April 25, 2019

Dreyer's English: An Editor's Review

April 25, 2019/ Shayla Raquel

If Strunk and White impossibly yet miraculously had a love child with Mark Twain’s rapier wit, it would be named Dreyer’s English.

March 12, 2019

How to Write a Self-Help Book That Actually Changes Lives

March 12, 2019/ Shayla Raquel

From anger management to self-esteem, from spirituality to creativity, there is a self-help book for every individual need. But does every self-help book actually . . . help? Make a difference? Change a life?

February 05, 2019

Instant Kick-in-the-Pants for Discouraged Writers

February 05, 2019/ Shayla Raquel

Writers have bad days. We get negative books reviews, we take too long to finish a story, and we get rejected—sometimes all in the same week.

January 03, 2019

12 Creepy Documentaries for Crime/Thriller Writers

January 03, 2019/ Shayla Raquel

Educate and entertain yourself while writing your crime novel.

November 13, 2018

The Writer's 2018 Christmas Wish List

November 13, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

You’re going to want everything on this list for Christmas!

October 28, 2018

Your Quintessential NaNoWriMo Prep Guide (Freebies Galore!)

October 28, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Quite literally everything you need to prep for NaNoWriMo 2018.

October 17, 2018

Shayla’s All-Time Favorite Novels and Why You Should Read Them

October 17, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

These are the best novels ever written. Fight me.

September 20, 2018

Self-Publishing Your Children's Book: A Simple Guide

September 20, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Self-publishing your children’s book doesn’t have to be difficult. Follow this easy guide.

August 14, 2018

How to Market Yourself on Instagram without a Book to Sell (Yet)

August 14, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Melissa Frey provides top-notch advice for authors on Instagram—even if their book isn’t ready yet.

July 25, 2018

How to Start a Local Writing Group

July 25, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Wishing your town had a writers’ group? Wish no more! You can start one on your own.

July 12, 2018

Epic Facebook Author Pages: Everything You Need to Know

July 12, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Quite literally everything I know about Facebook author pages.

May 15, 2018

Ultimate Author Websites: Everything You Need to Know

May 15, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

If your website looks like a leftover from the ’90s, then it’s time to upgrade.

March 15, 2018

Manuscript Errors Novice Authors Keep Making

March 15, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Use this as a checklist to ensure you're preparing your manuscript for an agent or your editor.

February 15, 2018

Marketing Advice from Wallstreet Journal Bestselling Indie Author Sarah Denzil

February 15, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Wallstreet Journal Bestselling Indie Author Sarah Denzil delivers excellent advice on marketing thrillers for indies.

February 06, 2018

20 Email Tips & Tricks for Author Newsletters

February 06, 2018/ Shayla Raquel

Authors: you need your readers on your turf. So create valuable emails people actually want to open.

December 28, 2017

31 Ways to Support Authors in January

December 28, 2017/ Shayla Raquel

Here are 31 things you can do this January to show your love for the author community.

December 14, 2017

8 Questions Writers Should Ask before 2019

December 14, 2017/ Shayla Raquel

For a successful 2019, start with a few writerly questions.

November 15, 2017

How to Use Your Book to Become a Paid Speaker by Galit Ventura-Rozen

November 15, 2017/ Shayla Raquel

Galit Ventura-Rozen, professional speaker and women empowerment business mentor, talks about public speaking for new authors.

November 08, 2017

How Book Bloggers Boost Sales for Indie Authors

November 08, 2017/ Shayla Raquel

Got a $0 book marketing budget? No fear! Book bloggers can help you reach your audience without breaking the bank.

Shayla Raquel

Editor. Author. Marketer. Speaker. Publishing Mentor.

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Baker is still working on his poses for the gram. Chanel is not a good teacher. 😂 So! What you see here is The Chicago Manual of Style, which has 1,000+ pages on grammar, punctuation, formatting, citations, numbers, hyphens, and so much more. As an editor, I have to be well versed in CMOS rules. This stylebook ensures consistency in the publishing world, so it sits on my desk every day, ready to be put to work. The first time I held CMOS in my hands was at age 18. We had to study it in college, and let me tell you, I was intimidated. Now I can’t imagine editing books without it. Do you own a copy of CMOS?

Imagine your ten-year-old child falls into a coma and never wakes up again. But then . . . you'd be just like every single parent in the world, wouldn't you?

In "The Little Tragedy" @byjeffhaws, The Sleep comes for every child upon his or her tenth birthday. This tragic phenomenon has changed the world and has done so for the last twenty years. No family is safe from The Sleep.

Except, that is, for the Fraser family in Knoxville, TN.
Kevin, their oldest child, has fallen asleep, and after a year of this horror, Stephen and Laura must decide what to do. Do they turn him over to the state? That's essentially a death sentence. Do they try to get more money to fund the manpower it takes to keep a child alive while in a coma? And what about their other son, Ryan? His tenth birthday is days away. How will they care for not one but two bedridden children?

