Sam Quinones Podcasting on Oystein Baadsvik and the Tuba

Delighted to find Sam Quinones, one of my favorite writers, podcasting.

>>Check out his latest report on Oystein Baadvik and the tuba.

Social Media Post-Adolescence

The other day via, I think it was Swiss Miss, I came across designer Lauren Venell's blog post on social media, "Stop Buying Garbage." Of late, I too have found the whole social media thing, and in particular, facebook and twitter, a giant yawn. At first-- for me, back in 2009-- it fascinated me, I enjoyed playing with it, learning about it-- above all, getting my mind around this newfangled thing, networking in digital media. FB is like that old tennis racket gathering cobwebs in the hall closet. It was fun for a time; I don't want to get rid of it, but neither do I have time for it right now. Ditto Twitter. Furthermore, FB seems to me Orwellian in its grabs for information and frequent shifts on its privacy policies. (Mr Zuckerberg, please change your thoroughly horrible gray T-shirt!!) I'm not erasing my FB and twitter accounts, and I'm not saying never, but... meh.

What still floats my boat, as far as digital media goes:
Blogging
Podcasting
YouTubing
My webpage
My publishing company's webpage
My dad's webpage
Making Kindles and iBooks

In other words, I like making things, both providing content and design. So rather than fiddle around, I'd like to make more things. Stay tuned for the next Marfa Mondays podcast... It's a little overdue but bubbling in the oven.

One Q & One A with "Listen Well" Podcaster Margaret Dulaney

Podcasting, that is, posting on-line audio (and now also video) files, has been around for a while but it's catching on as listeners, especially the over 40 set, are realizing there are, literally, troves of fabulous podcasts, almost all free, to listen to while commuting, cooking, exercising, or just sitting in a chair enjoying the view. Yes, those troves take a little work to find, as they are scattered across yea, vaster than vast fields of um, compost. But a treasure trove is a treasure trove (and as Gertrude would say), is a treasure trove. And one of the most sparkling treasures in the trove is Margaret Dulaney's monthly offering at "Listen Well." 

Continuing my ongoing series of Q & A with other podcasters, herewith Margaret Dulaney answers my question, How did you get started with "Listen Well"?

It all began with a love of a good transcendent story. I can read a hundred “how to” books on how to be happy, how to mourn, how to lift myself out of despair, and still remain the same old stagnant, lead-headed me. But, give me one true story… tell me a sad, funny, tragic, but ultimately uplifting story, and I walk away enlightened, literally shining with a little more light. 

At some point about ten years ago, having written plays for many years, I picked up the pen to tell my own stories. I hoped they would help lift a few people.

The tricky moment came when I lifted my head above the page to wonder where these stories might land.

One day I was staring out into my back yard in Bucks County Pennsylvania. My eyes were trained on the old barn that my husband, record producer, Matt Balitsaris, had converted fifteen years earlier into his recording studio, Maggie’s Farm. I was halfway through my stare when suddenly I had a sort of waahhh moment. “Hey, what if I really told my stories?” I brightened, “Spoke them myself? Mmm,” I remember thinking, “it could be like being read to at bedtime, delicious.” 

That was the beginning of Listen Well, a website offering spoken word stories of the transcendent, thought-provoking variety. Once a month, Listen Well posts a ten-minute spoken piece of writing that explores the possibility of the great presence of spirit behind our daily lives, a story of transcendence.

It’s a newish idea. I call it a “Blab.” 

I launched the site in February of 2010, and it is possible to listen to pieces from those early months on the archive page. 

Each piece is about ten or fifteen minutes long and I would say that each posting typically requires about one month of preparation. I begin with an idea, grab a pencil, eventually move to my computer, edit furiously, send it off to my editor to be further edited, employ many of her good ideas, and then wait for my husband to have the time to record me in his studio.

Although I try and read the piece many times in order not to make mistakes, I end up making plenty of mistakes, which Matt very kindly fixes for me. Once the piece is nice and tidy, Matt puts a little music around it and hands it to me on a disc. I then upload it and post it on the site.

I love this form of communication, and hope to continue posting these monthly offerings for years. I adore hearing from individual listeners, but prefer to do so one on one and not to have an open forum. This way our communication can be comfortable and unintimidating.

I have advertised a bit to bring listeners to my site. This has been helpful, and I am grateful for every subscriber. I do promise my subscribers that they will only hear from me once a month, as this rhythm seems the most comfortable for me, and I assume it will be the same for my listeners.

