Why did you begin writing? What inspired you to begin? / How long have you been writing or when did you start?
I’ve been writing pretty much since I could string letters together (say, five years old). My mom is a devout book enthusiast and, growing up, she encouraged lots of reading and imagination-building. My first stories were as outlandish as you’d imagine a kid could conjure, but as I got older they began to hover around what I was interested in: fishing, hunting, trapping, etc. I didn’t start writing regularly until I was around nineteen, when I discovered that various outdoor magazines would actually pay you to write articles. It seemed like I was beating the system somehow – doing the things I loved outdoors, and then getting paid to write about them. The articles started out in gopher trapping (the pocket gopher is a supreme pest where I grew up in Wyoming) and migrated to fly fishing, which is the subject I deal with mostly these days. I guess that means I’ve been writing seriously for eight years, and I’ve loved every minute of it.
How many books have you written and which one is your favorite?
As of right now I’ve only written one book, It’s Only Fishing. Naturally, it’s my favorite. I do have another book coming out – likely in 2024 – that will continue the conversation of fly fishing in Alaska, so I’m looking forward to that.
Have all of your books been about fishing?
Mostly. I have a new yet firm addiction to upland bird hunting, and my next book will feature a few stories about this pursuit. I also do a bit of novel writing – mostly middle-grade adventure stuff – but I’ve resolved to not publish a novel until I get a literary agent. I’ve come close a few times but have yet to seal the deal.
Why did you choose to write in the outdoor / fishing genre specifically?
I never made a conscious decision to write about the outdoors, I think I just gravitated towards the genre naturally. I hunt and fish devotedly, therefore I write about it. These occupations and the places they happen in demand reflection and introspection (at least, if you shut up long enough to listen to such things), both of which translate well to the written word. After a good day in the field or on the water, I feel compelled to capture the memory somehow beyond a photograph, and writing is what I’ve turned to. I also feel some obligation to share that experience with others, maybe to help them replicate it, or maybe just to give them a vicarious thrill. The hunting story – and by extension, the fishing story – is the oldest tale known to man. Maybe the telling of such tales is as essential to being human as walking upright is.
What is one thing you wish you knew before beginning outdoor/fish writing?
Nobody’s going to hand you anything, even after you’ve had some success in publishing stuff. You have to take the initiative, and you have to be tireless in self-advocacy. You also have to set goals for yourself. If you do this on a freelance basis, you’re your own boss. You have to set the bar high for yourself and challenge yourself in meeting that. Maybe you want to get a magazine assignment for some exotic fishing destination. Maybe you want to get published in an esteemed outdoor journal like Gray’s or The Drake. (Both of these are examples of actual goals I’ve set, and have been fortunate enough to meet). If you don’t enter a constant cycle of goal-setting and goal-attaining, you risk stagnation.
Is your being an author a full-time job, or do you have a daily gig too?
I hope, someday, that writing can be a full-time gig for me. As of now, though, I’m a high school social studies teacher by day and a writer the rest of the time.
How do you manage a work-life balance as an author?
For me it’s pretty easy being that I have a 9-to-5. The divide between writing life and work life happens at 6:30 am every weekday morning because it has to. It’s harder to divide writing life and personal life, because the two so often bleed into one another. I’ll write while I’m hanging out with my wife and newborn daughter, I’ll solve writing problems in my head at the dinner table, that sort of thing. I don’t mind that so much because writing hardly ever feels like work; it feels more like my factory setting.
What is your writing process like?
Most weekday mornings, I get up at 4 am and start writing somewhere around 4:15. If things are good I’ll write steadily until 6:30 when it’s time to get ready for work. If things are bad, I’ll get distracted and do things like check stocks or dream about Caesar Guerini shotguns. Either way, I discovered early on that I’m a morning person, and I feel that my best writing is done before the sun shows up. If it’s a weekend day during fishing or bird hunting season, I don’t get much writing done because I’m either on the water or in the grouse covers. Sometimes I’ll bring a notebook with me, though, and wax poetic during idle times.
