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Shellene Drakes-Tull

@shellenedrakestull.bsky.social
700 followers 622 following 65 posts

Writer, journalist, educator & storyteller living in 🇨🇦 with 🇧🇧 roots. Emerging novelist. I write about Black Canadians @ The Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, & Byblacks. Find my work here: linktr.ee/shellene_drakes_tull

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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's a Toronto-based thriller set during Caribana!
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We don't talk enough about the completely unserious things that make us happy. A cold Coke. A forgotten $20 in a coat pocket. A coupon code. A song I haven't heard in donkey years. And the ELATION when someone cancels plans and I realize I DON'T HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE. A sunset. What's your tiny joy?
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There wasn't one moment when Midnight Mas became a book. I mean, it's still a manuscript, but I remember the first sentence, the finished draft, all the revisions. The beta reader feedback. And soon, another first: holding all 373 pages (95,000 words) in my hot little hands. No champagne just yet.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Monday Morning Manuscript… this afternoon. Gala Saturday. Apple picking Sunday. Back to Midnight Mas beta feedback this week. Different experiences, same reminder: We’re always living the material. Pay attention. That’s where the Story Seeds are. #MondayMorningManuscript
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Apparently 60 songs still aren't enough. What's the ONE song that absolutely has to be on your carnival playlist?
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Caribana tabanca setting in yet? My Midnight Mas playlist started with 20 songs. It now has 60. Soca. Afrobeats. Dancehall. R&B. Mas. Music. Murder. This is what Midnight Mas sounds like: music.youtube.com/playlist?lis... #MidnightMas #Caribana #carnival
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Want to find the stories hiding in your own experiences? I created a free guide: 5 Questions to Find Your Story. Grab it here: payhip.com/b/stZ7S
payhip.com
5 Questions to find your story
You already have stories. Let’s find one.Have you ever wanted to write something, but the minute you sit down you think, "What the heck am I supposed to write about?"You might be looking for the big…
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Friday Thoughts...This week’s Story Seed came from the comments. People were angry—but sometimes at the wrong level of government. It made me wonder: What could change if we got curious before we got angry? Sometimes the question is the story.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This week’s Story Seed came from the comment section. People blaming the wrong level of government for their grievance. How can we hold governments accountable if we don’t know who’s responsible for what? Sometimes that’s all a Story Seed is: something you notice & decide to follow.
thestar.com
Shellene Drakes-Tull: Before voting — and complaining — you need to know what the mayor is responsible for
Before you start railing at your mayor and council, premier, or prime minister, let’s ensure we’re railing at the right people.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today, I'm going thru my beta reader feedback w/ a question. in mind: Does this help me tell the story I’m trying to tell? That is also at the heart of something I’ve been building: The Storyteller’s Method. The first piece, Story Seeds, is out. You can find it here: payhip.com/b/HvtWS
payhip.com
Story Seeds: 50 writing prompts to find the stories you already carry
You have stories. You just might not recognize them yet.Maybe you've always wanted to write or someone to told you, “You should write that down.”Maybe you know you have stories about your family,…
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
My dishwasher tried to flood my basement. Again. But that isn’t really the story. The story is deadlines, activity fees, FOUR plumbers, nosebleeds, burnt spaghetti & the endless work of managing all the things. I’m tired. Sometimes that’s the entire story and telling the truth is enough.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Why did I write Midnight Mas & Soca Seduction? I wanted regular Black people in #thrillers & in #Toronto. I want us fall in love. Make bad decisions. Keep secrets. Run for our lives. Representation isn't only seeing ourselves in stories about being Black. Sometimes I just want us in the thriller.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Thanks for the heads up.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I'm at beta reader stage currently. I'm waiting for feedback 😳
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Thriller #1. Hoping for the trad publishing route, but open to self-publishing too.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Two thrillers, one romcom, and one non-fiction based on my journalism work.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Book #1 is with the beta readers & I'm waiting for feedback 😳 Book #2 (a Black Toronto romcom) is with some friends to get some early reactions--I also gotta cut about 10K words. I'm still writing Book #3 (a Carnival-based thriller), but I'm about halfway done. What are you writing?