Then the unthinkable happens. Kevin wakes up.
A day that should be filled with elation is replaced with that of dread and confusion: Why did Kevin wake up? Why are the nosy neighbors writing hate mail about them online? Why is there a knife hidden in the chest in Kevin's room?

This novel is certainly a page-turner and managed to keep my heart racing, especially with the action scene toward the end. I enjoyed the flawed, relatable characters, and the plot was insanely smart. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because there were just too many misspellings, punctuation errors, and grammar faux pas for my liking. It happens to us all, though. However, I also chose a 4-star rating because too many questions were left unanswered. To avoid spoilers, I won't list them; but maybe the author felt as if the characters didn't have the answers, so we shouldn't? Then again, there is *one* character who would know the truth. Hmmm . . .
Great job, Mr. Jeff Haws! Can't wait for the next one, and I would love a sequel to this. Pretty please.

Up next: The Edible Woman by @therealmargaretatwood 🍐🍎🥭 I will be finishing The Little Tragedy today and will post a review this week. Question of the day: If you could eat one thing every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? 🍪🥑🍔🌮🍦I’d probably go for either chicken fried steak or oatmeal creme pies

“It seemed funny to me that the sunset she saw from her patio and the one I saw from the back steps was the same one. Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset.” I love The Outsiders. I love the movie too. I got to see the house where The Outsiders was filmed. I touched the same house that Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze touched! 😍😍😍 I hope to one day meet S. E. Hinton and tell her how much this book means to me. Have you read it?

💰You’re given $1,000 for a bookstore shopping spree, but you can only choose from one genre. Which shelf do you go to? My answer below! 🤔🤔 (Photo by @marianmilnermccarthy)

🏚 My last day at Cedar Rock Inn! 😭 I loved it here and had such a relaxing time. I read novels, wrote in my upcomimg book, and ate too many homemade chocolate chip cookies. 🍪 But life is about to get sweeter because I’m spending the weekend with @marianmilnermccarthy and her family 💙 I hope you all spend time this weekend with a good book 📚 What are you reading and should I add it to my Goodreads list?

Day 4️⃣ of vacation, and I’m on book 3️⃣ The Little Tragedy @byjeffhaws 😱 I can’t read it fast enough. It’s freaking me out, and I love it. Since 1999, all the kids on earth go into a coma on their tenth birthday, never to awaken...until one boy wakes up. 😨

Would you rather:
1️⃣ Start writing your book on the beach while listening to the waves (which is what I did in 2015 with The Suicide Tree), or
2️⃣ Start writing your book surrounded by the woods and nature (which is what I’m doing with The Ten Commandments of Author Branding)?
▶️ You can pick only one! 🤔 Bonus points if you can give me an exact location so I can add it to my Pinterest travel board 🌄🏞

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ambitious, haunting, and suspenseful, Into the Water by @paulahawkins2010 dives into the world of troublesome women and their watery graves.
Since 1679, the Drowning Pool has called to women like Libby Seeton and Anne Ward and Lauren Slater, beckoning them in, luring them to the cold water. But is that the truth, or is there more to the history of Beckford? In 2015, Katie Whittaker, a 15-year-old girl, drowns in the enigmatic pool, and her best friend's mom, Nel Abbott, follows suit months later.

Suicides abound, and yet . . . the people of Beckford are hiding secrets. Nel Abbott was writing a book about the Drowning Pool, and some residents didn't like that. Katie Whittaker had been acting strange for months leading to her death. And Nickie Sage, the town's psychic and scam artist, proclaims to know the truth, but no one listens to her. No one ever listens.

Literary fiction and psychological thriller come together in a terrifying union, keeping you gripped throughout the novel. The only caveat is the POV. Keep "The People of Beckford" section in the front matter bookmarked, because you'll be using it as a guide to keep up.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this novel and would love to see it as a film.

🌲🍃 I finished Into the Water by @paulahawkins2010 and truly enjoyed it. Review will be up this week. I had started Almost Everything by @annelamott ages ago, and I’m finally diving back into it. I’ll finish it today and start a new one. I love having all this time to read! 🙌🏻📚 It’s exactly what I wanted out of this trip.

I hope to finish this one tonight or by breakfast. So many secrets in this one! Thank you to everyone who recommended it. I’m really enjoying this novel so far.

Tomorrow = vacation! 📚💤🖊📝🏚 These are the books I will be digging into. My lovely assistant @lornakbailey will be answering emails for me this week. If there’s an emergency (e.g., “my book was translated into Italian” or “I accidentally deleted my book from Amazon”), please let Lorna know and I will come to the rescue. Otherwise, I appreciate your patience as I take a much needed break and relax at a B&B in Tulsa. ❤️ Check my IG Story throughout the week to follow my vacay adventures.

Shayla Raquel

RT @janey_merry: 5 of 5 stars to The Suicide Tree by Shayla Raquel https://t.co/Mkpms04sTB
about a week ago

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