Such is the nature of this topsy-turvy writing life that I totally blanked on posting about this here. Or should we say we all have just way too much chaos in our lives, in general? I’m sure us writers aren’t the only ones feeling a little frazzled by trying to check off a million different things on any given day. I’m a big fan of making lists, for this reason, but this still has one obvious defect as well: you have to remember to put an item on your to-do list in the first place.
Well, so anyway, this awesome independent podcast production recently decided to interview me. It’s the Hilliard Beacon, broadcasting from a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. From the unassuming building depicted up top, as run by Jordan Smith, Tim Hofmann, and A. Kevin Corvo. Specifically they wanted to discuss one of my other sites, Love Letter To Columbus. Which for those unaware, is a sprawling work in progress, attempting to document the history of that major city. I remembered to post this in all kinds of other places, but somehow only realized today that I forgot to do so on my website itself.
It’s not false modesty to say I think the end result went okay, but no better than that. It would have helped to maybe plan out what I was going to say a little better. Plus there were some jarring distractions, particularly early on, of unexpected people tiptoeing onto the scene and so forth. As such, I’m fumbling for words to some extent. For this interview, I did in fact jot down a short list of words and little phrases that I wanted to mention if possible – although even here, not much of this material even came up.
Then again, I had a blast doing it. And some of the highlights for me are the unforeseen things the hosts are saying, which might lead a discussion in an entirely different direction. Not to mention prove highly informative on their own. So maybe that’s the whole point, just winging it and seeing what happens as its own reward. I’m probably never going to be some kind of smooth, polished Bono type anyway, trying to come across as off the cuff while actually plotting out and rehearsing every single word.
Some of the better material emerged after the tape had stopped running, and we were “off the record.” As we continued to chat awhile anyway. Another interesting trivia tidbit is that this was technically podcast #59, but they accidentally erased #58 the week before. So it never reached the air. They were trying out some new technology for recording these episodes and something went haywire. Fortunately that didn’t happen when my turn came around.
Anyway, I know people love their Spotify, and that link is posted above. But to me there are a couple better options for listening to this episode (and checking out everything else the Hilliard Beacon has to offer). One is their dedicated page on Substack:
https://hilliardbeacon.substack.com/p/hbac-58-w-jason-mcgathey-love-letter
With the ongoing collapse of major media, I think local publications like this will regain their former prominence. They are certainly more important they have ever been. Beyond that, the three guys running this operation seem like some really cool dudes.
But then I also would like to advocate for a podcasting app named Fountain. I’m not getting anything out of this for doing so (unless you care to search my name and subscribe to my episodes there, hint hint), it’s just where I personally most enjoy listening to this stuff. In large part because it’s a value-for-value operation (kind of nerdy to explain, but basically you get paid tiny amounts just for listening, which you can either keep or donate to the podcasts themselves). It’s also a simple, easy to navigate layout. That appears to be a phone app only option, but here’s the link to download it:
They are on there, and so is pretty much anything else you might be listening to on other podcast platforms.
In summary this was a fun little detour that I never saw coming. And that’s part of the fascination this writing life holds, the way these pieces of the puzzle can maybe start to snap together over time. You never know when or where somebody might take an interest in your stuff. You just have to keep trudging forward and cranking it out.
