This will be the third Tuesday that’s blown by with no new RTP, so clearly it’s time to explain what’s going on.
The short answer… way too much. And for a guy with marginal time management skills (at best), that spells mayhem for the podcast feed.
It’s an embarrassment of riches, really… lots of marvelous opportunities that have all manifested concurrently. When you’ve spent so long being hungry for cool projects with awesome people, saying “no” just isn’t part of the wiring, y’know?
But by the time I was staring at the computer screen paralyzed because I didn’t know where to start on so many different projects, it was too late. I had crossed a threshold into unknown (and uncomfortable) territory…
I had to start prioritizing. I had to start saying “no”.
The good news… all these projects are paying gigs. None of them alone are sustainable, but together they might just allow for the bills to be paid.
Okay… that’s good news for me. But OTHER good news: I’m not canceling the podcast. That’s just inconceivable to me.
The bad news, however, is I gotta make room in my days for all these other demands. A single sequence of RTP episodes (interview and brainstorm) takes 14+ hours to pull together. Sure, I could leave off the stalker-ish intros and not edit/produce the episodes, and not work up custom graphics for the episode posts and write up nice descriptions. I could cut all that out and save some time…
…but then it wouldn’t be the RTP, would it? Maybe I’m too close to it. I dunno.
But the bottom line is, I’m not going to be able maintain the production schedule I’ve tried to uphold these past months. Expect an itinerant and haphazard delivery of new episodes for the foreseeable future.
So that’s where we’re at. There will be episodes in the future and I’ll be at several conventions (Balticon, NASFIC, GenCon, Gamehole Con) if you want to connect.
I have this instinct to apologize at this point. I’ve always held that starting a podcast is like making a promise. “I’ll be here every [time increment] if you want to hang out.” If you don’t show up, it’s like you blew off all those people.
Which is rude. And something you should apologize for.
But this situation is something we’re all striving for… to be able to do what you love and maybe make a living at it, right? This is what “success” looks like…
…at least for now. Cuz, as we all know, the story never ends. 😉
As always, you have my profound appreciation for deeming the RTP worthy of your time… and for your understanding of the vagaries of the creative career path.
Congrats with all your cool new endeavours!
Will be here when you’re able to upload an great new episode!
Keep Life-ing 😁
No matter what happens with the RTP, you’ve been an incredible addition to our community, and for sure we love hearing that you’re making a living at what you love.
You have a loyal fan base here and all over the podosphere. When the feed says ‘new episode’ we’ll be there 😀
I, for one, will be here whenever you release a new episode. Be that tomorrow, once per month, or in September. 🙂
So grateful for 200+ episodes of literary alchemy, and to have had a chance to play a small part in the podcast’s august history and have one of my story ideas given the Roundtable treatment. The podcast will continue to be an invaluable writing institution, however many or few new episodes are produced in the coming years. (If I had any sort of podcast editing skills at all, I would gladly put them at your disposal pro bono to lighten the work load and help the Roundtable to continue running at a steady clip – but alas, I do not. Such is life.)
All of which said, showers of congratulations to the esteemed Dave Robison on these amazing new opportunities. It’s always heartening to see a fellow writer inundated with enough paid work assignments to (with a bit of luck) make a living out of it. Well done, good sir! It couldn’t have happened to a more worthy author.