Print This Post
The Age of (authentic) Conversation
What does The Age of Conversation mean for the way that we write? Does it challenge us to change the way we use words - to open up the possibilities for richer, more authentic conversations? Does it mean learning to communicate in a variety of ways online - like using the spoken as well as the written word?
These were some of the questions and challenges that were running through my mind last week when I was reading The Age of Conversation. And it seemed like a fitting response to challenge myself to experiment with a different - more conversational? - way of sharing words, ideas and reflections with you.
So if you want to find out more, tune into my very first podcast on “The age of authentic conversation”…
Through the wonders of technology you should be able to listen to it here, or play or download from the Confident Writing Gcast page (it looks most professional doesn’t it, if not a little scary - and demanding that I create more!) I hope there aren’t too many technical queries because that’s me at the edge of my knowledge already!
Now I always tell people not to apologise for their writing and I know I should apply the principle here - but, it’s hard not to with the first go… I think this is a wee bit long, I think it’s a wee bit quiet (turn up the volume and it should work okay though!)… but I knew if I kept on experimenting it would be more like procrastination than improvement. Because this is a bit (a lot) scary for me, because it takes me right out of my comfort zone it seemed better to get the first one out of the way, and not just out of the way but published… and then to learn, improve and develop from there.
Feedback is a huge part of that learning process so if you’ve taken the time to listen comments are welcome as always (except please be extra nice!) If you didn’t want to take the time to listen - well that would be valuable feedback to as regards the kind of media you do or don’t like to engage with…
You can buy copies of The Age of Conversation here and find out more about how the project is going at their blogsite.
For more on the ingredients of great conversation you could check out two recent posts on Liz Strauss’ site (secrets of a superstar conversationalist and soulful dots speaking) - and don’t forget to delve into the comment box which is where the conversation takes place…
Thanks to GP in Montana for teaching me the innkeeper’s creed: be interested, not interesting (and wow, today’s post on feeling the fear and doing it anyway does seem particularly apt…)
Thanks (?!) to the Edinburgh coffee morning Facebook group for prompting me to experiment with podcasting.
This article and podcast was created as part of the writing with authenticity theme at Confident Writing.
Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach
Because our words count
To get future articles you might want to subscribe to the free RSS feed. You'll find more writing tips in the Confident Writing archive. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Respect for the authentic conversation: comments, links and all that jazz
- Singing your song: the round up of authentic writing
- The courage to hear yourself sing: e-book on authentic writing
Hi Joanna, Your podcast was wonderful, especially considering it’s your first one. You speak very much like you write, so you definitely practice what you preach about authenticity in conversation. You made an excellent point about trying to be interested rather than interesting. Being interested is really what opens the door to learning and understanding. And those things, in turn, make us interesting.
Brad, thanks so much for taking the time to give me some feedback on the podcast (not to mention listening to it!)
I found the “interested” rather than “interesting” point a very powerful one too - as you say it opens up many doors and possibilities. I think it’s also a good state to write from - helps with tone and style, and also gets us past the internal critic (”who do you think you are to talk about this” “well, but I’m interested…”)
Joanna
Congratulations on your first podcast. I think it was very appropriate to do a spoken word review about this book, given the focus on conversation.
I hadn’t thought about using podcasts for book reviews but think this is a great idea. Well done!
Thanks for listening Yvonne. I look forward to sharing your podcasting journey too:-)
The question of spoken/written word is an interesting and quite challenging one for me - but I reckon we’re all going to need to learn how to use this medium soon even if it’s not the preferred one for us writers…
Joanna