Everything is terrible, and you deserve a break from it. Allow me to serve up links to a pair of interviews I recently did, for your enjoyment and diversion.
Before I get there, I gave y’all the wrong link for my show’s Patreon. which is exactly what you want to do when you’re building a new show. The correct link is patreon.com/storytime. 80 subscribers in 48 hours is such a fantastic start! I can’t wait to share some BTS stuff and other things that don’t fit into the format of the main feed.
Okay, here are your diversions. Up first, The Greatest Trek. It’s kind of a big deal, because they don’t usually have guests!
And then, Trek Culture!
I’m noticing now, after I have done all these interviews (and another that hasn’t been announced), that the light from my window was WAY TOO BRIGHT and at least half of my face looks like a vampire. Like, if Two-Face had a vampire version, that would be awesome, and he would TOTALLY team up with Blade, but I’d rather look like a human who knows how to set up a shot and confirm the lighting is good. I mean, it’s just terrible. It isn’t even goth pale; it’s just a bad lighting setup. The old green tint from forgetting to white balance your camcorder in 1983 would be preferable to how I look in all of these things.
See, this is why I don’t like to be on camera! But I’m not yelling at myself! Progress!
I guess I have to go ahead and take Felicia’s advice and spend a little money on some equipment, lights, filters, and some other bullshit to have a more professional set up at home. Sigh. My first world, high class problems are a great way to nurture sympathy in an audience while *gestures broadly at everything*.
Y’all keep telling me that it’s okay for me to endlessly, relentlessly, continuously promote my podcast. I appreciate that. I really, really do. I also feel like all of you who subscribe to my blog or follow me on social networks already know everything you want to know, and it’s becoming tiresome.
I have no idea what is actually happening on the other side of my screen, of course, and I’m mindful that my life story has created someone who is deeply uncertain about everything he does, even when he’s pretty sure it’s all okay. I’m trying to quiet the doubt, and lean into the excitement (my keyboard needs to be cleaned, and the x just stuck, so that was ‘exxxcitement’ before I corrected it. Look, exxxcitement is definitely its own thing, and it sounds great to me, but that’s not what this project is.)
As I keep saying, I want to help this find its audience and I can’t accomplish that entirely on my own. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and a special thank you to all of you who have done the rate, review, like and subscribe things.
Okay, I’m going to the store now. Thanks for listening and have a good rest of the day. Congratulations on surviving another week of this fucking nightmare.
Here’s the obligatory link block:
- Apple Podcasts
- PocketCast
- Stitcher
- Spotify
- Pandora
- iHeart
- Amazon
- or grab the RSS directly from me right here.
Here’s the subscribe to my blog thingy:
And here’s a picture of Marlowe, because she makes everything better.
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You say I’ll be the first to comment, WordPress / Jetpack. But I know that isn’t true still, I’m excited to experience all of this great content, and have come to peace with the fact that 30 seconds after I stop watching the comments, Mr. Wil Wheaton will post a link to join the Discord … c’est la vie, c’est la guerre, c’est une pomme de terre.
Congrats on the new podcast! I am happy for you & looking forward to all the cool stuff you mentioned! Give yourself a break (I know about childhood trauma & how it stays with you into adulthood. Been there- survived that) and know that we are cheering you on even as we adjust our glasses & fix our hair. Go forth & know that we will follow! Let the good times roll!
Wait, what? “She”? Marlowe’s a girl?! I’ve been reading WWDN for literally years (and admittedly not been on Insta at all lately, also trying to cut back on other socials) but – I never once realised that! Sorry, Marlowe!
For the record … this post has too many awesome things packed in. I can’t +2, thumbs up or :this: all of it individually … so, I’ have to settle for a :star:, and a hardy well done Mr. Wil Wheaton dot NET.
It worked! Your endless promotion reminded me to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify. Cause I’m old and I forget shit.
You’re awesome, and we always love to see Marlowe.
Step 1) Blackout curtain…
Oh gawd, I’ve been reading this blog for way too long. Marlowe showing silver? Wasn’t she a puppy, like, yesterday?
