I have a podcast and I think I might be good at it?

Welcome to a new platform!

Hello from Karis, but now we’re on Beehiiv!

I was not comfortable staying on Substack given everything we know about that platform and how it’s a hotbed for Nazis and other evils. For a while, I stayed because, well, I was there, and I didn’t have paid subscriptions turned on, so they weren’t making money off of me. So what was the harm?

But for a few weeks now I’ve been toying with moving, and this Saturday, I just…took the plunge. So now we’re here, and we’ll see how this goes for us, yeah? Let me know if you like it, hate it, don’t care one way or the other…

I have a podcast! 🎙️

Impostor syndrome, but through the lens of my podcast

If you didn’t know, now you know: I launched a podcast a few weeks ago! It’s called The Write Way of Life, and I’ve been working on it with my friend A.D. Jolietta, one of my writing buds. We interview authors about various craft topics — season one was about the basics of craft, and so far we’ve spoken with Martha Brockenbrough on “What is craft?” and Emily X.R. Pan on “What is voice?”

It’s been such a fun ride to do this project, and it’s been really refreshing for me, personally, because…I think I’m pretty good at it? Which, like, is not something I’m used to saying or thinking about myself!

But everything about this process has been really…what’s the right word? Invigorating, creatively fulfilling, but also just a reminder that I am competent?

From coming up with the topics for this season to reaching out to authors — both ones I already know, like Martha and Emily, and ones I’ve never connected with before, like our Episode 4 & 5 guests — to actually conducting the interviews, I’ve felt a surge of pride in my own abilities.

It’s a reminder that, you know, maybe I do know some things. I’ve spent nine years honing my interview skills since I dropped out of the journalism program at NYU, and before that I studied journalism for five years, and it’s refreshing to realize that the time I put into learning and developing those skills is paying off.

I’ve been learning about traditional publishing since I started googling how to query agents in the summer of 2014; over the past decade, I’ve learned everything from the Publishers Weekly advance code to where to find agents to query to which agencies you might want to avoid.

But it’s deeper than just an understanding of the industry, I fear. It seems like, sometime over the past 15 years, I’ve…learned about craft.

Listen — my fondest dream is to be a good writer.

And because it’s a dream I hold so close to my heart, it’s one I’m pretty sure is out of reach. I desperately crave the knowledge that I’m a good writer, that my sentences sing and my stories flow well. There was a moment, around 10 years ago, when I was getting acceptances to my top-tier journalism grad schools, that I felt confident. I was graduating with my BA in Creative Writing and Journalism, and I was getting accepted to NYU and CUNY and Northwestern, and I thought I was hot shit.

I haven’t felt like hot shit in a minute.

But the podcast? When I’m working on it, whether that’s recording a chaotic intro with Adi, coming up with questions to guide a craft conversation with a bestselling author I’m in awe of, or listening to the published episodes and being shocked that I kinda sound…like I know what I’m doing…I feel good.

It’s foreign, because I’ve spent so long nursing impostor syndrome that I hardly know how to handle its opposite.

But I think there might be something beautiful and meaningful in fostering this feeling of competence.

Much to consider…

Alla prossima 👋

That’s all for this week, folks!

— Karis xoxo