I. R. Fox

Working through my edits to complete before I start querying in January.

I wrote 800 words this morning, and finished another scene - good progress!

The internal critic is very loud, telling me it’s terrible and everyone will hate it. But I’m trying my hardest to ignore that voice.

#amwriting

Brilliant event last night - it was a joy to hear @misterkristoff.bsky.social speak about the Empire series.

Shock of the night was that Aaron and Baptiste weren’t meant to be *a thing* 😱😭💔

Seriously though, these books traumatise and inspire me in equal measure. One of the best I’ve ever read.

I’m literally vibrating with excitement. I’m also listening to lofi metal—something which sounds like it shouldn’t work, and yet is SO RIGHT to accompany this story…

A kindle showing the cover of Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff.

IT. IS. TIME! The release I’ve been most excited for all year.

Hard copy coming from Illumicrate but I’m not lugging it around in my handbag, so getting stuck into the ebook straight away!

A picture of a red moon with a tower and the steps leading to it, in black and white The caption says "The keep and keeper"

I lost the framed original of this while I was going through St Pancras on Sunday Nov 2nd around 3pm. Would love if it had been found by anyone?

Hand holding a hardback copy of The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson.

Midweek book delivery! Excited to get stuck in to the latest from @rainewilson.bsky.social. The cover art is gorgeous 😍

I am heading home from a fabulous @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social and it is OFFICIALLY PUBLICATION WEEK 🥳🥳🥳

If you're in the area, please do come see me on Thurs in St Andrews & make me sign things??

We will never forget Todd (Todd… Todd… Todd…) 🤣

Podcasts: 🔈
Stake Knife
SFF Addicts

Anime: ✨
Ruruoni Kenshin

Games: 🎮
What Remains of Edith Finch

Also want to share all the recommendations I was given by fellow writers:

Books: 📚
Kings of the Wyld - Nicholas Eames
Sons of Darkness - Gourav Mohanty
Perilous Times - Thomas D Lee
Hangsaman - Shirley Jackson
The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison
The Water Outlaws - SL Huang

Fresh from @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social. Such a brilliant weekend where I met many fantastic, talented people.

Special shoutout to @jordanacosta.co and @adrianmgibson.bsky.social for all the advice and support.

I’m feeling creatively refreshed and ready for whatever comes next!

Fab to meet you too, and thank you! I added The Bone Raiders to my Christmas wishlist yesterday, defo excited to read it 🤩

What’s the last book you read that really made you laugh?

Looking for recommendations to lighten up my TBR!

For me it was Voyage of the Damned by @franceswrites.bsky.social (genius, no notes) and The Yakuza’s Bias manga by Teki Yatsuda.

#booksky

Excitedly reviewing the @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social programme - so many interesting panels and discussions will be taking place.

To kick things off, I am SO looking forward to the Fountain Pens & Stationery workshop on Thursday evening! Can’t wait to geek out over pens and pretty notebooks ✨🖋️📓

The countdown to @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social is on!

I’m excited to be heading down to Brighton on Thursday for a packed weekend—let me know if you’re going too and what part of the programme you’re most excited for 🥰

I had grand plans for my non-working day: taking myself for brunch and editing a huge chunk of Goldweaver.

But I have the flu. I’m so frustrated because I work hard to have this free time for my writing. Sadly my brain isn’t up to it today.

So I guess I’ll stay in bed and play otome instead.

This beauty arrived today - excited to delve into more of @shaunalawless.bsky.social fabulous storytelling!

Recently read - Happiness by Aminatta Forma

Dealing with themes of displacement and hostility to migration, this was a very timely read. Set in my local area so I particularly enjoyed how easily I could visualise the setting and landmarks mentioned!

I finally finished Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind & Blossom. 110+ hours and I loved every second! I will never forget the Shinsengumi 💔

And now I am so ready for Illusion of Itehari to release this week - excited! Created by the same team as the Piofiore games aka my favourite otoge of all time. 🤩

Recently read - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

A sweeping, expansive account of Korean immigrant families living in Japan through the 20th century.

Recently read - Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst

It wasn’t until I finished this that I realised it’s based on a true story. A chronicle of love between two flawed people who were desperate for something beyond the ordinary.

Recently read - The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews

Haunting and atmospheric, set in an under-appreciated and oft misunderstood period of English history. I really enjoyed this one!

Massive thanks to the very splendid @elizachanwrites.bsky.social for reading THE SALT ORACLE 🖤🌊🖤

Sign the Petition Convince Audible to revise it's New Royalty Model

chng.it/J9WppVQ9ZC

Please consider signing this petition to protest Amazon’s new royalty model plans which, like everything else these days, fucks over writers.

I did enjoy it! I found the slightly distant third person narrative style a bit jarring, but the description and worldbuilding was exquisite.

Human Authored Survey - The Society of Authors We're looking for your opinions on schemes which certify that novels or books have been fully created by humans. Complete our survey here.

There are ongoing discussions in various places about schemes to certify books have been written by actual people, as opposed to being AI slop.

The Society of Authors is running a quick, simple survey to gauge opinion on this, open to members and non-members.
societyofauthors.org/2025/07/11/h...

Two days left on retreat in Devon and I’ve got four scenes left to write in my reworked Chapters 1-5.

Finally getting to grips with this section of the manuscript felt so daunting. It’s very satisfying to make progress.

Of course I left the hardest scenes til last…!

#writingcommunity #author

Recently read - Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro’s work always makes me think - often I take time afterwards to reflect and read reviews before I gather my thoughts. Klara and the Sun was no different. It’s a story that will stay with me for a long time. Beautiful, bittersweet.

Write a novel, they said.
It will be fun, they said.

It IS fun.
But it’s also really, really hard.

I finished a structural review of my manuscript last night.

Now I’m staring down the barrel of cutting a POV character, rewriting huge chunks of the opening section and introducing lots of new lore.

And I’ve got to do all that in LESS chapters than I currently have.

#writingcommunity #author