It was at least three years ago — possibly more — that I came up with the idea to start a new podcast.
But life got in the way, and the furthest I got was hiring someone to make a logo, and another person to put together a video intro.
Yesterday, I decided that despite my life still being a bit too chaotic for consistency, that I needed to just turn on the camera and film, or I was never going to find the right moment.
So I did.
You must understand, I’m a perfectionist. I want the lighting, the editing, the music, the everything to be just right. I pride myself on creating a product that looks like it was put together by a team of professionals, even when it’s just me doing everything.
I had a professor in college, in a creative writing class, who gave us one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten. “If you don’t like what you’ve written,” he said, “lower your standards.”
Or as G.K. Chesterton put it, “anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”
This is a very ad-hoc podcast. The camera angle is off, I relied on natural light that faded by the end of filming, and I didn’t have every clip I wanted ready right on cue. The output file wound up at 49 Gigabytes, which is INSANE, and probably a result of me filming this in widescreen (my monitor is widescreen and I was doing screen capture, but I’m going to have to drop it to 1080P next time). It was supposed to get published last night, but I had to re-encode and process the files, which took forever.
Enough apologizing. I’m actually OK with the result, and I hope you are too. This is the raw, real way I work through stories to find the nuggets I think are important, so I thought I’d just bring you into that conversation. If I’m going to do this regularly while juggling family and other work and everything else that’s going on, I’ve got to lower my standards. Fewer edits, less perfectionism. Just make the sausage. At least for now.
So consider this podcast to be “early access.” Still a work in progress. Name may change, setting will change, production values will change, everything is a step on the path.
With that said, I hope you enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed making it. Felt good to get back in the saddle.
PS: Podcasts will be available to paid subscribers first, then everyone else on a delay. I really appreciate those of you who have ponied up some hard-earned cash to support this endeavor. I’ve been applying for jobs because I’m not making nearly enough here to do this full time like I want, so every subscriber is another inch in the direction of me being able to put my everything into this Substack, and I want to give you as much value as I can. I welcome your feedback.
PPS: there’s an audio-only version on the “podcast” tab at the top of the home page, for those who want that version. Just please know that I always set these up as videos first, so there may be visual references that don’t make sense to the folks doing the audio-only version.
I would love to work on The Skojec File full time, but to do that, I need more subscribers. Until then, if you would like to make an extra contribution in support of this work, you can buy me a coffee or just drop a tip in the hat at my Paypal. Thank you for your support!
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