Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
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racheletell.bsky.social
Rachel E. Tell (is querying)
@racheletell.bsky.social
42 followers 200 following 83 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
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
Well it definitely looks intentional to me! I'm too much of a control freak to use color-changing yarn with a sweater. I have to plan out my exact color pattern in Excel and I just quietly accept all the end-weaving that requires 😆 Plus that way I can use Stylecraft Special.
Woman with red glasses sitting in an office chair wearing a blanket sweater that alternates between burgundy, red, burnt orange, taupe, light brown, and beige.
November 28, 2025 at 9:39 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
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
racheletell.bsky.social
Here are Starbuddy's beans! They're not 100% mauve, much darker, but he's clearly a mix of some kind.
November 25, 2025 at 2:38 AM
racheletell.bsky.social
She looks like my Starbuddy!! We think he might be a tabby/Russian Blue mix.
November 25, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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
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 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.
November 14, 2025 at 2:10 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
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
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.
November 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
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
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).
November 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
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
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.
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
First beta reader feedback is in, and it landed exactly the way I hoped:

"Googling the Latin phrase they use was a nice kick in the brain… like a little horror? and a little ick. And then the question of whether they even know what it means."

Muahahaha. Perfect.
#AmWriting #WritersOfBluesky
Gold font quote on a black background with graphics of hexagons and bees. The quote says, "Googling the Latin phrase they use was a nice kick in the brain… like a little horror? and a little ick. And then the question of whether they even know what it means."
September 8, 2025 at 8:42 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Crafting experiment: my husband asked me to make the thinnest 6" crochet square my hands can tolerate. So I'm moss stitching with fine yarn and a 3mm hook. It’s going fine… except the sparkly thread keeps breaking. 🧶😐

If his experiment works I'll post the results!
September 7, 2025 at 2:43 PM
racheletell.bsky.social
Feeling rudderless and oddly down? while I wait for feedback. So I decided to make hot chocolate and muffins for the family since it's so gray outside. That's kind of productive, right?
September 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM