Audiobooks and Podcasts: Your Secret Writing Mentors
Mastering the Craft While Managing a Busy Life
First, a question: how much audio content would you say you listened to in an average week?
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks while commuting, working in the garden, walking the dogs, and just about every moment when I’m not writing or working. The only time I don’t listen is for family time, although I often get murderous looks from my wife, which forces me to realize I’m being a jerk.
Given the choice between watching TV or listening to audio content, audio wins every time. Television bores me, to be brutally honest. Maybe not everything, but most programs. I feel guilty when passively absorbing so-called ‘light entertainment’ when I could be doing something productive.
If you don’t listen to audio content regularly, I highly recommend you do. There are so many podcasts out there that are suited to every taste and interest. The Podcast Index claims there are over 4.3 million podcasts worldwide, of which 3.2 million are in English.
The Podcasts
Naturally, I follow podcasts mostly about writing and creativity. However, technology, science, and general-interest podcasts occasionally pique my interest.
Links to all mentioned podcasts, authors, etc., may be found at the end of the post.
A current favorite is Writers, Ink, hosted by J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson. After listening to most of the most interesting recent episodes, checking the backlist revealed several episodes with big-name authors such as James Paterson, Lee Child, and James Rollins. It’s fascinating listening, starting way back in 2019 and picking out several from each year.
The latest was with Kevin J Anderson, an incredibly prolific author. He doesn’t write in the genres that interest me, but it was interesting to hear about his writing process and, hopefully, learn something and be entertained. Now, why would Kevin Anderson be so interesting to me? Well, he writes the vast majority of his first drafts with dictation.
He even wrote a book on being a dictator: On Being a Dictator. Oddly, it isn’t available in an audiobook, though.
The episode inspired me to dictate this newsletter. I’m getting better at dictation all the time. The transcription came out very clean, with only a few repeated words and so forth.
Podcasts can inspire you with so much. I’m a firm fan of The Creative Penn podcast, which features Joanna Penn. You may also like to check out Kevin Tumlinson’s Wordslinger Podcast, which has new episodes every few weeks. He also produces it as a Video Podcast on YouTube, which is cool.
Before I forget, I must mention The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy, which I love. It’s totally different and genuinely interesting, often hilarious.
I don’t want to fill this post with praise for every show I follow. See the links below; they are all worth checking out.
Matthew McConaughey: Greenlights
Sometimes, audiobooks take precedence over podcasts. This was the case with an early episode of the Writers, Ink podcast, published on February 15, 2021. The episode featured an interview with Matthew McConaughey about his book Greenlights, an unconventional memoir.
It was a fascinating interview, but what grabbed my attention was the audiobook version of the book. It was presented and narrated by Matthew McConaughey himself. It was a no-brainer; I had a credit left on this month on Audible.
It was downloaded and listened to immediately. It’s only around 7 hours, so it was done within a day, maybe a bit more.
What an incredible guy; it was so interesting. It was impressive to hear that, no matter what, he stayed true to himself throughout his career.
I said earlier that I hardly watch TV anymore, but I heard he watched the first True Detective series like everyone else. He watched it with his family every Sunday when the latest episode was released. I’ll be watching it again very soon.
Proactive Learning
Listening to audiobooks and podcasts and reading the work of other writers is incredibly important to any ambitious writer. Studying the work of successful authors is how we learn the craft. I like to think of this as proactive learning by consciously selecting interesting episodes, in the case of podcasts.
It’s doubtful that I would have ever discovered Matthew McConaughey’s book, Greenlights, in any other way. And there have been other discoveries over the last few years. Another example that springs to mind is the Author Ada Palmer and her Terra Ingota series of four books. I heard about Ada from another podcast, the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (see the link below.)
There had, of course, been many others, and I’ll be honest, I have worried that I was allowing myself to be distracted from my writing by listening and reading so much, especially as I’m also an ambitious writer who wants to be an author. But to count myself as an author, in my mind, won’t be until I’ve published at least one book, which may take a while.
I don’t feel that I’m procrastinating with my writing. It's just that learning the craft and life tend to get in the way. I’ve just come through yet another over-the-top busy week in my day job as a consultant. Monday through Thursday were 10-hour days, which can be tiring. Add the 6 hours of commuting time to the mix, which doesn't leave a lot of energy over for writing, does it?
The only mandatory writing of each week is what you’re reading now. Still, it’s only Friday morning. I have the whole weekend to get back into the book. Wish me luck.
The Links
Apart from the Podcasts, authors, and celebrities mentioned above (links listed below), a few other podcasts are listed, but not necessarily in favorites or priority order.
The Writers, Ink Podcast is hosted by J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, Kevin Tumlinson, J Thorn, and Zach Bohannon. Here are 12 notable episodes:
Episode 9.January 27, 2020: Designing a Career as an Authopreneur with Joanna Penn.
Episode 10. February 3, 2020: The Importance of Passion and Perseverance with James Patterson.
Episode 19. March 20, 2020: Captivating Readers with James Rollins.
Episode 22. April 20, 2020: Beating Resistance with Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne.
Episode 66. February 15, 2021: Greenlights with Matthew McConaughey.
Episode 72. March 29, 2021: Why You Need a Mailing List.
Episode 77. April 27, 2021: Writing Spontaneously with Lee Child.
Episode 79. May 10, 2021: Writing Rounder Characters with Andy Weir.
Episode 85. June 18, 2021: Talking About Bill Clinton and The President’s Daughter with James Patterson.
Episode 101. October 4, 2021: How to Dictate a Novel with Kevin J Anderson.
Episode 131. April 18, 2022: Kingdom of Bones with James Rollins.
Episode 157. October 10, 2022: Andrew Child explains why Jack Reacher has No Plan B.
Here are a selection of favorite podcasts that may be interesting to you:
The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy. (See Episode 495. January 7, 2025: Ada Palmer Interview.
Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates. (The last episode is dated February 1, 2024. I hope he does more.)
I think this is enough to whet your appetite. I would love to know if you have any recommendations. There’s certainly a pile of podcasts the rest of us haven’t come across yet. Leave a comment with details if you wish.
I have several others I listen to regularly; drop me a line if you’re curious.
Final Thoughts
So, how can you fit so much content consumption into a busy life? You don’t need much, and likely, you already have everything to hand. Just a phone and a set of earbuds, preferably wireless. With this simple setup, the time spent on tasks such as housework, walking the dogs, or any household chore can become a productive learning moment.
Choose your preferred podcast app and add interesting podcasts to the queue. If you do this regularly, you’ll have near-endless listening hours all teed up and ready to go. Apart from the outlay for the phone and the buds, podcasts are free to listen to, so there’ll be no extra costs involved.
If you prefer to listen to an audiobook, you will have to pay for it in some form. This needn’t break the bank, though. There are several subscription services out there where, for a monthly fee, you’ll have access to a limited number of books and minutes per month—Spotify and Audible, to name but two.
Finally, enjoy the experience. You will learn something without even trying.