The Unsettled Shelf

Your Book Got a Bad Review. Now What?

M. Boudreaux shares what negative book reviews, reader feedback, and advance reader copies have taught her about writing and independent publishing.

10 Haunted Reads for September: The Haunted Places Online Book Fair

Looking for haunted-house, ghost-story, and supernatural horror reads for September? I’m joining the Haunted Places Online Book Fair, and The Listener is in the lineup.

The Character Who Made Me Stop Writing

Dr. Elias Shepherd was the character who made me stop writing for a while. This is what happened when The Grief Counselor became harder to stay inside than I expected.

Writing About Trauma Without Writing an Autobiography

Writing from trauma does not mean copying your life onto the page. For me, it means using emotional truth while still letting the story become entirely its own thing.