So when a lovely fan and friend of mine sent me an article about a rare white cougar, I knew that I had to write the cougar’s story. And since I’ve been writing a Halloween shifter story each year, this is the one for this year! Maybe next year I can write a wolf’s Halloween story.
Saving the White Cougar–September 1, 2021
Stella White never believed that going on a cougar run would be such a dangerous excursion, painful, punishing, and pleasurable in the end. She realized that sometimes she just needed to get through the bad stuff to get to the good stuff and that meant meeting Ted Weekum, ranch foreman, and the kind of cowboy she’d only dreamed of.
Ted Weekum was visiting with his brother at the ranch when he thought he saw a white flash of fur, but it wasn’t until hunters started shooting up the place, claiming they’d shot a white cougar did the notion sink in that the cougar could be one of their own shifter kind. But a white cougar? Unheard of. And yet when he went to save her life—that’s exactly what he found. A rare white cougar. Unclaimed. Unmated. The right age. The stars had aligned right that night.
But the hunters aren’t through with hunting down the wounded white cougar, or Stella White.
Well, I wrote 2500 words on United Shifter Force Christmas, yay! But then remember all those false starts? Well, I used one to add to the story and worked it in, and then I added another. I have another to add in today, so see? They weren’t a waste of time after all. They just needed to be told later in the story. So I ended up with 5,000 words yesterday. Yay! Minimum word count for a novella for me is 20K, but I normally get anywhere from 23-30K. Once I begin adding Christmas elements–right now it’s all about mystery, murder, and issues between them–it will begin to add up. Setting details usually come later for me. I just jump in with action and dialogue at first. So that means I have about 15K at minimum left to write. That sounds really doable. If I could just work and not have any interruptions (going to IKEA with my daughter today–we haven’t gone in 2 years and it’s kind of our special once a year fun thing to do), just think? If I could keep on with the story and write 5,000 a day (I know, pipe dream), but I could have it done by the end of the week, and then I could get started on the red wolf Christmas story which is due Oct 1.
Soooo, I’m thrilled to be getting somewhere with this!
And I bought another book cover that I need to do something with.
I. Have. An. Addiction.
Book cover buying. lol
My problem is I see one I really love and at a great price and I have to get it. The bad thing is I don’t have a story in mind. Why am I even looking for covers then? If I don’t look, I won’t be tempted. Exactly! And I haven’t looked in months. BUT, I have stories I’m writing that I DO need covers for. *sigh* I have a couple I won’t mind replacing that are really generic also or don’t suit the story either.
But I can’t find any that I need. So I end up making my own. I’d be very happy to have a cover artist do them instead and just keep writing. I love making them, but still, I feel some artists way exceed my ability. Some don’t though! And they still charge a lot. When I’ve had custom covers made, I haven’t liked the models, so I would just rather see the models in a premade cover and if the other elements work, buy it.
The real problem is that many of the artists’ work that I love are doing high epic fantasy. Women in fantasy outfits–urban fantasy–not like anything real people wear, or long flowing gowns, then if they feature shifter animals, they have glowing eyes. Glowing eyes? What’s up with that? Or the women are carrying swords (which is okay for my vampire series), but then they cover them with magical glowing light, or shooting magic out of their fingertips. I need normal, but paranormal. My shifters blend in with the world. Their wild halves are just like the ones in the wild–the cougars, jaguars, bears, and wolves. Their human halves blend in too, everyday wear, just like the rest of us.
My fae can wear whatever they want and have magic and such, but that is a YA series, and most of the women look like sexpots, and not teens. Which is fine for adult romance but…
I have had more success with finding some great covers for the YA series. I have a couple of covers I’d like to replace that I had done too, which was another reason I was looking, but of course I couldn’t find anything that would work.
Okay, I’m off to write before I have to leave with my daughter to have fun!
Have a super, non-addictive day, unless it’s just for fun.
Master baker Ava Lamar has one mission in mind after baking tons of treats for the Fourth of July celebration in Yuma Town—swimming at Lake Buchanan on this hot summer’s day. What she doesn’t expect is to be saddled with running the fortune telling booth—using her real psychic abilities—and giving a hot, bachelor cougar a place to stay for the whole weekend.