-- Margaret Dulaney

+++
>>Margaret Dulaney's previous guest-blog post for Madam Mayo, "5 Reasons to Trust the Muse"
>>Archive of all Madam Mayo's guest-blog posts
>>Q & A with "Heron & Crane" Podcaster Chris Gondek
>>Q & A with "Literary Disco" Podcaster Tod Goldman
>>Q & A with Rice Freeman-Zachery on Creative Podcasting
>>Five FAQ on Podcasting
>>My podcasts!

P.S. Re: advertising. I've spotted the ad for "Listen Well" in the New Yorker. I myself have advertised my "Marfa Mondays" podcast series in Cenizo Journal, an elegantly made and wonderfully readable free magazine distributed throughout the Big Bend region of far West Texas (and that includes Marfa). Advertising is not necessarily that expensive (my business card-sized ad in Cenizo Journal came to about the price of a small pizza party).  As I tell my writer friends who get all squirmy about "self promotion," it's not self-promotion, it's book promotion. In this case, podcast promotion. I explore the ins and outs of podcast promotion in my forthcoming interactive ebook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs. Want to be notified when that's available? Subscribe to this blog or, better yet, sign up for my free newsletter. It goes out only 4 - 6 times a year. 

On Being with Krista Tippet

Thanks to Joanne M. Lozar Glenn, who leads popular writing retreats and workshops in Delaware, I have a new podcast recommendation:

On Being with Krista Tippet
which is on American Public Media

That website also has the best "how to" for new podcast listeners I've seen yet.

As those of you follow this blog know, I'm working on an iBook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, which will be available later this summer from Dancing Chiva.

>Listen to my podcasts here.

>Q & A with other podcasters

Tod Goldberg (Literary Disco)

Chris Gondek (Heron & Crane, The Invisible Hand)

Ricë Freeman-Zachery (Notes from the Voodoo Lounge)

http://madammayo.blogspot.com/2012/06/rice-freeman-zachery-q-on-creative.html

Podcasting Q & A with Literary Disco (Tod Goldberg in Particular)

Literary Disco is now like, totally my totally favorite literary podcast.

As those of you who follow this blog know, I'm not only hosting two podcast series (Marfa Mondays and Conversations with Other Writers), but I'm writing an iBook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, which is based on my Writer's Center workshop and will be available later this summer from Dancing Chiva on iTunes. So naturally, I'm interested to know-- and I imagine you might be, too--what other podcasters have to say about podcasting.

Today's Podcasting Q & A is the third in a series (the first was with writer and artist Ricë Freeman-Zachery, host of Notes from the Voodoo Lounge; the second, with Chris Gondek, host of The Invisible Hand and founder of Heron and Crane, podcaster for several university presses).

So: let's shimmy over to Literary Disco, which is hosted by Tod Goldberg, Julia Pistell, and Rider Strong.


Literary Disco (Tod Golderg in particular) gives the A's to my Q's:


C.M. Mayo: What inspired you to start your podcast?
Literary Disco: Well, we really like talking to each other about books and writing and, at the same time, we were frustrated by the lack of literary podcasts that didn't descend into self importance. The nice thing about the Internet is that if you're into something, there are about 20 million people out there equally into that same thing and it occurred to us that there might just be a few people who were interested in having a good time while talking about literature. We take books seriously, but we don't take ourselves that seriously in the process.

C.M. Mayo: How do you select the guests / topics for your show?
Literary Disco: We pick books we're interested in talking about, which is an entirely subjective affair. We'll look at old books and new books and books we think will be good and books we think will be bad. Truthfully, some of our best shows have been about books we hated -- i.e., Sweet Valley High -- because it's a lot of fun to discuss the mortal pain one suffers while reading something that you hate. By and large, we're driven to talk about books that we want to share with the world for some specific purpose -- it doesn't need to be a hot book or a bestseller or even something current -- but it does need to get our collective interest in some way.

C.M. Mayo: What's the best part of doing the podcasts?
Literary Disco: For us, it's the chance to talk about something we're each very passionate about. But, also, it's just an awful lot of fun for the three of us to get to spend an hour every week or two in each other's online company giggling and talking about stuff. We're basically recording the conversations we'd have with or without an audience.

C.M. Mayo: What keeps you podcasting?
Literary Disco: The fame, the money, the parties with Jay-Z.

