Rachel Dacus's Blog, page 2

Happy Valentine’s Day – My Romance Novel is Out!

HEART STRUNG is out today!! Despite last year’s intensity, I wrote a novel — my 7th. I wrote this story of love, music, and enlightenment, following a young couple on their trip to India, using memories of my journeys in that wondrous land. EBOOK NOW $1.99 — THROUGH 2/18/25. Get your copy on Amazon. This one feels very special, a story of love and enlightenment, and how the two are connected. Following my characters along…

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Cover reveal + Pre-order Heart Strung

THE COVER TO MY NEW BOOK IS HERE! I was lucky to get great feedback on mockups when I was playing around with concepts and images. This couple is the best one for my story of Lara, the young spiritual seeker and her boyfriend Daniel, musician and Lara’s protector as they tour India following Lara’s Map to Enlightenment. In this road trip romance, they’re both trying to figure out their goals in life and how…

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Interview with Rachel Dacus

I was delighted to be asked to participate in author Deonna Kay’s interview series, Authors Helping Authors. As writers, we’re always fascinated by how other writers do our thing, aren’t we? I can’t get enough of hearing about the myriad ways authors create their stories and poetry. I often glean writerly tips from authors who write very different genres than mine, but whose process somehow speaks to me. Deonna asked interesting questions, which made me…

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A New Anthology of Ghazals in English

Nur Melange: a Ghazal Anthology is a joint project of South Asia Institute and Glass Lyre Press. The collection was edited by Glass Lyre’s publisher Ami Kaye. Here’s a short definition of the ghazal form. A ghazal is a poetic form that originated in Arabic and is often used to express romantic or spiritual love. To the Sufis, spiritual love can hide in the guise of a romantic utterance, but is really a love song…

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Marketing My Indie Mainstream Novel – Part 1

This is a summary of a discovery I made this month about marketing my indie mainstream novel (women’s fiction) The Invisibles. The short version: visibility is the steep hill you must climb and giveaways are everything. For the long version, read on. I recently waatched a video of Tim Grahl talking about the difficulties of book marketing. Here’s a link to the video on Youtube. Short version: the #1 best strategy to get visibility for…

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Finishing the Manuscript

HEARTSTRUNG Book 3 of the Invisibles Series My new book is a sequel to Return to Lerici, Book 3 of The Invisibles series. I’m now in the process of finishing the manuscript. The story follows Daniel, a young man who was sort of adopted into the Greene family of The Invisibles and Return to Lerici. Daniel is n love, and he travels with his girlfriend Lara on an adventure to India, following what Lara calls her…

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Novel set in Italy’s holiday season

Are we all in the autumn spirit yet? Would you enjoy a novel set in Italy’s holiday season? How about some romance, family, and mystery in a story set on the Italian coast, when sisters inherit a dead poet’s cottage. Only the poet isn’t entirely gone. THE INVISIBLES – ON AMAZON It was a lot of fun writing this book during the season of holidays — Halloween, All Saints Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I put…

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Write A Story’s Key Scenes First

When I start writing a new novel, I experiment with how to begin, and this year I tried writing my story’s key scenes first, right after I wrote to discover the characters. I wrote to hear their voices, frame their backgrounds and culture, shape their appearances, and decide what kind of relationship they will explore. Is it an adventure, a romance, a family drama, or a woman’s journey of self-discovery? In the case of my…

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Dream of Becoming a Writer

Story of a Young Writer Dreams of becoming a writer are almost part of the human condition. We all feel a need to document the lives we’re living, especially as we get older. But some of us had that urge from the beginning. I sure did, starting about age ten. And I sometimes hear from others who began young to dream of becoming a writer. Recently I received an email from a librarian and teacher…

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Ode to My Purse – A Video Poem

Ode to My Purse The three French handbags came with lifetime warranties. Clasping heavy straps, I cinch them saddle-tight against the grasping world. Dark wells, they incubate details, stash my days in hidden rooms. My black postman’s case clacks clock-neat on thigh, ticking tasks. Weekends I sling a red pouch that eats torn tickets and topless lipsticks. Keys to many locks eel through my caramel creel. Open Purse, I say: swallow phone, glasses, cash. Bring…

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