Category Archives: Podcast

Read more..

It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton Episode 3 – The God of Minor Troubles by Megan Chee

It’s Wednesday, which means I get out of my comfort zone and promote the hell out of my podcast!

This week’s story is The God of Minor Troubles, by Megan Chee, originally published in Strange Horizons.

For my introduction, I wrote:

From a mortal’s perspective, a god is a god is a god. Omnipotence isn’t really on a spectrum; it’s pretty binary.

The gods don’t see it that way. From the moment humans dreamed them into existence, they’ve fought among themselves to determine which mortals they will hear, what responsibilities they each will have, and how those responsibilities will be divided amongst the firmament. While mortals merely hope their prayers will be heard, it turns out that some of the gods answering them aren’t particularly thrilled with their assignment.

I am about to introduce you to one of those gods, who does not yet know that it’s actually pretty major to be the god of minor troubles.

Remember:

  • When someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES.
  • When someone prays to you for help with their troubles, they don’t particularly care if you think they are minor or not. Just answer the damn prayer.
  • These stairs go up.

I’m so grateful to Megan Chee, and all of the authors who said yes when I asked them if I could narrate their work, because they are helping me celebrate, promote, and support the Arts with this project. When authors are as excited to hear me, as I am to speak their words, I feel like I’m doing something right. When audiences share that same excitement with me, I know that it so worth it to do this work and take this risk.

Before I get to the links and stuff, I want to speak directly to you. I don’t know who you are, but you’re reading this, you’re listening to the podcast, you’re allowing me the privilege to do this thing that matters to me more than just a job ever would. I’m only able to do this with your support and I need you to know how grateful I am for that. I hope I’m sharing authors, ideas, and narratives with you that you wouldn’t have found on your own, and that you’re inspired to share that with your friends and family, and even go looking for more from them.

Okay, I’m going to go back to talking to everyone, now.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, here are some convenient links:

I also have a Patreon with an ad-free feed and some nifty extras that didn’t fit into the primary show, if you want to support me that way.

Thanks for listening, thanks for subscribing, thanks to everyone who has rated and reviewed us. I appreciate it.

If you’d like to receive these posts by email here ya go:

Read more..

on healing trauma by being the person i need in the world

Every day, I do my best to be the person I need in the world, the person who was never there for me when I was a kid. I do my best to be kind, patient, and gentle. I do my best to look for joy and glimmers, to create joy and glimmers for others. When I am working hard to be that person for myself, I am occasionally that person for someone in the world who I may never meet in person. And when I hear from those people, who bravely trust me with their stories, it inspires me to keep going. Because on those days when it’s REALLY hard, when I know I’m fucking up and not being the person I want to be, I can forgive myself and remember that everyone fucks up from time to time, but not everyone makes the effort to learn and grow. Time I spend beating myself up for fucking up is time I am not spending being the person I need, so I lose twice (like the Dodgers, yesterday!).

I sat down with Mayim Bialik to talk about surviving childhood abuse and exploitation, reparenting myself, and how I’ve grown and healed since we last spoke on her podcast, about three years ago.

You also get to see me get triggered in real time, realize it, recover from it, and address what happened. It’s a little embarrassing to see myself fuck up like that, in public no less, and be reactive when I want to be responsive, but I feel like it could be a valuable teaching moment and that’s worth a little embarrassment, if it’s helpful to literally anyone else in the world.

I hope you’ll make some time to watch or listen to this, with the warning that I speak about being abused by my father, exploited by both of my parents, abandoned by all but one of my relatives (and even that’s barely there, only when I reach out), and how I’ve worked so hard to overcome all of it.

I also talk a little bit about It’s Storytime, which I’d love for you to subscribe to if you haven’t already. New episodes drop every Wednesday!

If you’d like to get these posts in your email, here’s the thingy:

Read more..

in which i realize i look like at least half of a vampire

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:

Here’s the subscribe to my blog thingy:

And here’s a picture of Marlowe, because she makes everything better.

Read more..