C.M. Mayo: (C'est vrai, it's intense.) What has surprised / frustrated / enchanted / bamboozled / amazed you about podcasting?
Literary Disco: The quick and effusive response. We just assumed no one would ever listen and yet just a few days after posting our first episode, we were getting flooded with downloads and emails and strange people demanding we read their books about aquatic alien overlords. Once you get the aquatic alien overlord people, well, you've made it. Oh, and that we all hate the sound of our voices.

C.M. Mayo: (I get the YA vampires of Gotham, not that I could tell you why. Maybe it's a west coast vs east coast kind of thing, you think?) What equipment do you use to record and what software to edit?
Literary Disco: Rider and Julia use GarageBand and Tod uses Audacity. We each have different mics, but what we've found is that good mics make a huge difference. Our first shows were recorded using crappy mics and it was hard to listen to them sometimes without feeling very frustrated. So don't scrimp on mics.

C.M. Mayo: Any tips on improving sound quality?
Literary Disco: Not screaming helps. Keeping the mic a consistent distance away doesn't hurt. Recording in a sound proof chamber buried beneath the ground would be great.

C.M. Mayo: (You mean not screaming like this?) Um, any tips on promoting podcasts?
Literary Disco: We've subsisted on word of mouth and social media mostly and it helps that each of us had a platform of some kind previous to the show -- Rider is an actor and writer, Julia is part of a very popular improv troupe in addition to be an essayist and commentator on NPR, and Tod is an author and book critic -- so we each have brought a portion of our audience to the fore. We've also thought about starting a rumor about one of us getting into a fight with Drake at a bar or maybe that one of us is really a Kardashian, but thus far we've mostly been content to talk about books we think people will be interested in hearing us talk about and not worrying too much about hit counts. We're making the show for an audience we hope exists out there and thus we're ever hopeful they'll find us, either organically or through word of mouth or through a condition of their parole.

C.M. Mayo: Any other tips for podcasters?
Literary Disco: Try not to be too terribly drunk when recording.

C.M. Mayo:  (Helps not to hit the mic with your forehead.) What podcasts do you enjoy listening to?
Literary Disco: Other People, WTF, This American Life, Rich Eisen, Adam Carolla, The Nerdist and about a billion others.

C.M. Mayo: Do you have tips for podcast listeners?
Literary Disco: Try to wear pants when listening to the show. Really. It's strange that you don't.

C.M. Mayo: What kind of feedback do you get from your listeners, and do you encourage it?
Literary Disco: There's the aforementioned "please read my novel about our aquatic alien overlords" emails, which are always somewhat frightening, because, you know, we live near a body of water...but, generally, the feedback we get is filled with suggestions of books people would like us to read, or comments about how listening to the show is like having three friends sitting in the back seat of their car talking about funny stuff, or it's people correcting us on things we've said on the show, or it's people who want us to know how they felt about a particular book we read or it's people who can't believe we hold X opinion about Y topic. The preponderance of comments we get, however, tend to just thank us for doing the show and providing a little bit of entertainment for them on their lunch break. That's always the best, really, knowing people save us for their lunch breaks. That's sacred time right there.

C.M. Mayo: How do you see the future of podcasting per se / your podcasts?

Literary Disco: We're hoping that podcasts will eventually involve jet packs or flying cars, but we feel that way about the future of most things. Our podcasts will continue to focus on books and culture and will also continue to have guests coming on to talk about their favorite new books. And there's a good chance we'll eventually have a listener or two come on as a guest, too, since it would be fun to do that. We're also pretty sure that in the future podcasts will be in 3D and will also have the properties of an everlasting gobstopper. And by "pretty sure" we mean: god, we hope so.

--> Listen in to Literary Disco at www.literarydisco.com

--> Q & A with Chris Gondek (The Invisible Hand and Heron and Crane)
--> Q & A with Rice Freeman-Zachery (Notes from the Voodoo Lounge)
--> Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs

