Async.fm: More fidelity in my words

Though I just waxed on about the value of writing, I also love speaking. When an idea gets into my mind, when I’ve had time to stew on it and consider some of the angles, I love nothing more than to talk on that topic and share it with a friend.

Even though I type fast, averaging 80-120 words per minute, I can never keep up with the speed of talking. It’s been a bit of a challenge in all my podcasts that I speak too fast. I’m trying to work on that, but I usually speed up my words when I’m excited about something, and that’s when I’d hope the thing I’m talking about is more interesting.

I love writing, and will never hopefully stop. This blog is proof of that.

But, along with my writing, I’d love to re-pitch one of my favorite projects that I’ve been working on in recent months. Saadia Carbis and myself have been testing Async, a podcast where we rant on technology, design, and indie app development.

I’ve mentioned this before, but we’re on a roll these last few weeks and if you haven’t listened to it I think you’re in for a treat. Think of it as similar to blog posts that reference someone else. But instead of quote posting, we’re speaking.

Because of time zones we’ve chosen to create a podcast that is one person at a time. Each episode features myself or Saadia. We begin the episode with followup from the previous person’s recording, then dive into new topics.

This is the first podcast of this sort, as far as I’m aware, and we’ve had a ball with it. We’re now past 50 episodes, and all of them are free to enjoy. They’re short, averaging 5-15 minutes each. But because each episode is just one of us speaking, double the length per idea. Our goal would be to creating something akin to Dithering, just with one speaker at a time.

Why don’t we just get on a call together and talk? We tried that. We spent six months last year recording with another friend, but eventually the logistical issues of scheduling got the better of us. We still clung to the idea though, and switched up the format. Instead of letting the idea die, like so many podcasts that have gone to the great graveyard in the RSS sky, we wanted to find a way to keep the episodes rolling.

It works, really well.

We get to rant, talk about each other’s ideas, and share new ideas. Then, anywhere from 1-2 days later you’ll get a followup. Easy.

If you know of anyone else trying this please let me know, I’d love to give a listen. Also, if you’re thinking of trying this yourself go for it, and share the link so I can subscribe.

Hope you enjoy Async.