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How to create a podcast? The first thing you need
to do when creating a podcast is deciding what makes your show different - in what is an increasingly crowded marketplace, having a USP, even if it sounds insanely narrow, is better than a catch-all brief that ends up getting lost in the crowd. Then you have to invest in some quality equipment. A listener’s patience runs thin pretty quickly when you’re struggling to hear what’s being said. And not just leaving it at that - being anal about correct editing, pernickety about sound quality, ambient noise… Just make it as easy as possible for people to listen to you. After that, it’s about listening to your listeners, trying to give them what they want while never losing sight of your own personal reason for setting it up in the first place. Trying to be all things to all listeners is a tough, tough sell, but if you’re true to what you want to do, you’ll feel much better about committing your time to it. Ciaran Murphy Co-founder of the Second Captains secondcaptains.com How to learn Irish? How to write a short story? One of the biggest fears is making mistakes. Don’t. Be. Afraid. You learn from mistakes and the average Joe really doesn’t care if you can’t form the Modh Coinníollach on the spot. Once you get over that fear, you’re flying. Embrace the internet. With a bit of googling, you will find a plethora of online resources like the Irish subreddit r/Gaeilge, a Discord forum ‘Craic le Gaeilge’ (voice, video and text chat app), and where your nearest Pop-Up Gaeltacht and Ciorcal Comhá is. Remember, you don’t have to lug a massive dictionary around. Focloir.ie and teanglann.ie are essential. They also hold a database of pronunciations from the Munster, Connacht and Ulster dialects as well as information on how to form the dreaded genitive case. Everyday Irish is key: Sign off your messages, label things in your home, change your Facebook to Gaeilge, speak Irish in the car! Go n-éirí leat. Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Author of Anseo (New Island Books) @unakavanagh Read, read, read – as wide a range of short stories as you can get your hands on. How a story is told can often be as important as what the story is about, so read stories in lots of different styles by lots of different writers. A turning point for me was signing up for writing workshops at the Munster Literature Centre. That was where I met the writers who would become my writing group. Almost ten years on, we still meet regularly to share our work and offer honest, kind feedback. Choose specifics over generalities. Trust the reader. Give yourself permission to write rubbish: early drafts are always awful. Later drafts are often awful too. Keep going. I think it was Kevin Barry who said, “It’s always shit, until it isn’t.” I wrote those words on a sheet of paper and stuck them above my desk! Danielle McLaughlin, Winner of the 2019 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award daniellemclaughlin.ie 24