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racheletell.bsky.social
Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
@racheletell.bsky.social
51 followers 220 following 92 posts
✨ goes by Rae, hi!
☕ 50% coffee 30% emotional turmoil 20% punctuation
🖋️ querying The Refinement: Mercury
📚 YA | fantasy | psych. horror | romance
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racheletell.bsky.social
Rachel E. Tell (is querying) @racheletell.bsky.social · 7d
Just posted my pitch for #writerpit @writerpit.bsky.social on Instagram! Here are the images if you want a peek. It's a YA dark fantasy for fans of A Study in Drowning who binge-watch cult documentaries, with a climax that's pure Jacob's-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess chaos.

#booksky #YAbooks
A fake back cover for an upcoming novel, which says #writerpit The Pitch: An anxious perfectionist transfers to an elite academy to learn to control her mischievous magic, but when she discovers that the school is really a cult in disguise, her life depends on breaking the rules, rejecting the lies, and claiming the power she's feared all along. The Refinement: Mercury is a YA dark fantasy for fans of A Study in Drowning who binge-watch cult documentaries. By Rachel E. Tell An image with the text #writerpit The Vibes: Mob Psycho 100 meets NXIVM documentary, with a dash of the 1985 Return to Oz and a climax that's pure Jacob's-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess chaos. The image also has the cover art for The Vow and Seduced documentaries about the NXIVM cult, Mob Psycho 100 anime image, Return to Oz movie poster, and the Jacob's Ladder movie poster overlaid with a princess crown and wand plus pink and green vines. An image that says #writerpit The Moodboard and has pictures of a young couple hugging, a large gold crown, a dark academia hallway, a field of lavendar, a honeycomb from an apiary, bubbles, a mushroom fairy circle, ball pit balls, and a spooky roofed well.
racheletell.bsky.social
Me: "Your butt does not control people's minds!"
7yo: "It can actually K.O. people!"
Me: "What are you, Wario?"
7yo: *laughter and fart noises*

#momlife
December 5, 2025 at 1:35 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
Honestly, these days, I'd rather read a book on the shorter side. Mostly it's because my time is so limited. Between full-time work, parenting, spending time with my spouse, working on my own novel, health, chores, it took me ~6 months just to read Howl's Moving Castle.

#booksky 💙📚 #BookishQOTD 📖🦋
bookishquestions.bsky.social Bookish QOTD 📖🦋 @bookishquestions.bsky.social · 2d
— ★°•| December 4|•°★ —

This or That: Would you rather read a book longer or shorter than 400 pages?? What is your reasoning?

☆ Don't forget to include our hashtag, and make sure to use alt-text with any images!! ☆

[Tags: #booksky 💙📚 #BookishQOTD 📖🦋]
Text: this or that Image: blue and yellow collaged butterfly
December 5, 2025 at 1:29 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
One of my dream agents just opened for queries!

Aaaand she doesn't rep my genre.

Gonna go pout in a corner for a bit, then dust myself off and get back to work. My Disney princess cult horror self-acceptance fever dream isn't gonna query itself.
#amquerying #justnotthatagent #BookSky 💙📚
December 3, 2025 at 11:19 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Darn it! I’ve been really productive today.

Yesterday I took a full day off. I set one appointment for an errand after I found out I couldn’t go same-day, and spent the rest of the time relaxing.

So why on earth do I have PROOF that rest makes me more productive and energized? Not fair. 😅
December 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy

Oh no.
Text meme showing a husky who looks like it's laughing. Top text: I joined an amateur autopsy club. Bottom text: Tonight is open Mike night!
December 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Sharing an excerpt of a scene that was brutal to write. I had to be alone, in the dark, Akira Yamaoka in my ears, secrets hidden in the mist, dread and discomfort growing step by step. In The Refinement, silence is weaponized. This moment captures it best.

