Curiouser & Curiouser: Twentyish Questions with the Executive Editor — Part Four

Hello Beardies!

For me, June flew by in a blur of library programs, summer reading prizes, and, of course, books, and I can't believe it's July already.  In the midst of the insanity, though, I think last week's heat wave melted the last of Joshua's resistance to my questioning.  For whatever reason, he finally allowed me to finish the interview we started nearly a year ago.  So, four blog posts, one vial of truth serum, and innumerable late-night text messages and cups of coffee later, here's the last part.


Elizabeth: Where do you see yourself, and the The Bearded Scribe, in five years?

Joshua: I see The Bearded Scribe with its own domain and as my actual author website. The blog will still be a part of it, of course, but it will just be one section of it. Of course, that's pendulous upon my being published, but I am ever hopeful.


Elizabeth: Who or what inspires you? How do those inspirations come out in your writing?

Joshua: I pull my inspiration from so many places, it'd be torturous (to you) for me to list them all. Generally speaking, though, I love history, religion and spirituality, folklore, music, art, and classic literary pieces. I pull from them all. I also pull from nature and landscapes I love, settings that are iconic in their own right, and then I add my own twists.

Elizabeth: What is the best writing advice you have ever been given?

Joshua: Don't stop. Simple, yet full of so much weight and power.

Curiouser & Curiouser: Twentyish Questions with the Executive Editor — Part Three

Hello again, Beardies!

As you may recall, I've been attempting to interview our esteemed Executive Editor for several posts now, and my last attempt ended with a bit of a dust-up wherein he accused me of drinking his coffee (the scoundrel!) and nearly wised up to my use of truth serum.  Maybe that long-winded confession about how he ended up at the same college as me was needed, though, because after that, he became much more relaxed and more concise with his answers, and I wasn't forced to use the serum again.  (Thank heavens.  Interrogating my best friend felt a bit invasive, but I kept at it.  I am, I admit, quite shameless.)  This interview still isn't complete, but here's another part.


Elizabeth: How, if at all, does your rural New England background influence your writing?

Joshua: You could say that it had—still has—a lot to do with my writing. New England is saturated in Native American folklore and, of course, famous for its witch trials. The landscape, too, lends itself to great stories, whether they be set in the mountains, forests, swamps, or around the water—even deserts—Maine has it all. The ocean alone has its own mysticism, Maine's coastline dotted with spooky lighthouses and fog-drenched outcroppings of treacherous rock and cliff. And shipwrecks galore. The rivers and lakes even have stories of their own, swimming with life and curses both.

Curiouser & Curiouser: Twentyish Questions with the Executive Editor — Part Two

Hello again, Beardies!

I'm pretty sure you've figured out by now that Joshua is one of my best friends in the world.  In ten or more years, I've discovered that he has but one tragic flaw--he often leaves his coffee cup unattended. Having (finally) sweet-talked him into letting me interview him, he clammed right up as soon as I began interrogating--I mean, politely asking him questions--and refused to give me anything more than his name.  And so it took months to actually get the interview.  I had to wait until he left his coffee cup unattended to spike his brew with truth serum.  He is useless under truth serum.  (Make that two tragic flaws.)  Useless, and talkative.  So very talkative, we're taking two posts just to get through the first question.

When last we left our hero, he had chosen a college...simply because it began with A.  It was a fateful choice, indeed, and, it turns out, and adventure in travel getting there.  Here's part two of the story, straight from our blabbing-under-truth-serum Executive Editor...

Curiouser & Curiouser: Twentyish Questions with the Executive Editor — Part One

Happy weekend, Beardies!

I enjoy many things about my position here at The Bearded Scribe:  Reading, writing, working with our fabulous Fellowship of Scribes...the list goes on.  Perhaps my favorite thing, though, is that in the past year, I've discovered that Joshua absolutely cannot say no to me.  No matter what harebrained scheme I come up with, he's game.  Tonight's post stems from one of my early schemes—I wanted to interview the interviewer.  Joshua always interviews new members of the Fellowship; I wanted to turn the tables on him.  It took months for him to grant this request, but eventually he did.

In doing the interview, though, I discovered anew that Joshua is a master storyteller, and as such, could write an entire post on each of the twenty(ish) questions I sent him.  And so, interviewing the interviewer evolved into a forthcoming special feature for the blog...but more on that later.  For now, the first of many parts of Twenty Questions with the Executive Editor.

Elizabeth: You are a proud son of Maine, but I met you at a small college in the middle of Michigan, where you’d never set foot before our first day. How did that happen?