Raine Balkera - Romance Author

THE WEATHER It's raining here in SE Michigan, and after a severe drought that began in late May and lasted until late August, RAIN is a welcome weather occurrence. Except when it lasts for days (like it has) and causes flooding (which it is). please ignore the word EPIC The clouds are rolling in not from the West but the East to bring Atlantic moisture, which means heavy downpours (since Wednesday). It also means clean, fresh air that smells semi-tropical, and I love that. Of course, this puts a "damper" on my nightly sky viewing pleasure, and it's also being reported that the Northern Lights (aurora) may be visible as far south as here for the next few nights. In other words, once this Low moves off to the east in a few days, the sky will clear and the Aurora sightings will have passed. It's a bucket list item, and one of these days I'm going to head WAY up north with camera in tow, hopeful about catching a glimpse of ...

I stumbled across this Challenge today and thought it might be fun to participate. As most challenges (and I) go, sticking it out to the very end (after coming in part-way) will prove to be  . . . a challenge. I'll try to do this every week. Today, and every Friday through December, I'm expected to blog about the topic assigned (which you are welcome to do, too, and each is explained in the image posted below). Your only obligation is to use the hashtag #LifeBooksWriting and remember to include the below-mentioned image with each post. My Recent Book The last publication for me was Love Over Time , which is currently in 2nd Edition stage, but for today's post I'll discuss the book and include an excerpt I hope you will enjoy. This is a Contemporary Romance with a Fantasy element that includes the ability for one of the two leads to see the past transgressions of her ancestors. Characters Kaisa Dalen is a freelance photographer on assignment in ...

It's the first weekend in August, 2016, and even though it is still hot, muggy, and drought-inducing dry here, this particular weekend always triggers a whats-to-come feeling in me. I anticipate ominous weather reports about a Canadian Cold Front sweeping down across our state to switch seasonal gears and make all the hotness go away . . . for good. But according to our weatherman, it isn't the case this time around. It'll continue to be hot, muggy, and DRY through next week, so maybe it will happen then, or the week after that. Still, I'm thinking about autumnal colors, parkas and jeans, and how best to decorate for Halloween this year. The stores are filled with a lot of the stuff I go nuts over, like notepads, lined paper, gel pens, markers, and neon sticky-note pads. Discounts on the overly cool hardcover lined-paper 'books' I used to buy by the half-dozen and write story after imaginative story. Using colorful gel pens, of course. I s...