Justin Lamb – Podcast Host, Writer, Musician

We are five episodes into the Self-Care Summer series of Friend Request and I am excited, overwhelmed, and impressed. First, I am excited and impressed with how the episodes are turning out. I had high hopes, but the end result has really been satisfying. Even though I have been podcasting for years, I took a Podcasting class as part of my undergrad last fall and I learned some new compositional tools that fall more under the realm of NPR and murder/cult podcasts than the interview-based stuff I am used to, but it has really paid off this summer. I have impressed my audience and myself and that’s an exciting feeling.

The overwhelm comes into play in the construction of the episodes. I normally look at the summer as a break and an ability to catch up. I don’t know if it’s the inter or maybe some form of seasonal affective disorder, but most of my rejections happen in the winter and I get burned out putting the podcast together on a weekly basis when I usually start the season ahead by about ten episodes. This summer, with all of the informal and short interviews, I just assumed I would be spending less and less time on the podcast, but instead, it’s very encumbering. I am scripting everything and transcribing interviews and really piecing every episode together so carefully and thoughtfully, trying to maximize takeaways and quality. Like I said, I’m really proud of them, but maybe that’s because I am working so hard on them.

On the back half of the summer, we are covering topics that stretch over a wide range of things from masturbation to finances to reading and writing. I am struggling to get some experts in some areas, but I am confident and looking forward to putting together these episodes for everyone. In addition, I am also recording interviews for season four, which starts in September, and I am pumped to let you guys hear these storytellers. There are some really amazing people with amazing stories coming this fall!