INTERVIEW WITH TERRY SPEAR

Terry, welcome back to Over Coffee. I always love having you visit. You share so many interesting things with the articles you written for me. You already know that I love your beautiful Bears. My McKye Bear has gotten lots of comments.

You write several series and did so while working full time. How did you manage your time to do that? 

I was working eighty hours a week. I had my 40-per week job, and then every minute in the morning before work I would catch up on promo and emails. Sometimes I had enough time to write a little. When I got home from work, I’d start writing. I had a word-goal every week. I think it was a 1,000 words a day. And then on weekends, I would write, get caught up on everything else, and write some more. At some point, I knew I couldn't continue to do that. One or the other had to go. It was just too much stress. 

You've recently quit your full time job to concentrate on writing. That’s quite a leap of faith, isn't it? 

It was a huge risk. It was really hard for me to get that full-time library job. And I loved my coworkers and many of the patrons. It was a really big step to take. Yet, I knew, just like with characters in a book, sometimes we just have to take the risk. There was no going back. I had to move forward. I had to take the chance. I had to believe in myself. And I had to work like the devil to prove I could do it. But like when a character’s life is turned upside down, I knew I had to get out of that stressful rat race and do one or the other. Or pay the consequences in health issues down the road. 

What’s happened that you weren't you expecting when left the day job and immersed yourself into your writing career? 

I am extremely goal-oriented. That means, I've been able to get at least 10,000 words a week done on my stories, sometimes as much as 5-10,000 a day. I can actually write a book in a month if I don’t have a lot of other (promotional) stuff going on. 

One of the things that I love about this is I've been able to go to readers’ conventions, something I couldn't do before this because I didn't have enough leave time. What leave I did have, would have to be divided up between my son and daughter and maybe attend RWA Nationals. 

I was able to go to 4 conferences last year, see my daughter a number of times, my son, and visit a number of zoos and other wildlife sites for research. This year I’m going to five conferences, and seeing a little of Chicago where one of the conferences is being held and to the International Wolf Center in Ely with a friend and fan. I also have a book signing while there.

In other words, I’m writing much more, and I’m getting to do lots of fun things, rather than just filling in another 40 hours at a day job. 

You are both traditionally published and publish independently. How do you blend both? 

I love doing both. I have a ton of stories I've already written way before I was published. It took me ten years to finally get a contract. Two of my Highland books were some of the first under contract. When she [acquiring editor] switched to inspirational, no violence, no sex, I started independently publishing the books. Sales from the next three highly successful Highland medieval series was what made it possible for me to quit my day job. 

Doing both means I’m always working on something. 

I have deadlines with traditional publishing and so I always work on the story that is coming up next. If I have time, like with one of the Highland series, a story that was nearly done, just needed some more research and changes, I was able to publish it in between two traditional books. Scenes come to me all the time, so I’m a fast writer. 

Your wolf series pulls a lot from the natural dynamics of a wolf pack. What kind of research did you do to make your wolf world realistic from a wolf’s standpoint? 

Wolves have distinctive personalities, just like dogs and cats do. Just like any animal does. I have a pet roadrunner. He has claimed my home for his territory. He peeks in the windows at me sometimes. He watches me while I take pictures of him outside. I can guarantee that another roadrunner wouldn't be just like him. 

When I do research on wolves, I watch their behavior—wolf reserves in Texas and Nebraska, videotapes of them. Wolves in captivity will do what they wouldn't do in the wild. Which also gives me fodder for my stories. Reading wolf biologists’ accounts also have helped me to create personalities for the wolves based on REAL wolf personalities. But when you hear about them, you think, these are like human personalities. 

Some are shy, retiring, alpha, omega. Some are playful. One was the greyhound of the wolf pack, and her alpha pack leader sister chased her off, but she was the fastest wolf in the pack and would often times chase down the prey they needed to feed the pack. Do you feel badly for her? I did. The sister tried to drum her out of the pack. Tried to force her to be an omega who couldn't share in the meals or take part in the camaraderie of the pack. And yet she was the best hunter of the pack! The sister was killed, and the alpha male took the greyhound of a wolf as his mate. HEA. And this was a true story. 

In a natural wolf pack differences and actions can cause members to be ostracized. 

My example of the greyhound wolf, that’s a good case in point. The sister didn't like her, probably because she was just as alpha, and the other wolves couldn't help but see her as a beneficial pack member. Even the male never tried to chase her away. Just the sister. She would go for days on her own, but she was a real pack animal. And being on their own is really dangerous. So they need a pack’s protection. Yet, she was persistent in wanting to belong to that pack, to that family. They were her family, no matter how much her sister tried to get rid of her. Even going to another wolf pack can spell a wolf’s death. So they can’t just always look for another wolf pack to join up with. 

BUY:AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

Which brings us to the heroine, Elizabeth, in your current release, Silence of the Wolf.  She also had some serious obstacles to overcome to find her happy ever after. Tell us a bit about her? 

