So, as I originally announced in my September newsletter, I’ve started The Write Balance podcast with the amazing and outrageously talented Kathleen Kayembe! And it is past time the podcast got a post of its own.
Things are still very much under construction, but we have three episodes up and I’m currently readying a fourth. The podcast website is one of the things “under construction” in that it doesn’t exist yet, but you can find us by following this link and choosing your preferred service for podcast listening. It will take you right to us!
Is this podcast a glorified excuse to chat with one of my best friends and nerd out about writing and the creative process? Absolutely.
Did this whole idea begin with the added intention of providing us practice with elements of voice over work? Yes, because we’ve both been interested in voice acting and audiobook narration for a while, but that’s a whole other industry that we’re only starting to become familiar with.
Do I honestly believe anyone else can find anything redeeming in it and wants to listen to our ridiculousness? Of course! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have spent six hours editing our first (23-minute) episode.
That’s the other exhilarating part of this whole process: I have no idea what I’m doing and my perfectionist tendencies have had to sit down and shut up. I can choose done or I can choose “perfect,” and only one of those makes this all happen.
I also need to shout out to my sound guy husband, who prefers to remain in the shadows, without whom we’d still just be daydreaming. He’s the reason I could start with an incredible mic and the necessary software, and that I haven’t run into any insurmountable roadblocks. We’ve had conversations go about like this:
Me — Do you have —-?
Him — Yes.
Me — What about —-?
Him — Also yes.
His preparedness is practically a superpower.
To make this podcast happen, we’ve had to prioritize that balance we talk about so much. In our case, that meant planning for shorter episodes (we aim for 30 minutes, though that’s proving tricky) on a biweekly schedule, with regular play-based episodes. The play episodes exist entirely because of Kathleen’s genius.
Will we ever shift to weekly updates? Maybe if someone else does the editing, but that’s not in the cards right now.
Editing this podcast has required learning a whole new ecosystem and skill set, and I’ve discovered opinions I didn’t know I had. I’m already hearing things in audio that I’d never noticed before. The tech side of this is stretching my brain in good ways.
Along with a website, we plan to add video soon–possibly as soon as our fourth episode. I’m working on it now, and we are even more entertaining when you can see us. We might even add a Patreon or other subscription option, both to help with the costs of the podcast and to have an excuse to share the uncut video.
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