Raine Balkera - Romance Author

When life feels more like a sport in which you suck at, everything tends to get skewed (make biased or distorted in a way that is regarded as inaccurate, unfair, or misleading), as I'm sure most are already aware. As Moses once said, "I am but a voice crying out in the wilderness." For me, that wilderness is Social Media . Being my own worst enemy, there always comes a time in my writing endeavors when I stop typing, pull back from my efforts, and start to see things in that skewed vision. I feel like Moses in the desert. For several years now, I've made countless attempts at reaching out to people, making friends, and learning how best to 'market' myself in order to attract people to me and my novels. With zero in the way of progress. Facebook seems like a bowling alley now... abandoned, hollow, and aged. Tumblr fell in on itself once the SJW crowd took over and left zero in the way of space for any other type of 'socializing' or...

In my never-ending effort to figure out this Show v Tell conundrum I've been forced to have to wallow in and wade through since the beginning of the year (practically) there is one thing I know for sure: WAS is a bad word. And, I'm super upset about this tiny bit of info (with its major impact). Had ANYONE said this is the answer MONTHS ago, I wouldn't still be sitting here trying to figure out where it is I'm going wrong, why it is everyone sees it but me, and how it is all of the supposed expert advice purported to be offered online failed to reach me until now. The last place I'd think to go to 'learn' anything online is Youtube, and yet there I was today, watching a few silly videos that said the same thing yet still managed to teach me the difference between Tell and Show in writing. WAS  (erm) was the key word. So, I opened AutoCrit, plunked down the first 1,000 words of my latest WIP, and went for the count on WAS . Turns out...

My Inigo Before I begin this update on my latest #WIP (novel #3), I'd like to take a moment to tell everyone how much fun I had today. On Facebook, of all places! Today is a writer friend of mine's birthday, and to celebrate, she hosted an Author Party on Facebook and invited a host of great author friends to help her share in the fun. Every half hour, from 2p until 8p, we met someone new and interesting, learned all about them and their published works, and played some fun games with them. In the past, I've attended these kinds of parties and had as much fun or not as much fun, but it's good to know someone is thinking about me to invite me, so I try attending them all. I''ve also read a few blog posts and even an online magazine article that question the validity or worth of such events, and I have to say they are crazy to think it isn't a good idea. Well, let me be more precise and say that they aren't quite crazy if the people who of...

So, today is #WIPWednesday, and even though I've not been all that attentive to my writing of late, I still thought it would be a nice idea to update here with my turtle-paced progress. Where Things Stand Inigo and Linley have met, clashed a few times, and then separated on a bad note. She flees her up-north retreat and returns to her downtown apartment in Detroit a twice-bitten woman, again reminding herself about men in general and that it is best to stick with what she knows -- what she's best at -- and not to tempt fate anymore. Upon her return, she learns via a phone message that her stepsister has been arrested on drug trafficking charges and is currently in the Wayne County Jail with bond set high enough that only someone of Linley's means would be capable of handling -- which is what the phone call is about -- her estranged stepmother asking for that cash. Issues In the rough draft, I didn't go into any flash-back details about her awful childho...

Really should be writing right now. I will, I tell myself . . . for the past few hours now. So, when all else fails, I blog. Let's start with today's People Magazine award, shall we? People Magazine selects  David Beckham  as Sexiest Man Alive for 2015. It bugs me more to keep thinking that this dude already won the award, like, ten years ago or more, only to do an online search that comes up with zilch in the fact-checking category of needless things. My vote? Ross Poldark's  Aidan Turner If I knew how to make the Eartha Kitt purr, I would. Up next, a post that includes excerpts from a list of the 2015 Nominees for Worst Sex Scenes in Fiction. And, this isn't even Romantic Fiction! It's just sex scenes inside a fictional novel, which is funny enough as is. What they've chosen as nominee material, however, is a lot more funny and even more unbelievable. A lot of 'what the hell were they thinking?'  as I read each excerpt. ...