It's cool that The Podcaster's Audio Handbook is now available in 450 libraries worldwide, but it's totally amazing that it's available in the library of my hometown of Ipswich!
I have many fond memories of the Ipswich library service. We lived outside of town so my sister and I used to walk barefoot for about half an hour to the mobile library van that would visit fortnightly. We'd be these two kids barely able to carry these huge sacks with the limit of twenty books each. I would read the first nineteen books back-to-back going long into the night. Then I had to make the twentieth book last for days, rationing it out and re-reading some of the others meanwhile.
Ipswich wasn't the most open-minded place when we lived there. I always got the quite explicit message that you had to hide any difference, but I wasn't good at it. The library opened up other worlds, worlds where someone like me might fit in. It exposed us to big ideas: to science, to far away countries, everything. Even though I had to hide myself in Ipswich I knew that there was much more out there.
I still struggle with how much of myself to hide and how much to share, especially in the workplace. However, due to the encouragement of one of my editors I brought my whole self to The Podcaster's Audio Handbook. This has made for an unusual textbook, but a textbook that's resonated with a lot of people. I love the idea of some kid finding my book in the Ipswich library and seeing the possibilities.
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