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Ideas for Your Global Pandemic Self Isolation Reading List

By Rachel Dacus | March 15, 2020March 15, 2020 by Rachel Dacus

As a public service, here’s a list of books for your global pandemic, self isolation reading — you are reading more now, aren’t you? They’re books I’ve enjoyed recently (though I wasn’t yet in self isolation). Time traveling, sister stories, romance, and mystery When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal — 5 stars.A poignant story of sisterhood and reunion, this well-told story of separated sisters moved back and forth between the present and the…

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Going Indie As an Author

By Rachel Dacus | February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 by Rachel Dacus

About a year ago, I made a momentous decision. I decided on going indie as an author of women’s fiction. It was a choice born of necessity, but it grew to be a good thing for me. I didn’t intend to do it, but I haven’t regretted it, as I’ll explain. My first self-published book, The Renaissance Club, came out in late 2018. It’s done so well under my imprint, Time Fold Books, that a…

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Need Inspiration? Motivation Haikus for Writers

By Rachel Dacus | February 8, 2020February 8, 2020 by Rachel Dacus

If you’re having trouble getting started with your writing today — these haikus might help motivate your creativity. Poise and take a few deep breaths. Read a haiku. Free write and know you can do this! O snail Climb Mount Fuji But slowly, slowly! — Kobayashi Issa Translation for writers: Don’t count the steps or the words, just keep writing. Forward progress wins in the end and finishes books. Finishing books empower you as a…

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Is Self-Publishing a Novel for You?

By Rachel Dacus | December 23, 2019December 23, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

The Invisibles on Amazon “A timeless and poignant story of sisterhood, with all its joys and challenges, and also a reminder that we can dearly love and care for those who are not exactly like us.” — A reader. Several writers’ groups and blogs I follow are hosting big discussions about publishing and changes in the industry. Is it a good time to self-publish a novel? Everyone agrees that it’s harder to get an agent…

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Being a NaNoWriMo Rebel

By Rachel Dacus | November 11, 2019November 19, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

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

By Rachel Dacus | November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

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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Why Women’s Fiction and Magical Realism Pair So Well

By Rachel Dacus | November 1, 2019November 1, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

I’m celebrating today, RELEASE DAY for my new women’s fiction and magical realism novel, The Invisibles. To celebrate, I’ve published an article in the online magazine Women Writers, Women’s Books. It’s about the naturalness of supernatural elements in women’s fiction. Magical realism is one form, and my favorite, for its blending of the mundane with the marvelous. My new novel does that through the introduction of invisible people in The Room Over There into the…

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Bookish Mystery and Ghost Story — new review!

By Rachel Dacus | October 28, 2019October 28, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

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

By Rachel Dacus | October 23, 2019November 8, 2019 by Rachel Dacus

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

By Rachel Dacus | October 17, 2019March 17, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

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…