The Writing Path Blog

Time-Travel Novels — Who Hasn’t Rocketed Back?

By Rachel Dacus | May 18, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

Because I’ve written a mainstream (not fantasy) novel involving time travel, I’m reading as many of them as I can find. Lo and behold, besides the obvious science fiction writers, it turns out that many literary and mainstream authors also have used the device of traveling through time, including: Marge Piercy, Stephen King, Erica Jong, Michael Crichton, Kurt Vonnegut, Anya Seton, Alan Lightman, and Chuck Palahniuk. Time travel stories come in all shapes and sizes,…

art history Bernini Italy novel romance time travel

Time-traveling in Italy

By Rachel Dacus | May 6, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

While researching time-travel novels as I work on my novel, The Renaissance Club, I saw that Google can grab plenty of articles that answer the question, “When is the best time to travel to Italy?” But none answered, “The Seventeenth Century.” It seems Rick Steeves and Frommer’s can’t propel me back in time to the Renaissance and Baroque to watch splendors of art and architecture arise from the workshops of Gianlorenzo Bernini and his competitors.…

Video poem

Multimedia poem – “Chopin Reigns”

By Rachel Dacus | May 2, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

In my nostalgia for the rain that has forsaken California this year, I went back to a marvelous multimedia remix by the inventive poet/publisher Nic Sebastian and talented visual artist Kimm Kiriako. Here’s a video version of my poem “Chopin Reigns”, in a fruitful remix that I sincerely hope will serve as a rain dance to propitiate Indra and bring us the wet stuff soon. Video poetry is in its infancy, but what a glorious…

National Poetry Month poem Poem-A-Day poetry

On Poetry Jeans & Noticing Something Closely

By Rachel Dacus | April 24, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

Here are some fresh ideas for National Poetry Month at Tweetspeak, the Best in Poetry & Poetic things. Including photographing your poet jeans in a creative way. I think if I do that, I will have to write about it. Also from Tweetspeak, some unusual poem prompts. How has your poetry month been going? Mine is rich with poetry everywhere I turn — for reading, listening, and writing. I didn’t go for the poem-a-day exercise,…

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Reading Fiction Breeds Compassion — and I Hope Writing It Does Too

By Rachel Dacus | April 8, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

Scientific studies have confirmed what avid readers know: reading novels makes you a more warm-hearted person, more likely to understand your fellow human beings, and quicker to empathize with them. And not just ONE study, but several scientific studies, have identified activity in the brain that leads to this result. And not only fiction, but specifically literary fiction, was determined to have this salubrious effect on the human heart-mind. As a reader of novels, and…

discount Gods of Water and Air National Poetry Month poetry

Celebrating Poetry Month – You can get my book at a discount

By Rachel Dacus | April 5, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

I’m celebrating the month in yet another way — giving a hefty discount on my recent book, Gods of Water and Air. From now through April 30, you can get a copy directly from me for only $11, including shipping. Email me if you’d like one: rachel@dacushome.com Poet and essayist Molly Fisk said : “In Gods of Water and Air, Rachel Dacus turns a painterly eye onto both the nooks and crannies of our world…

apple pie Easter National Poetry Month prayer

By Rachel Dacus | April 5, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

Thanks to editor Angelique Jamail, my poem “Prayers for Everywhere” appears on her site Sappho’s Torque today. I’m delighted that it appears on the weekend of Passover and Easter, as I think prayers should be borderless and expansive, helpful to all, everywhere. Which is where the poem started, actually. The poem is from my book Gods of Water and Air (reviewed on The Pedestal). Happy Easter, happy April, and have a poetic day! Buy or…

National Poetry Month Poem-A-Day poetry

Hello National Poetry Month! (April fool!!) (No, not April fool)

By Rachel Dacus | March 31, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

April, the month of showers, taxes, fools, and poetry, is upon us. Why does that combination seem just right? Fools and poetry, at least. In the Sufi tradition, a wise fool is a disguise for a Sufi holy man who might get his head separated from his shoulders if he were overtly who he is, so he plays the fool with poetry and jests that are really something deeper. Fun fact of April 1: Did…

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April — a Poetry Month discount on my book

By Rachel Dacus | March 29, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

I plan to honor poetry every day by reading it every day. Especially poets new to me. I bought two new books by poets friends recommended: Edgar Bowers and Henry Rago. Both write in ways that move me and illuminate the way poetry lives around and through us, whenever we have eyes to see. Here’s my reading of “Flight,” the first poem in my book Gods of Water and Air. Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information…

National Poetry Month poetry

Ready for National Poetry Month? No, Me Either

By Rachel Dacus | March 14, 2015 by Rachel Dacus

Here’s the list of things I’d like to do for Poetry Month, but probably won’t, because — hello! — it’s also Tax Month and I’m writing a novel. But you never know…. 1. Join a Poem-A-Day group and write a poem every day in April. NaPoWriMo has a great portal to a number of prompts and sites with groups doing the challenge). I did this several years running in a small group on The Alsop…