Love the “It’s Storytime” podcast! I usually lack the ability to listen to, and stay focused on, podcasts. Unless they have accompanying video, since my visual center constantly tries to distract me (Look! Shiny!). For It’s Storytime, I literally sit there and listen, doing nothing other than staring at the player progress bar as it moves. You create an audio space that totally captures my attention.
Thanks, and well done!
So happy you added the pic of Marlowe!! With your fb presence slowing down, I feel like I’m missing her! <3
You blog and podcast are absolutely lovely breaks from all the fuckery going on. Thank you for creating them, making wonderful things to give us all some respite, and reminding us of the good, amazing people out there.
Have to say how much I am enjoying your podcast. The stories have been fantastic, and I’ve been hooked on listening to you narrating audiobooks since Ready Play One (which is how I joined Audible). Thank you for everything you do!
Thank you for sharing Marlowe with us – she is a bright light!
I am a casual follower of your blog and a regular podcast listener and yet this is only the first time that I paid enough attention to notice that you had a podcast and that there were links for me so I could start listening. So yes, keep promoting the hell out of this thing so that those of us who are terminally distracted will know what we are missing. Looking forward to start listening on my stupid mental health walks next week.
Thank you for sharing sweet Marlowe with us-she does make everything better!
There needs to be a Travelers spinoff. Just saying…
I 💕 the trailer vid of 2 syllables in narrator 👏 (that really is such a skill to narrate)! I bought “ticket to ride” and getting closer to my phone-addict 13yr old playing w/me. Just enjoyed the hell out of The Bezzle. I was thinking shoot, you are such a perfect fit as narrator (like you could’ve written that book). Going slow but sure appreciate all your kindness shared! ~Live so long~
I love reading your posts. I always smile, always feels like I’m hearing from an old much-valued friend.
First off, promote the fuck out of it. Scream it from the rooftops if you want to, because it is amazing! I have listened to both episodes and can honestly say, neither of the stories you read were things I would have ever picked to read. And yet, there I was, hanging on by a thread to hear what happened next like an eager child. Thank you for opening up my world to some art that I would have otherwise missed out on.
Secondly, I read this and laughed thinking, “The lighting can’t be THAT bad. I’m sure he’s just being hard on himself.” My god man, listen to Felicia and get yourself some lights! I say that with the love of someone who can barely take a presentable selfie, let alone set up in home lighting for an interview haha
Thanks Will, great to hear you on Greatest Trek!
Since I’m not on Facebook anymore, I really miss Marlowe Monday, so thank you for this.
Love the interview, and hey, the lighting makes me feel like I’m talking to a friend in Zoom! We never get the lighting right. 😀
Love the photo of Marlowe. And which Joy Division shirt are you wearing? Love their music!
Yo Will, I just wanted to throw a few words your way. They are worth exactly what you paid for them, but here goes.
I come here because its part of the canon of work of a guy who’s made things that have resonated with me from my teens to today. That’s a long time.
I come here to escape the world.
This is YOUR space. You get to write what YOU want to write, how you want to write it. I can choose to read it or skip it.
If you want to promote your work here, then I absolutely want you to do that, and not think twice about it.
Your work deserves an audience.
Put the same effort into promoting it as you did coming up with and developing the idea. Don’t hold back.
This world deserves more people like you.
I wish you nothing but success in your endevors, and thank you for providing me with a respite from the world.
Wil, you fret too much. The lighting yes is harsh but not the least bit distracting 😊 and Marlowe is a cutie
I do miss Marlow Mondays.
I’ve been lazy about good lighting and I’ve been Two Face many times. Sometimes I joke that it’s the figurative train, or an approaching mega explosion… but that’s dark. “The sun is just outside my window” is my current favorite.
None of that alters the value of the content though, yeah?
It is absolutely not getting tiresome. You know how you get really excited when a good friend has created something cool and you can’t stop talking about it because you’re just. So. Excited! Or when a little kid is excited about a book or TV show or comic or game and wants to talk on and on about it and most grownups roll their eyes and tell them to stop talking about it, but you love their excitement and listen with all your heart? This is like that, except you’re your own good friend, you’re excited about this project, and your fellow nerds love hearing you go on about it.
Oh! And half a vampire? “Call me morbid, call me pale…” *
Fuck Morrissey, but yay Johnny Marr and the Smiths!
Quote of the day “Everything is terrible, and you deserve a break from it.”