Cougar Shifter Force Special Agent Chet Kensington has just finished a tough mission, been chewed up a bit by rogue cougars, and he’s taking a break to be with his old team, but he has no place to stay, everything being booked up in Yuma Town for the big cougar celebration. When Ava reluctantly allows him to stay with her, he finds himself drawn to her the whole celebration long.
But back home in Wyoming, things are getting out of hand. A serial killer is murdering female cougars and he and some of his old team have to find him, pronto. The problem is all the trouble leads right back to Ava—and now he has to do his best to keep her safe before the killer adds her to his list of victims.
Created Birdhouses for another Challenge–the one in the center is my own photo of a birdhouse I own.
I’m up to chapter 16 on You Had Me at Cougar. I had to make a lot of changes throughout because the story changes as I develop it. Five more chapters to go!
We’re going swimming this morning, daughter and baby and me. I usually swim for an hour before my daughter gets there and then she comes and I watch the baby while I write and she swims. Perfect for both of us. As long as we don’t have any storms. They’re supposed to be coming. But they’re always supposed to be coming.
Hope you have a lovely day. I’m nearly done with You Had Me at Cougar! Woohoo, then on to the next deadline book.
An overprotective wolf meets his match in the Scottish Highlands of today…
Heather MacNeil has never backed down from a fight. So when some shady shifters from a neighboring enemy clan come looking for trouble, she refuses to feed their satisfaction. There’s only one wolf that makes her go soft…
For packmate Enrick MacQuarrie, the work as second-in-command never ends—as the feud ignites, clan security is more vital than ever. But a certain unpredictable, feisty Highland lass is determined to stand up to the aggressors, and Enrick is equally determined to protect her.
The action builds as Heather and Enrick grow closer, but will they be willing to sacrifice their wild friendship for true love?
Praise for the Highland Wolf series: “Will leave readers longing for a Highlander of their own.”—Romance Junkies “The chemistry is so sizzling it’s a wonder the pages didn’t start smoking.”—Paranormal Kiss “Plenty of action and intrigue to keep the pages turning.”—That’s What I’m Talking About
I’ve been wanting to write the next book in the Highland series forever, and had a blast doing it!
Heather MacNeill has been an important character in nearly all of the previous Highland wolf books with the MacNeill clan, cousin to Ian MacNeill the pack leader of his clan, and I finally found her match. Enrick MacQuarrie is the pack leader, Grant MacQuarrie’s brother and he finally has his story. I love being able to go back to a wolf pack and bring them to life again! And we’re back into movie magic, but in a whole different way!
Next year, I’ll have another Billionaire wolf–Derek Spencer and Kate’s story, Red Wolf, Maverick’s story, and White Wolf–David Davis and Elizabeth’s story out. So I probably will write the other Highland brother’s story in 2022 for 2023 release. I’ll also have two cougar novels out this year–one September 1st–Saving the White Cougar (Halloween), and one in the summer sometime (You Had Me at Cougar). So lots more fun reading coming up!! I do want to finish Angel Fae and write a polar bear story, but I’m still working on Billionaire, need to write the United Shifter Force Christmas novella for an anthology, and the red wolf Christmas story this year also.
And my daughter just gave birth to a new baby boy, so…I’ve been helping with him and taking pictures, and helping with my 4-year-old granddaughter who adores her baby brother–so far. lol
I’m back to writing on Billionaire this morning, so enjoy the new release and there are more to come!
Night of the Wolf (In the Heart of the Wolf 10th Anniversary Release–now a single release)
Serena Wilder learns all her money has been withdrawn from the bank by the man who has been sharing the rent with her. They’re both wolves. She trusted him. But when he takes off with all her savings, she vows revenge. But first, she returns to the old homestead where she’d lost her whole family due to a fire. In the basement, her father had kept a hidden safe. She hopes it’s still there so she can finance her trip to the Grand Cayman Islands where the thief has settled–using her money!
Tanner Greymere and his three brothers discover a red wolf skulking around their home and they realize just who she is and why she is there. But Tanner has no intention of her running off to fight a wolf on her own, so now the challenge is to locate him on the island, get her money back, and convince her she needs to stay with the pack–with him, but protect her at all costs. But nothing goes their way.
