State of the Homestead – June 2023: Updates, Announcements, and Illness – Homestead on the Corner
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of the threat of a school shooting, homophobia, transphobia, and abuse, creative burnout, and mental health struggles
In the final episode of this season, Van Winkle and Virginia sit down with four incredible writers from the audio fiction community and to answer the fundamental question all writers face… Why keep writing?
Newt Schottelkotte (they/them) – Where the Stars Fell, Inkwyrm
–https://newtschottelkotte.com
Jordan Cobb (she/her) – Primordial Deep, Janus Descending
–https://www.jordanvcobb.com
Cassandra Tse (she/her) – Apocalypse Songs, The Bone Thief
–http://www.redscare.co.nz/
Casper Oliver (he/fae/they) – Jar of Rebuke, Thesperience Productions
–https://linktr.ee/casperoliver
This episode was made possible by our supporters at Patreon.com/homesteadcorner and ko-fi.com/homesteadcorner.
For more information, additional content, and episode transcript, visit homesteadonthecorner.com/podcast
Transcript
CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of the threat of a school shooting, homophobia, transphobia, and abuse, creative burnout, and mental health struggles
Van Winkle (00:00):
Good morning everyone. This is Van Winkle,
Virginia Spotts (00:02):
and this is Virginia.
Van Winkle (00:03):
And we are here with
Newt Schottelkotte (00:05):
Newt Schottelkotte
Jordan Cobb (00:05):
Jordan Cobb,
Cassandra Tse (00:07):
Cassandra Tse
Casper Oliver (00:08):
Casper Oliver.
Van Winkle (00:09):
And you are listening to the Homestead on the Corner Writing podcast. You, you’ve touched on this a little bit as well, but what makes you feel that a story you’ve come up with or wanna write is worth telling? And how do you know when it’s then ready to share with an audience?
Casper Oliver (00:38):
Joking answer. I don’t, um, <laugh>, I, um, to be completely honest, I kind of have really, really, really intense imposter syndrome. And so, like any story that I write — and I’m sure that a lot of people are gonna relate to this — I’ll read it back and go, “Ew, gross. Why did I write this? What, no one’s gonna wanna read this. No one’s gonna wanna listen to this.” And I am being open about this because I know that there are a lot of queer creatives who are in very similar boats. I grew up with a dad that was like, why are there so many gay characters in this? Why are all these characters queer? Why are there so many, like, you know, all these marginalizations, why are there so many disabled characters? You know, this isn’t realistic. No one’s gonna wanna read this. And I listened to that for years, and I tried to like straight-wash my own series.
(01:32):
I tried to like, make my characters more cis, more white, more able-bodied. I, my whole life was kind of forcing to write a story that wasn’t mine, this palatable, sellable story, but through meeting a bunch of amazing other queer creatives, like listening to Nightvale and seeing the fan base going, “Oh my gosh, look at all these queer characters.” I was like, people want this. Jar of Rebuke was the first time… because I’ve been writing for years. I have a lot of half-finished stories that I want to tell, but kind of gave up on emotionally. Um, and Jar of Rebuke was the first time that I kind of was sharing teasers for it, of like, you know, “Hey, this is my character, this is his art,” you know, on TikTok with my cosplays and stuff. And people were like, oh, this, this guy’s so cool. I wanna like learn more about his story.
(02:31):
I am like, “You do?” And so, yeah, I started script writing and with the support of some internet friends that I had at the time, they were like, “I want this.” And I was like, that was what I needed to hear. And so I shared it, and nowadays it’s a lot easier for me to write something and just put it up. Um, but it’s taken a lot of practice and that insecurity is still there. It’s… anyone who’s got trauma or imposter syndrome, you know, it is not that easy to shake off, but sometimes you just gotta do it anyway. And when you read over a story that you wrote, or if you look over an art piece that you’ve done, if you look over something you’ve made, and if you think, “This is the best that it’s gonna be,” that’s when you share it. Because you can always find reasons to not share it. But when you look at something and go, listen, I’ve, I don’t have anything more to add to this, share it. And I can guarantee you that you are going to make even better stuff later, but you will not get to that point if you don’t practice sharing your work.