Elizabeth was close to her mother and father. They were good for her. They showed her a love and compassion that everyone deserves to have. But when she lost them, she lost her protection. Yet, she couldn't leave the area either. She still had that draw to be near the wolf pack. She finally had to leave, or be killed outright, but when she had evidence of wrongdoing in her parents’ deaths, she had to return and set things right.  

What do you admire about her? 

Her persistence to do what was right, but when she feared it would cause another wolf’s pack involvement and might hurt them in the process, she was willing to sacrifice her need for setting things right, and protecting a wolf pack that had done nothing but treated her with kindness and respect. So putting aside her needs to protect someone else is what I truly admire about her. And for going on with her life and making the most of it, despite all that she’d been through. 

What’s coming next from Terry Spear? 

I’m currently working on A SEAL Wolf for Sale, set in Montana, so doing lots of research in the new area. After that will be A Silver Wolf Christmas. I’m also working on The Viking’s Highland Lass to release this year, and Phantom Fae, the next in the teen fae series.

Terry, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. I’m looking forward to reading Silence of the Wolf. 

Thanks so much for having me here today, Sia! Always a pleasure!!!

• My question to readers is do you like to learn fun facts when you’re reading fiction, or does it matter? I always wonder when I’m reading a book if there’s any truth behind the fiction.

                                                                                                                                                      

Terry Spear

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

Heart of the Wolf--Publishers Weekly "Best Books of the Year!" 

A SEAL in Wolf's Clothing--USA Today Bestseller

Twitter,  Facebook  Blog 

A Writer's Doubts

Self-doubt is one of the most debilitating of traits, and yet, we writers constantly denigrate our best efforts in spite of the evidence around us.

My guest is suspense author, Jo Robertson. Jo shares two novellas for your enjoyment. Her topic is one writers everywhere can identify with–self doubt.

Anne Bradstreet, the Colonial American poet, wrote a poem titled “Author to Her Book,” in which she uses a lovely metaphor.  She compares her book to a child being sent out into the world as parents might send an unprepared child from their home – dirty-faced, tattered-dressed – not ready for the world to see it, judge it, or evaluate it. 

She indicates her book of poetry (her child) was sent out into the world by well-meaning friends, “friends, less wise than true . . .," who knew she needed the money. 

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,

As a writer I identify with Bradstreet's sentiments.  Most writers never feel their works are finished, complete, or polished enough for the world to read and judge.  Every time I peruse an older manuscript of mine, I think of dozens of ways I could alter it, make it better, or just fiddle around with the damned thing! 

Extending her metaphor, Bradstreet insists that the book’s “visage was . . . irksome in [her] sight,” but because it was hers, she believed that affection would amend its blemishes.  However, the more she scrubbed its “face,” the “more defects [she] saw” till at last, her poverty “caused her to thus send [it] out of door.”

Oh, don't we fall in love with our words!  How difficult it is to eliminate a single one.

It’s a given that we writers have a lot of angst in our profession.  If we’re unpublished, we doubt our worth as writers; if published, we believe someone made a monumental mistake in acquiring the book and we’ll never sell another one because it was a fluke in the first place.  If we're indie published, as I am, we wonder how we became successful, or alternately, why we didn't.

Self-doubt is one of the most debilitating of traits, and yet, we writers constantly denigrate our best efforts in spite of the evidence around us.

I think artists of all kinds are the greatest self-doubters, but writers are particularly vulnerable.  After having published twelve titles with moderate success, I finally learned to trust my gut, to rely on my best judgment of my work.  Authors have always struggled to make a living from their writing.  Isn't it wonderful that in this electronic age we have so many options open to us?
 
When I'm selling well, especially in this quixotic and undependable market, I count my blessings!  I remind myself, when sales are low, that many of the greatest writers of our generation and previous ones, were not popular during their lifetimes.
                                                                                       
What do you readers think?  

Are you one of those who doubts yourself?  Do you always second guess your decisions?  Are you too hard on yourself?  Do we writers fail to admire our strengths and dwell instead on our weaknesses?  Why do you think we do this?  

If you're not a writer, what do you have self-doubts about in your life?

                                                                                                    

BUY: AMAZON

THE HITMAN'S HOLIDAY
Jo Robertson

Logan is a professional hit man. He finds the Christmas Season the dreariest and most boring of the year, but this particular year he gets caught up in a holiday jingle that lodges in his mind.

When he gets an unusual December contract, he follows a sassy twelve-year-old and her odd companions through the Bronx ... and serious trouble.

This assignment brings Logan face to face with the concept of how far he can go on this dark path before there's no turning back. 

Is it already too late for redemption?


                                                                                                                                           

THE PERFECT GIFT

Jo Roberston

When her husband dies unexpectedly Jane Stark is left with four young boys and a mother-in-law who hates her. When she finds herself pregnant with the longed-for baby girl her husband wanted and ex-detective Rick --- moves in next door, Jane doesn't know whether to be happy or overwhelmed with the changes life has handed her.

