Goodbye to 2025
I’m far too early, and there are always last minute surprises in any year, but I can’t wait until 31 December to write my final blog of the year. I’m sure I have a date that night. I want this blog to concentrate on the positives from the year. On so many levels, political and social, it’s been a crap year. Some days the forces of evil seem to have the upper hand, and having studied a bit of history, I wonder what the citizens of murderous regimes in the past knew in advance about what their leaders were doing…
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Remembrance
November is for remembering. Australia, along with countries of the former British Empire and Commonwealth member states celebrates Remembrance Day on 11 November each year. The day acknowledges those who suffered or died while serving in wars, conflicts or peace operations. The date chosen is the anniversary of the Armistice of 1918 that ended fighting in World War 1. Since World War 1, the common poppy, Papaver rhoeas, has been used in the Commonwealth as a symbol of remembrance. The flower has other names, including Flanders poppy, but I prefer the French word coquelicot (see image on website). If you’ve ever encountered the 1969…
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The Power of Words
Lots of people have lots to say about the power of words. And there are words everywhere—in our message groups, on our social media feeds and on our screens. That’s before you add books, journals, magazines and the steady stream of printed words we encounter wherever we turn. I’m also thinking of romance because that’s my jam. In romance, words are often accompanied by music. The noun serenade can be traced to the first half of the 17th century. A serenade was a vocal performance by a lover to their loved one, usually at night, often below a window or balcony.…
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The Editing Cave
Last month I was admiring my award ribbons and reflecting on my success at the Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ) 2025 Conference where Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 did very well against internationally successful authors, including multi-published Harlequin Mills & Boon authors placing second in long romance and third in overall book of the year (e-book available from all major booksellers, while a paperback version can be bought through Amazon or Barnes & Noble). This month, I’m late with my newsletter because I’ve been buried in edits. I tend to become very focused when I receive my edits for a book. I…
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Heart of a Story
This last weekend 15-17 August 2025 was the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference held in Auckland NZ this year, and entitled Heart of a Story. I’d forgotten how much I love RWNZ’s conferences. I haven’t been there since before Covid, but this year I decided to attend. Okay, I confess, I was nominated in the 2025 RWNZ Koru Awards in the Best Long Romance section for Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1. The categories are long romance, short romance, novella, best new book, with marks also used to choose the finalists in the Overall Book of the Year Award. In case you’re…
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Getting Published in Romance
I recently participated in a podcast where I was asked a number of questions by an indie romance author. The discussions in her podcasts are guided by questions she has about the industry, and which she hopes will resonate with other writers just starting out. She’s preparing a few podcasts before she goes live, but she was particularly interested when I mentioned associations. That got me thinking. I joined Romance Writers of Australia (RWAus) very early in my writing career. A family member spotted an ad for a conference and suggested I attend. I felt very alone in the crowd, but I…
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Accidents do happen!
Once upon a time, a friend told me that readers like series. I’d always written standalones. “Readers enjoy dipping in and out of the lives of characters they’ve already met”, they said. So I girded my loins and decided to tackle a series. The Anderson Sisters. Two books. I’m not sure that actually counts as a series. The titles are Taylor’s Law and Grace Under Fire, but because I don’t want readers to feel they’ve been left hanging by a thread or one step from the edge of a cliff, they can each be read as standalones. Have I said, I like standalones? I…
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Hero or heroine—same, same but different?
I found myself going down this rabbit hole after reading a recent article by Anastasia Safioleas on ABC online— Romantasy isn’t just hot, it’s shaping modern day fairy tales. The article interviews Australian romance author and academic Dr. Jodi McAlister and some devotees/Tiktok influencers about their passion for the genre. As Dr. McAlister reminded us romance only has two rules, a central love plot and a happily-ever-after. Fantasy is about imagining impossible or improbable things. Romantasy roughly translates as romance plus fantasy, and while the genre isn’t new, the term is. Current romantasy probably steps up the “steamy, graphic” sex compared to earlier stories, but world building is…
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Spice and all things nice …
Romance Writers of America provides a simple definition of a romance. Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Okay, I’ve got that clear. I write romance. Another critical element of a romance is its heat level. I was listening to a romance writers’ panel recently and a question was asked about the level of spice in a book. There was a bit of chit chat, but what struck me was that some people have a desire for high levels of spice/steam/explicit sex in romance novels, without any reference to the specific…
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Fraction too much Friction
Website photo: from Gondola lookout Christchurch NZ The title of the old Tim Finn song has been on repeat in my head lately. Hard to realise it was released in 1983—that’s more than 40 years ago. I was a babe in arms, and my mother sang it as a lullaby. Not really, but … the line popped into my head because of the way the world is currently. We don’t have a fraction too much friction—we have a tsunami of friction. Creating constant disagreement and alarm is a weapon used to make us feel helpless. I, for one, sometimes feel…
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Jennifer Raines 