Newt Schottelkotte (03:47):
I had a bunch of ideas for my sophomore show after Inkwyrm finished. Uh, and I graduated high school in May of 2020, so I had a lot of time to figure out which one I wanted to do <laugh> mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because I knew that I wanted to get a bunch of actors for that show from the college campus that I ended up on, because I love recording in person. I love being able to direct in person, act in person. It’s… <affirmative>, it’s great. I’m a theater person. I just feel like there’s an energy in the room that gets so, so good. Um, so that whole summer and that whole quarantine, I was trying to figure out what am I gonna tell? And I’d been thinking about that even before Covid hit and what made Where the Stars Fell the concepts that I ended up going with, um, was in December of 2019, I got diagnosed with type one diabetes.
(04:39):
Um, so it was kind of an out of the frying pan into the fire sort of thing in terms of like my health situation, because then Covid immediately hit, and the story of Where the Stars Fell changed so drastically because I’d already known that I wanted Ed to be dyslexic. Um, but after that sort of thing happened, um, I realized that there were so many stories about just the generalized experience of having a physical disability, but also having what I like to call double jeopardy. Um, which is having both a physical and a developmental disability, um, because I’m also on the autism spectrum that I really wanted to tell. And Lucy became such a richer and more interesting character and themes of, of mortality and choice started coming into the story because I was still a teenager back then, and I’m sorry, I’m not to get in like an “Oh no poor disabled person” state, but like, if you were a teenager and literally anything bad happens to you that changes your life even a little bit,
(05:46):
it feels like the end of the world. Like, that’s just how it is. <laugh> and I love my life now, and I’ve certainly like adapted and, and stuff and things are great, but it definitely felt because of, you know, all the freaking hormones, like so much control had been taken away from my life, and I was suddenly having to deal with this brand new thing when I was about to enter a very transitory period. <affirmative> And that’s where a lot of the aspects of Ed’s story of how her physical immortality works, how some of those rules get taken away as we go into season two. And it just became a story that I had never really seen told before, and that I, I truly could not stop thinking about. And that I realize that if I didn’t make this my next project, I was probably going to lose my mind.
Jordan Cobb (06:31):
You know, I never tend to question if a story is worth telling, it’s usually that a story just kind of grabs me and I, I have to sit down and start working on it. It’s, it’s the ideas that fill every waking moment of my day. Uh, I, I’m an incredibly busy person, so if a story can do something to distract me and to grab me and pull me out of my daily life, usually where I do my most daydreaming about stories is ironically at night in my bed, right before I’m going to sleep. <Yeah.> Um, I’m one of those people where, uh, I, you know, I tuck myself in and I’m all cozy and I’m like, “Ah, now my brain can turn off” <laugh> and to turn off my brain, I tell myself a little story and then the story keeps going, and then I’m like, “Ooh, this is really getting to the good, (comedic snoring)
Virginia Spotts (07:26):
<laugh>
Jordan Cobb (07:28):
And I am out. But, you know, if I, if I can carry that into, into the next day where I’m still thinking about the story and I’m like, “Oh, what if this character was actually this? And oh, what if this happens?” Um, yeah. The more that I feel like I can sit and live in a story, the more likely I am to be like, I, I have to sit down and write it down. Uh, when I start taking notes on my phone is when I know I’ve got something. <Mm. Yeah.> <laugh>, uh, and I, I know it’s ready to share when I send a a script, uh, if it’s a script, I’ll send it to Julia, Julia Schifini, uh, because I might have created No Such Thing Productions, and I might write all of our things… Julia’s in charge. Julia is solidly in charge.
(08:16):
She laughs every time I say this, but I’m like, it’s true. You’re my boss. Things don’t happen without Julia Schifini. Um, so <laugh>, so I’ll send Julia a script, and if she goes, “Ooh, this is good,” I know we’ve got something, and I know we’re, we’re ready to get rolling. Um, and if it’s, um, if it’s prose, I’ll send it to, uh, I, I call them my writers group. There’s, there’s only three of us. It’s me, Sarah Rhea Werner, and A.R. Olivieri. Um, I mean, we’ve just been friends since the instant we met each other online, and our writing has sort of morphed into all these new strange avenues. And so whenever I have something that’s not quite necessarily audio drama fixated or focused, I’ll send it to them. <Mm-hmm.> Uh, and I mean, you know, at this point I don’t have a, like a finished manuscript of a novel or anything like that, but I’ve sent a couple of chapters to them and, and whenever they’re just like, “Ooh, I want the next chapter.
