Episode 2: Maddie Baird

Shana (00:01.077) Hey everybody, today's guest is Maddie Baird. Maddie Baird is a 13 year old who is on the podcast as one of our first guests. Welcome Maddie, thank you so much for being here today. Maddie (00:09.678) I'm glad to be here. Shana (00:16.789) Sweet, okay. So we're gonna talk about going to your room and making stuff. So before we dive into the details, let's get to know you a little bit better. Can you share a fun or unique fact about yourself? I just shared one I know, that maybe our listeners are not aware of. Maddie (00:36.334) I am a 13 year old in sources of strength, as my hoodie says. Shana (00:46.549) What is sources of strength? Maddie (00:48.846) Sources of Strength is a leadership program at my school. It's at a lot of schools actually, a lot of middle and high schools. But they do leadership activities and try and do things to help make schools accessible and like available for everyone. Shana (01:11.988) Well, let's dive into art. Tell us about your art medium or art mediums. Maddie (01:19.15) I do a lot of different art mediums. I do writing, drawing, painting, 3D printing, I did voiceover, some acting. Shana (01:37.973) And currently today we're going to talk a little bit about your writing, right? Maddie (01:41.934) Yes, because that has been what is currently kind of pulling my interest. Shana (01:48.181) Awesome, awesome, yeah. So tell us about the room. You know, go to your room and make stuff. What is your room like and how do you make stuff in there? Maddie (01:57.902) So I'm in my room right now. I'm actually sitting on my bed, which is where I make a lot of my stuff. Like I do a lot of my writing just with my computer and sitting on my bed or sometimes sitting at my desk. But most of the time it's on my bed, like under the covers. Shana (02:17.621) And if you have multiple mediums, do you have an absolute favorite? Maddie (02:24.43) Right now, it's definitely writing. Shana (02:28.277) Okay. So tell us more about what you're writing. Maddie (02:32.878) Well, I'm currently in the middle of writing two novels, but in total I will have written five novels, um, because they're two separate series. I have a romance novel that I'm currently writing, and then I'm writing a story about twins that get separated across different dimensions. Shana (03:00.053) So wait, you're doing two whole series? That's sweet. Maddie (03:03.31) Yes! The romance novel is part of a set of three books that I'm going... three books I'm going to be writing. And then the one about the twins is part of a set of five books. The twin... the twins book that's called Together Forever and then the romance novel... is called May and Scarlet Friends and Enemies. Shana (03:34.325) That's awesome. And I know you go to school right now, so what does a day look like for you? When do you do your writing? Maddie (03:44.174) It's really hard to get to have time for writing because I go to school on Bashan Island even though I do not live on Bashan Island. Yeah, I take a boat to school every morning and then I take a boat back home every afternoon which adds a three hour commute to my already seven hour day so ten hours total not including the drive there and back. Shana (03:53.397) We live in Seattle, West Seattle, officially. Shana (04:12.885) And do you ever write on the boat? Maddie (04:15.438) No, because I don't want to try and take my computer with me to school and back and stuff like that because it's complicated and I just don't want to write on my phone. It just it doesn't feel right. Shana (04:29.813) So when do you write? Maddie (04:32.142) I end up writing at night most of the time. Shana (04:36.277) I think that's uncommon. I think, I know that you're one of your grandfathers for sure, wrote at night. So as long as you get enough sleep to function and your grades are great, the mom interviewer in me is like, sure honey, you can write at night as long as you get enough sleep. Maddie (04:53.998) technically alive. Shana (04:57.749) That's good. That's good. That's good. So, okay. So, did you have any mentors? Who, when, why, and why are they your mentors? Maddie (05:02.894) See, so I'm looking at her because you are my mother. She's my mom. Shana (05:16.981) I did not set her up for this question, by the way. Maddie (05:18.734) No, she did not. She didn't. But it's because she, my mom runs three businesses and started a podcast on top of those three businesses and has been an actor and is currently a voice actor and runs a school for aspiring voice actors. Plus, She like, her heart dissected and like, she's still awesome. I don't know how you do it, but I have to say that it's very inspiring to me because, well, I wanna be like, you wanna grow up. Shana (06:07.061) without the heart thing. Skip that part, right? Right. And then how about your dad? Maddie (06:11.022) without the heart thing. My dad was the assistant head carpenter at Fifth Avenue Theater, but he took on a new job position. But he does like a bunch of props work and costume work and that sort of stuff. Shana (06:31.605) So your dad's still at Fifth Avenue. When you say was, he's alive, don't worry people, he's alive. He's currently at Fifth Avenue Theater. And how is your dad creative? How does that motivate you? Maddie (06:42.638) like he's very creative when it comes to the things he builds and he does some 3d printing too um a bunch of stuff like that and it's just yeah Shana (06:58.325) He built my