#YAFantasy #amquerying #BookSky 💙📚
An excerpt from The Refinement: Mercury by Rachel E. Tell, currently querying. She stood outside now, in the cool air of the night. Lake mist had rolled in, reflecting the moonlight. The grass was wet beneath her feet, and the wetness clung to her skin. It made the dress feel sticky. Lovely in the moonlight, of course, but oddly… well, cheap. Like plastic. A doll’s dress. They walked together, silent, making a path through the mist that gathered around them. There should have been music. Soft violins, a harp, the murmur of a crowd. Instead, they walked past the apiary, soft nighttime buzzing little more than a hum, then that small comforting sound vanished behind them. There were no crickets here. No cicadas or frogs. Not even the hoot of a lone owl. Just the wet, silent darkness.
December 3, 2025 at 12:26 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
Introduce yourself with five books you’ve said more than once that you “really should read one day” but still haven’t:

Catch-22
The Screwtape Letters
Man and His Symbols
Slaughterhouse-Five
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
📚💙 #BookSky
yayaver02.bsky.social Yayaver @yayaver02.bsky.social · 4d
Introduce yourself with five books you’ve said more than once that you “really should read one day” but still haven’t:

Crime and Punishment-Dostoevsky
Thinking Fast and Slow-Daniel Kahneman
Guns, Germs and Steel-Jared Diamond
The Jungle-Upton Sinclair
Gulag Archipelago-Alek Solzhenitsyn
📚💙 #BookSky
kristinmaiart.bsky.social Kristin Mai @kristinmaiart.bsky.social · 6d
Introduce yourself with five books you’ve said more than once that you “really should read one day” but still haven’t:

-The Three Musketeers
-The Brothers Karamazov
-The Sound and the Fury
-Cane
-The Left Hand of Darkness

#BookSky #LiteratureSky
December 2, 2025 at 4:07 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
OH MY GOSH rejection 8 was PERSONALIZED! I'm so happy I'm vibrating. She says my pitch is fun, and the academia setting is a fan favorite right now so I should keep querying. Eee!

I know you're not supposed to respond when an agent passes, but I am SO happy and grateful.

#booksky #hope #amquerying
December 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Ah, man. I think I just vastly improved my query letter after a YouTube video I watched during lunch about character motivations gave me an "aha" moment, and of course it's after 32 queries were sent out. Live and learn, right?

#woops #amquerying #booksky
December 1, 2025 at 9:11 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
You guys have any good querying music? I feel like it should be different from my writing music.

#booksky #amquerying #querytrenches #soundtrack
November 30, 2025 at 4:24 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
Just posted my pitch for #writerpit @writerpit.bsky.social on Instagram! Here are the images if you want a peek. It's a YA dark fantasy for fans of A Study in Drowning who binge-watch cult documentaries, with a climax that's pure Jacob's-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess chaos.

#booksky #YAbooks
A fake back cover for an upcoming novel, which says #writerpit The Pitch: An anxious perfectionist transfers to an elite academy to learn to control her mischievous magic, but when she discovers that the school is really a cult in disguise, her life depends on breaking the rules, rejecting the lies, and claiming the power she's feared all along. The Refinement: Mercury is a YA dark fantasy for fans of A Study in Drowning who binge-watch cult documentaries. By Rachel E. Tell An image with the text #writerpit The Vibes: Mob Psycho 100 meets NXIVM documentary, with a dash of the 1985 Return to Oz and a climax that's pure Jacob's-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess chaos. The image also has the cover art for The Vow and Seduced documentaries about the NXIVM cult, Mob Psycho 100 anime image, Return to Oz movie poster, and the Jacob's Ladder movie poster overlaid with a princess crown and wand plus pink and green vines. An image that says #writerpit The Moodboard and has pictures of a young couple hugging, a large gold crown, a dark academia hallway, a field of lavendar, a honeycomb from an apiary, bubbles, a mushroom fairy circle, ball pit balls, and a spooky roofed well.
November 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Took my kid to the park today, put on eyeliner, and made myself take a selfie. Selfies are still an anxiety trigger, but I’m trying to get comfortable being seen. One step at a time.

#writerlife #realnotperfect #anxiety
Woman with red glasses, brown eyes, and short brown hair with gray strands, and a burgundy hoodie that says "Tolerate Yourself" in a park with trees and a hill behind her.
November 28, 2025 at 11:11 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Why do I keep seeing youtube ads for Coach purses?

The ads for Reedsy, coffee, and therapy make sense. But why does the algorithm think I'd ever consider a brand-name purse? It took me a literal year of thinking before I bought a sweatshirt off Etsy.