It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton episode two – Proof by Induction, by José Pablo Iriarte

When I walked Marlowe this morning, I thought about what I was going to write here, and how I was going to say the stuff that I want to say about my podcast. I had to remind myself that this has existed in my mind and in various stages of not-quite-done for almost two years, and that my strategy is to allow it slow and organic growth, so it can find its audience. It’s only been one week, but early response and early reviews are enthusiastic and positive, and all signs are pointing in the right direction for me to keep doing this.

It’s so wonderful, and I’m so excited, I have this strong impulse to jump to the end, to the part where I find out if there is an audience out there that’s big enough to make this a self sustaining project that goes on for years. But am doing my best to stay in this moment, enjoy this moment, without letting expectations get in the way. I am trying my best to listen to something I have told my boys since they were little kids:

Never trade the journey for the destination.

Don’t skip past the joy of playing because you only care if you win.

Doing the thing is an incredible feat and achievement on its own. You did the thing, and you deserve to enjoy the thing. If the thing grows and grows and turns into A Thing on its way to being The Thing You Dreamed Of, then enjoy it! But if that doesn’t happen, it was still great that you did the thing, and aren’t you grateful that you enjoyed it at every step along the way?

Like, that’s pretty solid Dadvice, if I say so myself, and I’m doing my best to hear it.

So with that in mind, here’s my introduction to this week’s It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton. José Pablo Iriarte tells a beautiful story that landed in me in such a specific and heartbreaking way, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to narrate it without being overcome.

I love a good quest. The hero’s journey to find the golden fleece and bring it home has been a cornerstone of storytelling for all of recorded history for a reason. At some point in our lives, each of us will hear the call to adventure and set out on a quest of our own. A lucky few even manage to complete their quests, sometimes against incredible odds.

Some famous quests are for knowledge, power, or even to save the world, but we are about to embark on a quest for something far more intimate, far more personal, and elusive: it is a quest for connection, and redemption. And it can only be found using Proof by Induction.

It was a challenge, but I did it, and I am so happy with everything about it (though I discovered, to my horror, I mispronounced “Euler” and we all missed it. Use this note to help you imagine a little audio kintsugi, if it helps.)

One thing before I go, the Big Thing that I probably should have opened with.

I would love it if this podcast became my full time job. As I’ve said elsewhere, I have loved doing other people’s work. Ready Room was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and we should be doing more episodes for the upcoming season of Strange New Worlds (which looks AMAZING), but I don’t think we are, for the dumbest reasons imaginable. And it breaks my heart. Like, I have physical pain in my chest and very real sadness, I feel a tangible sense of loss, because I only get to be the host of The Ready Room, and all the other wonderful stuff that comes with that, when someone from Corporate gives me permission to do it. And if Corporate is like, “Nah, because of reasons, and also who are you?” there’s nothing any of us can do about it.

I don’t want to feel that loss again, or at least as infrequently as possible (it’s a fair price to pay) so I’m REALLY hoping that the podcast takes off and it’s this joyful act of creativity that continues as long as I want it to. t’s only one week old, just two episodes in, and we are already fielding requests for sponsorship and ad sales. That’s a positive indicator that our growth is along the line we’re all hoping for, and it also opens me up to the inevitable complaints about ads.

I get it. I always hoped I would have this High Class Problem, so from the very beginning, we’ve planned to have a Patreon with no ads and extra material available for subscribers. We’re offering a five dollar tier and a ten dollar tier. Both offer an ad-free feed, and some other cool perks, including recordings of my reflections on the story immediately upon finishing it. I loved it when LeVar would talk about the themes and the style and how he interpreted and felt about what he just read to me. I wanted to do that, myself, but I felt like it didn’t fit into the main feed. But it’s exactly the sort of thing that is perfect for Patreon subscribers. I have some other ideas, too, for fun stuff that I can’t do at scale, but can absolutely do for a smaller subscriber community.

Everything you need to know is right here. If you have any questions, I’ll be checking comments here all day.

Recent Posts