The Writing Path Blog

Sample of Undoing Time, new in Timegathering Series

By Rachel Dacus | July 22, 2021March 19, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

UNDOING TIME IS OUT!The Timegathering Series #3 Read sample chapters of the newest book in the Timegathering Series below. For more on time travel, women’s fiction, and writing tips, please sign up for my newsletter. I send news about once a month — along with previews, notes on work-in-progress, plus discounts and special offers. Chapter 1. May Gold’s Phone Call May Gold stepped outside of the museum. The afternoon sunshine in Florence dazzled her, and…

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Healing My Heart at the Pace of Poetry

By Rachel Dacus | July 14, 2021July 15, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

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4th of July – Celebrating Liberty and Equality

By Rachel Dacus | July 2, 2021March 20, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

As we celebrate in the U.S. our national holiday, I’m thinking about what it is we’re celebrating. I’m especially interested in the American Revolution. It figures in my newest time travel novel (hopefully out in 2022).

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Women’s Fiction Day, 2021

By Rachel Dacus | June 8, 2021June 9, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

What is Women’s Fiction Day? It’s an annual celebration, begun by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Its purpose is to celebrate women’s fiction, which the WFWA defines as: layered stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey.

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A new heart, a new path forward

By Rachel Dacus | June 6, 2021June 9, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

Had a bit of a shock last week when I had a mild heart attack. It came from a genetic predisposition to accumulate plaque in my arteries. Two of them were 90%+ narrowed by the time I had angioplasty to implant stents to reopen the vessels. Color me mind-boggled.

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Letters to a Young Novelist

By Rachel Dacus | May 19, 2021May 23, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

Finding Your Path in Publishing The young writer of fiction today faces a very different publishing landscape than even a decade ago. You can take a far different path in publishing a novel than when I started out, decades ago. Choice! A new writer has so many more choices than existed in the past — which consisted mainly of submitting manuscripts directly to a publisher, if you had connections, or to an agent.

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Writing Tips — Writing Love and Romance

By Rachel Dacus | April 22, 2021March 19, 2022 by Rachel Dacus

I’m in the mood for writing love and romance. It’s springtime here in Northern California, with roses, lilacs, and poppies bursting out. I wanted to celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary by visiting our local rose garden, and it was a truly gorgeous display! We congratulated ourselves on choosing a springtime wedding date. With love in the air, I resumed work on the romance sub-plot in my new time travel novel, Undoing Time. It’s a difficult…

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My New Time Travel Novel – Set in Revolutionary War America

By Rachel Dacus | April 6, 2021April 22, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

For my new time travel story, I’ve moved away from the Renaissance and Italy. My new characters land several different places in time, but most important to my new story is Colonial America and 18th century London.

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Why All My Novels Are Set in Italy

By Rachel Dacus | February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

It’s hard to avoid noticing — all my novels are set in Italy. All or part of all three of my stories take place in that magic land, Italy. It began as an homage to the most fabulous traveling of my life, an art history tour of Rome, Assisi, Florence, Portofino, and Venice. Even just one of those places makes you want to fall in love — if with nothing more than this beautiful place.

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Valentine’s Day & My Favorite Love Stories

By Rachel Dacus | February 6, 2021February 6, 2021 by Rachel Dacus

LOVE STORIES! My favorite love stories in fiction span a variety of genres and authors. But there are some common threads. I like love stories that feature a heroine who has to shed her illusions to find love. Most of my favorites aren’t what we’d technically classify as romance novels. The stories are often broader.