(09:19):
When’s the next chapter coming?” I’m like, okay, I’m on the right track and I’m, let’s keep going with this <laugh>. Um, yeah, always if you can always share your work with your friends because you know, they’re the ones who are gonna be in your corner and until the thing is done, writing is a very lonely job, uh <affirmative>, and that’s not a bad thing, you know, it kind of has to be lonely so that you can live inside the story <affirmative>, um, so that it can, you’re, you’re not necessarily actually by yourself. You’re with the characters. You’re in their world for as long as you’re gonna live there. Um, but having people you know here in the real world, uh, who all are also rooting you on and, and want to, to see those stories thrive and grow and be shared with everyone else, um, that’s usually a very good sign. And they, you know, as, as many of them who are writers or enjoy intaking media, um, they’re gonna be able to see things that you don’t, they’ll be able to help you polish, uh, once it’s gotten to that point. Uh, and they’ll, they’ll help you know when it’s ready and, and when you feel like it’s ready is the only time that it’s actually ready.
Van Winkle (10:33):
All right. We’re getting down to kind of the end of the interview, but, um, what’s a favorite quote or excerpt from your own work, and why do you like it so much?
Cassandra Tse (10:43):
I’m gonna say I really love the song The Cage I Call My Home, which is In The Bone Thief. That’s kind of our, um, big, “I want” song for our heroine. Um, I really like the use of metaphor in it. I also think that Bruno’s music that’s is really great. And like, uh, Kiya who does the performer, she, she smashes it. She’s like really great on the recording. Um, and I felt like it was just emotionally, it felt like it hit this beautiful peak. Like it’s a one act play that’s I think in a three act structure, you know, where there was, it feels like it’s very much in thirds, and that was the end of the first third. And it was a really beautiful thing, watching the audience every night, like we would have two applause breaks and they would just like, just inherently know that this was one <laugh>.
(11:29):
And then the other one, which felt like the end of act two, that was the other one. And like, we didn’t, you know, there’s nobody telling them to do that. There was times they could have applauded at other times, but they just didn’t because it sort of flowed together. Um, and, you know, a lot of musicals you applaud after every song. So some people were like, oh, I dunno, are we supposed to applaud? But like, this was the one everybody would. Uh, and I just felt there was something beautifully emotionally kind of, uh, stirring about that, that this, everybody had this sense of like, “Yeah, go girl!” Like <laugh>, get out there at the end of this moment. Um, and yeah, I think that’s half my writing and then also half Bruno’s scoring, uh, in his composition. Um, and yeah, and then I think, yeah, our, our director, our performer, everybody else just kind of like really came together and it smashed it. But that’s probably, there’s a lot of good songs on that album, but that’s probably the one that I sing in the shower to myself sometimes. So that means that can’t be too bad.
“The Cage I Call My Home,” sung by Kiya Basabas (12:29):
Each morning I walk past a tree that grows behind an iron fence. Its changes are too small to see, too small for naked eyes to sense. When it outgrew its metal brace. I thought the tree would maybe die, instead, it found a narrow space, jammed through and reached the other side. A grate can hold a sapling, but a bigger bell breaks through. When I was small, this house was all I knew, but mother, I grew. And now it’s like I’m straining at a row of bars that cannot hold. There is no use containing it. I feel my spirit growing bold and wanting things that you forbade, to climb a tree and play pretend, to take a risk to feel afraid, the chance to make a real friend.
(13:37):
You look down on this town from your spire in the sky on our throne, where alone watching delving go by and you turn disengage as your child comes of age, in the cage I call my home, these unanswered questions throng and I grow tired of waiting. You’ve kept me in the dark so long, your love is suffocating.
(14:10):
There’s so much that I don’t know so much that I’m denied. I won’t accept your status quo I’ll fling the shutters wide. You attest, we’re the best. Say that we’re superior. You say I should go pride, but I just feel wearier, my frustration turns to rage. I am bursting for a change to this cage. I come on too.
Newt Schottelkotte (15:24):
Uh, the one that I’ll send you is from episode 17 of Where the Stars Fell.
“Maggie” (15:30):
Look, I know how you’re thinking. Our brains love a world that is black and white with no compromise or room for scary complications. Sometimes that can be really useful and good, but right now you need to think outside your bowl. And that’s how life works for everyone. We just get a special version of it.
