Around the (podcast) world in 80 days…
If you’re like me, you may grumble somewhat about many aspects of our modern world. Sometimes, I just want peace and quiet and can’t keep up with emails, Whatsapp messages, people Teaming or Skyping me when I’m in a Zoom meeting.
You know the drill…
But other times, I’m completely enamored by the wonders of our technological world. One area I find especially fascinating is the world of podcasting.
Many, many years ago, I worked as a journalist. Although I worked my way up to television, I started off in radio, and I think I still love it best. I love in-depth radio coverage of various ideas, talk radio and the ability to explore numerous issues beyond the hateful soundbite.
That’s why, as an indie author, it’s been so much fun to be able to reach out to new audiences on podcasts – and to do so all over the world.
In recent months I’ve been a podcast guest in the US (Chicago, Maryland, southern Illinois, New Hampshire), Italy, Austria, India and Australia. All from my own home. Although, honestly, it would have been even more fun to have done them all in-person in those great locales!
Some have already been uploaded, others are still pending, but I’ll post them here in case you want to give a listen.
And one of the fun aspects of podcasting is meeting all the fabulous podcast hosts out there who are producing fantastic content. I highly recommend you give all these podcasters a listen – they have consistently great programming and you’ll learn a lot. I certainly do. Viva podcasters!
This was my first author podcast, with Maggie Smith. This is a podcast of the wonderful Women’s Fiction Writers Association, where Maggie interviews authors about their debut novels. I was excited to speak with Maggie about my first novel, Three Coins. We spoke about how the 1954 Hollywood film inspired my novel, my writing process, why I decided to indie publish, and how life in Italy influences my fiction. We also had lots of nice things to say about WFWA – and good reasons for why you should join!
What a lovely time chatting with Edith and Teacup – my neighbors to the north in Austria. Long ago, I lived for a year in Vienna, so I would have enjoyed this conversation in one of that beautiful city’s art deco cafés. Next time! As it was, I had a lovely chat in my hotel on a weekend in Padova – just before rushing to get my train back to Rome. And the conversation was so much fun, I could have easily missed that train in favor of bookish conversation. We mostly spoke about my time travel novel, Dark Blue Waves, having a great time speaking about the intricacies of time travel and the dangers of judging the past through a modern perspective. We also had a great time about the need to fully understand cultures and history, the writing process, and how – despite Steve Jobs’ declaration – books are most certainly not dead. If you’re not familiar with this wonderful podcast., I urge you to give it a listen. And if you’re like me, trying to keep up with your German, you can also tune into the German podcast Edith and Teacup also have.
Meet The Author – Sunflower Publishing
What a lovely time chatting with a “fellow Italian”. Wendy Ridolini, of Sunflower Publishing, is British, but spends part of the year in the Italian region of Abruzzo. As fellow transplants in Italy, we had a great time talking all things Italy, and concentrating our book talk on my Abruzzo-based novel In The Shadow of The Apennines. We covered lots of writing advice, writing suggestions and inspiration and the ins and outs of indie publishing. For those of you who dream of a writing retreat in Italy, check out Wendy’s writing retreat in Abruzzo in September – where I hope to stop by for a chat. And, although it may sound like bragging, I was very proud to pass Wendy’s Italian hand gestures pop quiz with flying colors! : ) My years living here have taught me something…
What a fun chat! I “traveled” to Australia on this podcast. Michelle is an Italian-at-heart Australian, who is an Italophile like me. When you get two Italophiles in a room – even if virtual – you’ll never run out of conversatonal topics. And Michelle is a writer, too, currently working on a non-fiction project on the fascinating Peggy Guggenheim and her famous art collection (now a spectacular museum) in her former palazzo in Venice. Michelle and I chatted all things Italy, books, favorite authors, how travel flavors our writing and stories and the fun of historical research. We also spoke about building an author community, indie publishing, and advice for those who are starting out on their author journey. Loved this Australia-Italy chat! To be continued over glass of wine when Michelle is back in Italy…
Conversations with Rich Bennett podcast
When In Rome Go To Marsicano with Kimberly Sullivan
What a fabulous, long chat with Rich Bennett when I was asked to be on his podcast. And shows what happens when you get two Irish-Americans gabbing. We had such a fun, wide-ranging discussion touching upon so many topics, the writing process, building your writing tribe, marketing your writing, researching and life in Italy. We also had fun talking about how to incorporate critiques into your work and developing a thick skin to learn from your negative reviews, too. And, of course, we had to speak about Italian food. Listening to this, I think we looped back to food numerous times throughout our conversation, so don’t listen on an empty stomach. : )
The KAJ Masterclass Live podcast
Next I travelled (virtually) to India – if only we could have done the podcast in person! – to chat with Ajay on his business podcast. Ajay brings his listeners experiences from all different sectors, and on our session, we spoke about the business side of being an indie author, how one can build up his or her career and make money. It was fun to discuss the business side of things. As authors, we’re mostly interested in the creative process and building our stories and characters, but whether traditionally or indie published, the business of the industry should never be far from our minds. And for those of us indie published, we have no excuse for not taking control of our brand and our business. After all, that’s one of the benefits of being an indie … and one of the reasons teh publishing market is so exciting today.
Phantom Electric Ghost podcast
My next stop on my podcast journey was New Hampshire to be a guest on Phantom Ghost’s great music-based podcast. Phantom Electric Ghost is a musician – and we had great discussions comparing our creative processes, inspiration, our writing rhythms, the ideal of a music or writing muse, and why we’re attracted to the indie music and publishing industries. I was also struck by a point Phantom made. As an indie musician, he said 90% of what musicians create can be classified as failure – but you keep getting new material out there for that 10% that achieves great success. We authors could learn a lot by taking a page from musicians on this point. Create – get your work out there – move on to the next. Success? Great! Failure? Oh, well. On to the next… A fun and wide-ranging chat. Thanks so much to Phantom Electric Ghost for the enjoyable conversation – and for opening his podcast to a wide array of creatives so we can find connections across our work.
The Heartland Author’s podcast
And after New Hampshire, I travelled out to America’s heartland, to Illinois and Aaron Camp’s fabulous podcast. Aaron’s a great conversationalist, and an indie author himself, so it was fun to talk writing together – inspiration, writing process, publishing as an indie, advice for other authors and much more. Like me, Aaron often has a couple of projects going at the same time – so he made me feel less guilty about it! : ) Like me, Aaron is interested in langage and lingusitics, and so he introduced me to the Langfocus YouTube channel. I’m greatly enjoying the posts on various languages and dialects. Thanks, Aaron! Had a great time during my virtual journey to America’s heartland.
Wow – that really was a whirlwind, international tour, spanning four continents. I have more podcast guest spots lined up over the next few months, so I can’t wait to meet new hosts and have interesting chats.
And if you have a podcast and are actively looking for guests, do let me know. I’m always excited to get back to one of my “first loves” – radio.
Thanks so much to podcasters for all you do!
