We’ve been discussing starting a podcast for some time, and while we have moved forward a bit, I’ve been dragging my feet. But then Don suggested something I had never considered.
You may have caught on from previous blog articles and social media posts that public speaking is not my favorite thing to do. I’m also not very fond of the sound of my own voice, so I wasn’t super excited to start a podcast.
Don, on the other hand, has a lovely deep voice and he enjoys performing. He was a radio deejay when we first met and over the years, has done some film and theatre work. You can guess who came up with the idea of an Agatha Annotated podcast!
After he suggested it, I busied myself with details such as: Should our podcast include video? Where will we record it? What equipment do we still need? But I was avoiding the concept as a whole and wondering if we should even bother. What would we talk about? There are already several really good Agatha Christie podcasts available for listeners. In fact, I was a guest on Kemper Donavan’s All About Agatha podcast last summer. And my nervous performance probably wouldn’t lead anyone to say “that gal should have her own show!”
Then Don suggested doing really short podcasts, a riff on the Word of the Week email we send out, something no more than five minutes long. I thought that sounded weird, so I naturally did some research. It turns out that there are lots of five-minute podcasts, sometimes called “shortcasts.” I had no idea.
Many of these short podcasts are motivational, featuring a thought for the day or a faith-based lesson. Some are brief overviews of recent news. Quite a few are recitations of short stories or poetry. LeVar Burton, who many of us remember from Reading Rainbow, has a podcast in which he reads us short stories.
The pluses of a “shortcast” include a lower commitment of time and money, as well as the opportunity to experiment with the content. Recording it as a video means we can post it on social media sites, which also simplifies distribution. It sounds like a good introduction.
Now we just have to do it. And with my summertime garden calling me outside and Don starting a radio theatre club, it seems we have less free time than ever. One of these steamy days, when it’s just too hot to be outside, we’ll sit ourselves down and record a few five-minute podcasts and see how we do. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes!
Photo by Pixabay