Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop!

Today’s topic is: Do you do podcasts? Either as the host or as a guest? How do you prepare for them?

And remember to visit my fellow writers to see what they have come up with. You can find their works here!

I’ve guested on one podcast and am working on my own as we speak. In the episode that I was a guest on I was one of three guests. We were there to discuss a collection of short stories organised and written during the COVID lockdowns, a book called Connections. Though I was part of an ensemble of sorts, I expected that there would be a chance the host would want to discuss my own novel as well, having only published it a short period before the release of Connections. My preparation was somewhat limited. I had no list of questions to pre-prepare for. I did listen to some of the previous episodes to get an idea of how the host worked, albeit no guarantee those same questions would appear in my own episode.

As for my own podcast, preparation is king. If I go into a recording without some ideas ready to go, some key themes and topics for discussion, the episode will fall flat from the start. Admittedly, I’ve only recorded two episodes as yet, both with fellow authors and friends. But I still did my preparation. Having read their books that gave me an obvious in. I made sure I had the order of those books in terms of publication straight in my mind. I also consider their background. How and when they came to writing, and the why. These are by no means a gospel for me though. I will always follow the flow of the conversation and see where it goes. In both episodes, the conversation quickly diverged from where I thought it was going to go. But notes gave me somewhere to start.

And while we’re on the topic, I’m always on the lookout for possible guests so feel free to get in touch if you might be interested!