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Monday Morning Manuscript...on Tuesday. September always feels like a new beginning & there's a lot going on: Midnight Mas with beta readers, I’m working on two manuscripts & something new: The Storyteller’s Method. Getting back to my writing routine this month because starting again is consistency.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The absolute ignorance of the Ford government will always astound me because this makes no sense. Guess we're just going to The Ontario Centre to learn about... things 🤷🏾‍♀️
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
My dad has been gone for 10 years. Last week, I saw a rack of reading glasses and suddenly, there he was. That’s grief. It doesn’t disappear. We just learn how to carry it while continuing to live. My latest column is about loss, memory—and the ordinary moments that bring our people back to us.
thestar.com
Shellene Drakes-Tull: Buying reading glasses reminded me that grief never truly follows a timeline
The day my father died the world kept moving, although I was frozen. Folks still went to work. People went on dates. Babies were born. And all I wanted to
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Monday Morning Manuscript... It's birthday week! Midnight Mas is with my beta readers, so I'm editing my next novel while making time to celebrate my birthday. This week, I'm making room for joy, rest, writing and a little birthday foolishness. One year. One chapter. One lap at a time.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Messing up the time continuum may not be worth it. I was a responsibility-free 20-year-old back then. I wonder how Past Me would respond to Present Me when I try to drop my words of wisdom--20-year-old feel they know everything 🤔
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Do you ever wish you could go back? If you woke up tomorrow—with everything you know today—and it was 1996, would you do anything differently? Past Me needed Present Me's insight about life. I've been thinking about this a lot lately—maybe a new novel idea. Thoughts? #blackbooksky #booksky
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It isn’t enough for Ontario’s next opposition leaders to be “not Ford.” That’s the bare minimum. What are the plans for healthcare, education, transit and housing? Want better choices, pay attention before election day. Check out my latest column here: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
You can’t start a story from the middle: We learn about the Underground Railroad, but not that Black and Indigenous people were enslaved in Upper and Lower Canada. Let's learn our full history—not just what make us feel good. #EmancipationDay #BlackCanadianHistory
thestar.com
Shellene Drakes-Tull: A celebrated part of Canada’s history ignores a troubled beginning
There is more to Black history in Canada and its history with slavery than the Underground Railroad.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
People ask why I wrote a thriller set during Caribana. Well, it’s because Carnival is more than a parade. It's community. It's history. It's resistance. It's joy. Looking back, Midnight Mas became my love letter to all of it.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Before Midnight Mas was a novel, it was a question I couldn't stop asking: Why aren't there more thrillers set during Caribana (AKA Toronto Caribbean Carnival)? So I decided to write one. Happy Caribana week! (I'll be sharing some of the real memories that inspired the story all week long.)
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Friday thoughts: Authenticity isn't just about telling the truth. It's about resisting the urge to become the person you think everyone else wants. The best stories I've written have come when I've been unapologetically myself. That's where the stories live--and that's where the magic happens.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I thought writing a novel meant writing it once. Twenty-five years later, I've learned it's really about showing up. This week: fifth draft of Midnight Mas, swimming lessons, and more revisions. One sentence. One lap. One edit at a time.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
One of the best things I ever did for my writing wasn't finishing a novel. It was finding other writers who believed I could. Community doesn't write the book for you—it helps you show up. Honestly, I don't know if I'd have finished my first novel without them. Sometimes that's what writers need.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
At 50, I'm learning how to swim. I spent years telling myself I was too afraid, too late, or just fine sitting safely at the edge of the pool. The hardest part isn't learning to swim—it's believing you're still allowed to be a beginner. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
thestar.com
Shellene Drakes-Tull: I’m learning how swim and my biggest challenge isn’t in the pool
Finding courage is biggest obstacle to learning to swim
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
For a long time, anxiety sat in the driver's seat of my life. Then I took the steering wheel back. The fear didn't disappear. I just stopped letting it make the decisions. Today, I'm writing because anxiety doesn't get to tell me who's stories are important. And tomorrow? I'm back in the pool.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I want more Black Canadian stories. Stories that broaden the narrative of what it means to be Black in Canada. More thrillers, romances, science fiction, family drama, Toronto, Nova Scotia, Caribana, Stampede, families, and possibilities. Because one story is never enough. Many stories matter.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I've been thinking about a question lately: Whose stories are missing? As a journalist, I ask that when I'm deciding what to report. As a novelist, I ask it when what worlds to create. I want Black Canadian thrillers, romances & stories where we get to be joyful, flawed, ordinary & extraordinary.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Sometimes, you just need a break from socials because life. I'm back! Wanna see some of what I've been writing? www.clippings.me/ShelleneDrakesTull
clippings.me
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Hi folks! Happy 2025--I needed a social media break to bring in the New Year. I'm back, ready to cause havoc in these social media streets 🙃
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
The Canadian government has all sorts of money except for the Black public servants who are suing them. What do Black people have to do to get treated fairly? byblacks.com/news/item/37...
