As a person with a realistic sense of themselves, I (unfortunately) don’t subscribe to a dick-shaped deity that convinces me that my creations are great.
I recognize when something I write could be better. I go back and reread older posts and find redundancies, drawn-out anecdotes, and aggressive em-dashing.
Note: I went hard on the em-dash BEFORE ChatGBT turned it into the #1 “Is this written by AI?” giveaway.
When I hit “publish”, I know that sinking in another hour could take a post to bigger, overly-produced heights. At the same time, I recognize that done is better than draft. Published is better than perfect. And outtie is better than innie? Ew.
Also, when in doubt, I usually arrive here: stupider things by stupider people are being posted online at this very moment.
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And in this moment.
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And in this one. And so forth.
Since I started posting on Substack, millenials who inhabit “podcast nation” have chanted, “What about audio?”. In other words, “We’d love to pick up what you’re putting down, but me no longer readssss.”
Due to the aforementioned realistic sense of my abilities, I have avoided creating audio. Before now, I attempted to record, but could never shake sounding like an elementary teacher reading The Berenstein Bears to her students. Believe me when I say, it was cringy.
Then, I decided it was time to get over myself.
In keeping with the essence of Back to Shameless, I had to get out of my own way. And if releasing half-baked, amateur audio could help push this thing further along, then so be it!
All this to say, I’m happy to officially announce the audio launch of Back to Shameless!
For the last few weeks, I’ve spent hours recording in my closet, learning to edit, and creating a 10-second opening jingle. It’s been daunting and terrible. Fun and rewarding. And while I haven’t gotten abs or helped thy neighbour, I have overcome a long-avoided roadblock from my own shameless landscape.
So, thank you for your readership, words of encouragement, and now, potential listenership.
May these recordings get better in due time, but until then, may we continue to put ourselves out there despite firm grips on reality.
You can find Back to Shameless on:
YAY!! So proud of you!