***
So I was working on Billionaire and finally had some ideas. I’d forgotten that one of the earlier heroines was pregnant, so needed to add something about that. And another couple has a boy, so I had to figure out how old he would be and add him to the story. And then the pregnant woman will add more conflict. So does the boy. He’s 4 years old, what can I say? He added lots in the original story where he was featured. Kids just do. But in a fun way.
Then I had another great idea about one of the dogs that the hero owns in this story. It’s actually based on a true story about my dad, and ironically, the dog’s name was Toby. My dad loved animals–horses, that his grandparents and his mother had, dogs–he never had cats–but when they took care of my cat when I had to go to some army training, he fell in love with her.
This all goes to show that when I’m stuck and don’t know where to go–I still need to keep writing and then suddenly I’ll have that ah-ha moment and there it is! 3500 more words! But so many times, I’m trying to come up with something and it’s not happening. I still write, but when I’m not trying to force something, then it comes to me. I just wish it would come to me more often while I’m writing. lol
I also cleaned the gutter out front. I wasn’t sure I could reach it with my 6 foot ladder. I couldn’t on the backside of the house. It was packed with pine needles. I need to get some of those gutter covers.
I also got rid of two yellow jacket nests being built at each end of the garage. I find that if I hose them down while they’re being built, soaked both yellow jackets, they won’t build there again. I can spray tons of hornet spray and they’ll return every time. But water? The greatest deterrent. The only reason I can think of is that they believe rain is going to wash away their nests, and so they don’t build there any longer. I have a couple places in the protective foyer where they would build and I had a devil of a time stopping them. So that does it!
I pulled weeds too. I thought of going to get groceries today, out of them, but when I went to post about Night of the Wolf, I realized my publisher doesn’t even have a synopsis up for it, so had to write that one. Still need to write the synopsis for SEAL Wolf to the Rescue.
I did manage to cut out 3 bears also, and I need to start sewing those up today. But I also want to get my 2,000 words today on Billionaire. I’m still playing my 4theword game to keep up with my writing! Which makes it even more fun.
The temperature dropped, but it looks like today is going to be the lowest temperature of any days and we’re supposed to have rain.
Usually, I get a lot of backsides of animals when I go to a zoo to take pictures. I still did when I went to the zoo, but I also got some remarkable photos when some of the primates came over and looked like they were posing just for me.
This big chimp came over to sit on a ribbon of canvas. They’re so well balanced. He just put his fist down to keep from tilting and then he finished his elegant pose.
Well, I spent most of the day, trying to get through the edits on White Wolf Moon last night. I managed to get through all the rest of the chapters. I need to write acknowledgements this morning and then the book is off. I worked on a 1,000 words of Billionaire first thing also, and sent a bunch of photos to my daughter, which took some time. And played with a couple of photos of my own.
I realized next week is spring break, so I will be able to concentrate on all the stuff I have to do without taking care of little one. Though I’m preparing a St. Patrick’s Day dinner on Wednesday for us. 🙂 So hoping to get some great word count on Billionaire and You Had Me at Cougar.
Taxes are next. That was the thing I was forgetting I have to do this weekend. I knew there was something else that was hanging over my head. I was just looking forward to writing new stories instead. *sigh*
Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I’ve got to get busy!
The morpho butterfly has big “eyed” wings to scare off predators, but when it spreads its wings, on top, it has the prettiest blue coloring. They’re very unafraid and one was riding on the back of my sweater, traveling with me throughout the butterfly exhibit.
Okay, using 4thewords, I managed another 5,000 words yesterday on the new novella. So I have 10K now, halfway done–for the minimum word count I shoot for. I usually write between 25K-30K on a novella. I’m hoping to get another 5,000 today and tomorrow. I ended up going to my daughter and SIL’s house yesterday because my granddaughter was missing me. We had pizza and she slept in my arms for 2 hours. She’s such a sweetie.
I was setting up my battle strategy last night for the quest I’m on for today, 700 words in 130 mins, though once I have a scene in mind, I’m done in maybe 20 mins? Not sure. I wrote 1,000 words to battle a different kind of monster yesterday, and I typed as fast as I could, and was done in about that much time.
