As is often the case with new media and social networking, a link from one of my contacts on Twitter talking about podcasts for writers led me to a site which led me to another site… you know how it goes. The result was the discovery of a blog providing a list of 10 podcasts for writers that I thought worth sharing — particularly as I was happy to discover that I already listen to a number of them already.
Here is Dustin Wax’s 10 Podcasts for Writers Worth Listening To and his own descriptions of them:
- I Should be Writing: Mur Lafferty is a self-described “would-be writer” who actually has quite a few credits to her name, now. ISBW covers the ins-and-outs of writing, from coming up with ideas to self-publishing to writing queries. (RSS | iTunes)
- Lifehack Live: Pardon me for plugging my own show, but I have lots of great writers on — as well as productivity experts, life coaches, and entrepreneurs, all of which have something to say to writers, I think. Lifehack Live is on hiatus at the moment, but there’s plenty of good stuff in the archives. (RSS | iTunes)
- Freelance Radio: FreelanceSwich‘s podcast features John Brougher, Cyan Ta’eed (co-author of the awesome book How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer), Kristen Fischer, and Dickie Adams discussing the ins and outs of freelancing, with a focus on practical business-related questions like “how do freelancers get insurance” and “how do you say ‘no’ to a client?” (RSS | iTunes)
- The Writing Show: Author Paula Berinstein tackles everything from where writers find inspiration to where writers can get published, with probing interviews of writers, publishers, editors, agents, and others. There are several “threads”, including ongoing “reality show” series tracking beginning writers through the process of submitting and revising their work for publication, and more traditional “one-off” shows featuring guests talking about whatever topic they’re particularly knowledgable about. (RSS | iTunes)
- PerfCast: The official podcast of Performancing, covering all aspects of blogging including the business aspects, generating revenue, and promotion. Some of this might be off-topic for most writer’s blogs, but there’s a lot of good advice for turning your own writer’s blog into a blog powerhouse — and if your preferred form of writing happens to be blogging, this is required listening. (RSS)
- Litopia: Litopia consists of two podcasts. The first, Litopia Daily, is a short daily round-up of news of interest to writers. The second, Litopia After Dark, is a longer weekly round-table dscussion of issues in the writing and publishing worlds. (RSS | iTunes)
- The Creative Writing Podcast: Tom Occhipinti offers tons of advice for fiction writers, from tips on characterization or setting to overviews of genres. (RSS | iTunes)
- Grammar Girl: Mignon Fogarty offers “quick and dirty tips for better writing” in this twice-weekly show on the ins and outs of English grammar. More fun than your Third Grade English teacher, by a long shot! (RSS)
- Writing Excuses: A recent discovery for me, this podcast features three writers (Brandon Sanderson , Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells) talking about various writing challenges, either amongst themselves or with guest interviewees. Short — because, they say, “you’re in a hurry and we’re not that smart”) — fun, and surprisingly helpful considering their self-professed lack of brain power… (RSS | iTunes)
- HotForWords: I debated whether or not to add this one — it’s video instead of audio, it’s risqué, and it’s quite simply weird. A young, attractive, and often sexily-clad woman with a rich accent discusses the origin of odd words and phrases in the English language. It would be deeply offensive (and maybe it still is) if it weren’t so fascinating! (RSS | iTunes)
A couple of points to add to the above list:
- Freelance Radio: Cyan is not on the show much anymore, but her slot seems to have been filled by illustrative designer Von Glitschka. Together they cover a good cross-section of the freelancing market.
- Grammar Girl: This is written with American English in mind and, aside from the obvious Websterian differences, uses style guides common to North America (Strunk & White, etc). However, whenever an issue of style arises, Mignon states which style guide she’s using.
- Writing Excuses: Despite their humble tagline and approach, the speakers of this podcast are at or near the top of their field. To give you an idea: Brandon was selected to complete the late Robert Jordan’s epic The Wheel of Time series, Howard writes the excellent Shlock Mercenary web comic strip, and Dan is an accomplished horror writer.
I’ve been a fan of ISBW, Freelance Radio, The Writing Show, and Grammar Girl for some time, and I just love Writing Excuses, so you can see why I was happy to share this list. I’ll be adding Lifehack Live, Litopia and The Creative Writing Podcast to my iTunes list.
For what it’s worth, I did check out HotForWords some time ago, but I can’t really get into video podcasting — something about having to sit at my PC or squint into my iPhone to watch regularly-released video content just doesn’t appeal to me. Your mileage may, of course, vary…
So check them out and let me know what you think of them. Be sure to let Dustin know, too!
