It’s a Monday!?

by Terry Spear

Okay, no, it’s Wednesday. But have you ever had one of those Mondays that last all week long?

It started when I was trying to upload a cover picture for Lady Caroline and the Egotistical Earl for a print book. Wait, back up. It started when I tried to upload the interior part of the book. First, they’re telling me I need high-speed Internet. I could have told them I needed it too! But out in the country, we’re not getting it. At least satellite is faster than dial-up!

So then I finally get it uploaded and I forgot to put my name on the copyright page! Argh! So I had to change the mss, turn it back into PDF and resubmit it. Which after several hundreds of tries and just as many taunts of: you need to have a high-speed Internet, which I totally agree with and I ain’t getting, I finally, finally get it to upload. There are two mistakes in the formatting.

You know where this is going, right? Luckily, I was able to fix one without reloading the mss. Then I check it again. “Now you have one mistake.”

I don’t normally grind my teeth, but I’m beginning to. I try to figure out why it keeps saying that I haven’t embedded my fonts. They’re embedded, all right?

I try to upload a DOC file instead, but that’s even worse as far as speed to upload than PDF and it won’t work at all.

But then I realize the place I was looking on the SAVE AS for PDF file had a different option location, and that’s where the embedded file thingy was and so I fixed it. And then, with baited breath, I tried to upload the file, KNOWING that it would tell me I should have high-speed Internet, that I totally agree with, and of course it did. Many, many times. It hangs up, tries to do it again, then hangs up permanently with this message in bright red letters as if taunting me.

And I’m really waiting, holding my breath, really, really, really, as the percentage is going up and up and up. Now, it had made it to 75% before it crashed once, and most the time never made it past 40%. So it’s to 80%, 90%, 91% and I’m thinking hold on, baby! Satellite service you can do it! You can do it! And it reaches 99% and holds… I’m still holding my breath. Oh, please, oh, please, oh, pleeeeassse upload it this time and I promise this will be the last time. As long as it all looks fine.

And it does it! Woohoo!!!

And now it’s time for the cover. The title and my name are off the grid, AND it’s low quality photo. Wait. Okay, I can see that the title and stuff doesn’t fit into the grid, but the photo quality? They are the highest I can have. Soooo, I go back in and fix the title stuff and reload.

Now, I have to say that it takes a LONG time to upload, but at least I don’t have error messages that tell me I have to have high-speed Internet. But the quality says it’s still low, need 300 dpi, which I had, so *sigh* It looks great on the big picture viewer, and it seems I had this trouble before with it saying it wouldn’t work and the cover looks super!

Which means I’ll buy a proof and see for myself.

And then it’s time to upload the newer version for Kindle and Nook and Smashwords.

So you see, I’ve been at this for two days!!! And I’m still not THERE. But that’s okay. I love trying new things, learning new things, and now I can dive into the topic of trying out a new shifter series beginning with SAVAGE HUNGER!

When my editor wanted me to write something beyond wolves, I balked. I love the wolves! They’re perfect for romance. They’re hot. Why do you think they call guys that are hot…wolves? Yep. And they are devoted to family, mate for life, protective…so, I mean, what could be better than that? Plus, I have new readership all the time.

Yes, yes, yes, my editor knows this. She still wanted me to come up with something different. Okay. Wolves in the historical past? I LOVE writing and reading historical romance.

No.

Time travel? I LOVE time travels! Combing the past and the present!

No.

I think I suggested some other ideas, but nothing was flying. Okay, what is like a wolf, but not like a wolf?

I’d always had the idea of cat and dog fights. Let me first preface to say that wolves don’t like to ever be referred to as dogs. Just saying.

But I was thinking: what about a big cat shifter? I had been fascinated when I was a kid by the story about the black panther from South America and how she loved a man, but was hunting a woman who got interested in her man. Her brother was in the zoo, or something. He was also a cat shifter. Can’t remember. One of the scenes I recall was her hunting the woman in the swimming pool. The big cats LOVE to swim. And they’re very good hunters in the water.

So I thought—how about jaguars? I wanted a cat that lived close to the States so they could visit the jungle to revisit their more primal nature. But I wanted something that was exotic too, so for now, cougars were out. Besides, you know what readers would say when I said that I had cougars in the story? Yeah, the guy is a boy toy. Not saying that’s bad, just that I wouldn’t want to alarm someone who thought they were going to be reading about some older woman who fell in love with a young hunk, and instead, they started shifting into furry mountain lions.

And that was it! Jaguars, hot and sexy, and like wolves, protective, territorial, and fun!

Thanks so much for having me here at Petit Fours and Hot Tamales! If you’re looking for some jungle loving, check out SAVAGE HUNGER, first in the jaguar shifter series!

About the Author

USA Today bestselling and an award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval romantic suspense, Terry Spear also writes true stories for adult and young adult audiences. She’s a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and has an MBA from Monmouth University. She also creates award-winning teddy bears, Wilde & Woolly Bears, that are personalized that have found homes all over the world. When she’s not writing or making bears, she’s teaching online writing courses or gardening. Her family has roots in the Highlands of Scotland where her love of all things Scottish came into being. Originally from California, she’s lived in eight states and now resides in the heart of Texas. She is the author of the Heart of the Wolf series and the Heart of the Jaguar series, plus numerous other paranormal romance and historical romance novels. For more information, please visit http://www.terryspear.com/, her BLOG or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear.

Contest

Terry has graciously offered one lucky commenter a copy of one of her books (winner’s choice), USA address only for print books. Note: Savage Hunger will not ship until October. If winner is outside USA, winner may choose one of Terry’s many Indie e-books.