I have exciting news!

For YEARS I have been intrigued by the podcasting world. Not only does it remove the need to do your hair and dress cute while making content (clearly making it the superior medium) but also, I love how… intimate it is. When you listen to a podcast, the hosts are speaking directly to you, whispering in your ears, often the only company you’ve got during a car ride or long run. And while the listenership is growing all the time, it’s still got that “newer community” vibe, like it hasn’t quite reached your aunt in Mississippi who still has dial-up, like Facebook and YouTube have.

Maybe it’s just that I’m exhausted of YouTube. Maybe I just need something new to sink my teeth into. But either way, I’ve wanted to make a podcast for a long time.

It just doesn’t seem quite as simple as slapping together a YouTube video and tossing it online to see what happens. A podcast needs a concept. It needs to be a show. It needs intro music and cover art and costs actual hosting fees.

I needed an idea good enough to justify jumping in.

But finally, finally it came to me. Not just the idea for my very first podcast, but a way to bridge the gap between a couple of things missing in my life:

• A new medium to create content in to share with the people (hopefully!) waiting for me to finally ‘make stuff’ again.
• A way to replace the writing pep talk videos I used to put on YouTube.
• And a way to continue supporting my favorite thing in the entire world, NaNoWriMo.

So, here is How To Win NaNo: A Writing Podcast. My friend Liz and I will be creating weekly episodes starting in August, though the trailer is up already if you want to give it a listen. It’s available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and a few others, and I honestly couldn’t be more excited for this new endeavor.

The idea is that listening to this podcast in real-time will help you get as prepared as possible for the NaNoWriMo challenge in November. Liz and I will be talking through all sorts of tricks and tips we’ve learned over the shares, sharing advice and stories and giving a peek behind the curtain at our own progress. The first season of this podcast will run clear through the end of the year, giving writers a solid ramp up to NaNoWriMo, support throughout the harried month, and a ramp down in December as they start to ask themselves “what’s next?”

You can follow us on Twitter for more news and updates, or send us ideas for things you’d like to hear us discuss on the show!