Great Scot!

As we in the USA observe Labor Day, I thought you all might enjoy observing some sexy Scots in their kilts. After all, eye candy is a wonderful thing—no calories but lots of pleasure.

Great Scot but I found some sexy, naughty video bits I could have shared here, but we’ll keep this showing more for a general audience. Leave more to your imagination as to what’s under those panels of wool and other fabric.

Here’s a more modern take on the kilt as runway couture:




And this is a delightfully teasing video a dear friend sent me recently. Handsome models strut their stuff.




This blog wouldn’t be complete without a special shout-out to my dear friends, Terry Spear and Nicole North, two ladies who creatively bring those Highland hunks we love to fictional life in their novellas and novels.


May you and yours enjoy the company of family and friends this holiday weekend. Here’s to many fond memories for everyone!

Wishing you all many joyful reading moments,

Shawna Moore
TORMENTED -- Coming October 8 to Ellora's Cave
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Will the Move Ever Be Done??

An Update!!! Don't Cry Wolf is scheduled for release March 1, 2009!



I'm in the middle of a nightmare move, so satellite's hooked up at my mother's house, but my network card isn't working. So what's new? I'm using her computer at my house, but nothing much works on it--no Word, so can't write, can't upload lessons to my students...argh. And she doesn't have a cordless mouse. I didn't remember how annoying/cumbersome the corded ones were!

But these covers are the bright spot in my week--What do you think?

Also, I'm shipping autographed copies of The Vampire...In My Dreams so if anyone is interested, email me at tspear@flash.net. Paypal and postal money orders/checks accepted. :)

Also, last chance to sign up for Happy Hookers if you need an online workshop that teaches about engaging the readers from start to finish! Starts Sep 1. http://www.terryspear.com/id14.html

Terry Spear
Heart of the Wolf, The Vampire...In My Dreams

A Real Doctor Nurse Encounter

Little did I know when I wrote A Doctor-Nurse Encounter for Harlequin Intrigue that my husband and I would be having our own encounters with doctors and nurses the month the book was released!

Last April my husband started having some trouble breathing. Since he has some allergies and exercised-induced asthma, both he and his doctor thought it was asthma related. When a few different combos of meds didn't solve his breathing problems, his doc sent him to a pulmonologist, who put him on some strong inhalers. Those didn't work either, so the pulmonologist sent him to a cardiologist. He passed an EKG and the doc scheduled him for a special stress test, called a cardio lite, where he would be injected with dye so they could take 3-D images of his heart. The test was scheduled for last Tuesday and my husband had another appointment on Wed. to review the test results and get an echocardiogram.

After the appointment, my husband called me with the scary news - the test revealed a major blockage in one of his arteries - and he was scheduled for an angiogram and possible angioplasty the next day! Talk about readjusting your priorities in a hurry! We told the kids that night and broke the other bad news that we had to cancel our trip to Maui. Sensing the seriousness of Dad's procedure, they hardly raised a fuss about missing Maui.

When something like this happens, you realize how wonderful your friends are. Two of my friends, who have sons who play soccer with my youngest, immediately offered to take the boys to the beach the next day. When we arrived at the hospital, six or seven guys from my husband's task force were there to offer support.

The procedure went smoothly, and all of his other arteries were clear. He spent one night in ICU and was discharged the next day. His doctors were fabulous and his ICU nurse was the best. When I came to pick up my husband, I brought his nurse, Lisa, an autographed copy of A Doctor-Nurse Encounter!

We found out that the artery was 99.9% blocked. My husband could have had a major heart attack at any time (like when we were tromping up and down the hills in S.F.) So my husband is off this week recovering - can't exercise for a month but will be back at work full-time next week. And I'm left feeling so grateful I have my wonderful husband with me. I told my husband we have a new "our song." It's Rob Thomas's "Little Wonders."

let it go,
let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know
the hardest part is over
let it in,
let your clarity define you
in the end
we will only just remember
how it feels

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours
still remain

let it slide,
let your troubles fall behind you
let it shine
until you feel it all around you
and i don't mind
if it's me you need to turn to
we'll get by,
it's the heart that really matters in the end

our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours
still remain

all of my regret
will wash away somehow
but i cannot forget
the way i feel right now

in these small hours
these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
these twists & turns of fate

time falls away
but these small hours
these small hours,
still remain,
still remain

these little wonders
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away
but these small hours
these little wonders
still remain

Fun With The LOLcats!

Hi Fierce Friends!

Life for a full time writer is CRAZY!! So here's some fun for all of us -- more LOL cats! Be back with more profound and serious thoughts on writing next week. Have a great day!!


































Keep Writing!!! Hugs, Tess

Outer Banks: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Today I want to share some pics from my vacation last week to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach here at Kill Devil Hills is less crowded and more natural than other beaches I've visited.
We climbed the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest in the US at 208 feet. The light at the top can be seen 20 nautical miles out at sea and in clear conditions it can be seen from 51 miles away. Years ago, the lighthouse served a vital purpose of warning sailors away from the dangerous Diamond Shoals, sandbars that extend about 14 miles out into the ocean. These caused ships to run aground. To give you an idea of how dangerous this area of the ocean is, about 2000 shipwrecks have been found out there and include ships from the 1500s to the 1900s. It is called the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Inside the lighthouse, looking down through the center of the spiral steps.

