We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josiah Mauger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josiah below.

Hi Josiah, thanks for joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I was greatly overworked, often working at least 12+ hours a day 5 days a week, and what I made couldn’t even pay the bills. I enjoyed my job and my bosses, but working that much without getting properly rewarded for my time and effort put a great toll on my body. Realizing that this was unsustainable, I started looking for other jobs. Anything that would take me away from the long hours and little pay. But it being 2022 there very few jobs available within my criteria.

I knew I needed a change, but what could I do if a new job wasn’t an option. So I tried a few things. I started making Youtube videos. I recorded myself playing video games, thinking maybe this could work for me. But after making about 10 videos I was more stressed out, and I wasn’t enjoying making them. I had to force myself to record and edit every video. I found this would not work for me. So I tried something different.

I follow a lot of web comics on Instagram. So I decided to make my own. And the Pocket Dimension Comics was born. But that was short lived as well. I greatly enjoyed using Photoshop to draw and bring my comics to life, but after a little while, the enjoyment left. It was better than forcing myself to make Youtube videos. But it was difficult writing with only 4 panels. Sure I could have done more, but I wanted people to have a quick laugh, not have to read every page. So after a while I stopped making those too.

Now it was late December 2022. I was still overwork, stressed, and not making enough. But I heard God’s voice saying “Write a book.” I thought it was a crazy idea, because I am not a writer. Because of my English 11 teacher in highschool I hated writing. She made me feel that my writing was horrible and worthless. So after that class I dodged writing at every opportunity. But God kept bringing my back to the idea.

I thought might as well give it a try. If I don’t enjoy it I can just move on to something else. So I started writing a novel. I spent days planning out the story and characters. Rewriting the first page at least 5 times. Slowly but surely I kept adding to it. Developing the story and increasing the word count. Until I got to 40,000 words.

That was amazing! So many words, so much writing, so much time! At that point I had been writing for about 6 months and I wasn’t even halfway through my plot yet. Looking over everything I had writing I knew I would have to rewrite most of it, as I had become better at writing over the 6 months. But, I wanted something quicker. Some way I could get more practice writing before continuing my book. And in the summer of 2023 the idea for my podcast, The Voice of Adventure, was born.

My wife and I were at a theme park eating lunch. The area we were in was Italy themed and the dinning area had a stage where musicians occasionally played. Sitting there eating lunch I imaged myself standing on a stage telling a crowd an action packed story. Throughout the day, my wife and I slowly developed the idea to write short stories and post them online for people to listen to. After that day I started writing these short stories, record myself reading them, and post the on Spotify. The Voice of Adventure went live with its first episode in January 2024, and had a new episode about once a month.

I never knew if this would actually work. I knew it was possible for a podcast to be successful and provide what I needed, but who knew when that could happen. I just knew that God led me to writing and wanted me to become a storyteller. So, that’s what I am becoming. I still have a long way to go, but I know I’m on the right path now.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Josiah Mauger. I write, edit, and voice every story for The Voice of Adventure Podcast. I started a storytelling podcast because I wanted to share the worlds and character that filled my mind with others.

I never planned on become a writing or voice actor. Back in highschool I even hated writing. I would do the bare minimum with any writing assignment because my English 11 teacher made me believe I was awful at writing. I did everything I could not to write. But, many years later, while being very overworked, I tried few things to bring fulfillment back into my life, and ended up starting a book and writing short stories. Oh, how the Lord works.

I put a lot of work and effort into each short story. From coming up with ideas, writing them so everyone can enjoy them, to reading the whole story into a microphone in my closet. All of this so that anyone can hop into these worlds with me. With the rise of AI there was the option of using it to help writing stories or come up with ideas, but I feel like that cheapens the story. To me that felt like an easy way out. So I kept doing everything for my podcast.

I love The Voice of Adventure and the story I have written so far. They are fun, intriguing, and an adventure.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Back in 11th grade english class my professor drilled the idea that I was a horrible writer into my head. My teacher played favorites, and anyone who could write well/eloquently was one of her favorites. I was not bad at writing but I was far below what she wanted. It didn’t help that most of our assignments were influenced by old english literature, something I had no desire to read or understand. Every class and assignment helped enforce the idea that I was couldn’t write.

Going into college I carried this weight. I still wrote as little as possible dodging it at every chance. After college I thought I was finally free, I thought I had let go of this weight I carried, but when I started writing I found it was still there. The first few months were the roughest, with the thought that I am a horrible writer rising anytime I thought about the book I wanted to work on. But now after almost 2 years of writing I have stopped listening to that voice. It still comes from time to time, but I refused to listen. Instead I look at what I have created to prove the voice wrong.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, building the world and sharing it with people is the best part about writing stories. My mind is incredible imaginative. And using that imagination to build a world where my stories exist is amazing. I can dream up crazy scenarios and put words to them, bringing what is in my mind onto paper (or google docs, since I type everything). But the absolute best part is share these stories with someone. They get to experience what I came up with and I get to interact with them. That is the best part about creating.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Josiahtheauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VoiceofAdventure
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6VYVU5aNGSP800FJWtX5YX
  Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/72fad1cb-15f2-429b-9350-090dcb79ccad/the-voice-of-adventure

Image Credits

Background Images by Wirestock on Freepik