“Lucy” (15:51):
And what does thinking outside my bowl mean?
“Maggie” (15:56):
It means that every act of creation deserves love and attention, but that requires understanding it’s not all about you. I don’t think you’re being selfish on purpose, Lucille, but the world is not a manuscript. You can’t just push until things turn out the way you plan them in your head. You have to learn to adapt.
“Lucy” (16:13):
I find that’s quite against our nature…
“Maggie” (16:22):
Maybe. But I’ve got a stack full of evidence right here that you’re pretty good at taking edits. Red ink doesn’t mean the story is bad, it means there’s room for it to grow.
Newt Schottelkotte (16:33):
I I love episode 17 so much. It is, it is so very deeply personal to me. Um, as an autistic writer, um, Lei brought so much of their own experience and was just so incredible as Maggie. Um, and it was just amazing to make from start to finish. But that conversation between Lucy and Maggie is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written because I knew it would be relatable to some people. <Mm-hmm.> But just the level to which I’ve been able to like, get messages from, from autistic fans that have said like, “Wow, this really made me think about like, my personal growth in a different way,” or “Wow, I really connected to this because I went through like a, a stage of personal growth.” And it’s, it’s personal to me because like, I did. I was like a dumb kid in high school that didn’t understand social skills and didn’t know how to talk to people.
(17:23):
And I think that it’s important to understand that even though it’s, it’s tough out there for us autistic motherf***ers, um, we are still beholden to being kind to other people, to being empathetic, to learning how to function in society. Not to the sense that like we’re masking all the time, but that like <affirmative>, we can engage in relationships and help the people that we care about and stuff like that. And so that, that phrase “Red ink doesn’t mean the story is bad, it just means there’s room for it to grow,” I think is so important when figuring out the things that you might wanna learn more about yourself and to work on. Because it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It doesn’t mean that, you know, you’re like this horrible thing that needs to be quasimodo-style hidden away from the world. It just means that you’re a person <affirmative> and you have room to grow and change just like everybody else. And when you are faced with like, the daunting task of self-improvement when <affirmative> reading other people and reading the environment is so difficult for you, I think that it can feel so relieving to know that that’s just a universal thing, and that you are just as capable of self-improvement and self-growth as everybody else.
Jordan Cobb (18:38):
So this is from the pilot of Primordial Deep. It’s a conversation right at the top of the episode between our main character Marella, as played by myself, and, uh, her mysterious benefactor-to-be, a man named Kiran, as played by Kevin K. Gomez. Um, and it’s the quote, uh, as they are heading into, you know, the big creepy door. So Kiran has just gone on his whole like, “knowledge is everything” kick. Uh, and Marella’s like, “Why are you telling me all of this weird secret, crazy boy stuff? Conspiracy theory, nonsense?” Like, you sound like a crazy person. And Kiran says,
“Kiran” (19:23):
Because you wanted the answers just like me. Are you bored, Dr. Morgan, are you out of your mind?
“Marella” (19:32):
No.
“Kiran” (19:33):
And yet all the same. When this is through, I’m going to ask you a question and you are going to say, yes.
Virginia Spotts (19:41):
I love that <laugh>.
Jordan Cobb (19:42):
It’s, ohhh, it’s one of my favorite kinds of tropes to drop into my scripts. If there isn’t a moment of a literal call to action in the script, preferably by a slightly weird guy, just a just a little bit sinister and a whole lot enthusiastic. Uh, the first one that I ever wrote was in, um, Here Be Dragons. Uh, I, I like to think of Primordial Deep as the sort of, um, the, the realized fully realized version of here what Here Be Dragons was meant to be. I love moments like that specifically because that’s how I always feel when I pick up a really good book <affirmative>. Or when I sit down to a new movie that I just, you know, fall in love with, or a TV show or, or just really, really beautifully well done audio drama, that there’s always a moment where it sort of feels like the world stops.