Wil! Very late to the party (and this comment is not related to this post at all), but my husband and I are listening to YOU reading “Still Just a Geek” (while doing jigsaw puzzles because, well, we too are geeks), and I wanted to say it’s pretty cool. Like, really cool. And your editor is definitely uncool for pointing out “cool”.
Hi, Wil. Don’t know if you’ve heard of Brendon Burchard. He’s a professional and personal development coach/trainer. He has a YouTube channel, has his own App, does huge live events (doing one in Austin as we speak), is a published author and has the usual spaces on Spotify et al. Today he is accomplished and polished. He would be the first one to tell you the story of when he first started out: broke, trying to write his first book, trying to get his content “out there” with videos. His videos, he will tell you are, in his opinion, awful. But the content is all him, all authentic – and that’s what people resonated with. And he reminds us that every single public speaker/vlogger who we admire all started out this way; learning what works, what doesn’t. The more important thing is to stay true to what you want to put out there, your content, the version of you that you want people to know, like, trust, who want to click “open” on your emails when they pop into the in box, to hear your latest podcast drop. You do this in spades, Wil. Continue to stay true to you and what you put out there. We love you for your “you-ness”, your authenticity. Never change that. Oh, and we love Marlowe.
I hope I’m not the only person who first read “and other BTS stuff” and thought Wil Wheaton was going to be dropping opinions on K-pop on his patreon, nice.
Promote away!
Your podcast is awesome and I say that as a person who usually hates listening to someone reading stories out loud because they always get it wrong. Not only do I really enjoy listening to you reading those stories, I am also discovering new authors that I want to look into. Thanks for both checking on her own dog – Hamlet – sleeping behind her, because he also makes everything better
Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a liason for Chase Masterson at our local con. At the risk of sounding too Klingon she is the gentlest soul I have ever met, yet she has the heart of a warrior. I was sitting between her and Garret Wang, who is also delightful. He was promoting his own podcast, and most of the people who came to see him were fans of it, and sporting some of the cool shirts he has as merch. Have you been on his show? I just started listening. Anyway, your many compadres in the Star Trek universe are (mostly) awesome, as are you. I am really enjoying your new podcast. A beautiful replacement for sweet LeVar’s show.
I just adore Chase! She’s such a good person.
I don’t know Garret that well, but he’s always been a delightful and kind person to me. I didn’t know he had a show. I’ll check it out.
Well, if there is a queue or something, sorry for cluttering it. If this doesn’t show up right away either, I’ll give up. If there is a queue, you don’t need to post this or the random-thoughts test post I tried to submit a moment ago.
No worries. I have things set aggressively tight here, and there are always false positives I need to manually approve.
Part of the marketing you miss a lot is actually asking your fans to share your work and it is 100% ok to tell your fans what you need or want from them. All the regular blog readers will listen to your podcast and whatever else you put out there, growth will take sharing and getting others to try it out.
I’m still interested in the promotion of the new podcast. It’s really interesting to read about
You don’t need to spend money on equipment, Wil; just move away from the window!
Was trying to post a comment on your 4/1 post but kept getting a “nonce verification failed” error. Hopefully that won’t happen on your latest post as well (Google suggests this error is the result of some kind of caching glitch in the site code? You probably know better than me, or can better figure it out than I could)
Anyway, ran across what turns out to be a 7+ year old parody comic (the url signature at the bottom is no longer active), and you might’ve already seen it via Reddit when it was actually new, but I’d never seen it before. It made me giggle, and think it might tickle you also, so I thought I’d share. Hopefully even if you have seen it, it was long enough ago that you’ve forgotten about it, and it gives you a second chuckle:
https://imgur.com/gallery/taco-tuesday-djRtMuB
Okay…last try didn’t get the nonce error, but it also didn’t post…do you have a comment spam filter that creates a delay, or puts them in a queue for manual approval? I don’t remember that from the last time I commented here, but that was a really long time ago, I guess, and you might easily have changed things since…
Hi Will- huge fan of the podcast- would love to chat about growing your audience and promoting the podcast on player Fm (similar to Pocket Casts) let me know if you have time to chat or who best to connect with…
Hey thanks for your interest! Email me and I’ll put you in touch with my marketing team!