BUY: AMAZON

                                                                                          

WILD TURKEYS

My guest is award winning thriller-suspense-romance writer, Jo Robertson  She’s also a member of one my favorite groups, The Romance Bandits. 


Jo’s debut novel, THE WATCHER, won Romance Writers of America's 2006 Golden Heart Award for romantic suspense.

Jo is here to talk about wild turkeys…

Did your mind go straight to Wild Turkey Bourbon at the title of today's blog? Well, I'm not talking about that kind of wild turkey today. I'm talking about the feathered friend kind.

Sort of.

On the way to the dentist recently I nearly hit two wild turkeys with my car as they dashed across the street. The environmentalists in our town have done a good job of preserving creek and wooded areas, so I wasn't surprised to see the birds skitter across the four-lane road.

But seeing them me think about how writers are a bit like wild turkeys – they often stand out in crowds, mainly because their minds always seem to be somewhere else.

Writers think a lot. They think about thinking. It's called metacognition, and a writer metacognates all the time. If she did it in grade school, educators called her "easily distracted." In high school or college, she was "flighty," and in the work place, "unfocused."

In reality, writers are anything but distracted, flighty or unfocused. We wouldn't survive long in this industry if we were.

But we are free thinkers, letting our minds – conscious and subconscious alike – roam freely, snagging here and there on an idea, a phrase, a character, a scene, moving on , trolling deep waters or shallow pools. Hence, we may seem out of step with the people around us.

Our ideas and inspiration come from everywhere, skittering through our creative minds like those wild turkeys.

Photo Credit: Henry Zeman

Not only are we wild turkeys in our disparate ideas and stories, but we're like them in the venues we choose to publish through. We're all struggling to find a place in the publishing industry.

The truth is that the way we look at books, purchase them, and collect them is in the throes of significant change, and publishers of all kinds – the NY Big Six, small presses, e-publishers and digital first – are all scrambling to see what's going to happen to the book publishing industry.

It's not so much that digital publishing has increased significantly.  Electronic books still account for only about 15-20-% of the market, which leaves a good 80% to the print business. It's more how quickly digital publishing has increased – exponentially. And it's got everyone wondering what the future holds.

The one point all seem to agree on is we need writers! Writers of all kinds. Writers who think inside and outside the box, those who march in step with their fellow writers and those who march out of step to some weird meter in their heads.                                           

My journey into publishing began with the purchase of my Kindle in December. The moment I held that baby in my hands, I felt like I'd birthed another child. And I knew I'd never give it up. I also knew I'd never purchase another print book again unless it was a gift for someone without an e-reader or was unavailable electronically.

When I realized that the New York publishers weren't excited about my Golden Heart winning manuscript or my Daphne-winning story – too much romance, too little romance, not enough suspense, too much suspense, all of which I translated into "Where can we place your book on the shelf in the brick and mortar bookstore?" – I realized I needed to find a much bigger store.

A virtual bookstore. Digital publishing provides shelf upon shelf for the reader to pick among, and tons of tags, descriptors, and categories for them.

Deciding to take my career into my own hands, to move at my own pace, was a seminal moment for me. I like the control I have, choosing my own genres, setting my own pace.

Once I made the leap to indie publishing, I felt like one of those wild turkeys tripping across the road – free, but a wee bit scared I might get mowed down by a speeding car!

Now that The Watcher is in print and available soon electronically, I feel my wild turkey has come home to roost.

How about you, readers? What large or small decision have you made that felt wonderfully liberating or frighteningly scary? Share the deets.

Inquiring minds want to know!

The Watcher--Available now.

THE WATCHER Forensic psychiatrist Kate Myers believes the killer of two teenage girls in Bigler County, California, is the same man who savagely murdered her twin sister over fifteen years ago. Working on sheer tenacity, she sets out to prove it. Deputy Sheriff Ben Slater hides his personal pain behind the job, but Kate's arrival knocks his world on its axis. He wants to believe her wild theory, but the idea of a serial killer with this pathology is bizarre. Together they work to find a killer whose roots began in a small town in Bigler County, but whose violence spread across the nation. A Janus-like killer, more monster than man, fixates on Kate and wants nothing more than to kill her again. Excerpt

BUY: Available in print on Amazon  Available as e-book, August 19th. 

Like many writers, I penned my first story at a young age.  However, a family and a teaching career put my writing dreams on hold until my Advanced Placement seniors conned me into writing my first complete manuscript.  That story, which subsequently won RWA's Golden Heart Award in 2006, was THE WATCHER.

From the moment I put my fingers to the keyboard, the
barrier between my brain and the paper lifted, the story flew from my mind, and I fell in love with everything about the process of writing.

Raised as an Army brat, I lived in Germany as a child, Northern Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Idaho, and Utah before finally settling in Northern California.  Whenever I visit my sister in Virginia or my brothers in North Carolina and Florida, upon returning home I remember again why I love Northern California, home of the ancient redwoods, the fecund forests and the rugged Pacific Coastline.

.