Hello 2022!

Hello, hello everyone! 

2021 Brought me Magpie, along with a lot of other things. Moving states, starting a new full time job, bringing The Other and my’s first cat into the home…it’s been a lot. 

I’m happy, though. In a profound way I haven’t found happiness in years. With omicron ravaging my industry- I’m scared- but still content and hopeful. It’s an odd set of feelings I am grappling, but I’ve always grappled with odd feelings/

With that being said: Hi yes! I know I haven’t posted since October. That’s where 2022 comes in. I want to have a relationship with the people I’m writing for, whoever you may be. I’d love it if were all grew into a place of chatting about the things I write about- but we’re not there yet. It’s okay! 

2022 has changes for Magpie. One, is that my friend who helps me run the website is considering switching us around. Everything will remain the same, but we might have some days of construction with that in mind.  

I’m going to adhere to a schedule of two reviews a month, with bonus content being my favorite: Pages and Pods, and my second favorite Release Day Reviews. I am no longer going to be reviewing books. The reviews written will stay up. However, it’s not a good fit for me long term. Pages and Pods will be as close as I get. I’ll refresh everyone on that later. 

I received a Shure MV7 for Christmas. Date an audio engineer, they said. It would be fun, they said. I asked for a Yeti to start with and well…someone decided that was an insult to his profession. After a bit of me crying I’m excited to say Magpie might be having a podcast in 2022. I have some goals I want to hit before I open that box, but it’s on the horizon somewhere. 

Finally, in the spirit of moving forward with glancing back: I really feel like I need to thank a few people right now because I wouldn’t be writing this post if it wasn’t for them. 

For one, I have The Other- who is my boyfriend and in general my partner. He bought me the microphone and pesters me just enough. If he was more annoying I probably would’ve kicked him out by now. 

Thank you to GreatPods, for digging up my review of Murder in Oregon and seeing that something was there. I really appreciate your support and encouragement, and understanding as I navigate being a “critic”. Air-quotes because I still can’t believe this is something people actually want me to do. 

Thank you to Tristan, my best friend from college and also friendly neighborhood website person. He deals with the nitty gritty of the website and helps me muddle through the things I don’t understand. He’s one of my favorite people to bounce ideas off of, and has always been one of my biggest supporters. 

Thank you to everyone who reads and interacts with my void posting. Maybe one day that will be a few more of you, and maybe another day a lot more of you. I really want to help build a place where we can talk about why we like a podcast without being nasty or unnecessarily critical. There should be a place where people can be, or can learn to be specific when talking about what they like or don’t like. I feel creators are torn apart on a personal level because people don’t know how to talk critically. We need a space for this, and I want to have a hand in it. 

Thank you everyone, thank you for being a part of Magpie. Stay curious, stay creative, and drop a line here, or on Twitter or even Instagram if you want to chat.