(20:45):
<affirmative> and the characters speak to you and they say, we’re gonna take you on an adventure now. And it’s something I’ve always personally wanted. I’m, you know, <laugh>, I’m on the verge of 28 and I’m still waiting for my own personal call to action. It’s why I write so many of them. And then play the characters that someone says those lines to <laugh> <laugh>. Um, because I think that there’s something about having someone offer their hand to you and say, the world is so much wider and weirder than you ever could have dreamed. And if you take my hand now, you’ll get to see something that no one has ever seen, that you’ll get to feel something no one else has maybe felt in quite this way. The human experience is, is intensely broad. Um, part of what I love about science fiction specifically is that you get to see all these big, weird, wild, wonderful worlds, but at the core of the really great stories, they’re all about how no matter what species you come from, we all have the same heart at our core.
(22:00):
We all feel love and joy and terror and excitement. And there’s a, a whole plethora of emotional breadth and depth that we all get to share when we share and experience. And, and that the world can be very bright and beautiful and wonderful, but that it can be very dark and intimate and frightening at times. But even in those moments when it’s the most frightening, it’s still intensely beautiful if you’re willing to look at it through a different lens. <affirmative>. And, and it’s always, you find that in the moment that someone holds out their hand and says to you, “Come see this with me. Come find this new world with me.” It’s, it’s, there’s nothing like it in the entire universe, and I love it every single time, oh, I’m such a sucker for it! <laugh>. Oh, it’s my favorite! Oh, it’s my, it’s why I write, it’s why I write, it’s why I read.
(23:02):
I, it’s why I breathe. Honestly. It’s what I’m on this planet for, is to find moments like that and share as many of them as I possibly can. Because life is so busy because life is so often the humdrum, tedium, the rigid scheduling, the racing around from place to place, feeling like you are never quite there, never quite gonna get it. And, and when you live in that head space for a really long time, life can feel very dull and it can feel very empty, and it can wear you very, very thin. <affirmative>. And those moments when we get to remember that magic is real, maybe not waving a wand kind of magic, but there’s a different sort of magic that exists in everyday life in just living and in, in those connections we share with every single person in this universe. That’s kind of… it helps revive me. It puts color back into the world. It puts breath in your lungs. It’s, it allows you to kind of feel the, the full depth of emotion, when things can get really bland almost. And, and just very gray scale. It’s, it’s hard sometimes to just be a person in the world, but knowing that we have magic in us and we get to share that, and other people are also simultaneously sharing their magic and their stories with us, you know, that’s, that’s why we do this, isn’t it?
Casper Oliver (24:47):
A lot of times when I like write something, I’ll like have one or two lines that I’m super proud of. Um, I have two and they’re both very brief. Uh, one is a joke that was in Jar of Rebuke <laugh>, um, where, uh, it came up when the co-writer who voices Dr. Jamie Everett and I were on a call just kind of spitballing ideas. And it was when Jared was asking about, um a person’s name, but, uh, then I think Jared said like, “I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.” And Jamie was like, “Oh, okay, first time I’ve been compared to a horse before, that’s new.” Just being sarcastic, you know? <laugh>. And then it was like, “Okay, how do you spell that?” in regards to the person’s name? And without thinking, I just went, “…Horse?” <laugh>.
(25:38):
And we literally laughed for like 30 minutes <laugh>. And there are so many bloopers of that line. And I, it’s, it’s not even like a poetic whatever, but just the memory associated with my co-writer and I losing it over Jared’s (looking back) very like autistic sort of like train of thought, train of thought, train of thought. And I’m like, okay, we’re on horses now. “…Horse?” <laugh>. Like, I, it just, I felt represented by my own character.
Virginia Spotts (26:07):
Oh my God.
Casper Oliver (26:07):
In a way I had never expected.
Virginia Spotts (26:09):
I love that <laugh>.
Casper Oliver (26:11):
But a more, a more serious note is, um, I am currently working on a series of autobiographical essays and, um, a little content warning. When my, uh, my junior year of high school, this was in 2012, 2013, our school was almost a victim of gun violence, I’ll put it that way. And it was something that the students were kind of aware of, and this faculty wasn’t handling until it was almost too late.
(26:45):
But thankfully everything is fine. Um, but I’m writing about that morning when my friend begged me not to go to school and I had to convince my dad to let me stay home. And I knew he wouldn’t believe me. And I had a line that was, I’d played many roles before, but this was the first time I was performing for my life. <affirmative>. And that, that line, um, is one of my favorite lines I think I’ve written because I feel like it, it kind of takes this, you know, you have a teenager who’s going through like, you know, looking at the person who’s supposed to protect them and is trying to convince them to do their job. And when you can’t be honest and say what’s happening, because a lot of kids feel that way, a lot of kids face this, their parents, where it’s like you’re being, you’re making it up.
