Wind of Changes

This episode is gonna be very different from what you’re used to. In fact I have to be honest and say that this particular episode was the hardest to record… well maybe apart from the very first episode of course… I aired the very first episode of the write to be read podcast on July 1 2014 - almost two years ago. And it has been very exciting, bumpy and rewarding journey since then. For me launching a podcast was an experiment. Apart from the fact that I really wanted to help writers, I was also driven by the curiosity of whether I could actually do it or not. I had no big plans connected with the podcast and I had not even decided for myself for how long I will be doing it. If back then one would say that I would end up sticking to it for almost 2 years and that I would have tens of thousands regular listeners I would probably not believe it. But things turned out the way they did and I am extremely happy with where I am now. I also appreciate every single one of you who’s listening … because you are the ones who made it happen. If you were not listening, if you were not providing feedback, writing podcast reviews and connecting with me I would most probably not have enough motivation and determination to carry on. So thank you! Since I got into the exciting world of podcasting and my podcast grew apart from the listeners, writers - people from the self-publishing industry started to know me… Then other podcasters got connected too… then I networked with coaches and speakers, other creatives, online entrepreneurs… obviously with over the 120 guests who were interviewed up to now and after our move to the UK I met many new people here too… Some of you also know that I have been one of the early adopters of the live streaming platform Blab and have recorded some of my podcasts there… so the Blab community became the one I interact often with too… So it has been a long journey from people thinking “who the hell is this?” to “oh, I think I’ve heard about her somewhere”. Now, why did I say that recording this podcast episode was the hardest you may think… Well because this one is a bit personal and I am still not very comfortably getting up close and personal publicly and also because it includes a news which I can’t predict your reaction to. So all this is kind of scary… but I’m gonna do it anyway. As you might have already noticed I love changes and not only embrace them when they come, but also initiate them very often. I have never been from those who resist the change and love things stay the way they are. I am not from those people - I don’t think there has been a hairstyle out there that I have not tried… and those were the smallest scale changes I’ve made. Since the launch of this podcast things evolved. My audience did not only grew in numbers but it just grew… and that is amazing. What I mean is, the podcast was initially created for newbie writers who were trying to write a book, who were trying to figure out how self-publishing works and who wanted to become authors. I am super proud that many of the listeners actually did write their first books, some even published them already and few have several books out there already. That means that Write to be Read has accomplished its main mission. Few weeks ago I sent an e mail to my list and offered an hour Skype call to the first 6 people who replied. From the feedback I’ve got from...