Rachel Dacus's Blog, page 4

Thankfulness and Holidays

Things I’m thankful for have to do with love and the life it has led me to. Love has many forms and moments, and prose isn’t well suited to them. Photos and paintings can be. Music and poetry are especially good at embodying the ineffable experience at the core of what I cherish. It isn’t always about a person, a dog, or God. It’s sometimes a tiny dandelion struggling through hard-packed dirt, a rush of…

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Only You Can Tell Your Stories — Writing from Your Experiences

I was recently asked — what do you bring to your story that no one else can? It got me thinking. Where do my ideas for characters come from? They come from my experiences. One new character in this sequel to The Invisibles is based on my unusual family of origin. When we were in our teens, my brother and I were joined in our family home by two troubled teenagers. They were high school…

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Trick-or-Treat! A Book Discount in Your Bag

I believe in having a happy, not a spooky Halloween.It was one of my favorite holidays as a child, because what’s not to like about candy, dressing up, and partying with your friends on a moonlit evening? Halloween’s named for spirits — All Hallows Eve, a time for remembering those departed from us. I was thinking about my late brother when I began a novel featuring a guardian spirit, two sisters, and a gently haunted…

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A Word About Billionaire (and Other Scummy) Romance Tropes

Warning — this is a rant about romance tropes that get under my skin and not in a good way. Plus recommendations for good romance reading. Did I get your attention when I mentioned billionaire? That category of fiction that’s blowing through old sales records, reinventing the romance genre, and — in my opinion — leading young readers astray. Because it’s the Cinderella formula that we all need to grow out of. We’re adult women…

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4 Kinds of Great First Lines – Novels

I’ve been looking at lists of great first lines — in novels, poems, plays, essays. Most lists online include classics. I like the lists that have a qualifier, such as Funniest First Lines. When I’m browsing a bookstore and looking inside a book, the first thing I notice is whether itr has a hook or teaser first line. Hooks are the catchiest way to start but sliding into the scene with in-the-moment detail is also…

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When Everything Hurts, Poetry Heals

I came across a poem today that speaks with the voice of my aching heart. I was delighted to find the author is Amanda Gorman, whose poetic voice often resonates with me. She’s a poet for this moment on earth. Young, truthful, gifted, she speaks plainly with vibrant images, simply but with rhythm, alliteration, and assonance. Amanda Gorman is the author of The Hill We Climb and Other Poems. She was the youngest inaugural poet…

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“Well, That Was Fun!” – Book Review Makes My Day

“WELL, THAT WAS FUN!” – Editorial review from Readers’ Favorite. I can’t image a better book review than the one below. Reviews like this are what makes a writer keep on writing books. Reading the kind of pleasure someone had in my novel is my kind of fun! Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers’ Favorite. Here’s the whole book review: “In the novel Jane Austen, Time Traveler by Rachel Dacus, time traveler George St. James…

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The Benefits of a Writing with a Knee Injury

I exercised my way into a knee injury, and turned my writing life upside-down. That’s because I do a lot of dictating into my phone while walking. And now I’m not walking much. I also use stair-climbing as part of my thinking process. Doing chores in our house means stairs, and that’s some of my best thinking time. Though now I have more stair-thinking time, as I take it one step — good foot, bad…

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My Audacious Time Traveling heroine Is Recognized!

Thrilled and delighted that my book JANE AUSTEN, TIME TRAVELER has placed as a Finalist in the 17th Annual National Indie Book Awards, in the women’s fiction category! My audacious time-traveling heroine Jane Austen is recognized. Take a bow, girl! The National Indie Excellence Awards These awards honor “self and independent publishing excellence. They give awards to books published by mid-size independent presses, university presses, and self-publishing authors. My book was honored in the Women’s…

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Return to Lerici – Sequel to The Invisibles

I’m about a quarter of the way through drafting my next women’s fiction novel, RETURN TO LERICI. It’s a sequel to THE INVISIBLES, which is the story of a fractured sisterhood, a family guardian spirit, and the path to redemption. This new story involves the same characters, plus a lost family member who’s determined to be found, though not everyone wants to bring him in. My current writing process is messy and unruly. I’m outlining,…

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