#whytho #budgetauthor #confusedmillennial
November 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving! Grateful for the changes this year: resuming to my dream of publishing a book and learning about my brain's differences and how I can manage them.

Also exceptionally grateful for my family of ND boys and cats, and our pajamas & video game style holidays.
#thanksgiving #cozyvibes
A thanksgiving meal with ham, stuffing, pineapple casserole, roasted broccoli, corn on the cob, and a croissant, with the words "Happy Thanksgiving" printed in brown text across the top. A silver cat napping in the corner of a cream-colored chair with a crochet blanket on the back of it, squashed in by a Buck-ee stuffy, with the words "Nap time..." in black text near the bottom.
November 28, 2025 at 2:09 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
To be honest, I partly want to get an agent who likes my book just so I can geek out about all the ~*secret foreshadowing*~ I set up in book 1 for books 2&3.

#guninthefirstact #butmorelikestars #amquerying #writersofbluesky
November 27, 2025 at 11:20 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Hey, so I clearly don't know how to Bluesky yet. Looking for friends who are:

- neurodivergent
- book-obsessed
- cats
- Danny Kaye fans
- psychology nerds
- introverts
- fiber artists (knit/crochet)
- coffee and pastries (if you are a pastry, hi!)

#halp #imniceipromise #iam50percentcoffeemyself
November 27, 2025 at 3:01 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
My son asked for pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream, so I made a QUART of whipped cream. Because if it's not overkill, I'm not doing it right.

Oh, and I'm up to 7 rejections! Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

#bskywriters #thanksgiving #baking
Whipped cream forming stiff peaks in a stand mixer with the whisks lifted. A pumpkin pie and a chess cake cooling on red rubber trivets, on a black-and-white checked tablecloth.
November 27, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
thisone0verhere.bsky.social
Being an adult is basically exactly like Ratatouille except you're both the clueless human AND the rat who's trying so so hard to make him do things and also it's way less funny and you don't live in Paris
November 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Ad: Are you in X demographic? (millennial, parent, neurodivergent, burned-out gifted kid, Suzuki kid, querying author, etc.)

Me: Why yes I am!

Ad: Do you love adventure?!

Me: No. *scrolls* Ooh, pictures of cats!
November 25, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Reposted by Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
wippit.bsky.social
with that, they absolutely deserve to shine. I just ask that you allow the wips to shine in #wippit and refrain from posting query ready or published books. We have lots of events for those projects, you can check @thewriterscalendar.bsky.social for dates, I'll do my best to keep them up to date.
November 24, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
thewriterscalendar.bsky.social
Calendar Directional: (links to each one)
October 31, 2025 at 4:57 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
LOOK I found a future reader in the wild! SQUEE!!! This seriously made my whole week. (Quote posted with permission.)

#YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky
A gold-framed screenshot of a social media post. The top post reads: “Meanwhile I’m over here pitching a manuscript that’s basically Mob Psycho 100 meets NXIVM documentary, with a little bit of Return to Oz and Jacob’s-Ladder-but-make-it-Disney-Princess thrown in for the vibes.” Below it is a highlighted comment from another user that says: “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT DESCRIPTION 👀👀👀 How does Jacob’s Ladder + Disney Princess even work?!?! What do I have to do to read this?!?!?!?!?! 😳😳😳” The background is a soft, dark image with a girl's face surrounded by curly hair woven with flowers and gold glitter accents.
November 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Just queried an agent who lists ONE as one of her favorite creators. (Pun impossible to avoid.) Genuinely thrilled she’s an agent who doesn’t send rejections. If I got a form response I’d cry and cry.
November 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
20 queries sent, 6 rejections collected, and the last 3 didn’t even make me cry!!

Good job, me.

#YAauthor #AmQuerying #QueryTrenches #AuthorJourney #writersofbluesky
a woman wearing glasses is waving her hand while sitting on a couch .
ALT: a woman wearing glasses is waving her hand while sitting on a couch .
media.tenor.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:53 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
What animals do you want to befriend before you die? My list:

Elephant
Fuzzy cow
Armadillo
Donkey
Corvid (crow or raven, NOT bluejay)
Seal

#AnimalsOfBluesky #AnimalLovers #WildlifeWednesday #CozyWeb #SoftQuestions
November 20, 2025 at 4:10 AM