They say you need to keep busy if you can while staying home during this COVID-19 outbreak, so I’ve turned to podcasting to create, inform, and connect with people. It’s turned out to be a timely venture, as my main writing outlet at my local newspaper has been placed on hiatus.

Nine weeks ago, I was welcoming my first child into the world. While I was doting on her and learning how to calm and swaddle, everything outside our bubble started to fall apart. It wasn’t long after we were out of the hospital that rules for visiting hospitals got much stricter. We needed to cancel visits from family and friends, and the territory that included my child, my wife, and my 3-year-old mutt closed off.

For the first two weeks I was so tired I couldn’t have formed a proper sentence, much less conducted an interview. But as my body and mind got used to the shocks of new parenthood, I grew restless. I penned what would turn out to be my last column for the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American for the foreseeable future — a financial piece about Connecticut breweries and their new ability to deliver door-to-door — thus putting a pause on a 15-year run. It was done for financial reasons, and I hope the paper can return to a stronger position soon. I bear no ill will.

I’d started my podcast, “It Starts With Beer,” back in January, starting with a few monologues and basically feeling my way in the dark. I had an audio interface from Christmas that was meant for home recording of music, but I figured out how to use it for podcasting.

By turning my podcast into an outlet for breweries to talk about how they were dealing with the coronavirus-related business slowdowns, I felt like I was performing a bit of a public service. I’ve broadened my conversations to include writers and an accountant and as of today I’ve got episode 17 almost ready to go. It’s become such a welcome chance for me to speak with people about a topic that isn’t germs, viruses, or politics (or, for that matter, feeding times and baby development).

I am incredibly privileged to find myself in a safe home with a job that allows me to work here and a family that doesn’t mind if I have high-volume conversations in the study.  I hope to return to writing, too, right here at beersnobwrites.com, even if it won’t see life in glorious ink and paper. If you’ve read this far: thank you and I wish you safety and fulfilling connection.

One thought on “Podcasting to keep connected

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