Rachel E. Tell (is querying)

a man with a bald head is laughing with his eyes closed and his mouth open . Alt: Vizzini from the Princess Bride with a bald head is laughing with his eyes closed and his mouth open, then suddenly falls over dead.

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Never spend an hour researching an agency when every agent is closed to queries!

#selfown #amquerying #querytrenches

Queried one of my top choice agents, eek!

I'm just excited to be in the pile honestly. Knowing she'll read my ideas is neat even if chances are low regardless. Plus I keep refining (ha, title pun) my query materials as I go.

#YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky

A dark academia-themed promo slide for The Refinement: Mercury by Rachel E. Tell. The left side features a mock book cover with a soft-focus photo of a girl's face surrounded by flowers and golden sparkles, framed in shadow. Above her, the title reads "The Refinement: Mercury." Below is the tagline: Till the well runs dry. The background is black with honey-gold accents. On the right, handwritten white text lists: “90k word upper YA dark fantasy cult horror” “neurodivergent rep” “stands alone, trilogy-ready” “slow burn grumpy mentor/student to friends to lovers” “an egregious amount of Jungian theory.” At the top, a label reads: Status: Querying.

A glitchy, surreal horror-themed slide for Distortions by Rachel E. Tell. The book cover features a warped double image of a woman's face in neon green, blue, and purple, with data-like distortion effects. The bold title "DISTORTIONS" appears at the bottom in all-caps with a cyan and magenta 3D effect. Background is dark maroon with smoke textures. On the right, white handwritten text lists: “YA paranormal psychological horror” “stand-alone novel” “multiple POV” “‘stranger comes to town’ trope” “inspired by Silent Hill and The Haunting of Hill House.” At the top, a label reads: Status: Drafting.

A romantasy-themed slide for The Ariad by Rachel E. Tell. The mock book cover shows a silhouetted figure in front of desert rock formations under a star-filled purple sky, framed by ornate white scrollwork. The title reads “The Ariad” in white fantasy font. The background of the slide is muted pink with a galaxy motif. On the right, handwritten white text lists: “new adult post-apocalyptic romantasy” “stand-alone novel” “blacksmith fmc / fish out of water” “ragtag band of heroes” “mmc gets stabbed for fun, might not be human at all.” At the top, a label reads: Status: Drafting.

A gritty, thriller-style slide for Broken Link by Rachel E. Tell. The book cover is black with three torn-paper photo fragments showing intense eyes against a broken mirror backdrop. A white illustration of a broken chain winds diagonally across the center. The title “Broken Link” is in bold red font. The background resembles dark riveted metal. On the right, handwritten white text lists: “YA genre-bendy superhero thriller” “mind-linked dual POV romance” “teen agents solving a cold case murder” “physically strong fmc who knows if you’re lying” “kidnapper/murderer getting brought to justice.” At the top, a label reads: Status: Full Re-write.

Spent way too much time in Canva last night, but it was a good distraction from the query trenches. New cover art for The Refinement: Mercury, plus mock-ups and trope notes for my other 3 WIPs.

Which one's your favorite?
Which WIP should I focus on first?

#YABooks #amquerying

A FAKE reCAPTCHA with the header "Complete these Verification Steps". DO NOT follow the website's steps. They are listed as "To better prove you are not a robot, please: 1. Press & hold the Windows Key + R, 2. In the verification window, press Ctrl+V, 3. Press Enter on your keyboard to finish. You will observe and agree: I am not a robot - reCAPTCHA Verification ID" And a Verify button. Do not actually perform any of those steps.

Hey friends, found out about this fake Captcha recently. If you happen to stumble on a website where you see this, do NOT follow the steps. Get out of there and run a malware scan instead.

#scamalert #fakecaptcha

Thank you for posting this, they reached out to me and I got kind of a bad vibe.

A crochet blanket with a gradient from purple to blue to green to yellow and back and a chevron bobble and gap texture.

A zoomed-in image of a shawl in a feather pattern in a gradient of colors from dark purple to red to orange.

A blanket with diamond textures that alternate between bobbles and gaps, in warm colors (burgundy, red, copper, and neutrals like taupe, mocha, beige, and cream).

A woman with short hair and glasses wearing a sweater in warm colors (burgundy, red, copper, and neutrals like taupe, mocha, beige, and cream).

By the way, I crochet sometimes. I've been doing it since I was 6 and my Grandma taught me how to chain, so I sat there and chained half a skein. Here's a dump of my favorite makes! Ones that I got decent pictures of anyway.

#crochet #CrochetAddict #CrochetCommunity #writerslife

I got my first form rejection!

I know it's taboo to respond so I won't, but I wish I could reach out to thank her. It probably sounds silly, but this is a huge milestone for me (and it means that initial wait for the first one is over).

