Beth Cook's Two Cents

An interview with Beth Cook

We like the sound of our own keystrokes as much as anyone, but sometimes, one just wants to hear from other people.

There are a lot of subcultures out there. Some are well known, others are more niche. But if you’ve got the interest, so does someone else. Subcultures need content just as much as the mainstream. Today’s writer, Beth Cook, has shown just that. She’s loved Fraggle Rock since she was a child, and now she spends her free time immersed in the world of the Fraggles and Muppets.

Beth talks about how pivoting can be magical, what creative consulting has done for her, and shares the beauty in finding media that feels good.

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Could you talk about what your journey from fandom to writing and podcasting has been like for you?

2017 was a big year for me. For nearly a decade, I’d been focusing almost solely on writing Middle Grade and Young Adult novels, and learning all I could about publishing in order to “make it” as a children’s novelist. I’d graduated from The Evergreen State College in 2015, but I stuck around for the next two years to keep working at their Writing Center. In quick succession that spring and summer, I started my blog about Muppet songs, read this revelatory piece on the merits of fanfiction by a Writing Center colleague, and saw an Actual Published Novel set in the world of The Dark Crystal (and subsequently realizing that professionally written fanfiction is everywhere).

It all felt like permission from the universe. Like yes. Like finding the key to the Secret Garden.

In 2021, after struggling with the decision to set my novels side for a while, I got the gumption to reach out to ToughPigs.com (I’d been a reader and forum member for several years), to ask about the possibility of becoming a contributing writer and maybe podcaster. Again, it all unfolded so quickly and naturally that it felt it felt obvious. Of course I could (and should!) write about the Muppets.

What do you write, and what drew you to your current style or genre?

I write occasional articles for ToughPigs, my most well-known probably being the chronicle of my journey to try and make real, edible Doozer sticks.

But the project I had in mind from the very beginning was a podcast to review each episode of Fraggle Rock. After years of work, Fraggle Talk: Classic debuted in 2023! It feels weird to call myself the “writer” of a conversational podcast, but I’m also one of three hosts, the producer, and the editor. If you have fond but vague memories of this classic 80s show, watching along with us is a great way to dive back in, as we keep it (mostly) spoiler-free for our third host who’s watching it for the first time.

Aside from Muppet stuff, I’m developing a screenwriting portfolio of original pilots and spec scripts, and other projects that refuse to sit still in an easily defined category.

What are some ways you actively work to improve your writing craft, voice, or style? (I.e. conferences, writing groups, online classes, books, other?)

I seem to go through phases of all of the above, and they’ve all been helpful at different times for different needs. When I attended Evergreen, I did Individual Learning Contracts to customize my education in novel writing and publishing. But more recently when I started delving into screenwriting, I no longer had the structures of college to lean on. I tried books, podcasts, YouTube videos, Facebook groups, but the “Know what you don’t know” of it all seemed too big, too complicated, too much. Then Joe Hennes, Co-Owner & Editor-in-Chief of ToughPigs, started offering individual creative consulting, and we’ve been working together for over a year to slowly build my screenwriting portfolio. It’s made a huge difference, having one person with great experience who I can come to for feedback, brainstorming, and answers to all my random questions.

What is your favorite piece of writing advice? 

I could never pick an all-time favorite (I’m a bisexual double Libra, you can’t make me choose anything). Instead, I find quotes that resonate with me a lot at the time and/or ones I keep coming back to. The most recent one I wouldn’t even call advice, but rather a perspective shift. The poet Jared K. Anderson (a.k.a. The Cryptonaturalist) recently said:

Once you realize that life is a thing that always ends

with unfinished goals, the question becomes,

"what do you want to spend your life pursuing,

completely divorced from the idea of catching it?"

And your least favorite?

“You have to write every day.”/ “You’re only a writer when you’re writing.” (vomit sounds) It’s hard to find a more boring Chad-from-your-MFA-cohort take. My favorite antidote to that particular poison is this article a friend sent me in 2015: “Writing Begins With Forgiveness: Why One of the Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice Is Wrong” by Daniel José Older. 

What’s something about your journey that you’ve struggled with? What has felt shockingly easy?

There’s always something to struggle with, isn’t there? They hide that in the fine print of the human condition. What I’ve been struggling with since attending Evergreen in 2012-2015 is the role of writing and art in general in the struggle of Gestures Broadly. Is being an “artist” “enough”?

And I remember that it can be. “Bard is a combat class” is a phrase that I once heard and immediately seized upon. I don’t play much D&D but I binge actual-play podcasts like candy-flavored medicine for the soul. Essentially it means that artists contribute to taking down the Big Bad as much as any other type of warrior.

An excerpt from my journal on 6/4/22:

I binged most of Stranger Things S4 today [spoiler warning].

Bard is a combat class.

Kate Bush saved Max’s life.

Bard is a combat class.

Always be reading more than one book at a time so that you have to stay alive to find out the ending.

Bard is a combat class.

Turning to my crayons and podcasts when I need to cope.

Bard is a combat class.

Finally getting to write about queerness + the Muppets, figuring out what I want to say. Because representation saves lives.

Bard is a combat class.

Every time I find a new piece of media that sets a new candle alight in my heart—Our Flag Means Death, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, The Penumbra podcast, Bluey, Steven Universe, Owl House, the Spiderverse movies, Barbie, The Good Place, Nimona, Turning Red, Encanto—it makes me feel “This is it, right here. It is possible. This is why art exists.”

Tell us anything you want!

Currently promoting: Season 2 of Fraggle Talk: Classic just started!

You can find me on social media @bethannacook on Twitter, Instagram, and I guess BlueSky now? Oh and TikTok. I swear I’ll make #FraggleToks again someday. Mostly I’m working on Fraggle Talk, but you can also find me writing for ToughPigs and in the ToughPigs Discord server! My writer’s blog is over at bethannacook.com, and my blog about Muppet songs is ourmuppetmelody.com.

Favorite teas: Double Bergamot Earl Grey by Stash, Strawberries & Cream and Kitchen Table by Plum Deluxe (local to Portland!), Pretty Guardians and Mechanic’s Blend by Friday Afternoon (voted the West Coast’s gayest tea shop!).

Writing playlists: Lo-Fi or Wes Anderson.

Finally…what question do we wish we had asked? (Don’t forget to answer it!)

“Which writer makes you question your life choices because you’ll never be able to write like them?”

Catherynne Valente.

“Which writer gives you the inspiration/confidence to keep going?

Kate DiCamillo.

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About Beth

Beth Cook is a neurodivergent gremlin and Order Muppet, podcasting from her closet in Portland, OR. She writes in order to scream into the Void (existential), usually while trapped under a Void (feline).

Find her

Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, & BlueSky @bethannacook

Beth is a contributor on ToughPigs.

Check out her website bethannacook.com and muppet blog ourmuppetmelody.com.