I Had a Blast in Shreveport at the Nola Stars Conference! & PW's Party Time!!!

Thanks so much to Anna Kathryn for having me!

I'm really excited about my latest werewolf release, Destiny of the Wolf. It's a stand alone title, although Heart of the Wolf came out last year and made Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year. The werewolf continues in To Tempt the Wolf, which is coming out September 1, think hot sexy naked man on cold Oregon beach where heroine rescues him, but he soon shifts to rescue mode when the heroine's safety is threatened. :)

And after that, an Arctic werewolf story.

Have you ever wondered why writers write what they do?

Heart of the Wolf was written from the heart. Something totally new for me, and my wolfish characters are like real wolves when in their wolf form, but still have the human and wolf instincts, and in their human form, still have their wolf senses. With Destiny of the Wolf, I wanted to show a working werewolf pack who actually run their own town. And in To Tempt the Wolf, the heroe's troubles begin from page one and just keep escalating as he becomes entangled with a woman who's not a werewolf, but stirs his interest just like a lupus garou would. In Legend of the White Wolf, title to change, neither the hero or heroine are werewolves, so it's a whole new set of problems. And in the next two in the series, fans are clamoring for more of Carol from Destiny of the Wolf, Leidolf who is in all the stories, Jake and Tom, who are the hero's brothers in Destiny of the Wolf, and even Zooman Thompson from Heart of the Wolf, and Sam the bartender from Destiny of the Wolf. Sooo, I'm working on Carol's story and her hero. And a new heroine for the another story, and one of the secondaries in the other stories will be her hero. Zooman Thompson makes an appearance also.

And this March, my publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, is featured in Webzine Les Romantiques and they did an interview of me! :) So if you read French, have a peek at their beautiful webzine!

http://www.lesromantiques.com/Webzine/Flip/Free%20Version/Default.html

But I also wanted to mention the fun Shreveport conference where everyone is the friendliest! Lots of great food, super workshops, and a great editor and agent panel, plus tons of editor and agent pitches available.

And I had a couple of firsts there! This was the first time I was a workshop presenter and I gave the Happy Hookers workshop. I had a ball, even though the air conditioner went on the blitz, but no one left the workshop even!! Except for a couple of folks who had to leave for pitches. And they did great! Got requests!

The other first? I got to meet my editor, Deb, from Sourcebooks! I enjoyed spending some time with her, and thinking, gee, a few years back I thought just how neat it was when author friends of mine couldn't spend time with us because they were busy talking to their agents and editors. And finally, that was me! :)

So keep on persevering because it could be you too!

What was said at the conference? Agents and editors alike agreed that your story needs to be unique, finished, not a partial unless you're a multi-published big time author, and well-written, of course, with a hook. See, if you come to Happy Hookers, I can tell you how to do it!

I will be teaching at a teen writing workshop this summer, and again in Toronto! :) But if you can't travel, I teach classes every month all year long.http://www.terryspear.com/id15.html

So why a hook to pitch to the editor or agent? Because if it's an agent, they pass that hook to the editor. And if it's an editor, they use that hook to sell to their sales force. And the sales force uses that pitch to sell to the book stores. That's why a 2-3 sentence hook is so important!

I also have a couple of other releases out this month--Deidre's Secret, YA teen psychic mystery, and Deadly Liaisons, adult vampire romantic suspense, Mar 31. The Vampire...In My Dreams and Winning the Highlander's Heart are already out. :)

This just in: Darque Review of Destiny of the Wolf:

Destiny of the Wolf follows Lelandi’s search for answers in the death of her sister Larissa. With a heavy dose of suspense, Ms. Spear weaves a romantic paranormal mystery that will keep readers on their toes. While the heroine’s sister is a character that even in her absence may be someone that readers will tend to dislike, Lelandi is someone you can’t help warming up to. I’ll be looking forward to this author’s next werewolf adventure.

Barbara Vey's invite to free books on her Publishers Weekly Anniversary Bash! http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1240041524.html

Sourcebooks authors will be providing recipes and books on Mar 14! 13 authors, 13 books!

And if you want to read about the Nerdy Side of Me, I'm at Fallen Angels Reviews today also!http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/blog/?p=242

Thanks again to Anna Kathryn for having me! And thanks for the Nola Stars coordinators of the conference who truly are stars!

Terry Spear

http://www.terryspear.com/