When I graduated college and got my first “big kid” job, I complained heavily about the lack of writing time this left me with. My fiancee, Emmie (wife now), suggested something that’s always stuck with me. “You have to make time,” she said. So – I did. I started getting up between 4 and 5:30 am and writing before work. I became hugely productive by my own standards simply because I was setting aside time every day. That’s really what you have to do. Time is everything. So many people say they want to write but they don’t make the time; they somehow think it’ll show up conveniently like a lottery check in the mail or something.
What draws you to fly fishing, both personally and professionally?
The biggest draws of fly fishing for me are the questions it poses. What’s lurking under the surface? What’s around the next bend? I’m endlessly lured by such wonderings, and having a fly rod in my hand adds legitimacy to the quest of finding out. I’m not a big fan of hiking just to hike, for example; but stick a 5-weight in my hand and I’ll climb to the ends of the earth. It’s also hard not to love the quarry of fly fishing, all the way from regal Arctic grayling to something drab like the common carp. Fish have personalities and idiosyncrasies that I just love, and I think it’s nothing short of magic that we can get brief glimpses of their world whenever we’re fortunate enough to shake hands with them. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the traditions of fly fishing, as well. To cast a fly rod and know I’m carrying on a heritage that’s hundreds, thousands of years old is immensely fulfilling – it’s the satisfaction of using a well-honed yet simple tool, and attempting to use it well.
Have you ever gotten “writer’s block”? If so, how did you cure it? / What has helped or hindered you most when writing a book?
Writer’s block is inevitable if you write in a serious way. I take a few preemptive measures to help myself with this hurdle. First, I try to always have a few projects I’m working on (one is usually a large book project, the others might be smaller magazine assignments or short stories that I can piddle around with). This is useful because when I hit a wall on one thing, I can pop over to something different and change my state of mind.
Another antidote comes from Ernest Hemingway: “All you have to do is write one true sentence,” he once said. This sounds stupidly simple at first (because it is), but it’s also profoundly helpful to the struggling writer. If you get stuck, remember that all you have to do is write one true sentence. Think of the most honest story you can tell. Then write a sentence. And another.
My final cure comes from Craig Johnson, author of the popular Longmire series, and the late Michael Crichton, the visionary mind behind such masterpieces as Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain. Johnson, a Wyomingite like me, says: “I’ve never met a ditch-digger who didn’t dig because he wasn’t feeling the ditch-digging that day,” while Crichton declares that “Work inspires inspiration.” Both of these gentlemen speak to the value of buckling down and working hard. Writing is work. It looks a little different than the manual farm labor I grew up doing, but it can require the same grit to do well. Writer’s block can appear like a cinderblock wall that needs to get knocked down, or an irrigation ditch full of mud and cow splatter that needs to be scraped clean. Either way, the only way to do the job is to get in – and do it.
Who is your biggest inspiration or mentor?
With everything I write, I have to take a moment to thank both of my parents. My mom gave me the imagination to write in the first place, and my dad gave me a work ethic to buckle down and finish the writing. My wife, Emmie, of course, is my number one fan and the person I try hardest to impress. My new daughter, Cordelia – brand new, in fact – is my latest inspiration.
Jeremy Wade, host of the popular Animal Planet show River Monsters, has been a huge inspiration to me ever since my brother and I stayed up late one Sunday night to watch. He’s not your typical airheaded television host – he’s a hardcore fisherman and observant naturalist. In almost every fishing mission I undertake, I ask myself, “What would Jeremy do?” and if the answer is yes, I do it. I have to calibrate my actions a bit these days with a new baby, but the inspiration lingers. My first book, It’s Only Fishing, features an entire chapter about the impact Jeremy has had on my life. I was actually able to send a copy of the book to him, and he reached out to tell me he enjoyed it. That was one of the coolest experiences of my life.
Fly fishing writers like John Gierach and Ted Leeson are obvious other inspirations, of course, as are writers like Bill Bryson and Stephen King and Morten Strøksnes.
When did you begin fly fishing?
I want to say I began fly fishing around the age of thirteen or fourteen. It began like I’m sure it began for thousands of other young men: with one of Dad’s old fly rods tucked away in some hidden corner of the garage finally coming to light like a lost relic. From there I didn’t get into fly fishing so much as fly tying. Dad showed my brother and I how and from then on I became obsessed with the tying vice. Then one Christmas shortly thereafter I got a brand new 5-weight. I haven’t been the same since.
