Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting | Episode 1: Introduction

There’s a great quotation by Ira Glass:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is a gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only be going through a volume of work that you will close the gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass

This quotation really sets up the project that I’m about to introduce you to quite nicely.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a lot of ideas and they are scattered all over the place. You have ideas on Post-it notes, on your phone, and on a notebook in the drawer of your bedside table. The trouble that you’re having is not with coming up with ideas but with seeing them through. More than that, you have an interest in media. Specifically, you’re interested in video, audio, and writing. Bringing all of these things together so that you can showcase your interests is a challenge.

That’s what this series is about. I want to document my learning process to help me learn and as a way for me to share my learning. Through this process, I hope to figure out what the best way for me to express myself is. It could be through any one of the three mediums or through all of them. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.

It’s not meant to be pretty. Indeed, it’ll include a lot of rambling by me. The production quality will be low but it should get better. The idea is to learn; to start with all the messiness and clean it up so that there’s a nice, polished product at the end. With that said, I don’t know what this series is going to look like.

What I’d like from you is feedback. If you’ve got an opinion or idea about what I’m doing, please let me know. Further to that, maybe you’ve got a question that you don’t want to find the answer to. I might be interested in finding out the answer to that very question, so please ask.

To start, I used to do photography somewhat seriously, but that was over ten years ago. I have a bunch of equipment from then that I’d like to continue to use. I only started making videos about six months ago. I tried my hand at podcasting, insofar as I’ve recorded myself talking. I’ve been blogging for about ten to twelve years, on and off. I don’t have a much of a following to show for it, though.

Now, I’m not looking to become the next Stephen Fry, Francis Ford Coppola, or Dostoevsky. What I’m trying to do is figure out how best to be uniquely me through these various platforms. And, I want you to join me on this journey.

For the next episode, I’m going to provide a structure or format for the episodes so that we both know what to expect. I expect that this will change and grow, but I want to start with something. In terms of timelines, I’m thinking that there should be a new episode up every couple of weeks.

If you’re interested in following along, and I hope that you are, be sure to subscribe to any or all of the blog, vlog, or podcast.


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One response to “Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting | Episode 1: Introduction”

  1. […] my focus, I think, is a good idea. Thinking back to Episode 1, I wasn’t slow-motion multitasking. It’s okay to have a lot of projects on the go but it’s […]

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