Podcasts I listen to

At some point, I’m going to try to gear some of this blog toward readers and genre fans who aren’t also writers, but… That day is not this day! Today, I’m going to tell you which podcasts I listen to every week in my mad scramble to keep up with writing stuff:

Writing Excuses: A craft-centered podcast by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. Writing Excuses runs only about 15-20 minutes and is packed with great writing advice. If you don’t have much time for podcasts but want to improve your writing, this is the show for you.

The Self-Publishing Podcast (SPP): SPP is maybe 25% craft, 75% publishing, and 100% hijinks. These guys –  Johnny B. Truant, David Wright and Sean Platt – are nuts. SPP has recently been cut down to 1 hour, but they produce it every week, in addition to a huge and growing collection of other podcasts. SPP and the other Sterling & Stone podcasts are informative and funny, with lots of swearing.

The Creative Penn: Hosted by the eponymous Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn is classy and clean. Or maybe it’s just Joanna’s beautiful English accent… Regardless, this one is mostly a business podcast. Sometimes Joanna even reads my tweets during the show intro. This may be my closest brush with fame!

Ditch Diggers: This podcast is a pure craft- and trash-talk. It’s hosted by Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace. It’s crass, it’s mean and it’s a blast. They pull no punches (from Morgan Freeman’s Fight Club basement) when talking about writing. And the traditional publishing industry, I guess. Okay, there is a business element to Ditch Diggers, but it’s directed at those who want agents and publishers. If that’s you, listen to Ditch Diggers!

I Should Be Writing: Mur’s other podcast. ISBW is much gentler and introspective than Ditch Diggers. Mur uses it to talk listeners and herself through the sometimes soul-crushing slog of writing and publishing a book. It really helps on my bad days to know that a “real” writer struggles with all of the same things that I do. Warning, though – within 2 episodes, you’ll really want to give Mur a hug.

Grammar Girl: Not a writing podcast per se, but weekly quick and dirty tips on grammar and word usage. Grammar Girl is short, fun and won’t eat a lot of your day. Like Writing Excuses, if you’re short on time but really want to learn something, add Grammar Girl to your podcast feed or channel.

The Writership Podcast: Writership isn’t quite like anything else on this list. It’s hosted by Leslie Watts and Clark Chamberlain. It’s an editing podcast! Each week, Leslie and Clark read out five pages of a submitted manuscript and edit it on the air. The website includes copy edits (spelling, grammar, etc.) but the podcasts addresses about broader issues like pacing, characterization and setting. I forget if I heard Leslie talk on The Creative Penn or SPP, but I’ve been listening to Writership ever since and trying to get my nerve up to submit a few pages.