studios, the sound studios I'm sitting in. So I'm very grateful for that, extremely grateful. Okay, so I have a couple of questions I ask everyone who comes on the show. The first one is, did anyone ever say exactly the right thing to you to get you to where you are today? Maddie (07:16.485) It's less the exactly right thing and more I've always grown up in an environment full of the arts and the arts community because my mom was a performer, an actor, and then moved on to becoming a voiceover artist. And then my dad works in the theater. They also went diving. The arts community has just kind of always been around me. And I've kind of always known that if I chose to do something in the arts, people would always support me. And yeah, I did. Yeah. I like went to Fifth Avenue all the time when I was little. Shana (08:03.093) You pretty much grew up at the Seattle Children's Theater, yeah. Maddie (08:14.98) But I've kind of always been around the arts community, so I knew that if I wanted to pursue anything in the arts, I could always do it. And it didn't really matter what other people's opinions were because I had my opinion and that's all that really matters. Shana (08:35.445) Sweet. So on the flip side of that, did anyone ever say exactly the wrong thing? And if so, how did you cope? Maddie (08:44.612) Yes, um, a couple old friends of mine, um, used to say that it was never going to be good, it was never going to take off. And that really hurt me because I trusted these people and I cared about them. Um, but to push past it, I realized I didn't need validation from a bunch of other people. because it doesn't really matter what they want or they think about it because it's not for them. It's for me. Shana (09:26.677) I think that's a common theme. I think that's gonna come up a lot. And I really appreciate your saying that. I think that's gonna resonate with adults and kids, I think all ages, right? Did you ever feel like you needed permission to do what you do? Maddie (09:42.244) No, no, I'm going to do what I want. I don't care what other people. Shana (09:44.309) Awesome. Shana (09:49.109) That's totally awesome. So when you are not creating, what do you love to do? Maddie (09:54.34) read. I love to read. Shana (09:57.461) See, I love that because so often lately in the books I've been reading, there are people talking about the fact that brand new authors don't read, they just want to be heard. Or brand new voice actors who come to Seattle Voice Academy and they don't really listen, they just want to be heard. Man, learning to study the art that you are learning is a big deal. What are some books you would recommend? Maddie (10:22.308) Well thank you for that introduction... of my books. Shana (10:27.925) Not the ones you've written. These are the ones she loves. She's reading these right now. Yeah. Maddie (10:30.244) Yeah, no, I'm writing books right now, but these are books that I read and I fell in love with because they're amazing. Shana (10:40.117) For those of us who are listening, if you're listening to the podcast, if you're not on the website, tell us the titles of those books. Maddie (10:46.34) So, um... This book is She Gets the Girl Up. Shana (10:52.725) She gets the girl, okay? Maddie (10:55.748) by Rachel. I don't know how to pronounce her last name. Shana (11:03.445) I'll get the authors in the comments below. If you guys go to our website later, I'll have links to both these books. What's the other book? Maddie (11:09.604) And then the other book is Her Royal Highness by Rachel, but this one is Rachel Hawkins. Shana (11:14.517) Her Royal Highness. Shana (11:19.733) Rachel Hawkins, for those of you who want to go find these books. What in particular is so great about these books? Maddie (11:27.588) It's that I really like the plots. They're both romance novels, because that's kind of what I've been into lately. But Her Royal Highness is about a school in Scotland and about an American exchange student going to a school in Scotland and falling for the Scottish princess. And I want to add a comment about the Scottish princess. Shana (11:57.493) Which is... Maddie (11:58.628) Well, I was introduced as Maddie Baird. So my last name is Baird. is the Scottish clan because I have heritage that's Scottish. Shana (12:08.501) It is. Maddie (12:14.02) The clan name they chose for the princess and the royal family in this book is Bear. Shana (12:23.861) Yeah. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Maddie (12:27.236) It's a thing. It's cool, but at the same time, you know, it's also very strange, like, just reading in your book and coming across something and it being like, yes, Miss Baird. And they're talking to the Princess of Scotland, like. Shana (12:28.725) to think. Shana (12:48.437) Yes. That's nuts. Maddie, thank you so much for being on the show. Is there anything else you want to add to this conversation? Are there places people can get your 3D prints? Later we'll post all about your books as they're published. Anything you want to add? Maddie (13:04.1) Um. For any 3D prints, it's more that I have an Instagram account, mad 3D prints. Shana (13:21.557) Mad 3D Prints. I'll put the link. So anyone who's listening, you can go back to the website and I will have a link to her site. Maddie, thank you so much for coming on. I really, really appreciate it. And I can't wait to read what you have written. So go to your room and make some stuff, okay? Shana (13:41.461) Thank you. Bye.