#querytrenches #amquerying #1down99togo

And through all the problems there are these glimmers of joy because the whole thing is worthwhile as long as you love it.

#amquerying #writerslife #momlife #writingcommunity

Something just clicked. Trying to get a book published is a lot like being a parent, isn't it? You start with one problem that seems insurmountable, you get past it by just staying in the game. Your reward is getting to deal with a whole new problem that seems insurmountable! 🧵

💜 Thank you. I know it's the right call, it's just Negativity Brain's worst nightmare. Like "here are all my invisible vulnerabilities, have fun." But if someone can relate and grow along with Willa, that'll be worth it.

I poured myself into this character, and I know that I'm not a cliché. I'm not changing these traits, because they're me. Still nervous, though.

She's short (I'm short).
She experienced parent loss (my mom passed when I was 14).
She struggles with perfectionism, anxiety, low self-esteem, social misunderstandings, and people-pleasing (like me). 🧵

I keep worrying about my novel now that my first queries are out in the void. Especially that my MC will be seen as cliché or boring, because it's YA. 🧵

#AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney

Me: I'm doing so well today, I submitted more queries without even crying!

Also me: Why does my head hurt-- oh I've been clenching my jaw for over an hour again, huh?

The good news is that my husband and son are now napping on the couch and it's adorable.

#amquerying #momlife

A 2 year old rescue cat, silver with some tabby striping, looking out of a window in the sun, with a small boy's feet barely visible behind him.

A white senior cat with yellow-green eyes and some tabby markings sitting on a desk in front of a keyboard and mouse, partially blocking the computer monitor.

See if you can find my son's toes in this picture lol. Seriously, Starbuddy is such a pretty boy, I can't get over it. And Nick is helping me with QueryTracker. "Helping."

#caturday #SeniorCat #RescueCat #AdoptDontShop #CatsofBluesky

Query no. 1: Submitted. Heartrate: 122.

Being an author with anxiety is a trip, y'all. When I signed up for Publisher's Marketplace last night, THAT gave me anxiety. Like logging into the website. Literally nothing was happening.

#AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney

Today, I join the trenches.

It's been 20 years since I graduated with a cum laude fiction degree, reading and writing without querying, but now I believe in this book with my whole soul.

#YABooks #DarkAcademiaBooks #AmQuerying #WritingCommunity #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney

It's official.
I've finished the last polish on my manuscript (give or take a random "Oh I should go change--").
I've got my website, query letter, 2 versions of a synopsis.
I signed up for PM and QT and started researching agencies that rep YA Fiction or YA Fantasy.

Oh awesome! I'll definitely check those out, my husband LOVES OC ReMix!

I’ll go first: horror video game music, especially Silent Hill. Akira Yamaoka’s stuff is somehow spooky and relaxing at the same time.

Help me procrastinate my final edit by telling me what your favorite writing/editing music is.

#EditingMood #WritingFlow #WritersOfBluesky #AmEditing

I saw advice about using MS Word's Read Aloud for manuscript polish, but I didn't realize it'd be good for more than just spotting typos.

My book sounds good. Like a real book I'd enjoy reading. Low Self-Esteem Brain doesn't know how to process this.

#AmEditing #WritingTips #AuthorThoughts

I wrote a 500-word synopsis.

This is normally where I'd say, "Oh no😱!" but honestly, it helped me remember just how much I believe in this book and in Willa herself.

Once I trim another 1k words, I'll be ready for the trenches.

#amwriting #amediting #WritingCommunity #yabooks

a woman is screaming in front of a mirror while looking at her reflection . ALT: a woman is screaming in front of a mirror while looking at her reflection .

I was today years old when I found out that Substack is another social media platform.

I can't keep up, y'all, I still haven't come to grips with the fact that TikTok is NOT in fact the Army of Oz.

Right?? I found a few of those too. The funny thing is, I never say "perhaps" in real life, so why on earth would my teen narrator? 🙄

It's tough to trim down the "maybe" and "kind of" junk words when your main character is habitually uncertain about everything. 😒

#amwriting #amediting #WritingCommunity #yabooks

It's almost time for my final planned edit before I start querying: trim down the 2385 words I added when I made the OTHER edits. 😅😭
#amwriting #amediting #WritingCommunity #yabooks

Been a little quiet on here lately. I've been head down to work on All The Things™️:
🖋️ final edits
📚 wrapping up reading comp #2
🧠 query research
💕 and of course job, life, and family

If you're in deep-work season, keep going! Not that you're likely to see this if you are.😅

I've got query-writing on the brain so bad that I'm having stress dreams about it. In last night's episode, I got a stack of form rejections because I forgot to attach my pages. I haven’t even started submitting yet, y’all. 😭

#AmWriting #WritingCommunity #YABooks

I just want a backspace key and a thesaurus while I'm speaking, is that really too much to ask?