byblacks.com
Feds Spend Millions In Court Denying That Black Employees Faced Discrimination Even When Internal Reports Prove Otherwise - ByBlacks.com | #1 online magazine for Black Canadians
Lawsuits, internal reports, first-hand accounts—what more do Black people need to do to make people believe us?
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Bluster versus Bluster. Lord help us all. Ford threatens to cut off energy supply to U.S. in response to Trump’s tariffs www.cp24.com/politics/que...
cp24.com
Ford threatens to cut off energy supply to U.S. in response to Trump’s tariffs
Ontario Premier Doug Ford threated to cut off energy supply to the U.S. in response to the tariffs President-elect Donald Trump plans to impose on all Canadian imports.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
I was 14 years old, living in Montreal, and I heard our neighbour pounding on our door. "Is your sister home? There was a shooting at a university downtown." She wasn't a student at École Polytechnique where 14 female students were gunned down on December 6, 1989. Today is the 35th anniversary.
ca.news.yahoo.com
Remembering Montreal's École Polytechnique massacre 35 years later: Photos
Friday marks the 35th anniversary of the tragic Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, where a gunman targeted and killed 14 women simply because of their gender, sparking a nationwide reckoning on viole...
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
It is honestly ridiculous. I don't understand how we work so hard to feel so poor.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
At an event right now knowing this will be the outcome.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Same. Clearly, we need to reassess our priorities.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Food is a right, not a privilege. People can barely afford to eat today. We gotta spend $800 more? Bare madness. Canadians to spend $801 more on food in 2025: report www.cp24.com/news/canada/...
cp24.com
Canadians to spend $801 more on food in 2025: report
Food prices in Canada are likely to increase by three to five per cent next year, according to a newly released report, but wild cards like climate change and Donald Trump could have unforeseen impact...
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Lol! Right? That was 1969 Montreal. Looks straight out of Bridgetown, Barbados 😂
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Thanks! This is exactly what it is. We put out the welcome mat when we need people to do low-skilled, low-paying jobs, then we snatch it back to scapegoat them for all the ills of the country. When I was growing up, it was the Haitians and Jamaicans. Now, they're blaming the Indians.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I am the proud child of immigrants. Here's part of my mother's story of coming to Canada from Barbados.
thestar.com
Shellene Drakes-Tull: It’s easy to scapegoat immigrants. But where would Canada be without people like my mom?
My mother, like so many others, didn’t just come to Canada for a better life — she came to help build a better Canada.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
And so the chaos begins. I mean, the man hasn'teven taken office yet and he's starting with the threats. SMH. Is this y'all king?? www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-tariff-25-1.7393160
cbc.ca
Donald Trump promises 25 per cent tariff on products from Canada, Mexico | CBC News
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he would sign an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming in to the United States from Mexico and Canada.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Things were (or felt) so much easier when I believed if you worked hard enough, you'd be successful or that all people were treated equally. Sigh. It's be years since I believed this...and I'm in Canada. It's no different here.
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
💯
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Shellene Drakes-Tull @shellenedrakestull.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.--James Baldwin I would say instead of country, world because anti-Blackness is global. To be blissfully ignorant some days would be a blessing.
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