Episode 150: Hooray for 150 episodes!
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This week is a special one here at Fable and the Verbivore. This episode is our 150th and marks the first conversation that we’ve recording in person in over two years!
In this episode, we look back over the last two and a half years and talk about some of of our key takeaways for creating in general.
But first, a small step back into our start. The idea for the podcast came from Fable (Beth). We’d been meeting together regularly for breakfast and to talk story, and she asked “what if”. So, one day in late October 2019 over Turkish coffee and ginger cookies, we got together to record. Two friends from high school who loved talking together about books and writing, and thought maybe someone else would be interested in hearing our conversations.
We didn’t set out on this journey with this goal in mind, but we did continue to show up for it. When the pandemic came, we had to shift and flex. We went from recording in person to recording over Skype and when that wasn’t working very well we shifted to Zoom. Last year the Verbivore (Laura) moved across the country from Arizona to Minnesota and there was uncertainty with how it all would continue to work. But with each challenge, we’ve asked questions, approached with openness, and looked at what could be.
Here are some of those lessons learned:
• Showing up consistently can add up to a mountain of content over time. Whether it’s a whole book or 150 podcast episodes, the accumulation of effort can grow into something big. Focus on the work in the here and now to avoid being paralyzed by the scale of what you’re trying to accomplish.
• Don’t get too tied up with what something should look like or used to look like. It can help to release it a little bit and let it be what it is at any given moment.
• Let what you’re doing bend and shift as needed for the season you’re in. Come to it with openness, curiosity, and trust that the path is still there even when it’s hard to see.
• Recognize that fear never goes away. You may develop better tools for managing it or a deeper understanding of how it fits within your process. But show up, even when your hands are shaking.
• Sometimes you have to step away or take a break from a project, but if you’re interested in picking something up again keep it alive and hibernating within you. Check in with it occasionally, let your subconscious work in the background, and continue to nourish it. Don’t let it die.
We also discuss the importance of community and trust. Having known each other for many years, we both appreciate how rare a gift it is to be able to show up messy and human and know that we have each other’s backs. In order to keep this going, we’ve had to trust and to be willing to shift and adjust our responsibilities and schedules over time as our lives have changed.
But we also appreciate the power of the community here that have joined us on this journey, sharing their takes and their voices as part of this podcast. It would not be the same without the authors and readers that we’ve connected with and the conversations that they’ve helped create through author interviews, guest book club episodes, and our latest Marvel fan episodes. And it also wouldn’t be the same without you, our listeners!
We hope you enjoy this episode and thank you for engaging with us here! If you like what we’re doing here, please consider leaving a review.
We’re so proud of what we’ve created so far and can’t wait to share what’s next with you! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Notes:
In this episode, we touch on the authors that we’ve interviewed over the course of the podcast and how positive those conversations have been. Here is a link to those episodes:
Fable mentions a recent interview that we had with author Emily Barnett, where the importance of sharing your work with your community came up. Here is that episode:
The Verbivore brought up several Marvel fan conversations where we invited an author guest to join for a discussion on a particular topic. Here are those episodes:
We also touched on our book club episodes where we discussed a book with a reader. Here are those episodes:
Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)