(27:34):
You’re being exaggerating, you know, you’re, you’re, you know, consumed by the news, you’re paranoid, your friends are lying. Just go and having to like save your own life against the people that are meant to protect you. But it was kind of this moment that I’m sure a lot of other traumatized people have felt where you’re like, “Oh, what I went through wasn’t that bad.” Well, here, let me listen to someone else tell their stories. <laugh> Oh, and you’re saying what you went through is bad, but that is so similar. <affirmative>, you mean that was bad.
Van Winkle (28:06):
Yeah.
Virginia Spotts (28:07):
Yeah.
Casper Oliver (28:08):
And so kind of going back to that line of like, “I’d performed many roles, but this time I was performing for my life,” is, I kind of hope to let people know that if you have had to hide things from family or play up things for family, if you’ve ever had to pretend to be someone that you’re not for family, that can be so traumatic in and of itself.
(28:34):
And that’s one of the reasons I think that so many queer people are traumatized is because we are forced to live as something or someone we’re not. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and my experience of performing for my life could resonate with people who’ve had to, you know, pretend to be their assigned gender at birth lest they, you know, get kicked out, get disowned or worse, you know? Um, and so while it’s a heavy line, it’s one that I hope resonates with people in the sense of you should never have had to do that.
Van Winkle (29:08):
Yeah.
Virginia Spotts (29:08):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Casper Oliver (29:09):
No actor should have to perform for their life and no kid should have to fight for their life.
Virginia Spotts (29:14):
Yeah.
Casper Oliver (29:15):
Um, and so if you have, I am so sorry that, you know, you also went through that cuz you shouldn’t. Um, but I am so proud of you because you clearly stuck the landing on surviving.
(29:29):
So thank you for surviving and performing to save yourself. When, when it comes to like putting all the thought into this and thinking of what it could mean for others, that that simply comes from I know how much other people’s stories mean to me.
Van Winkle (29:43):
Yeah.
Casper Oliver (29:44):
And if people care as much about my stories as I care about theirs, then I want to put in the time and effort to make it worth both of our while to share the story and to do it correctly. And so it, it’s like I have seen the queer creators before me put that effort into their stories and I want to honor them while also honoring the queer people around me who are telling their stories and the queer youth that have yet to tell their stories. Also the queer elders who have yet to tell their stories, like all of these people and we deserve to have our stories told. Mm-hmm. And I want to lead by example and show, I don’t think my stories are worth telling on some days, but I tell them anyway because I know logically they are.
Van Winkle (30:33):
Mm-hmm.
Casper Oliver (30:33):
Because I believe that every story is worth telling.
Jordan Cobb (30:36):
Yeah. Cuz I mean, if, if you’re making art, you’re gonna be sitting with that art for a long time.
Virginia Spotts (30:42):
Yeah. <laugh>
Jordan Cobb (30:42):
And there are gonna be days where you don’t wanna do it. There are gonna be days where you hate everything that you’ve written <laugh>. Uh, but if there’s something in there that you truly, deeply love that you have to talk about <affirmative> that even if you need to take a step back from it, whether that’s for, uh, a couple hours for a couple days or weeks, even if you have to take steps back for a couple of years, cuz that happens and that is perfectly okay. But so long as there’s something in there that you love, then you’ll, One: come back to it. I do think that we all tend to gravitate back to the things that we love, whether we mean to or not.
(31:25):
Um, but having something in there that matters to you and you alone is the most important thing when you’re writing because you are the only one who can bring that story out.
Virginia Spotts (31:38):
Yeah.
Jordan Cobb (31:39):
So you have to love it first and foremost, especially because once it’s done, you have to put it into the fire, you have to edit and you have to polish, and then you have to put it out into the world and let it go.
Virginia Spotts (31:53):
Yeah.
Jordan Cobb (31:53):
So there has to be something that means the world to you in every story, so that once you let it go, it can still, no matter what flaws are pointed out later or no matter how it’s received, whether it’s received at all, sometimes you throw things into the world and you don’t hear anything
Virginia Spotts (32:11):
mm-hmm. <affirmative>
Jordan Cobb (32:11):
and it hurts like rejection and criticism and all those things can really, really knock you down. But so long as there’s something in the story that still exists in there that you still love, you can make it through all of that and go on to the next project.
