Every author I have worked with gets nervous when we are finalizing the manuscript and inching toward the print phase. One of our Poem Pod guests, Judy Kelliher, talks a bit about this in episode seventeen, which will post on July 9.
It is scary to know that people will read your words and might even judge them. I talk with my clients about why I know their book is meaningful and important and help them trust their instincts in moving into publication.
I understand my clients’ anxieties, as I had fears before my book Divine Renovations came out. After I got through being debilitated by them, I fought them by looking deep in my heart and assuring myself that the book would be interesting to others. I knew that it would resonate for people. I trusted my heart and followed it.
Now, a week before I launch my Poem Pods, I’m having Poem Pod fears. I’m deep breathing through them. I listened to all the pods again, like I was binge watching a Netflix series, one episode after the other, critiquing them.
It took a little over an hour to listen to all twenty pods. Here is what my mind said before I watched them and what my heart said afterwards:
Mind: No one will like them.
Heart: Some people might not like them, but many children and parents just might. Poem Pods are fun to hear. Eli (my 11-year-old grandson and co-podcast host) shines through as an authentic child, and his ideas and comments are mature and interesting. Grammy—that’s me—offers good education on major concepts from inspiration to vulnerability to grace and compassion. And it’s interesting to hear the story of how I was inspired to write as a child and how I moved into and through a writing career. My poems are sweet and silly.
Mind: Poem Pods are amateurish, technically speaking.
Heart: Yes, they are. They are free, and we had no budget. We used my cell phone to record, and we were outside because we were social distancing. But there are only a few moments in the over sixty minutes of recordings in which it’s hard to hear because a car or truck passed, or because we were talking too quickly. I didn’t need to stop and play anything back, but it’s easy to do if folks miss something. And the content is worth suffering the inconveniences!
Mind: Sometimes we say things I wish we hadn’t.
Heart: Yes, a time or two, I wince when I hear something we’ve said that may not resonate with others because our perspective is different. I wish I had noticed in the moment and taken the opportunity to point out that we were speaking from our own perspective—and several times, I do that.
I invite anyone with a different perspective to start a dialogue on any topic with Eli and I by posting a comment. We would welcome respectful conversations and feedback! It’s possible that your feedback could lead to new, future podcasts.
I hope you listen to our pods when they begin to post next Tuesday, the day after a full schedule of pods, interviewees, and topics is uploaded in the blog. Read last week’s blog to learn more about the substance of the podcasts.
Poem Pods truly are fun poems and fun stories for fun people! My hope is that they give children encouragement, entertainment, and a dose of inspiration to get them thinking creatively, as a summer without camps and public pools begins.
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