Raine Balkera - Romance Author

AUTHOR BLOG CHALLENGE To be honest, some of the Post Topics for this challenge do not apply or interest me (right now) so I'm skipping around with this one. Character Inspiration A lot of different factors go into the creation of any, one character in any of my novels. Most often, however, they are based in-part on someone I actually know who went through some type of adventure-mishap-calamity that intrigued me to the point of devising an entire novel derived from said instance. For example, in Sing to Me , Liv is loosely based on a girl from my high school years who was attacked for being 'too pretty' as the truth became known. She was transferred to Franklin after the insane kidnap and hours of mindless torture the girl suffered at the hands of an immature girl who couldn't quite deal with her own insecurities. Liv's circumstances in my novel are not dramatized but my own idea of something similar in order to avoid a lawsuit. Neal, th...

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 ...

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...

I pronounce it with the L, but whatever A woman is at the club with some friends when she notices a guy staring at her, and he smiles. Minutes later, the guy approaches the woman and asks if she'd like to dance. The woman politely declines and the guy walks away. Stalker stalking? No. A woman is at the gym and a guy in another section notices her, makes eye contact, smiles, walks up to her and asks how she's doing, is she single, and would she like to go out sometime. The woman smiles to be polite, says she's seeing someone right now, but thanks for the compliment. The guy says No problem, he's getting together with some friends later on, and if she's interested, here's where the party is at. He then leaves. Stalker stalking? No. A man on a bus/subway train/plane notices a woman seated nearby and is instantly attracted. After summoning up his courage, he approaches the woman, asks her if she'd mind if he sits beside her -- or he a...