max was really good. But this time I took him into a pet shop to see other people and get used to being out a little. A lady approached who had two twin 4 year old girls. They were adorable and they were so good with Max and he was so good with them. The mother scared him though. And then two groomers came to see him, for business, of course, but it was a good experience for him. But before I got him out of his carrier at home, he threw up. So the 1st official car trip was fine. The 2nd one, he got sick again. Hopefully he’ll be all right on subsequent trips. I have a 3 hour drive coming up and want both dogs to love riding in the car.

When Tanner gets home, he’ll have another dog to play with. And my daughter and son-in-law are bringing Sir Rilo and Lady Luna, their corgis, for Christmas. Both are two years old, so Christmas is going to the dogs. :) I’ll try to take lots of pictures.

I had to start writing blogs for the upcoming release of Jaguar Pride, and I’m behind on Phantom Fae (only by 3,000, though today I’m supposed to have another 2,000 also), though I keep waking and thinking about the end. I have 20,000 words left to write, so I am winding down to the end. :)

Do you have kids? Or, were you ever a kid with siblings? What order? Notice Max has lots of shots that are all just Max, because he’s the only puppy. But when Tanner comes home, what will happen? He’ll probably be in lots of shots with Max. Maybe not, but probably.

Doesn’t that happen with kids too? The firstborn has lots of pictures, then second and subsequent babies come along and all the pictures are of the toddler holding the baby, or looking at the baby, or two toddlers together, or…well, you get the picture. Second borns just don’t get the spotlight like firstborns.

So I was a firstborn. It’s all right by me. LOL What about you?

Okay, off to write another Jaguar Pride blog, the book is coming out Feb 7, and then back to Phantom Fae. Then it’s off to pick up Tanner. Have a super great Monday!

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

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
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https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TerrySpear
Wilde & Woolly Bears
http://www.celticbears.com

Prince Maximilian–the Dog

Well, I finally succumbed. With all the traveling I’ve been doing, I wouldn’t have done so, but I’m not traveling as much this year and even less next year, so I decided to get a dog. I’ve always had pets, but when my standard poodle died, I was working full time and writing full time so I figured it wasn’t a good idea to get another. Then I was writing full time and taking trips all the time.

I wanted another dog that didn’t shed. I’ve had poodles, silkies, and an Afghan hound. And I had a Lab, loved her, but she shed all the time. Course I had short haired cats too, and one long-haired one. Not all at the same time.

This time I went for a Havanese because they’re supposed to be good with kids and dogs and cats and people in general. Just a sweet disposition. So this is Prince Max.

5 mos old Havanese Puppy

Max is very white and has some silver and black

He’s now crashed out on my lap. I taught him to sit this morning. So we’ll see if he remembers that later today. :)

Off to work on His Wild Highland Lass. Note the Scottish leash? If they’d had a jaguar one, I would have gotten it.
:)

Have a great Wednesday! I need to get cracking on word count for Phantom Fae too. :)
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

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

Thanksgiving Meant Family!

 My daughter and her Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

 Pear tree in fall colors.

 Ham and stuffing my daughter made for Thanksgiving.

 Rhaegar, Rottweiler, my son's dog and Rilo, my daughter's dog while we were eating the roast I had made.

The two dogs playing with Rilo's toys. Rilo barked a bit. Rhaeger is about 18 mos old and really sweet.

It was great having my son and daughter visit at the same time since they haven't seen each other in 3 years.

We had a great time. Hope your holidays are the best!
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

Dreams Gone Amok

Penny Bear

I made up my last Penny Bear. She actually has faux suede paws.  The color didn’t turn out in the photo. She looks more like the picture above, color-wise.

Penny Bear Available for Sale

This is the last I have of this fabric. I’ve always loved it. It’s really soft and it looks like a really light mauve, yet placed against mauve, it looks like a light brown, yet placed against brown, it looks like a really light mauve. :)

I was having fun showing off some of my Christmas fairies, but taking pictures of them with the regular lens wasn’t doing them justice. So I took some of them with the macro lens.

And that is the magic of Christmas!

Everything’s decorated, cleaned, and while I’m waiting for family to arrive, I finished proofing the print version of The Vampire…In My Dreams

New Cover

and am off to proof the print version of Call of the Cougar.

Oh, and do you dream? Do you ever analyze your dreams?

I had a wild dream this morning. The sharp-shinned hawk has been flying around the area, and my birds have all but disappeared. I saw one of the cardinals the other day on a feeder, but nothing is eating the seeds I’ve left out for them like they usually do. So it’s bugging me. I loved seeing the hawk, but I love hearing all the song birds and seeing them come for food. *sigh*


Which is why I had the most bizarre dream, I think. I saw the hawk and ran out to take pictures of it. I left my back door open and a black bear cub ran inside the house. (Remember, this is a dream. I don’t want anyone to think I’m a Texas Tall Tale Teller–not that I don’t tell stories–in my books, but…)
Then the sow was looking for her cub. So I’m on the phone to 9-1-1, trying to get them to send someone out to get the cub out of my house. Of course, I’m trying to take pictures of it while I’m talking. You know. To share with my fans. :) While talking on the phone. I’m afraid to try and open the door and let him out and let the sow in. Soooo, what a dilemma. Plus, I had to rush the dog (that I don’t have), into a back bedroom so that the bear didn’t try to kill it. The dog is barking her head off–it’s a big dog, not any breed I’ve ever had, and in fact, I think it’s a mutt of some sort–the house isn’t mine either, just the treed backyard.


Soooo, dream analyzers, what does this mean?

Probably that I need to write about bear shifters next. :)
Okay, enough about dreams. It’s time to proof another book so I can write on Phantom Fae! :)
Do you have weird dreams? Do you believe they’re just a way of dealing with all the stuff going on in your life or something deeper? A fellow author is part Native American and her dreams come to her and she was told she needed to share these stories. That’s how she comes up with her books! I wish it would happen like that for me. Dream about it and write it. Wouldn’t that be neat?

Hey, even neater, if you could just have electrodes sending a signal from your brain, attached to the computer and the computer writes everything down while you’re dreaming. Next morning, you could edit it. Hmmmm….sounds like a cool futuristic story to me.

Did I mention that Her Highland Hero is in audiobook form? I’ve had so many things happen at once, that I’m not sure what I’ve shared and what I haven’t. The narrator is from Scotland, and I love her voice.

Audible: https://mobile.audible.com/pd/Romance/Her-Highland-Hero-Audiobook/B00PV2ANE0?s=s

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Her-Highland-Hero-Highlanders-Book/dp/B00PX8N790

Back to the real world and cougar shifters! Have a lovely Sunday!

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