What Is Your Motivation For Podcasting?

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A question was recently posed by Chris Cowan on The Hobby Podcaster Facebook group. He asked where the line was between podcasting as a hobby and being considered a professional. If you make money on your hobby podcast does that move you into the professional category? The conversation quickly shifted to the question of motivation… why and how we do what we do in the practice of podcasting. This is an important subject for me and what began as a short reply quickly became an entire post; the one you’re now reading. You may not agree with my particular slant on the topic—and if you don’t I would love to hear from you—but I think most of us would agree that our culture generally values Image over Integrity. This article is a critique of that distorted value, its influence on podcasting and our motivations in general.

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Got Multiple Podcasts? Request an iTunes Artist Page!

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Sometimes I think I enjoy starting new podcasts more than I actually like podcasting. Podcasting always wins out… but the result of my dual passions is that I have a lot of podcasts, some in an archived state, that are individually listed in iTunes. I’ve always worked to share each show’s audience with my other shows. That’s why I started the NLCast Podcast Network and even added a little toolbar to the top of each website in the network with links to the other shows. But the truth is, 9o% of my audience has never been to my site. They found me in iTunes or through their iPhone and their entire experience with my content has been via iTunes and on an individual show basis. Naturally I cross-promote within the shows themselves… but what I was trying accomplish could have been done a lot better, easier… and a long time ago if I’d known about this little trick. Here it is: Continue reading →

I Am Anti-Spider

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anti-spider

I am anti-spider. Have you seen these advice animal pics where spiders are cute and kind but then people are hurting them? I believe it’s part of the pro-spider agenda. I just want to make it clear that at JamesKennison.com we are 100% anti-spider. I would go as far as to say that I believe that being a spider is WRONG! I am absolutely #AntiSpider.

I have been called me an Arachnophobe… and I’ll admit it’s partially true, but I have nothing against spiders personally, I just don’t want them around myself or my kids. The following are a series of short stories and observations that I have made over the years that I hope will educate you to the horrors of spiders. Continue reading →

Thoughts On Podcast Structure: Part 1 – What Is Your Topic?

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Whenever I get an email asking for advice about starting a podcast, I always cringe after I ask what the show will be about and hear, “It’ll just be me and my friends talking about geeky stuff.” You’re allowed to podcasting however and about whatever you want, but I have news for you: Unless you are famous, nobody wants to hear you and your friends talk about random geeky stuff. As my fellow podcaster Chris Cowan said, “[Listeners are] only interested in…something that piques their interest…Talking about random stuff is not going to pique someone’s interest…talking about their favorite TV show, activity or subject matter [will].” In other words:

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Children’s Ministry: A View From Outside

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In April of 2013 I stepped down from my children’s pastor position due to the issues that arise when you can no longer hide your depression and anxiety disorders. It’s been just over a year since I’ve prepped a service, led a game, worked a puppet, preached an illustrated sermon or taught a memory verse. I miss the kids… but not Easter, Halloween and Kids Camp! But that’s a topic for another post.

These days I find myself on the other-side of children’s ministry. Now I take my two children, 9 and 6, to someone elses kids church. We’ve been to several in fact. The view is quite a bit different out here than it was in there and I’d like to share as much as I can remember with you. It’s a unique perspective. I’m not another quirky parent demanding fundamental changes that only benefit my particular child. I’m a 13-year children’s ministry veteran who for now is standing in your check-in line. Here are some things that I noticed that were important to me:

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Frozen Parody Song: Do You Wanna Cook Some Bacon

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The illustrious Erik Fisher (@erikfisher), host of the Beyond the To-do List podcast, posted a tweet that someone needed to write a parody to “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman” from Disney’s Frozen called “Do You Wanna Cook Some Bacon”… so I did.

It’s the story of a baconaholic who drives his wife to divorce with is bacon fixation. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Do you wanna cook some bacon?
I heard you say we’re having roast.
I realize that it doesn’t go
So could we just forgo,
have bacon, eggs and toast.

I really like it crispy
and golden brown
We really don’t need those sides…

Do you wanna cook some bacon?
I know you just now put the roast in.
[Go away moron!]
Okay bye.

Do you want to cook some bacon?
Yes Hon I know it’s 2 am
And normally I’d be willing to
do it myself but you
are better than I am

You seem to be offended
There’s no time for that
I’m timing you as you fry.
Yes your honor I’ll admit that
I drove my wife to make this call
But bacon made me do it sir
I like it more than her
Can’t eat her after all.

She used to make me breakfast
Now oatmeal and fruit
What was I gonna do?
I only asked her to make bacon
[Mrs. Baconski your divorce is granted]
Okay, bye.

Vizify Accidently Tracked My Depression

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Vizify was a online profile service that took info from Twitter. The service is closing soon having been purchased by Yahoo and I was asked to archive my profile. I figured ‘what the heck’.

Vizify tracks what you tweet about most. My #1 keyword was KIDS but I was interested to see what other words were prominent. After clicking I saw a bit more than the topics I tweeted about. I got to see a representative timeline of my bout with depression.

The most obvious is the large gap between October 2012 and mid-May of 2013. That was the worst of it when I wasn’t even able to get out of bed. I also noticed two other little drop-outs (though they’re not as stark as the big one) between Q3 and Q4 of 2012, then a gap between Q1 and Q2 (a smaller one).

Those purple dots say a lot more than Visify intended. I’m glad to see the dots on the right side. There’s a lot more tweets about my kids and my trial run with putting out regular videos on YouTube.

Were Vizify to continue there they would be adding a few very large and dark purple dots to the PODCAST and EPISODE and SHOW lines because I’m happy to announce that Nobody’s Listening podcast is returning. You can find more about that over at podcast.nlcast.com.

Thanks for reading.

(Click to make the pic bigger)

I Need Beta Readers!

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beta-reader

From Wikipedia: “A Beta Reader is a non-professional reader who reads a written work, generally fiction, with the intent of looking over the material to find and improve elements before the story is released for public consumption.”

I need a few (4-7) families with a kid or kids (8-12) who would be interested in reading Bad Hero and taking notes.

Naturally parents are encouraged to read the book as well and feedback is encouraged and welcome.

The children need to be between 8 and 12 years old. They must be able to read the book without assistance, and (the most important part) take notes while reading and possibly complete a questionnaire after.

I’ll be looking for feedback on things like plot holes, problems with continuity, characterisation or believability.

Bad Hero is easier to read than Harry Potter but a little more complex than Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Email james@nlcast.com
Subject: Bad Hero Preview
Include how your family qualifies.
I will follow up with specifics once we’re ready.

I’ll post again when the slots are filled. Thanks!

**UPDATE**

The slots are filled. Thanks!

I’ve Written A Book: Bad Hero

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Hello gentle readers. I realize that I have not added anything to the site since mid February. I have been distracted by a new obsession lately. That obsession is writing. The past several months I’ve written Bible Stuff articles and let out some inner stuff about Depression and the patterns of Church Culture, but now I’m on to brighter and possibly more productive expressions.

I have written a 36,400 word novel for pre-teens (8-12, it’s called Middle Grade) called Bad Hero.  Continue reading →