The Existential Pain of Editing Your Own Podcast
Everyone should have to edit their own podcast at least once. Or, is it that no one should?
I was reminded of the unique kind of torture this exercise is while working on my own podcast, Videogame Feelings. Not only are you faced with hearing your own voice — a kind of basic aversion many people have, but that podcasters quickly learn to get over — you’re also faced with a litany of bad choices you’ve made when interacting with your guest.
FOR INSTANCE, here are some highlights from my hall of shame:
- I talked over them just as they were getting started
- I completely missed and/or failed to follow up on a fascinating personal detail
- I mansplained something needlessly
- I got flustered and lost my train of thought and had to take a moment to figure out what I was going to ask next
The worst of these are probably the ones you didn’t realize you’d done until you’re editing — and it opens up a whole host of paranoid possibilities. “What if I could edit my life? Would I find as many cringe-worthy moments in my conversations with my coworkers and my neighbors?”
It’s a slippery slope of second-guessing. But it’s also an opportunity, both for growth and for transformation. The act of editing is also the act of acknowledging. It’s a chance to evaluate your conversational choices and reckon with them, and through the process, you end up (insofar as editing can solve some of these problems) with a picture of you at your best.
Congratulations, you’ve self-actualized through the podcasting process! Kind of.
So, yeah. I think I’m convinced that every podcaster should edit themselves at least once. Throw your interview into Descript and spend an hour or so making it a little better.
And then learn from the mistakes you struck from the record. They’re not the entirety of who you are — they’re what will make you better in the next episode. What’s left in this episode is a vision for who you can be.
