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Being a NaNoWriMo Rebel

I’m a born rebel, so when I set goals as a NaNoWriMo rebel, I pick the ones that fit with my writing habits. These are habits born of observing my best writing periods and replicating what worked, forgetting what didn’t. For me, as a National Novel Writing Month fan, word counts don’t work. For me, daily writing works. But you may be a different kind of writer. How can you use NaNo to your advantage?…

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Bookish Mystery and Ghost Story — new review!

I love this short review of my new novel about sisters, with a ghost story! Just in time for the season of mystery, ghosts, and the afterlife. “THE INVISIBLES charms as both bookish mystery and ghost story, but it’s Dacus’s deft portrayal of the love and strain between sisters that will keep many readers on the edge of their seat.” – Willa Ramsey, Everything But The Earl You can find out about the mystery and…

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My Novel, THE INVISIBLES — Two sisters & a family ghost

THE INVISIBLES. Two sisters. One ghost. An impossible sacrifice. In this magical realism tale of two sisters and a family ghost, Elinor and Saffron inherit their father’s cottage on the Italian coast. Their longtime rivalry explodes through a struggle for control of the inheritance. As they rehab the house for sale, Italy infuses its magic into them, and harmony and love begin to soften their conflict, but a shocking night changes everything. A tale of…

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Cover Reveal – The Invisibles, A Novel

It’s a magical realism novel of estranged sisters, one ghost, and an impossible sacrifice. That’s the premise of my new book, THE INVISIBLES. And it now has a cover! I’m thrilled to share the cover design by  my amazing designer, Michelle Argyle, of Melissa Williams Design! The concept was that these estranged sisters, inheriting an Italian villa, share months and meals of debate about what to do with the place — to keep or to…

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A 30-day, Part-Time DIY Writing Retreat

I’m beginning a new DIY writing retreat! Heading down a new path of revising my draft of Novel #2 – better known as The Romantics, a story of two half-sisters and the cottage they inherit in Italy, along with its resident ghost. It was drafted last year during National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWriMo) a month-long writing marathon in which you commit to write 50,000 words of a new book. Are you jumping into this national…

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Magical Realism in Women’s Fiction

Magical realism in women’s fiction gives the reader and writer a broader canvas of possibilities. When you’re reading about women and their relationships (the broad definition of women’s fiction), elements of magic provide visual ways to describe a character’s feelings, frame internal events, and create adventures. Magical realism in women’s fiction can be small touches or big events, such as time travel. I used two magical realism elements in my novel The Renaissance Club ,…

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