The Official Blog of Joseph Baker

Hello Everyone,

This is Jill again. So, Joel is working really hard on getting his new book ready for publication and being with his family but, he didn't want to leave this blog empty for today so, I'm going to post an interview that was published in the local magazine, N.C Life while we were at Duke :


This morning I had the pleasure of talking with the man who is making reading cool again, novelist Joel Baker. He is visiting Duke this weekend to meet fans and sign some books. We met at the local coffee shop. I know he is a fan of Starbucks Iced Americano's which they don't have here but, it was a favorite spot of mine. He arrived in a 2 seater Audi convertible with the top down, completing the look with a pair of black shades. If you didn't know his story you'd be surprised to see the man in that car take a second before he got out and grab two steel crutches and carefully get out of the car while balancing on the crutches for support. Joel's look offered quite a paradox to his personality. The dark hair and glasses paired with the tattoed writing sprawled across his neck and several piercing adorning his face gave him a dark edgy look. However the light blue polo shirt-- showing the right amount of man cleavage--and loose fitting jeans(that should only look that good on the mannequins) made him seem open and friendly.

Before we sit down, he asks me what I suggest and in the end we both end up with iced coffees. Once we grab a booth inside he unstraps his crutches and leaves them on the floor and takes of his shade, for the first time I can see those bright blue eyes that drive his fans wild--and yes they are bright. I have a total understanding of why Joel Baker has created the genre of sexy novelist.

Mr. Baker just released his collection of short stories, ironically called Coffee Break and know he is working on the final stages of a sequel to Blemishes called, The Truth About Forests. My first question for him is how does he get it all done.

"I was in jail for about 6 months and during that time all I did was write, like you know I had, pen and paper and I just started writing everything down. So, when I got out I had like 40 of those legal pads you know, filled with writing. I spent a lot of time afterwards sitting on the front porch of my house typing up the stuff that I liked. I was going through a lot of family stuff and by the end of last summer I had about 44 short stories and 12 novels."

The jailtime Mr.Baker so comfortably alludes to was for charges that he was involved in prostitution but, he was found wrongfully convicted and released after 6 months. However his trouble didn't stop there when a month later he was involved in a domestic dispute
he was stabbed in the face and the next month he was hospitalized after being poisened and pushed out his 2nd story window. While he doesn't ususally talk about it, he opened up a little for us.

"It was just a scary experience, I was lying there and I thought I was going about to know what heaven looked like and I thought the sky would be the last thing I ever saw. All I could think about was my children how I wanted to see them grow up and be apart of their lives and then I blacked out. I woke up in the hospital and . . . it eas just a scary feeling. "
said Joel.

He was told he would never walk again but, a year later he is getting around with the aid of crutches. The incident set him behind in his work but, now he is back and writing books that capture our heart. Some of the short stories in Coffee Break deal with some of the most common themes in Joel's books; substance abuse.

" I had my first cigarette when I was 11 and from there it was just downhill. I know a lot about drugs and what the experience can be like and that's what I write about, what I know it's unfortunate but, I don't know it seems to be working for me."

With all the focus on abuse and drugs I wonder how he brings his past up to his children.

"My older children, who were adopted when they were young children do have memories of me when I would get drunk or really high and they know I don't want them going through that at all but, it's not something I plan on hiding from them . . . I've found that causes more problems, when you try to hide things."

Speaking of children, people who follow the novelist have noticed a new addition the inked bracelet around his ankle, which includes the name of all 10 of his children. With uniuqe names like Hope and Christopher Robin it was no surprise to see the pretty yet, uncommon name Dahlia Beth. I asked him about her name and what kind of baby she is.

"I was born 2nd out of 18 children but, I mean my mother only raised about 7 of them and we all had two names but, thier mother wasn't having that but, I just thought it was a pretty name. I haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I would have liked but overall she is a pretty good baby. She is so beautiful, she looks just like her mother and I just absolutely adore her."

Joel says that on top of getting The Truth About Forests released he is also working on his autobiography and a few other novels that are not about his usual topics.

At the end of our interview I was very surprised out how easy it was to become comfortable around him. I even teased him by asking if he was wearing contacts. He laughed an said he wasn't but his only pair of contacts are actually brown. Go figure.


Joel Baker's Favorites

Color : Green

Song : Her Eyes- Pat Monohan

Book : Catcher in the Rye

Author : Kurt Vonnegut

TV show : One Tree Hill

Sport : Soccer

Sport's Team : Steelers

Part of a woman : Her smile

~N*C LIFE~