In the comments on last week’s post, Erin mentioned podcasts as a way of learning things while doing something else.
I subscribe to a bunch of podcasts, though I don’t do a good job of keeping up with them. I listen in the mornings when I’m lifting weights/doing yoga, and on weekends when I put laundry away or (sometimes) while doing yardwork or cleaning.
Most of them aren’t nonfiction, though. There’s the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast, which is the most applicable to writing research, and to generating ideas. I used to subscribe to two podcasts from our local public radio station, but I never listened to them because they’re an hour long, and they weren’t really well edited (they included everything on the radio, like the weather, not just an interview or story on one subject).
Most of my podcasts are about writing. The current lineup includes:
- Adventures in SciFi Publishing – About the genre in general, not just writing. These are an hour long, so they get saved up for long drives or yardwork sessions.
- I Should Be Writing – Shockingly this is about writing. Probably the one I’ve been listening to the longest. She split the feedback section off into its own episodes, which tend to be shorter, so I listen to those while exercising and the longer ones while doing house/yardwork.
- Speculate – I just learned about this one, so it hasn’t found a home in my schedule yet. Like the first two podcasts on this list, there seems to be a big emphasis on interviews.
- StoryWonk Daily – Emphasis on writing. Pretty short, and seems to not have interviews, which actually makes me more likely to listen on a regular basis (because interviews are so hit or miss). This one’s a pretty recent discovery on my part but I can see it becoming a regular part of my listening.
- Writing Excuses – This is the first podcast I always turn to (unless I’m on a long drive, because they’re short). But it’s only once a week, so I need the others to keep me occupied.
On the one hand I don’t have time to keep up with all of those. (And one I listen to for work, and Podcastle, and the random things I’ve downloaded from iTunes U.) On the other hand…what podcasts do you listen to? I’m always happy to try new ones.