Ricë Freeman-Zachery: Q & A on Creative Podcasting

Recently I came upon a quote by marketing mystic Seth Godin which, google as I may, I can't find again. To the best of my recollection, it went something like, the most valuable thing you have isn't your time, your money or your health-- it's your creativity. And, boy howdy, after five decades on this planet, I know that is true. As as I prepare my iBook, Podcasting for Writers & Other Creative Entrepreneurs, which will be published by my imprint, Dancing Chiva, this summer, I've been surfing around for listen-worthy and especially creative podcast series to recommend. I've also been asking questions of some these various podcasters, which I aim to include as sidebars in the iBook itself. One of the most fun, interesting, and jump-up-and-down inspiring podcasters I've come upon is Midland, Texas-based writer and artist Ricë Freeman-Zachery, who blogs at Create Mixed Media and whose podcast is Notes from the Voodoo Lounge: Interviews with Artists, Rants, Ideas, Opinions. How to pronounce her name? Why does she have that bright red hair? What's with living in Midland, Texas? Check out her welcome video here. And check out her amazingly creative art and her many books, which include:

Destination: Creativity 
The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat

Living the Creative Life:

Ideas and Inspirations from Working Artists

Creative Time & Space:

Making Room for Making Art

New Techniques for Wearable Art: 

Creative Ideas for Transforming Clothes and Accessories

Here's more to love about this bodacious podcaster: She signs her emails 

~~Here to inspire you~~

Herewith her very generous A's to my many Q's:

C. M. Mayo: Why and when did you start podcasting?
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I started podcasting in October, 2009. My day job is interviewing mixed media artists for profiles for half a dozen publications. They give me 1,500 words, and of course when I talked to the artists, I was getting a TON more information--fabulous stuff that I wanted to share. So I started doing podcasts. At first these were just random, whenever I had some extra time, and they went up on my own blog. Then in 2010 my publishers launched CreateMixedMedia.com and hired me to help edit and to do a weekly podcast, so now they're regular and go up on CMM, on my own blog, on my podcast host's blog at Libsyn, and to subscribers through iTunes. 


C. M. Mayo: Is there anything you would do differently now with your podcasting, given what you have learned? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I don't think so. 

C. M. Mayo: What keeps you podcasting? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I think of people like me, who live somewhere where there's not a lot of artistic inspiration or community, who don't have the opportunity I have for talking to fabulously inspiring people. I do the podcasts for them. I love to imagine them doing handwork in the evening, maybe, listening to the podcast and making notes in their notebook. 

C. M. Mayo: Why did you select your hosting service? Would you recommend it, and if so why (or why not)? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I love Libsyn. I'm completely self-taught on this, so I tried out several other hosts before I found Libsyn. It was pretty much disastrous--complicated, not user-friendly, too much advertising, etc., etc. I'd almost given up when I found them. 

C. M. Mayo: Why did you choose the name "Notes from the Voodoo Lounge"? 

Ricë Freeman-Zachery: My blog is Notes from the Voodoo Cafe, and the podcasts are a little more laidback. I think of my blog as where I work--a cafe with lots of energy and lots going on--and the podcasts as a lounge where we kick off our shoes and just chat. With wine or a fancy drink in a martini glass with a plastic animal on the rim. 

C.M. Mayo: What has surprised / frustrated / enchanted / bamboozled / amazed you about podcasting? 

Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I'm always astounded when someone posts a negative comment on one of the podcasts. It doesn't happen often, because most of my listeners are fabulous people with excellent manners, but every once in a while someone without those manners will say something snarky. I have to remind people that my guests are taking time out of their workday to talk to me *for free*. It's a gift we're giving people--the podcasts are all free, of course--and if they don't like it, they can just go about their business without telling us about it. On the other hand, I appreciate it when someone sends me a private email to alert me about sound quality or something--that's always helpful to know. 

C. M. Mayo: What equipment do you use to record and what software to edit? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I have an iMac, and I use Skype for the phone call, with a headset, and Audio HiJack Pro to record the conversation (I'd like to use my iPhone, but there's no phone recording app I can use). I edit in Audacity. I don't use GarageBand because I starting podcasting on a PC, and by the time I switched to a Mac, I'd already gotten comfortable with Audacity. 

C. M. Mayo: Do you have any tips on improving sound quality? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: Not really. It's an issue for me. Because I use Skype, internet speed is crucial--dial-up would NEVER work. Some guests use Skype, but most are on a phone. Cells are really iffy. I ask my guests to sit down in a quiet room--I've talked to people who were chewing (raw carrots, apparently), working out on the treadmill, walking along a busy street, or sitting in the yard by the bird feeder. It doesn't sound like much to them, but you can really hear it in the recorded conversation. You might think walking on your treadmill is undetectable, but it makes you sound slightly out of breath, kind of like an obscene caller panting on the line. 