Virginia Spotts (32:29):
This, this conversation is very timely because we are currently in the middle of trying to write the final season of The Sheridan Tapes.
Jordan Cobb (32:35):
Ohhh.
Virginia Spotts (32:36):
So this is just a sidebar that like, I really appreciate you.
Jordan Cobb (32:38):
Finals are so hard.
Virginia Spotts (32:39):
<laugh> talking about like loving it and sticking to it and remembering what you love about it because it’s, it’s like challenging right now. <laugh>.
Jordan Cobb (32:47):
You have to, you have to, I read the funniest thing on the internet the other day and it really makes me think of art. Uh, but someone was talking about how uh, their cousin or someone is having a baby and their dad says to the cousin, you know, having a baby is a really beautiful, wonderful thing. And when you have that baby, you need to hold them in your arms and look at it and just really focus on how much you love it. And then several years down the line, you need to be able to remember how much you love that baby when your son is the most annoying person on the face of the earth. <laugh>. I was like, that’s art. That is art making. You have to be able to look at this thing and be like, I love you so much. And then when you’re in the soggy middle, you have to be able to look back and go, I love this, I love this, I love this. It’s the most annoying thing in the entire world and I want to punt it into the sun <laugh>, I love this and it’ll be fine. And someday you’ll loop back around to love again. You always loop back around to love
Virginia Spotts (33:57):
<laugh>.
Van Winkle (33:58):
Uh, well where can people find you, um, and your work?
Cassandra Tse (34:02):
Yeah! You can find me, well you can find my plays on Play Market if you wanna license any of them.
Virginia Spotts (34:09):
Oh, lovely.
Cassandra Tse (34:10):
You can find my video games on, uh, itch, uh, where I am. Lulamorashi, L u l a m o r a s h i. And it’s also my username on Instagram and Twitter. If you wanna just see what I’m generally up to.
Casper Oliver (34:23):
You can find all of my links on my linktree. Yes, it is a quite a long linktree, but you can find everything that you need there. I got a little worried about it being too long and I’m like, I’d rather it all be in one spot. If you want, it’s there. So check out linktree.com/CasperOliver. Um, most of my social media handles are Casper Oliver Vo, so Casper like the friendly ghost, Oliver, like Oliver and Company and VO for voiceover. I’ve been told that that really dates me using those two comparisons, but whatever. I’m almost 30 <laugh>. Uh, so… Um, check out Thesperience Productions, which is a play on thespian and experience, Thesperience Productions. We are a queer and trans-led indie production team. Uh, and basically everything that I do besides my drag work gets shared through Thesperience.
Jordan Cobb (35:17):
Oh, I should plug this cuz this is a new thing. Um, so we are, we have all of our productions, uh, now streaming on Apollo Plus, uwhich is Apollo’s new, uh, fancy subscription model. We’re also on pretty much all of the regular, pod catchers where you would find all of your favorite audio dramas. You can find us at nosuchthingradio.com. And if you’re looking for our shows specifically, uh, you’ll find them in our feeds, uh, under Janus Descending and Primordial Deep.
Newt Schottelkotte (35:57):
Yeah. Uh, my website is newtschottelkotte.com. I have a crazy complicated last name. So that will be in the description, <laugh>.
Van Winkle (36:05):
Yes, it will.
Newt Schottelkotte (36:06):
And then until it goes down, I’m on Twitter at @Newtschott, n e w t s c h o t t, because my last name can’t fit in the character limit for username <laugh>.
Virginia Spotts (36:15):
Oh gosh. Yeah.
Newt Schottelkotte (36:17):
And all of my shows are on Twitter and on Tumblr. And I’m always, I’m always looking for, for folks to collaborate with. So reach out. Let’s make something cool.
Van Winkle (36:25):
Uh, awesome. Great talking with you, Newt, this was, this was really, really fun and great to finally meet you after years of circling each other in Twitter space.
Virginia Spotts (36:34):
Take care of yourself, everyone. We’ll see you soon.
Van Winkle (36:36):
I’m Van Winkle.
Virginia Spotts (36:37):
And I’m Virginia.
Van Winkle (36:38):
And you are listening to Homestead on the Corner.
Homestead on the Corner 