I’ve always been one of those people who grumbled about keeping up with technology changes. Not to age myself, but when I tell my kids about the gadgets we used as kids and teenagers, such as VCRs, cassette decks, Walkmans (and no, Mom never had a Gameboy!) they are shocked. Heck, I even learned how to type in high school on a typewriter and that’s what I used to create my college applications, Wite-Out and all. E-mail was just becoming a thing when I headed off to college, and while working for the campus newspaper, I either had to pick up the phone and call sources or hike around campus and find them in person.
As you know, technology has become so advanced that we now have phones that serve as mini computers in our hands and give us access to all information we may or may not want at any given time. AI can assist us in polishing our e-mails, writing, or creating artwork. As writers, our clips are found mostly online and not in a hard copy. Over the years, I’ve done my best to keep up with the changes in tech, from learning the various word-processing software, to programs that taught me how to design newspaper and magazine pages and creating my own website in the early 2000’s. Blogging platforms like Blogger and WordPress have helped me publish my own work and reach others. And while I don’t know a whole lot about search engine optimization, if you Google my name, my website, Finished Pages, is the first thing that comes up on the page. When my daughter was taking a criminal justice class in college a few years ago, she was surprised to look up a few cases and see my website, where I blog about true crime, come up as the first source for her to explore.
When I created my podcast, "Missing in the Carolinas," I faced my greatest challenge of all. While I knew how to use the recording software on my computer, GarageBand, and purchase a microphone, how in the world would I get my stories out into the world? With a lot of research, trial and error, articles, and YouTube videos, I figured it out. I also tried to pay someone to create a podcast website for me, and when she failed to complete the work, purchased a template on my own and learned how to format it into a WordPress site. That website also comes up as the first search when you Google “Missing in the Carolinas.”
It hasn’t been easy, but I feel like keeping up with technology has helped keep my work visible to others and help me grow my audience.
I write this because I now face the next hurdle—incorporating video into my podcast. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while but shied away from, mostly because I don’t want the responsibility of constantly having to be on camera. But I found a new recording software that will allow me to record video and audio simultaneously and has a built-in video editing feature so I should be able to create videos more easily for YouTube and social media.
Don’t be scared to tackle new technology, especially if it is going to help you improve your craft, reach a broader audience, or at the very least, provide you with some funny stories of things that happened to you along the way! I already have some bloopers I’ll have to share on my YouTube channel at some point for laughs.
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer who also hosts/produces the true crime podcast, Missing in the Carolinas. She is currently seeking representation for her novel about, what else, a podcaster trying to solve a mystery!
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