The writer is always a beginner, no matter how widely published. Each book, essay, even blog post is the start of something that never existed before. As a writer your age, I have more to say than I did even a decade ago and less time for saying what I mean. That can be unnerving. But oh, the thrill of knowing that I’ve said it and that readers connected.
Rona, I do agree! I've struggled this week as I have many times before. All week I looked at what I drafted and saw only garble. But I'm a bear for meeting deadlines (Friday mornings) so I convinced myself to publish anyway. Then I had a clever idea! Stay tuned for a "collaborative" addendum to this article.
Writing takes courage, and it is such a joy as well. I agree that podcasts feel like a breeze in comparison. My husband and I just released a book, SIDE BY SIDE: THE SACRED ART OF COUPLES AGING WITH WISDOM & LOVE, the culmination of 5 years of interviewing retired couples. We are really enjoying the podcast interviews, and if you are interested in interviewing us, we would be delighted. My email is carylcasbon@gmail.com, and our website, which contains lots of info, is www.sidebysideaging. com. Caryl Casbon
Carol, I will check out your site and your new book! We are just starting to line up guests and schedule interviews for Season 6 of [B]OLDER which starts in the fall.
A hiccup in my podcasting plans. I lashed out and bought a you-bewt (as we say down these here parts) podcasting rig and got ready to record. After two weeks of grappling with the recorder/mixer (RØDEcaster Pro II) and endless emails with RØDE's support team, I am sending the unit back for their service techs to look at it, because a key component doesn't work, no matter how many attempts I have had to make it work. Bugger (as we also say down these here parts).
On another point, I am reading and writing for a Masters in Creative Writing, so am enjoying stretching myself. Like you, I've written a few non-fiction business books, but this a new direction to take my writing. I am going to devote the next hour or two to inhaling your material on writing both fiction and non-fiction! See you on the other side 😀🤟
Hey, so do you ever do solo recordings? It’s more like writing. A combo of the two media types in a way. I do them and find that it can be quite illuminating to what I come up with. Just like writing, you don’t know what you think until you say it.
I haven’t podcasted since 2014, when I burned out. I’m about to launch a psychology text on Goal Setting combined with some material on the Possible Self (in UK I qualified as a psychologist). So, I am going to support the book promotion by launching a podcast. It will be both challenging and fun to get behind a mic, Levelator, and Audacity again. 😃 I will start listening to your podcast, too 🙂
Lee, glad to hear you’re going to podcast again. Full confession. I don’t do the audio editing or production — I have a producer. When I started the podcast, I was wise enough to realize that it would never happen if I had to do all the work myself. That’s another part of the “collaborative” nature of podcasting that appeals to me.
Hi Debbie, Wonderful. There is a video of us being interviewed by our publisher, Shelly Francis, as well as another podcast interview listed, if you want to see us live! Thanks for your interest. We will be on a book tour in the fall, but can easily show up for an interview wherever we are.
Writing essays is such hard work, and without a deadline, impossible to finish. In journalism, I could hit “send” and move on, but I’ve been revising the same essays for years. Your mixture of writing and podcasting is a fabulous marriage, and you regularly put yourself out in the world and make a real difference. I applaud you!
Leslie, I should have talked more about deadlines in this piece. I am hopeless without them. I’ve been publishing a newsletter on alternate Fridays for about two years — on the same day that each podcast episode drops. I’m thinking of these essays as an adjunct to the podcast. Still figuring out how that will work!
I loved podcasting, and looked forward to each episode. But in those days (and maybe still?) Google couldn’t handle podcasts, only text. Long-tail SEO meant posts and pages, not podcasts, were the traffic drivers.
But that was a decade ago. Anyone know what’s happening these days?
![[B]OLD AGE with Debbie Weil](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/e_trim:10:white/e_trim:10:transparent/h_72,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb939748d-5d80-4d0f-867c-2ed252ac633c_1344x256.png)
![[B]OLD AGE with Debbie Weil](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdb1d7636-a0e5-44ef-846d-a6df558eff16_1280x1280.png)
The writer is always a beginner, no matter how widely published. Each book, essay, even blog post is the start of something that never existed before. As a writer your age, I have more to say than I did even a decade ago and less time for saying what I mean. That can be unnerving. But oh, the thrill of knowing that I’ve said it and that readers connected.