Do you remember your first published piece? How long did it take you to get there?
I remember my first published piece very well. It was an article about gopher trapping for Trapper’s World magazine. One of my many summer jobs in high school was running my own gopher trapping business. The pocket gopher is the king of pests in Great Plains farm country, and as such I had no shortage of customers. I became so proficient at trapping these critters (at least, with my inflated sixteen-year-old ego) that I thought I could share my expertise with others. I whipped something up and sent it off and was surprised to get a check for $150. For reference, I got paid two bucks per gopher that I trapped, so the writing paid handsomely by comparison.
With so many publications moving virtual, how does this play a role in your publishing process?
I appreciate that virtual publications open up fly fishing to more people, but I still believe that the best writing is on the page (the physical page). As such, physical publication is what I strive for the most.
What, to you, are the most important elements of good outdoor and fishing writing?
John Gierach once said that the best fishing stories aren’t about fishing. I’ve found this to be a good rule to follow. The ol’ “Me and Joe” stories are only entertaining for about ten seconds and then they become flat. People relate more to stories that interweave the human experience; friendships, loves and losses, etc. Another important element is specificity; it was van Gogh that once said, “Exaggerate the essential and leave the obvious vague,” and James Joyce that said, “In the particular is the universal.” It’s boring to read general descriptions (“The sun was blinding”) just as it’s boring to read cliches (“The reel screamed”) . It’s far more interesting when you, as a writer, can spin something like, “clouds fat as Spanish warships marched overhead,” or “the steelhead broke the water as if angled for low-orbit.” Readers recognize specificity – we’ve all seen those Spanish warship clouds whether we recognized them that way or not.
What’s your favorite writing snack or drink?
Easy. Coffee and shortbread. If I find myself writing in the evenings, a glass of Scotch is generally welcomed. Lagavulin 16 is a favorite.
Do you listen to anything while you write? If so, what is your favorite?
I can’t write very well in anything but silence. Sometimes I’ll do an instrumental soundtrack, but that’s rare.
Did you grow up around fishing and writing? Please share any thoughts about your family or upbringing that may have led you to become an author.
As previously mentioned, my mom gave me a strong love of my own imagination and my dad gave me a love of the outdoors. The two go hand-in-hand. My mom dabbled in writing a little bit but I wouldn’t say I was born into it. I think, more than anything, the overwhelming appreciation for life that my parents gave me is what led to my path as a writer.
Any tips for other aspiring outdoor / fishing authors?
This question gives me a strong bout of imposter syndrome. Who am I to dole out advice? Looking back on what’s made me successful, though – in meeting my own goals, at least – it all comes down to passion. You have to make time, you have to challenge yourself, and you have to be tireless at maintaining that. You can’t do that without passion. There’s no magic bullet out there; no one-liner of sage wisdom to make the stars align. You have to work hard. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. A lot.
Who do you trust for objective and constructive criticism of your work?
My wife, Emmie, is my most reliable critic. She’ll tell me if something is boring or confusing or trite. Conversely, she’ll tell me if something works well. My brother-in-law, Alex, is another trusted reader. He’s one of the best writers I know, actually, and has read pretty much every book in existence. These two are really the only people that read my stuff before it’s published anywhere.
How do you use social media as an author?
I struggle with this. Social media has many positive attributes – it’s how I’ve gotten into contact with many readers and good friends – but it’s also a huge time suck. I prefer to focus on the writing rather than the marketing, which is possibly to my own detriment but I also think it makes my writing better. I’m not necessarily trying to impress anyone. I think that if you prioritize strong writing, a strong following will consequently follow. I don’t believe it can work in the other direction. You see all the time Instagram influencers with a million-plus followers who come out with books – and most of them are unreadable.
Where can people find your work? (Retail store, online store, social media handles, etc)
As far as articles go, I regularly contribute to such mags as Fly Fisherman, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Alaska Magazine, and others, so keep your eyes peeled in those. For books, you can find me on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., or at my website which is www.josephdjacksonwriter.com. My Instagram handle is @saveaworm_fishafly.
