In 2011, in the aftershock of unexpectedly being let go from my bartending job of 7 years (a mixture of someone else’s greed and politics and unwilling to play their twisted games), I decided to take the time to finish a manuscript I had been working on since high school (and more dedicated throughout college). In the process of working diligently on my manuscript, I also started a writing and reading blog that documented both my writing journey and my exploration of other books currently on the market. I took breaks from writing to read other short stories and novels from other beginner and up-and-coming authors, like myself, in the realm of Speculative Fiction.

I dubbed my blog The Bearded Scribe, eponymously named for the hair that had donned my face since I could grow it. Shortly after I started it, I decided that the content would be all the much better by bringing on other content writers and book reviewers to the blog.

When we got a review request from R.S. McCoy for her book, Sparks, the premise intrigued me, so I opted to take on the review myself. The story was admittedly brilliant and inspiring—the editing, however, was far from perfect, so I reached out to the author with a proposal: knowing that she had two more books in that series alone, I offered to edit her Sparks manuscript for free in exchange for her hiring me to edit the next two. It was after editing the Sparks Saga trilogy that Rachel (RS) suggested that I compile and edit an anthology—and from that moment came the inception of The Bearded Scribe Press and its transformation from writing and review blog to a full-fledged publishing house.