It’s the Xth anniversary of The Voice of Free Planet X! Here’s to X years more!
November 7th saw the anniversary of The Voice of Free Planet X, and, by extension, my career in podcasting. Rebuilt To Last, the latest episode of VoFPX, is a do-over of the first episode, Built To Last, done in the current GPR-style and with 10 years of skill accumulation in writing and audio production. It’s a strange thing, simultaniously forward- and backward-looking. A raise of the glass to where we started, where we are, and where we’re going.
I say “we” because some of you lot have been with me since the beginning, some even before the begining. Thanks for that.
The original story was very short, barely 300 words; the script for this episode was over ten time that, plus the improvisational segments that my amazing voice actors Krista White and Brennan Taylor came up with. The original was more of a moment in time, while this episode dives deep into the characters, poking at them to see what makes them tick. I often refer to This American Life as a touchstone for VoFPX, but this episode owes a lot more to Lea Thau’s excellent podcast Strangers, particularly her “Love Hurts” series, which I mainlined one afternoon and could not stop thinking about. You should give Thau’s show a listen, if you haven’t already.
I celebrated the anniversary of VoFPX dressed as Batman, as is the custom of my people.
The VoFPX Patreon reached $100 per episode! Which means, for those of you who don’t feel like clicking the link, I can now afford to commission original art. This art will be displayed on the main website, natch, but you can also get a print or a card, if you like. Patreon backers get the art as desktop backgrounds, which is another great reason to be a Patreon backer, as if there wasn’t plenty already.
We hit the $100 mark just a few days ago, so I worried I wouldn’t have art for this episode in time. Luckily, my wonderful wife J.R. Blackwell took the amazing anniversary cupcake photo you see at the top, which is definitely worth spreading around. Get a print or a card of it here.
The next milestone is video content, which I am both excited and a little nervous about; videos are an entirely different beast than podcast episodes. It’s at $200, so there’s a chance we may never get there and I am being nervous for nothing.
‘Course, I didn’t think we’d crack $100 before the end of the year, so shows what I know…
Okay, one thing I’ll share: when tasked with the question “Why should anyone care about podcasts,” we came up with what I now consider my definitive answer: because anyone can be heard. Anyone can talk about whatever they’re passionate about, and be heard by people who are also passionate about it.
It’s become a bit of joke, now, in some circles. “Everyone has a podcast.” And if that’s the case, I say “Fantastic.” How great a world would that be, if everyone got to be heard by the people who share their passions? Isn’t that what we all want out of life?