I released the tenth episode of the & then write podcast today.
And today, just as I do the 1st of every month, I ask myself: “Will it resonate with people?”
Last May I did the Podcast Movement challenge. You basically get the 1st episode of your podcast up in 28 days. It was the push (and accountability) I needed to make the podcast a reality.
And so far, I have stuck with my one-episode-per-month schedule (and if you listen to today’s episode you’ll learn why this is a special feat this particular month). I would love to do two per month, and my dream is to do one per week some day. But for now, this is what my schedule allows for, so I don’t push it.
On its surface, the podcast is (mostly) about writing. Not the nuts and bolts, not how to get published… it’s about the writing life. The challenges of writing about real life topics, or how to make space in your life for writing, or how to make writing your main hustle.
But more often than not, it’s about many other things as well, and this is what tends to make me question whether or not the podcast will resonate.
A few months ago I did an episode about manifesting. And I was really nervous to release that one. Would people think it’s too woo-woo? That I was veering so far off course to never return? I was the first to admit that for a long time I viewed manifesting as woo-woo. I didn’t believe you could attract what you wanted in life right to you.
But I’ve seen it at work, and even if you can’t go as far as to believe wholeheartedly in the concept, from a mental health standpoint it seems like a healthy practice, no? Focus more on what you want, your dreams, your goals. This gives you less time to focus on the negative, what you feel is lacking, what you don’t have, etc. (and therefore, wallow in that world less).
Anyways, I posted the episode and waited. And then I received more feedback from that episode than I had for any other up until that point. It seemed to hit a nerve. It was what certain listeners needed to hear in that exact moment. This made my heart LIGHT UP.
You’d think this would set my mind at ease, that I would have quit asking, “Will it resonate with people?” on the first of each month, but I still do.
It turns out some of my listeners aren’t writers. This also makes my heart kind of tingly. Even though its concept is rooted in writing, I believe the podcast appeals to anyone who’s creative, or striving to build a business around the thing they love doing most… or at its most basic, to anyone who loves stories. Those are my people.
So today, I trust my episode will resonate with listeners who love a story. And I will continue to work on trusting that if I do the work, it will find the people who need to hear it.