Made an Application

I like to journal, and it’s more like reflections about what I’m reading. So browsing in Red Dog Bookstore in Indy, I found a journal that intrigued me. On each page is a quote from someone famous and a question or imperative to answer. I decided to try it. I bought the journal in March of last year and I’m about two weeks away from finishing. I write one page a day, and some questions are not easy. This blog post is an experiment combining two books: the Be Inspired journal and How to Write Short by Roy Peter Clark. I’ve picked three pages from the journal on the same topic: Bill’s podcast. I’ll apply Clark’s techniques. What you see below is the final product of learning from Clark how to write short. Posting the originals from the journals would make this blog post too long. (I cut 56 words out of three journal pages.)

Q. Write about a new door open to you. Why was it important? Who or what motivates you?

A new door recently opened and I felt unqualified to pursue it―a podcast for Bill’s sermons. Becky was the instigator and moving force. She knew it could happen and would be appreciated by people who love her dad’s preaching. The first person on board was my grandson Michael in California who could convert tapes into digital format and mix ingredients for episodes. He also created art for the app. Asking others to join the team didn’t prove a problem. Erik lives here in Indy and has great tech skills and equipment; he’s also a super organizer. He agreed to handle connections with Michael and Buzzsprout for the downloads. In addition, Erik records Dan reading the intros and outros. Dan’s voice drew us to select him as host, excited to be part of the project. I choose the sermons and help write the scripts. Becky continues to be our encourager.

In an early phone chat with Erik, I saw this as a bigger project than first imagined. It’s more than getting people involved who understand the technology and agree to help. It involves schedules, planning, and questions to answer—when to post the first episode, which sermon, and on what day. I now look at longtime commitment and those involved, their time and expense, even a legal aspect. All this adds to the true motivation: to get Bill’s messages out for people to hear. A podcast, a good idea with good reason, but also work.

At first I was not sure the podcast could be done, but when people came alongside that had the needed skills and willingness, it’s no surprise we are now in the 22^st week with episodes being  downloaded every Wednesday. Bill and I listen together and it’s a joy to see his face and hear him say, “I liked that.” He usually refers to when he preached that message. And we receive comments of affirmation from folks about how they appreciate hearing Bill preach.