In a different kind of episode, Ted is joined by Jim Lang, an emeritus professor of English at Assumption University and current professor of the practice at the University of Notre Dame’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence. Jim is one of Ted’s favorite people to talk writing with in three-dimensional spaces—i.e., in-person, no internet connection needed—because he brings a teacher’s mentality to his work, which probably explains why he’s always up for a conversation about craft. And unlike Te...
Aug 15, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Ted is joined by Nishant Batsha, whose second novel, A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart , was published this month by ecco/HarperCollins. He is also the author of Mother Ocean Father Nation (ecco/HarperCollins), which, among other honors, was named one of the best books of 2022 by NPR. Nishant holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, so it’s no surprise that his fiction draws heavily on real-life people and events. He describes this latest book as a “socialist, anti-colonial coming-of-ag...
Jul 15, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 24
No guest this month, so Ted revisits a previous solo pod, during which he talked about the challenges of navigating the months in between when you submit your final manuscript and when the book actually comes out. In that episode, he shared how, for him, a big part of managing those challenges involves getting started on a new project. Well, it’s now been a year since that finished manuscript was published as his second novel, and the work in progress he introduced on that podcast is something h...
Jun 15, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Ted is joined this month by not one but two amazing guests, Jennifer Acker and Emily Everett. Jennifer is the founder and editor in chief of The Common , an award-winning print and digital literary journal based at Amherst College, and author of the novel The Limits of the World , which was one of three fiction honorees for the Massachusetts Book Award. Emily works with Jennifer as managing editor at The Common . She is also a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Fiction and author of the no...
May 15, 2025•35 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Ted is joined by Maggie Su, whose debut novel, Blob: A Love Story , was published in January to praise from The New York Times Book Review , Publishers Weekly (starred review), The Washington Post , The New Yorker , and Goodreads, among others. Maggie and Ted begin by discussing the short story and dramatic origins of Blob , which is a work of speculative fiction about a young woman who tries to mold a sentient blob into her perfect partner. The conversation then turns to the challenge of starti...
Mar 15, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Ted is joined by Annie B. Jones, the author of the soon-to-be-released Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put . A book of essays, it draws on her experiences living in a small town in the area where she grew up. Those experiences include owning and running an independent bookstore, The Bookshelf, through which she also talks books, small business, and life in the South as the host of the store’s popular podcast, From the Front Porch . In one of her first interviews about her book—and y...
Feb 15, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Ted is joined by Angela Montoya, whose debut novel, Sinner’s Isle , received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly and trade reviews from Booklist and The Bulletin . Her second novel, A Cruel Thirst , was published last month and has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and an Editor’s Pick: Best YA of December by Amazon Books. Angela also co-hosts the podcast Of the Publishing Persuasion , which is where she and Ted first talked. He had so much fun that he asked her ...
Jan 15, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Ted is joined by Katherine J. Igoe, a writer and editor who’s been freelancing since 2011. At the moment, she is also a contributing syndications editor at Marie Claire . She has written for The New York Times , The Cut , Cosmopolitan , InStyle , Parents , and The Boston Globe , among others. Katherine and Ted have known each other for a number of years and have bonded over their shared love of the written word—along with the challenges said love presents. One of these is how to make a living fr...
Dec 15, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 18
A short post-election break from our regularly scheduled programming. Website Mentioned in This Episode: Postcards to Voters: postcardstovoters.org Working Drafts episodes and info for requesting transcripts as well as more details about Ted and his books are available on his website, thetedfox.com .
Nov 15, 2024•4 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Ted is joined by Kirthana Ramisetti, author of the novels Advika and the Hollywood Wives and Dava Shastri’s Last Day , a Good Morning America Book Club selection optioned by Max. Her books have been praised by TIME , Cosmopolitan , The Washington Post , Buzzfeed , The Associated Press, and others. Beyond her novels, Kirthana’s writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Atlantic , Elle , and Salon . She just finished the copyediting stage for...
Oct 15, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Ted is joined by Laura Hankin, an author, screenwriter, and performer. Her books include The Daydreams , one of the “Best Beach Reads of 2023” ( Harper’s Bazaar , Cosmopolitan , and more); Happy & You Know It , a Book of the Month and Library Reads selection; and A Special Place for Women , as seen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . Laura and Ted’s conversation begins with her most recent book (and second Book of the Month pick) One-Star Romance , which The Washington Post calls “real, ...
Sep 15, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Ted is joined by Alyssa Neece, his real-life coworker who shares his passion for making funny stuff outside of the office. For Alyssa, though, it’s not about writing books but coming up with and performing comedy for audiences. Alyssa’s comedy journey started in college but didn’t really take off until some years later when they received a simple piece of advice: Focus less on what they should do and more on how they wanted to feel—and Alyssa realized they wanted to laugh more. That led them to ...
Aug 18, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Ted is joined this month by Lauren Aliza Green, author of the just-released novel The World After Alice , a “most anticipated” book by Vogue , Town & Country , and LitHub , among others. Her chapbook, A Great Dark House , won the Poetry Society of America’s Chapbook Fellowship, and she was named to Forbes ’ 2024 30 Under 30 list. After a quick overview of The World After Alice —which Ann Napolitano called “A lovely debut novel that glimmers with fine writing and notes of human insight”—Laure...
Jul 15, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 13
To mark the release of his new rom-com, Date Week , which is out June 25, Ted is joined this month not by another writer but his longtime literary agent, Jessica Sinsheimer, the person responsible for helping him develop and then selling both this novel and his first, Schooled . An agent at Context Literary Agency, Jessica has been campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004 and is known for co-creating #MSWL and ManuscriptWishList.com —and, like Ted, for drinking way too much coffee. The co...
Jun 15, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 12
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 able...
May 15, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 11
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 the...
Apr 15, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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 novel, ...
Mar 15, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 9
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 publi...
Feb 15, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
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 nam...
Jan 15, 2024•16 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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 Lakes. The b...
Dec 15, 2023•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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...
Oct 15, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 record ...
Sep 15, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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 the f...
Aug 15, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 3
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 yo...
Jul 15, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 2
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 fun, ...
Jun 15, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1
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 midst of...
May 15, 2023•2 min
