Josh Strnad's Blog

**LAST TIME ON THE ADVENTURES OF JOSH STRNAD**

Rachel and I are in a very busy season of life right now– anyone with young children can attest to how they absorb one’s free time (in the best way)– but I also have several side projects now sponging up my spare minutes early in the morning before the kids get up and late at night after they go to bed.

For one thing, along with a friend of mine, the estimable Mr. Jose Cruz, I’ve started a literary magazine (as one does). For another, I’ve started...

And now for, in the immortal words of Monty Python, something completely different.

First, a prologue. My brain is dumb sometimes. My time for my own creative work is limited these days, and there is all kinds of writing I feel I ought to be doing in that time– I have a backlog of stories I want to write: stories that A. have something worthwhile to say, B. could be sold and published to make me and my family a little extra money, or (what is best) C. stories which include a little of column A a...

This is old news at this point, but last time I posted here I was in the process of helping fellow writer Matt Masucci read and curate submissions for our Hurricane Ian relief charity anthology, Monstorm. Well, the book is finished and out now (has been for a couple months), Sorry about the slow blogging (although I expect anyone likely to see the announcement here already knows me in person or is connected with me on other social media).

Monstorm contains 20 weather-themed scary stories, repres...

Well, that escalated quickly.

Quick update for those not intimately involved with my life: Yes, my region was hit by hurricane Ian. Yes, it’s kind of a mess down here. No, my own home was not severely damaged. Yes, my family is ok.

Yes, it will take time and work for everything to return to normal. Storms are like that.

So. Anyway.

I’ve recently been blessed to join up with a local chapter of the Horror Writers Association (we meet only a few minutes away from the library where I work), and it’s...

Let me tell you a story about my daughter. Mind, this is not THE story about my daughter; there will be (Lord willing) many more (and more interesting) to come. But it is the first one, and since she is not able to tell it, that job falls to me.

This particular story starts a while ago– back in December. No… actually let’s start further back. I don’t want to make this all about me, but you need to understand from the start that I really, really wanted a little girl. Years ago, when Rachel and I ...

*Blows dust off this thing and taps microphone* Hello, hello. Testing, 1-2-3.

First, the obvious. It’s been a while. Things have been crazy. 2020 and 2021, amiright?

I’m not going to try to summarize my “years in books” here as I have in the past– suffice to say I read a lot of ‘em, some of which I liked very much indeed. I won’t attempt to give a play-by play of the past several years, but here’s a quick highlight reel for those I don’t have regular contact with: The past couple years included ...

Without going into a ton of detail here, 2019 was an unusually hard one for the Strnads. We’ve been very blessed by friends and family who have come alongside us through our struggles (God has indeed been very good to us, and sometimes hard times are a means to highlight His blessings), but as the year comes to a close I can’t help but utter a hearty “good riddance.” In the midst of it all, Goodreads tells me I read 58 books over the past year (counting all 20 original Goosebumps children’s...

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but listen. This one is for you. Pull your chair closer. Sit up straight and pay attention.

You with me? Good.

It’s ok to struggle. It’s ok to feel weak, to be overwhelmed. It’s ok to look at the people around you, at stable adults with good jobs and clean homes and well-behaved children, and wonder just how they maintain such perfect lives. It’s ok to work your tail off and still have moments of self-doubt. It’s ok to be tired. It’s ok to try and fail a...

A few months ago, my friend Cameron came up to me at church with a proposal.

“I want to train you. I’ll prepare a workout schedule, and you can come a few times a week to my dojo to use the weights. We’ll keep track of your progress from month to month– this will be a way for me to hone my skills and build my resume as a personal trainer, and a chance for you to get in shape. What do you say?”

A quick word on Cameron: He’s a bear of a man, broad and burly, with a thick, black beard. He looks...

As Yakko Warner stated before spinning the satirical Wheel of Morality at the end of many an Animaniacs episode, “It’s that time again.” The earth has concluded yet another trip around the sun, and I’m back to run through a few of my favorite books of the year. 2018 has been a whirlwind for me with several mountaintop highs (including the arrival of my first son, who has already doubled in weight since my most recent blog post) and a few deep, dark valleys—some of which I am still in the proc...