Raine Balkera - Romance Author

2018, 1-16 Meteorite over SE Michigan Well, it's been an Up/Down start to my 2018, let me tell you. While I felt that 2017 was probably one of my better years, a lot of people claim otherwise. 2018, for me, is starting out on a pretty rocky road, and I'm not comfortable with it, either. For starters, my birthday falls on the 1st of January, so every year I get to celebrate the notion of getting older, which comes with its share of fear, dread, and "This can't be happening to me!" thoughts. I was alone on New Year's Eve and forgot to buy a bottle of champagne, so to have to believe that I'll be lonely and bored for the rest of the year is a bit daunting (if you or I believe in such nonsense, that is). But, then my eldest and his girlfriend announced their engagement just a week later, and it was happy time for a while. Selfishly, the joy ended when I realized it meant that when their wedding rolls around, I am going to be forced to have t...

Well, I've decided to do something silly this year as far as Reading goes. While browsing my extensive Kindle library the other night, it occurred to me that a few patterns emerged both Title and Content-wise. A running theme that caught my eye had to do with HIGHLANDERS and SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER ROMANCES. And no, I've neither read nor watched the Outlander series. That doesn't mean a few of my Highlander-themed novels won't be about time-travel, but all will be about Love and/or Romance to some extent. Because that's what I read and write about... Romance. While 2017 started out promising for me, and I had worked hard on my 3rd Romance novel (of the Contemporary variety), about a 1/4 of the way through (say around April or May) I stopped writing and starting reading in earnest. 2018 has to be different, and I want to switch that around to read this year I will WRITE far more than I read... even if I do read every night before bed. I just need to ...

Hello and welcome back for the final installment of the MFRW Author Blog's 52-Week Blog Challenge . Well, we finally made it! It is Week 52, and our final challenge is: New Year's Resolutions For the past 20 or so years, I have made it a habit NOT to form any resolutions for a New Year. As fragile as my spirit has been, it serves me well to keep expectations at a bare to nil minimum, thus saving my soul from further damage and my psyche from further disillusionment. Instead, I've devised a more simple plan that involves me resolving to try harder, think clearer, and keep looking forward instead of back. When things go wrong, I've learned to let go and take a few deep breaths instead of becoming angry, sad, or in despair. I tell myself, "This is as good as it gets!" and submerge myself in all things fantasy to include binge-watching YouTube or Asian Dramas, reading my favorite novels, or just crawling back into bed until the doom/gloom feeling...