Ted is joined by Johnny Compton, a Stoker Award-nominated, San Antonio-based author of horror stories whose debut novel, The Spite House, was released in 2023. In its review of the book, Esquire noted that “You can trace the tradition of the American ‘Bad Place’ from Edgar Allan Poe through Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson, and Stephen King, all the way to Johnny Compton and The Spite House.” Johnny’s work in progress (at least for the purposes of the discussion here) is a book you’ll be...

In this solo pod, Ted talks about the challenges—both external and internal—that come with navigating the months in between when you submit your final manuscript and when the book actually comes out. For him (and many others), that task is complicated by the anxious and depressive intrusions that come with just living life in general. He goes on to discuss how one of his most effective strategies for managing these feelings is to get started on a new project, the ability to get words down on...

Ted is joined by Lauren Wilkinson, whose debut novel, American Spy, was a Washington Post bestseller, an NAACP Image Award nominee, an Anthony Award nominee, and an Edgar Award nominee. President Obama also included it on his 2019 Recommended Reading List, a fact that continues to fill Ted with no small amount of envy. Lauren’s work in progress is a classic whodunit murder mystery set in the present and featuring a Black woman who is a social media influencer as the detective. With this...

Ted is joined by Bianca Marais, author of the bestselling The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh, and the Audible Original The Prynne Viper. Alternatively, we could’ve just told you that Ann Patchett (yes, that Ann Patchett) has declared “Bianca Marais is a genius.” When she’s not authoring, Bianca co-hosts the popular podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become...

Ted flies solo this month and uses it as an opportunity to presume you might be interested in him telling you how he approaches the entire book-writing process. Which on the one hand is a little vain because it's not like it’s Colson Whitehead or Emily Henry or Stephen King or whomever sitting down and telling you these things. But then again, if you're listening to this show hosted by some random author in the first place, maybe his advice is more relevant to you than one of those household...

Ted is joined by Patrick Carey, a 2023 graduate of the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program at Colorado State University. Patrick’s work in progress is the thesis he wrote as part of that program. Tentatively titled Keepers, it’s a novel set roughly 25 years in the future when the United States is mired in a second Great Depression. This has prompted the government to basically invent jobs for people to do, including reinstalling lighthouse keepers across the Great...

Ted is joined by Sheila Yasmin Marikar, the author of the novel The Goddess Effect, which Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians, Sex and Vanity) called “a fall-on-the-floor funny, fresh, and modern take on one woman’s journey to hell and back.” Sheila’s writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Vogue, among many other publications. Her work in progress is one you’ll be able to read in the not-too-distant future. It’s a novel...

Ted flies solo this month and shares a little about his own work in progress, the forthcoming rom-com Date Week, which will be published next summer by Lake Union. Currently in the midst of the developmental editing process, he talks about what this stage in a book’s life is, the highs and lows of going through it, and the tremendous impact good editors have on the finished product that ends up in the hands of readers. He also covers the importance of self-care—like allowing yourself to...

Ted is joined by Patrick Parr, the author of two nonfiction books: The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age and One Week in America: The 1968 Notre Dame Literary Festival and a Changing Nation. Patrick’s work has appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, and he currently writes a history column for Japan Today about historical figures visiting Japan for the first time.   Patrick’s work in progress is a novel about a 19th-century Native American man who becomes one of...

Ted is joined by Kat Higgs-Coulthard, the author of the middle-grade book Hanging With My Peeps as well as the YA novel Junkyard Dogs. The latter was published earlier this year and follows 17-year-old Josh as he takes to the streets to try to keep himself and his nine-year-old brother out of social services after their dad goes missing. Kat’s work in progress is a YA ghost story with elements of horror that once again focuses on siblings, this time with an older sister trying to protect her...

Ted is joined by Amy Carol Reeves, the author of Ripper, a YA paranormal Gothic novel about the Jack the Ripper murders in Victorian London, as well as its sequels, Renegade and Resurrection. Amy’s work in progress is about a modern widow who tries to grapple with grief through appealing to detailed and rigid Victorian grieving practices. Her main character goes on a journey to England and Brontë country, and while grief is certainly an element of the story, Amy emphasizes that it’s also...

A separate description for a trailer episode feels a little silly, so here’s the transcript instead. -- Hi, my name is Ted Fox, and I’m the author of the novel Schooled, the forthcoming novel Date Week, and the joke book You Know Who’s Awesome? (Not You.) That was literally the title of the book, not an insult directed at you personally. Anyway, when I’m not writing, one of my favorite things to do is talk about writing. And who better to do that with than other writers who are in the...