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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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NaNoWriMo in Writing Women’s Fiction

NaNoWriMo for women’s fiction writers seems like an oxymoron. Writing about women and their relationships requires careful, deep creativity. National Novel Writing Month urges speed and volume of words. As a writer of upmarket, magical realism fiction, I’ve nevertheless found NaNoWriMo invvaluable. It’s helped me build my craft and my writing life in several ways. I’ve done NaNoWriMo in writing women’s fiction three times now. It has helped me build skills of endurance and belief…

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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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3 Reasons We Adore Love Stories

Love stories — why do we adore them? Three reasons: 1) love is essential to every life — love of someone or something 2) stories of love help us understand our relationships 3) every love is unique. Story Genius author and master storytelling coach Lisa Cron thinks humans evolved by learning problem-solving by hearing stories. And if there’s one big problem in your life, it probably has something to do with  “LOVE” — or lack…

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The Story with Sisters

Sibling relationships and specifically sisters is what I’m thinking about. I’m finishing a new novel. It’s about two half-sisters who feud about an inherited cottage in Italy with its resident ghost of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Sisters — we love to explore these complicated lifetime pairings. In real life and literature, sisters stand out. From Jane Austen with her siblings, to Emily Dickinson and hers, to those fabulous Brontes, the stories of siblings have…

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50,000 Words in 30 Days — Surviving the NaNoWriMo Marathon

It was quite a thing, writing 50,000 words in 30 days. I signed up telling all my colleagues I wouldn’t cross the finish line, that I had no intention of it. I wanted to write good words, not fast and plenty words. But guess what? I have a giant competitive streak in my nature. Every day when I checked my writing buddies’ progress, a few pulled ahead, of me. It got under my skin. I…

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