Category: Writing Life

  • My Favorite 25 Novels of All Time image of tag icon

    Every member of my book club has decided to list our top 25 novels of all time, and in the spirit of that disclosure, I decided to make mine public here at Bookfox. A list of the most important books is like a horoscope reading of your soul. Give me someone’s list, and I’ll tell […]

    December 18, 2023

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  • Year in Reading (2023) image of tag icon

    I did not read as many books as I would have liked this year, but I still read 70. That’s a dip from last year’s total of 100, but in my defense, I did midwife a number of books of other authors through developmental editing and publishing. I also finished editing my own novel, which […]

    December 11, 2023

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  • 5 Reasons Writers Struggle to Share their Work image of tag icon

    Guest Post by Lynsey Patterson While writing is a private act, at some point most writers want to make it public. But some writers struggle with the act of sharing their work with the world. Many writers have no idea of where to start when it comes to self-promotion. Writers do what they do best […]

    July 17, 2023

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  • 10 Ways Writing Helped Me Overcome Addiction & Trauma image of tag icon

    Guest post by Said Shaiye Mary Karr, in THE ART OF MEMOIR, once wrote: “If you think writing a memoir can replace therapy, stop writing and go get therapy.” So I stopped writing and went to therapy. Then I realized therapy wouldn’t be enough. So how did I overcome years of serious addiction and begin […]

    May 30, 2023

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  • Crafting Your Author Bio: 5 Tips for New Writers image of tag icon

    Guest post by Lizeth De La Luz  Congratulations! You are ready to hit a new milestone in your writing career: crafting your author bio. Whether you are submitting to a magazine, contest, agent, publishing house, or finishing up you About You section on your website, your author bio will always be one of the most important things […]

    April 12, 2023

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  • How to do a Jane Austen Literary Pilgrimage image of tag icon

    If you’re a traveling bookworm, Jane Austen’s England will bring the characters and settings in her famous novels to life as you follow her own life story. One of England’s greatest and most celebrated novelists, Jane Austen was born in the late 18th century and grew up in Hampshire in the early 19th century. The […]

    August 29, 2022

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  • The 40 Essential Questions to Ask Your Beta Readers image of tag icon

    I’ve seen a lot of beta reading questions around the internet, and they’re mostly bad. You don’t want to give the same set of questions to every beta reader. It’s best if you hand-select questions for each reader based on what you know about them. For instance, the questions you want to ask a casual […]

    June 13, 2022

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  • 25 Ways to Find Beta Readers (and get great feedback) image of tag icon

    It’s incredibly difficult to find beta readers. It’s almost easier to find an editor, because the relationship is transactional. Money = reading + advice. But with a beta reader, you’re asking someone to commit 5 – 10 hours of their life to your brain and story. For free. That’s a huge commitment, and you have […]

    June 11, 2022

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  • Tertulia Review (Book Recommendation App) image of tag icon

    I learned about Tertulia, the book recommendation app, from the New York Times article. So I decided to try it out. When I downloaded the app, it said there was a waiting list (uh, oh). But when I signed up, I immediately got an invite (although it went to my spam folder, so I didn’t […]

    June 10, 2022

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  • 13 Mistakes Beginning Writers Should Avoid image of tag icon

    1. Present Tense This is the default tense of nearly all beginning writers. The trouble is that few established authors use it. It’s more of an exception than the rule. So when you write your book in present tense, it’s like you’re marking it with a giant stamp that screams to every agent, publishers, and […]

    May 23, 2022

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