Rona, I do agree! I've struggled this week as I have many times before. All week I looked at what I drafted and saw only garble. But I'm a bear for meeting deadlines (Friday mornings) so I convinced myself to publish anyway. Then I had a clever idea! Stay tuned for a "collaborative" addendum to this article.
Writing takes courage, and it is such a joy as well. I agree that podcasts feel like a breeze in comparison. My husband and I just released a book, SIDE BY SIDE: THE SACRED ART OF COUPLES AGING WITH WISDOM & LOVE, the culmination of 5 years of interviewing retired couples. We are really enjoying the podcast interviews, and if you are interested in interviewing us, we would be delighted. My email is carylcasbon@gmail.com, and our website, which contains lots of info, is www.sidebysideaging. com. Caryl Casbon
Carol, I will check out your site and your new book! We are just starting to line up guests and schedule interviews for Season 6 of [B]OLDER which starts in the fall.
Thanks for sharing this. Your statement about writing seeming a more important endeavor resonates with me.
Wishing you all the best.
thank you Tip!
A hiccup in my podcasting plans. I lashed out and bought a you-bewt (as we say down these here parts) podcasting rig and got ready to record. After two weeks of grappling with the recorder/mixer (RØDEcaster Pro II) and endless emails with RØDE's support team, I am sending the unit back for their service techs to look at it, because a key component doesn't work, no matter how many attempts I have had to make it work. Bugger (as we also say down these here parts).
On another point, I am reading and writing for a Masters in Creative Writing, so am enjoying stretching myself. Like you, I've written a few non-fiction business books, but this a new direction to take my writing. I am going to devote the next hour or two to inhaling your material on writing both fiction and non-fiction! See you on the other side 😀🤟
Hey, so do you ever do solo recordings? It’s more like writing. A combo of the two media types in a way. I do them and find that it can be quite illuminating to what I come up with. Just like writing, you don’t know what you think until you say it.
Sorry for delay - love this idea
I haven’t podcasted since 2014, when I burned out. I’m about to launch a psychology text on Goal Setting combined with some material on the Possible Self (in UK I qualified as a psychologist). So, I am going to support the book promotion by launching a podcast. It will be both challenging and fun to get behind a mic, Levelator, and Audacity again. 😃 I will start listening to your podcast, too 🙂
Lee, glad to hear you’re going to podcast again. Full confession. I don’t do the audio editing or production — I have a producer. When I started the podcast, I was wise enough to realize that it would never happen if I had to do all the work myself. That’s another part of the “collaborative” nature of podcasting that appeals to me.
Hi Debbie, Wonderful. There is a video of us being interviewed by our publisher, Shelly Francis, as well as another podcast interview listed, if you want to see us live! Thanks for your interest. We will be on a book tour in the fall, but can easily show up for an interview wherever we are.
Writing essays is such hard work, and without a deadline, impossible to finish. In journalism, I could hit “send” and move on, but I’ve been revising the same essays for years. Your mixture of writing and podcasting is a fabulous marriage, and you regularly put yourself out in the world and make a real difference. I applaud you!
There are so many Substack writers and so many newsletters and essays. My desire is to make a difference, but gosh I don’t know how to measure that!
Leslie, I should have talked more about deadlines in this piece. I am hopeless without them. I’ve been publishing a newsletter on alternate Fridays for about two years — on the same day that each podcast episode drops. I’m thinking of these essays as an adjunct to the podcast. Still figuring out how that will work!
I loved podcasting, and looked forward to each episode. But in those days (and maybe still?) Google couldn’t handle podcasts, only text. Long-tail SEO meant posts and pages, not podcasts, were the traffic drivers.
But that was a decade ago. Anyone know what’s happening these days?