Author: Rachel

Welcome to the web home of Rachel Heston Davis--young adult lit writer, newspaper stringer, and associate editor at Written World Communications. Please, make yourself at home. :) You can find loads of information here. For a peek into the secret life of an obsessive writer, read my blog. To see those writing projects on which I'm obsessing, visit the Writing page. If you're a fellow storyteller or story reader, I recommend Resources and Links to point you in the right direction. And as always, check my news feed for updates on projects and publishing!

Domain name!

ByRachel July 9, 2009 0 Comments

It's important for modern authors to market themselves online via web sites, and to that end I purchased rachelhestondavis.com tonight. I'm so excited! I have an excellent web designer friend all lined up to work with me, so hopefully within a short amount of time I will announce the release of my site upon the world. Mwuh-ha-ha! In other news, you can now subscribe to this blog via email! Just...

What's so Creative About Creative Writing?

ByRachel July 8, 2009 7 Comments

What makes a piece of writing creative? Why do certain genres--novels, short stories, poetry, journalism, even copywriting--get the additional word "creative" attached to them? Is it because they require the execution of certain forms? Perhaps the manipulation of form, such as the rising and falling action of a story or the line pattern of poems, and a careful choice of words...

Old School Writing Style

ByRachel July 7, 2009 4 Comments

J. R. R. Tolkien had an old-school writing style. He studied mythology and Old English extensively, and his prose in Lord of the Rings reflects a high, mythic sound reminiscent of older books and stories. A sound I don't run into anymore in the world of literature. That is, until now. Imagine my surprise when I ran across a modern book (copywright 2002) with a high wordy sound like Tolkien, and...

Online Networking and To-Do Lists

ByRachel July 6, 2009 0 Comments

Here are the quick and easy online networking tips I used today: 1. Subscribed to a blog concerned with my writing genre 2. E-mailed the creators of another relevant blog and commented on their site 3. Follow-up correspondence about guest writing on other sites I also wrote up an official To-Do list and made it less daunting using a tried-and-true trick. Many of my overall tasks (example, Get...

Under the Avalanche of Publishing Research

ByRachel July 5, 2009 1 Comment

I've been skipping around blogs and web sites which talk about querying, publishing, agents, author platforms, and other subjects relevant to a hopeful writer. After about a week of this, I feel that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg. I also feel more than a little overwhelmed. The sheer number of said blogs and websites contributes mightily to the problem. One site can have five links that I...