Before I write, I have to think of where I’m going with the story. then once I have an idea, I click on the fight the monster and the timer is set, and I’m off and racing. I had been fighting one monster for 250 words at a time, which is easy, quick and after 4 times of battles, I have 1,000 words easy. I also was battling one that was only 100 words at a time. It’s great when I’m not sure of what to say and I can get the 100 words quickly, so something done on the mss anyway. It’s especially good if I have to keep running to do other things, battle a monster, let the dogs out, battle a monster, let the dogs in, battle a monster, check the cooking. lol I often just click on him 3 times in succession to fight him though, because I’m on a roll, so end up with 300 words.
One of the quests I want to do today is for 3,000 words. I don’t know how that one works, but if it’s just to get it done for the day, I can, because I’ve been doing 5,000 words a day. I did one where it’s endurance–type as fast as you can for 5 mins. That was awful! I kept at the top of the scale, in the green the whole time, and in 5 mins managed to write 278 words. So it was good as far as getting something done, but it means a lot of mistakes that I had to correct afterwards. However, it forces me to just get the story down and not worry about making the mistakes and it was good story material. Which is the main thing.
When I went to my kids’ house, I ended up bringing back mending projects. My daughter can sew, but since I make teddy bears, my granddaughter believes I’m the only one who can fix her toys or clothes. lol I have her help me, so she’s learning to thread needles and sew. By the time she’s 4, maybe she can really sew. Maybe I can teach her how to embroider, hook rugs, make pot holders. My daughter was never interested in needlework. No one in my family was, so I taught myself and loved it. Which is how I turned a fun hobby of embroidery work into making teddy bears with personalized paws!
Okay, I’ve got some monsters to battle! Have a great day!
Cougar shifter Jessie Whittington plans to work on her psychic romance book before Christmas at the Whispering Pines Resort on the North Shore of Lake Superior, but peace and quiet aren’t exactly what she’s going to get right before Christmas.
Former army ranger Emerson Merriweather has returned home after being ambushed on a Black Ops mission, and now learns his uncle has died. When he meets his only guest at the cabin resort, he’s surprised she’s a cougar too. Before long, a blizzard hits, bear shifters wreak havoc, and he’s helping Jessie decorate for Christmas. Something he never thought he would be doing.
Currently, I’m working on A Date with a Wolf–5,000 words done. It’s a novella that will come out in Silence of the Wolf’s 10th Anniversary, so I’m shooting for 20K and it will probably be around 25K+. I did use 4thewords to fight monsters to write 5,000 words yesterday. It helps me to stay focused for 250-400 words at a time and then go off and do other chores before I settle down to write another bunch of the story. I hope to continue the trend until my son arrives for Christmas on Saturday evening. I could possibly have this novella mostly written by then if I can keep up the writing. Little one is at home, so that’s helped.
I took this photo of an old Ford truck in Salado, Texas, an old stagecoach town. I added a new background, a texture layer over it, glowing headlights, and removed the tree that was all over the original truck.
I’m off to send my new release newsletter and then fight more monsters for word count. Have a great day!
Old Wolf Fever–Cats Are Not Sure What to Make of It!
Book 2 in Terry Spear’s Silver Town Wolf Series
She may be his destiny, but she’s not his first choice
Hospital nurse and newly turned red werewolf Carol Woods is being pressured by her pack leader to find a mate, but he’s the only guy in the pack who remotely attracts her.
Why is he playing so hard to get?
The fate of the pack rests on his shoulders
Gray pack leader Ryan McKinley doesn’t want anything to do with Carol unless she’s willing to embrace her wolf nature-no matter how beautiful she is.
But when a virus infects the local lupus garou pack, Ryan realizes just how wrong he’s been not to seize the moment with the woman he’s come to love. And now, it may be too late…
Silver Town Wolf Series: Destiny of the Wolf (Book 1) Wolf Fever (Book 2) Dreaming of the Wolf (Book 3) Silence of the Wolf (Book 4) A Silver Wolf Christmas (Book 5)
Praise for Terry Spear’s To Tempt the Wolf : “Ms. Spear’s has spun a web of drama that pulled me in… Get it; read it; you’ll love it!” –Romance Reader at Heart “A paranormal romp that sizzles! Action-packed romance and suspense-filled plot add up to pure magic. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Terry Spear is a great addition to the paranormal genre!” –Armchair Interviews
