My Dear Friend,

Welcome to ThatsTheIssue No. 1. Let's start the roundtable, shall we?

Character Glossary:

  • Masahiro: Logic, Thought, Planning.
  • N.T. Cloever: Emotion, Imagination, Creativity.
  • The Fool: Curiosity, Conversations, Questions.
  • Podrick the Podcast Chicken: Podcasting.

===

Masahiro: Welcome my friends. We can finally face each other and chat. Meeting out of his head feels...a bit different. How are all of you doing?

Cloever: Hello, brother. I’m...alive.

The Fool: Hello hello, I’m doing fantastic! Learned a ton this week from conversations. SO many conversations.

Podrick: Good morning, fellow listener.

What happened this week?

Masahiro: Well, we have this Issue coming out now. I think that’s the biggest thing that’s happened. RIght?

Cloever: Aye.

The Fool: Aye.

Podrick: Bok bok (Aye)!

Masahiro: It’s scary. I know it is. I’m not used to being vulnerable over e-mail. It’s as if I’ve ripped out a page of my journal and shared it with the world to see. Then again, vulnerability is a stepping stone to growth, so the discomfort is welcomed in that sense.

Cloever: Worry not, brother. Others may feel the same way. Vulnerability attracts the strong and self-introspective. They will understand your need to express it this way.

Masahiro: I’m sure they might. We are multifaceted after all.

Cloever: So many lives within us. We bare them all to understand ourselves.

Masahiro: What else happened, friends?

The Fool: Well, I learned many things recently! If we’re talking AntiFool:

One is speechwriting: I think we all love a bit of oratory, don’t we? I talked with Rune Kier, an award-winning speechwriter who won a ton of awards. He said that people can have their identities affected by speeches. Narratives can be changed! He thinks of it as akin to a railway: we have our current tracks, and there are parallel tracks that lead to a better place. The way to bring them to said tracks is a powerful speech. So cool. Can you imagine being able to change someone’s lives for the better through only your spoken word? My favourite part is when he says:

Rune Kier:... a good speech is a speech that demonstrates a desirable future and how to attain it. A great speech is a speech that describes a past and you don’t even have to know what future. It will point out because that’s logical, it’s just the next step. It’s just straight. The road doesn’t curve. It’s right there in front of you, you can make up your own mind and create your own pictures.

The Fool: His memento is a shield reminiscent of his Viking heritage. Very awesome.

We have another AntiFool on extreme production: a fellow member of Visualized Value, Craig Burgess, came to the show to talk about creating MANY things. From 365-day challenges to micro-content to building your own corner of the world. I asked a couple questions around his process: how to mine big pieces of content to make them smaller. It was fascinating: we’ve had to do this because the psychological behavior of consumers across all the social media changes so much. How can we be part of their routine? He says:

Craig Burgess: It’s tough getting started. It’s always tough getting started because you’ve got to, it’s not just the fact that it takes a long time to build traction. it’s the fact that you’ve got to pull it up. We’ve been so bad at it for so long and nobody paying attention and one or two people watching your video and nobody replying to your tweets...there’s more people in every single niche that you can think of, but there’s, even though there’s more things and there’s more people, people still are interested in people...So I think that’s why it is so powerful to have a lot of different things going on and also being upfront and showing yourself as well because people connect to you first and then kind of go off and look at your other stuff.

Masahiro: That is amazing, Foolish One! Well, don’t forget what we’ve done too: our talk with Maggie Appleton on RoamFM came out and it was a vast success! Listeners were receiving it very well. We talked Digital Gardens, Digital Anthropology and Illustrated Notes!

The Fool: I loved that conversation. Do you think we should introduce a new character for RoamFM?

Masahiro: For now, I don’t think so. The show’s only just started . We'll see where it goes.

The Fool: Okay.

Masahiro: Anyone else?

Podrick: Well I’ve got news for you! He gave us the chance to talk podcasting at Podthon 2020 recently! All about ‘How to Tap into the Asian podcasting market’, we were up at 1:30AM doing the talk and answering questions. Actually very good! There were a ton of questions around starting a podcast in a different country - some were culturally sensitive which is really beneficial for us. One was around starting a podcast in a different language + culture (if in South Korea, how would it work?).

Cloever: Exhausted still. But doing okay. I’m recovering. I will start soon.

Tempered Fables is still on pause until we can get our things together. I know that. It’s just...frustrating. There are so many stories, so many drafts that we’ve made in our minds. Of worlds and horror and clowns and fiction. A strange amalgamation of characters swirling around my head, rattling against the cages. They want out, and I don’t have the key yet.

Masahiro: I know, I know. I’m sorry about that. I’ll really need to get this started up before we can proceed.

Cloever: There is no rush. We recover at our own pace, just as we prefer to walk at certain speeds.

The Fool: Could we talk about that? That thing we want to do?

Masahiro: Maybe at the end, I’ll announce it properly.

The Fool: Okay.

Masahiro: And you! Our little podcast chicken. What have you got for us?

What have you been thinking about?

Masahiro: I can answer this: there is a certain relationship between bravery, fear, and the progression of life. Just as fear is a weapon that stabs our mind, bravery is the shield that protects us from it. Cloever, I know I borrowed a bit of your imagination to use the weapons analogy, but it makes sense. I'll need to ponder on that more.

Podrick: Don’t forget! We’ve been chatting about the notion of an agile podcast network: imagine an independent creator managing an entire range of shows. All of us can be heard. Wouldn’t that be super insane? Doesn’t it excite you?

Masahiro: It does but. Can we do it?

Podrick: I’m sure we can. Stagger the shows, work out a proper schedule between each one and you have something like a TV channel - episodes from one show on this day, and episodes from another on another time. You can keep doing all of these and spread the work out so you won’t have to worry about deadlines all the time.

Masahiro: That is a good point. Not all the shows have to be weekly. What do you think, Cloever?

Cloever: As long as the stories are completed, there is contentment.

The Fool: In case you’re going to ask, as long as I get to talk to many people then all is well!

Masahiro: We'll grow this over time then. First, the audience.

Cloever: A stage without an audience is a lonely one.

What are you planning?

Masahiro: Well, there are a few things we’re planning. There’s going to be more from us: from the Memory and Speedreading coaching, building shows for others and this podcast network.

Cloever: The Letters of Gratitude are coming out soon: Personal letters about the facets of life we should be grateful for. I can't wait for you to read it.

Podrick: Bok bok! Podlovers Asia is building up Season 3 - reaching out to potential guests to start it up again.

The Fool: And you know me, always chatting with many people. We've got an upcoming project gathering people around the notion of polymaths: can't wait to share it when that comes out!

Masahiro: Remember friends, we have to build the habit of writing this first. One thing at a time.

Cloever: Aye

Podrick: Aye

The Fool: Aye.

Until next time, everyone. I’ll see you here next week.

Podrick: Bye bye!

The Fool: Stay warm and lovely.

Cloever: Until next time, brother. I’ll be waiting by the fire.

Masahiro: Will do. Let’s get back to reality.

...

Me: Until next time, my friend.

Personal Note:

I find it much more intimate to have email correspondence instead of posting blindly on social media. We’re set to shout out to a sea of noise - but an e-mail is intimacy; letters to a single person, you.

I think I would appreciate that more, wouldn’t you?

I was inspired by [[Courage to be Disliked]] to write transcripts for a book. It’s a much better format for me to write out everything in 3rd person. It gave me permission: I can write it just as I’ve always wanted to.

I think I was afraid of writing it this way. It’s weird, isn’t it? I’ve always been this way since Tempered Fables.

But here's to another day of vulnerability. We need it to grow.

-N