C. M. Mayo: Tips on promoting podcasts? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: No clue there. I totally suck at marketing and promotion. 

C.M. Mayo:  What podcasts do you like to listen to? 

Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I've never listened to a podcast all the way through. Lord knows I've tried, but I usually run screaming from the room. 

C.M. Mayo: Any pet peeves about other peoples' podcasts? (Not necessarily to name names... just trying to find things for new podcasters to avoid...) 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: Omigod. Yes. Yesyesyesyes. Most podcast hosts seem to think the program is all about them. They talk about their dogs, their recipes, their menu, their colds, their kids. When I tune in to hear someone talk to Mr. XYZ, that's the person I want to listen to, not some host I've never heard of rattling on about how many friends she has on Facebook. I could go on, as you can imagine, but I'll stop there. Oh, and hosts who are practicing their Sexy Radio Announcer Voice. Please, people! 

C. M. Mayo:  What do you see happening to your podcasts in the future? (Say, 10 years from now?) 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: I have no idea. I love doing this and hope to do it as long as I have fascinating people who are willing to talk to me. But I'm guessing that in 10 years there'll be some fabulous new technology that will allow me to do something completely different and even more amazing. Something closer to my dream of a bunch of us sitting around a table talking about creativity and letting everyone else feel like they're there with us. 

C.M. Mayo:  Do you sell your amazing art? 
Ricë Freeman-Zachery: Thanks, but no. I used to try to sell the artwear I made, but size is a huge issue, and rather than trying to make things to fit other people, I decided to just make myself an entire wardrobe of SoulWear--clothes I love that mean something to me. It's a wonderful adventure, and I'm having a blast. 


--> Listen in to the latest podcast at the Notes from the Voodoo Lounge: "Jill Berry Talks About Copying (And a Whole Lot More)"

Podcasting: 5 Frequently Asked Questions for Yours Truly

On Wednesdays I run a guest-blog post when I happen to have one. This week's didn't come through. Oh well! So I'm going to talk about podcasting, my new enthusiasm. (Click here to visit my main podcast page.)

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO START PODCASTING?
I started podcasting back in 2009 because I wanted to make available my lecture at the Library of Congress about the research behind my novel based on the true story, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. The last prince was, in fact, Agustin de Iturbide y Green, grandson of Mexico's first emperor, Agustin de Iturbide. Because the story takes place in Mexico during its Second Empire or so-called "French Intervention," one might very naturally assume that my archival research would be primarily in Mexico. But in fact the Library of Congress has the main archives, that of the Emperor Iturbide (first Emperor) and the Iturbide family. Mexico's second Emperor, Maximilian von Habsburg, has his archive in Vienna and, though I did visit that archive, fortunately for me, there is a nearly complete copy at the Library of Congress. Anyway, I explained all of this is elaborate detail in my lecture, now a podcast, which you can listen to here.

HOW DO YOU MAKE A PODCAST?
There are many ways, and I won't bother count them, but I can tell you, I find it very easy to use Apple's "Garage Band" program. I usually just talk into my iPhone's dictation app and take the mp3 file from there. I am sure professional sound engineers would be horrified. Oh well! If I want to add music, I buy clips at royalty-free sites such as istock.com, uniquetracks.com or Music Bakery.

HOW DO YOU GET A PODCAST ONLINE?
Again, there are many ways, but the one I like to use is podomatic.com. I offer the feed at iTunes. Next year when I start up my Marfa Mondays Project, I plan to also add those podcasts to a youtube page. Stay tuned.

*****UPDATE 1/16/2012***** The Marfa Mondays Podcasts have launched. Read all about it and listen in here.

WHY ARE YOUR PODCASTS FREE?
As they say, information wants to be free. And well, many of my podcasts (such as this one), are, quite frankly, intended to help promote my books and workshops. Others are for my writing students-- a gift to them. Others, such as "Conversations with Other Writers," are just fun to do and I hope people enjoy them.

WHAT PODCASTS DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Podcasting is still very new to me. Just like blogs and youtube channels, there are so many that it takes some time to sift the (alas) few grains of wheat from the Himalayas of chaff. A few podcasts I am delighted to have found are NPR's (and the iPad app lets you put together a playlist); Rice Freeman Zachary's Notes from the Voodoo Lounge; James Howards Kunstler's; and Dr Rita Louise's "Just Energy".

---> For the complete archive of Madam Mayo's guest-blog posts, click here.