Dedicated is expanding. We are now filming our segments. We are doing some slick new video inside

the Sirius XM studios. So if you want to see me fixing the cocktails and having conversations

with our awesome guests, go to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or the Sirius XM app, and you can

see us in studio. Welcome to Dedicated with Doug Brunt.

You have just gained access to an exclusive insider's look at the lives and works of some

of your favorite authors and hear conversations with the world's greatest writers as they

discuss their writing lifestyle, creative process, latest work, and behind-the-scenes revelations.

Welcome to Dedicated. I'm your host Doug Brunt. Today we're with Gregory Maguire. He's the

best-selling author of dozens of books, many for adults, many for children, some short stories,

and a few non-fiction titles. He's best known for his 1995 novel, Wicked, and the Wicked

series of novels that followed. Wicked was adapted in 2003 for a Broadway musical, which

became a sensation, and more recently adapted for the big screen with an all-star cast. He is out now

with his new novel, Elfie, which is a prequel to the Wicked series. Gregory, welcome. Thank you, Doug. I'm delighted to be here. It's great to have you here. I've been so excited. As I said, before we got rolling here. I was on vacation. I got to sit with this for hours at a time, and I loved it. And we're going to have today a ginger mojito moktail because you are observing lent i understand that's correct so i'll get

started on that i want you to know that this morning at home i was zesting the ginger and oh my gosh

and mint leaf well i didn't zest the mint leaves but i made mint leaves look at that yeah so we're

going to do this the proper way, and I'm

excited to try this. So you do this all the time? Yes. In fact, we just had the first real

mojito a few weeks ago with David Gran. But yes, every show has the guest's favorite drink

to start, and then we just really let it rip from there.

I have to say I've only discovered this drink, this lent, because the older one gets, the more time one has to spend in restaurants at lunch and dinner with friends and family.

You know, when you're working full-time, you can't go out. You've got hours to fill and you've got, you know, bills to pay, et cetera. And I just couldn't stand drinking plain seltzer anymore during Lent. You know, it's like, okay, it's punishing enough not to be able to have a nice glass of wine. But so I'm, is something that I've really just learned, and I like this one. So thank you for putting this together for me. Well, I'm excited to try it. And it'll be nice to have something fun for the day because the other thing I found getting older is that day drinking just is the end. You know, I'm asleep by 5 o'clock if I do that now.

Absolutely.

...