MJV Bookish Thoughts The Podcast Experiment: Season One Episode One – Diversity

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Hello

Welcome back and welcome to season one episode one of the MJV Bookish Thoughts The Podcast Experiment.

Today’s theme is diversity.

And the official title for the episode is: White authors please delete your diversity checklist, thank you.

Sit back, listen and enjoy.

MJV Bookish Thoughts Podcast Show Notes

I did the thing.

The MJV Bookish Thoughts podcast is one of my 2019 passion projects.

I am terrified and excited, and if you just listened to 30 minutes of me chatting to myself about the books, I read in January, thanks so much.

Now onto the show notes. I have no idea what show notes are, but one of my favourite shows, The Read or Dead podcast by Book Riot tends to mention then so here goes.

MJV Bookish Thoughts The Podcast Experiment.

Season one, episode one.

Recorded on Tuesday 29 January 2019 and first aired on Wednesday 30 January 2019. Hosted by Chantel DaCosta.

Theme: Diversity.

Title: White authors please delete your diversity checklist, thank you.

Length: 30 minutes.

The Books Mentioned In Episode One

Here are the books mentioned in the podcast episode.

On My Radar:

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton, historical fiction set in the 1960s, and the protagonist is sugar heiress Beatriz Perez as she navigates her life after leaving Cuba. This books should be released on 9 April 2019.
I have an advanced reader copy and will be participating in the book tour in April. I will likely add the book to my March 2019 reading list.

Then, there is a work in translation, The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia, translated by Simon Bruni. A family saga set in Mexico 1918, there are prophecies and magical elements and a boy who is followed by a swarm of bees.

And, also being released on 16 April is Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. This is Kim’s debut and it is a small town suspense that promises an intense courtroom drama.

I have arcs from NetGalley for all of these books. And, I’m excited to read these books in March.

January 2019 – the month in books

I read six books in January.

My Sister, The Serial by Okinyan Braithwaite – dark comedy, satire.

Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry, suspense novel with a #metoo message.

Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay by Phoebe Robinson, a comedy or humour book with personal essays.

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson broke me in January. It was a powerful and moving story about neglect and how young black girls go missing without any mainstream media care or concern. It is also about friendship and loss.

A Princess In Theory by Alyssa Cole was a delight romance with sexiness and royalty. And, this book is book one in the Reluctant Royals series and I am going dive into books two and a novella (book 2.5)

And, then my favourite book of the month was The Widows of Malabar Hill (Perveen Mistry #1) by Sajuta Massey. Richly descriptive and diverse historical fiction mystery set in Inida in the 1920s.

Currently reading

And, right now I am reading two books.

I am reading New Suns, a speculative anthology that is set to be published on 12 March. And, I started reading my first graphic novel, Monstress, Volume one: Awakening. The graphic novel is darker than I expected, a lot of violence and blood and weird but I like it.

Procrastination vs Perfectionism

The MJV Bookish Thoughts podcast almost didn’t happen.

Let me tell you a little story of my life lately and the procrastination vs. perfectionism tug war.

First, I want to acknowledge that scripting and recording were much harder than I anticipated.

Now it is story time. I started drafting the episode script on Wednesday 23 January because I was excited and I didn’t want to be rushed, plus my 2019 word is action so I needed to take the time to do what I said I was going to do.

I was making notes in the My Jamaican Vignettes blog notebook (I have dedicated notebooks for every aspect of my life) and I was thrilled by the writing so I paused and I recorded a test. My test ran to close to eight minutes and I thought I was doing a decent job. Then, I asked my partner for feedback and that changed everything.

He said that while I sounded excited and my enthusiasm for the podcast and my love of books shined through, I was also rambling and sounded confused.

Listening to and accepting feedback

I accepted his feedback and listened to my test recording again, I let go of my attachments and realised that he was so right. In the eight minutes, I didn’t manage to introduce the podcast segments. I was rambling, and I tended to read from the script then go off script entirely so much so that it sounded like a bizarre conversation with two versions of me. It was not good.

Procrastination and other ish

I decided to pause and return on Thursday, then Thursday ended and I didn’t work on the script and Friday was happy Friday and TGIF, so no writing happened. I woke on Saturday morning, not feeling good and since then I have been struggling. The last few days were rough, I feel unwell, and I still was struggling. When Monday 28 January rolled around, I felt frantic and started a new script. I went to bed at 10.30pm that night with a headache and I wasn’t even close to completing the script.

Doubts, fears and then perfectionism popped up

Tuesday morning, 29 January I woke to a massive headache, body chills and an overall weirdness in my body. It was bad, so bad, I asked for the morning off. And, while in bed resting, I was obsessing over my to-do list for my 8-5 as well as the unfinished podcast episode. My headache got worse. After a brief midday chat with my partner and then a message from my boss to take a full sick day. I slept, I slept for hours and woke dehydrated and disoriented.

I took a few minutes to get myself together and I tackled the script. Then, I dived into recording. And boy, did I have to delete a bunch of attempts. I slurred my words, and the weirdest error was that I kept saying 2009 when I should’ve said 2019.

So in the end, I did it. I am glad that I pushed through and kept my word.

This is a new project that is truly an experiment and an amateur attempt at exploring a new type of content creation.

If you intend to listen in each month, please be kind. Please know that season one will likely be rough. But I promise you this, I am committed to this project and you will see an improvement in time.

MJV Bookish Thoughts The Podcast Experiment – January – September 2019

For now the podcast stays here on the blog.

I will work to get the podcast distributed on Castbox (I use that app on my phone) and iTunes (thanks to MJV Facebook community member, Jessica, hi Jessica, who recommended this distribution channel).

I didn’t really think through distribution, please be patient with me as I figure it out.

So, here is what will happen for the MJV Bookish Thoughts the Podcast Experiment in 2019.

Season one will run from today, Wednesday 30 January to Wednesday 24 April. Then, I am taking a two-month break to assess and improve so that season two will be a decent effort.

And, season two will air from 3 July to 25 September. In October, I will decide if this project is worthwhile and how to transition from experiment and amateur trial to a well-produced programme independent of the My Jamaican Vignettes blog.

Thanks so much for your support. And, please share your feedback, and be kind.

What do you think of my first episode?

What other distribution channels should I explore?

Are there any topics that you want me to explore in upcoming episodes?

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Thanks so much,

Until next Wednesday,

Happy reading!

Chantel