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Thomas Fox Averill

Goodreads Author

Born

in Berkeley, The United States

Website

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/english/taverill

Member Since

December 2010

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An O. Henry Award story writer, Thomas Fox Averill is Writer-in-Residence at Washburn University of Topeka, KS. His novel, rode, published by the University of New Mexico Press, was named Outstanding Western Novel of 2011 as part of the Western Heritage Awards. His recent work, "Garden Plots," consists of poems, meditations, and short-short stories about gardens, gardeners, garden design, plants, and the human relationship to nature. They can be found on his website. His most recent novel is A Carol Dickens Christmas, published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2014.

Previous novels are Secrets of the Tsil Café, and The Slow Air of Ewan MacPherson. His story collections are Ordinary Genius (University of Nebraska Press) and Seeing Mon ...more

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If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Thomas Fox Averill Although this sounds self-centered, I would love to travel to the world of my next novel, Found--documents from the life of Nell Johnson Doerr. I've o…moreAlthough this sounds self-centered, I would love to travel to the world of my next novel, Found--documents from the life of Nell Johnson Doerr. I've often wondered what I'd find, what I'd see that I didn't think of, and I'd love to ask my characters, or observe, at least, whether I got things right. I'm fascinated by Lawrence, Kansas, from Territorial days of Bleeding Kansas, through its early settlement as the 34th Star. Such time travel would interest me in many ways. I've "Wordled" the novel, and that was interesting, because it's like visiting a map of the language chosen to create the world of the book--it's a kind of revisiting that helps me see things I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. I've "wordled" poetry and short stories, too, and find it visually fascinating.(less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Thomas Fox Averill I've rarely had writer's block because I subscribe to the William Stafford school of writing, which means we write in order to think, just as we dream…moreI've rarely had writer's block because I subscribe to the William Stafford school of writing, which means we write in order to think, just as we dream in order to understand what's inside our brains. Do we have dreamer's block? No. Stafford said that the best thing for writer's block is to "lower your standards." I agree. If you're writing to discover, rather than to excel, then anything is acceptable.(less)

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Thomas Fox Averill’s books

Average rating: 3.73 · 673 ratings · 131 reviews · 19 distinct works • Similar authors

	Secrets of the Tsil Cafe 3.58 avg rating — 336 ratings — published 2001 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rode 3.85 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Carol Dickens Christmas: A Novel 3.87 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Slow Air of Ewan Macpherson 3.60 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2003 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Found Documents from the Life of Nell Johnson Doerr: A Novel 4.28 avg rating — 32 ratings — published 2018 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ordinary Genius 3.87 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2005 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What Kansas Means to Me: Twentieth-Century Writers on the Sunflower State 3.64 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 1990 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Seeing Mona Naked: And Other Stories 4.57 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1989 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kansas Matters: Twenty-First-Century Writers on the Sunflower State by Thomas Fox Averill (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Leslie VonHolten (Editor) 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	William Jennings Bryan Oleander's Guide to Kansas it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1996 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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A Carol Dickens Christmas: Notes

I was at the Iola (Kansas) Family Reading Festival yesterday, doing a keynote, but also talking about A Carol Dickens Christmas. Someone asked about how much research I had to do for the novel. This is not one of my most highly researched, I thought, until I answered the question.

First, I had to know my Dickens. His A Christmas Carol, of course, but also his other Christmas novels (I highly recomm Read more of this blog post »

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