This is the first lighthouse I've visited. It is equal in height to a 12 story building and contains 248 steps. Great exercise! I was sore the next day.

(View from the top to the ground)

The view from the top is spectacular. From here you can see the site where the lighthouse used to sit (below, on the left side of the picture where that big sandy spot remains.) It was moved in 1999 to save it from the encroaching Atlantic and erosion of the shore. As for how this feat was accomplished, I have not researched it. A storm was approaching in this picture.

The view also includes the natural, beautiful and unspoiled Cape Hatteras National Seashore. With so much development and commercialization on most every beach, it was wonderful to see this virtually untouched beach. It stretches for 75 miles from south of Nags Head to Ocracoke Inlet. Amazing! It's home to lots of wildlife.

Here's a great map of the area with all the interesting islands. After you're on the site, click the map to enlarge.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/cape_hatt93.jpg
Since we stayed in Kill Devil Hills, we had to drive over 70 miles along these narrow islands to arrive at the lighthouse. We didn't have time to visit all the places we wanted to. If you've been to the Outer Banks, which is your favorite site?

Vonda

http://www.vondasinclair.com/

Box? What Box?

Writers are readers at heart. We simply love every aspect of the creative process, from bringing ideas from our brains and putting them on paper or other storage media to becoming lost in the wonderful fictional worlds of our favorite authors. I can’t remember a time in my life when someone wasn’t telling me or reading me a fairy tale story. During my earliest years and throughout my childhood, Mom or Dad sat beside my bed or rocked me to sleep while turning the pages of a Little Golden Book. After weekly visits to our local library, Mom and I returned home with several books each. On my seventh birthday, my parents presented me with a beautiful bookcase. A bookcase whose shelves I quickly filled with books I still cherish.

Much as is the case with our reading habits, we authors have our favorite genres and sub-genres when it comes to our writing. My first reading love has always been historical romance. From the sweetest to the tamest tales of days gone by, I delight in those moments of fantasy reading escape. And although I’ve enjoyed writing in more than one sub-genre, recently I stepped outside the proverbial writing box and plotted a new erotica romance that marries the medical with the paranormal. Talk about an exhilarating time. While working on something totally unrelated to writing, an idea sparked inside my skull and that notion soon became a bonfire of an inciting incident, turning points, sexual tension, playful moments, the black moment and even some brief character sketches. Those fantastic visions were streaming past, and I didn't want to miss an opportunity of catching every single one of them. In less than an hour I’d accomplished something comparable to the wedding rehearsal. Once I get my heroine’s and hero’s romance onto the computer screen, the medical-paranormal ceremony will unfold. As it unfolds so will the panels of the writing box. Barriers will vanish. A wide-open creative space will be mine for exploring, more than ever before. I’ve always relished visiting new places and meeting new people. Soon my writing odyssey will begin. Like most journeys, there will be turbulence, rough seas and potholes, but I won’t let those creativity busters get in the way of a romantic story I can’t wait to share with readers.

Wishing you all many happy reading moments,

Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
HELLE IN HEELS -- Ellora's Cave Exotika
TORMENTED -- Coming October 8 to Ellora's Cave
Shawna's Myspace
Helle's Myspace

Don't Cry Wolf's Cover

I'm in the middle of a hellish move, and in the midst of it received final edits for Don't Cry Wolf and finished them, but best of all, I received the cover!!

Much more colorful than Heart of the Wolf's! What do you all think? I love it!

And I received this wonderful unsolicited review while I was blogging on Between the Lines for Heart of the Wolf:

A comment regarding "Terry Spear - The Trials and Tribulations of Publication...And Those Most Devilish of Heroes—the Vampire", an entry at Between the Lines, was written at 8/22/2008 1:32:35 PM.

Author: Rosemarie Brungard

Home Page: http://romanceatheart.com/
Comment:
I stumbled on Terry's book, Heart of the Wolf recently, and enjoyed every minute of the read. I found her writing fascinating, and very much to my liking. I loved the strong characters, and the way the hero and heroine tried to protect each other. The efforts were bumbling at times, but when it came right down to it, and when the heat was on high, both Bella and Devlyn are there and ready to step up to the plate.

One can easily understand Bella's fear of Volan, and it is a shame she isn't able to trust Devlyn with her secret, but when all the facts are out, the reader truly understands the difficulties Bella would have encountered, and the tremendous danger both she and Devlyn were surrounded by in that time. As young and not yet mature, their strength and cunning could never have been a match for Volan, but at least as adults, and with Devlyn in his full power, they finally have a chance to succeed.

As time goes on, I hope to be able to get more of Terry's great books. If the rest are as good as Heart of the Wolf, they will be on my keeper shelf for a long time!!!~Rose!~

Thanks so much to Rose, and others like her who make me want to write forever!

Also, I received the new cover for Winning the Highlander's Heart and absolutely love it! What do you think?

Back to moving and working on Allure of the Wolf! Hope everyone's having a great Saturday! :)

Terry Spear

Heart of the Wolf, Don't Cry Wolf (Spr '09)

http://www.terryspear.com/