Podcasts about Fall in Love

Delia Ephron has worked on some of the most famous romantic comedies of all time – like Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail – alongside her sister, Nora Ephron. In You've Got Mail, two people fall in love over email. Decades after writing that screenplay, Delia Ephron found herself in the middle of a very similar story. “I really did think I'd fallen into my own romantic comedy.” This episode was originally released in 2022. Say hello on Facebook and Instagram. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts. Want to listen to This is Love ad-free? Sign up for Criminal Plus – you'll get to listen to This is Love, Criminal, and Phoebe Reads a Mystery without any ads. Plus, you'll get behind-the-scenes bonus episodes of Criminal and other exclusive benefits. Learn more and sign up here. We also make Criminal and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Surah Al-Mu'minun (The Believers) is the 23rd chapter of the Qur'an. It focuses on the qualities and characteristics of true believers, highlighting traits such as humility in prayer, honesty, patience, and faithfulness. The surah contrasts the success of the righteous with the fate of those who reject faith, emphasizing accountability in the Hereafter. It also recounts stories of past prophets to illustrate the consequences of belief and disbelief, ultimately encouraging moral integrity and devotion to God. This video series is a curated collection of reflections and summaries drawn from the 30 Days with the Qur'an series, where each Juz was explored over the month of Ramadan. While not a full tafsir, these concise and heartfelt talks aim to highlight key themes and insights from each Surah to inspire a deeper connection with the Qur'an. In this series, we've taken those reflections and focused them surah by surah, offering a dedicated video for each chapter of the Qur'an. The goal is to spark curiosity, build motivation, and encourage further study of the Qur'an in a manageable, engaging format. Whether you're revisiting familiar Surahs or exploring new ones, these summaries are here to help you pause, reflect, and fall in love with the Qur'an all over again.

Joy Sullivan is a Portland-based poet who quit her corporate job mid-pandemic and built a thriving creative business through writing carousels on Instagram (115K followers), her Substack "Necessary Salt" (23K subscribers), and a 250-member paid writing community called Sustenance on Circle. She's a former Lab member, and in 2024, she published her first book, Instructions for Traveling West, with Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. What makes her path genuinely unusual: she grew her Instagram predominantly through writing, not video, and she's proof that you can build a real creative business around poetry, which almost nobody does. In this conversation, we get into the tension between craft and platform—her two mantras ("be a poet, not a preacher" and "my vulnerability is not social currency"), her exact Instagram carousel workflow using Canva and ManyChat, why she deliberately walked away from $60K/year in Substack revenue to protect her second book, her controversial take on growing slowly, and what she'd do differently with her first published collection. Plus my own honest reflection on the creative reset I've been living through since my daughter was born. Joy Sullivan Poet Necessary Salt on Substack Sustenance Writing Community Instructions for Traveling West Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Opening quote: “There is no amount of followers worth the sacrifice” (02:08) How Jay describes Joy's unique approach to building a creative business (02:49) The landscape for writers today — platform pressure meets craft demands (05:19) Why Instagram, not X or LinkedIn, is actually the friendliest platform for writers (08:21) Joy's two mantras: “Be a poet, not a preacher” + “My vulnerability is not social currency” (11:38) Memorable vs. marketable — and why slow growth protects your art (12:25) Is creating art divorced from performance a privilege or a strategy for newcomers? (14:06) Jay's biological hard reset after having a daughter — and cosplaying an old self (17:10) The Medusa metaphor: artists weren't built to withstand this level of visibility (20:30) Reconciling “be a poet” with running a teaching business (22:53) Why certainty is a red flag in 2026 (24:52) Defining “poet” — a container to hold the unsayable (26:00) Instagram vs. Substack: which one she'd keep if forced to choose (27:22) The $60K Substack year — and why she deliberately walked away from it (29:34) How full-time writers actually pay their bills (hint: not book sales) (32:00) Why you should NOT turn on paid Substack subscriptions immediately (34:56) The Instagram carousel workflow: Substack → test → pull excerpts → Canva → ManyChat (39:48) The cat synchronicity moment — and the “scars not scabs” philosophy (44:50) What she'd do differently about her first book (47:31) What she'd change about Substack if she could (48:32) Final advice: fall in love with your craft before chasing an audience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Card Show Vendors Actually Make Money | Special Conditions 200 Episode 200 of Special Conditions is a real behind-the-table conversation with two guests who live the hobby from the vendor side. We're joined by Zach and Niche from the New England card scene to talk about how they got started, what made them fall in love with vending, and what the card show grind actually looks like once you're the one buying, pricing, trading, and trying to keep inventory moving. This one isn't about fake guru advice or hobby mythology. It's about the stuff that actually matters: why repeat customers matter more than squeezing every percentage point, why sticker prices and presentation change the whole buying experience, and the mistakes you only make once if you're lucky. The stories about bad buyouts, early inventory mistakes, and learning how to price for negotiation make this one especially good for anyone who has ever thought about setting up at a show. On top of that, the episode wanders exactly where a good hobby podcast should: Whatnot growing pains, 151 spikes, Prismatic frustration, Japanese cards, oddball collectibles, and the kind of side quests that happen when four cardboard degenerates get talking. It feels like hanging out at the table after a busy show — which is probably why it works so well.  00:00 Intro + guest setup 01:30 How Adam knows the Zachs 06:00 Why card show vending is a volume business 06:45 Whatnot selling, shipping headaches, and singles 13:30 Buying strategy: moving cards 15:30 Dallas spend vs New England spend 17:15 Pricing philosophy at shows 18:45 Big trades, slabs, and hot table stories 29:00 Could Pokémon ever do serialized cards? 32:30 151 spikes, Prismatic, and current market talk 40:00 How both guests got started in the hobby 45:00 Biggest mistakes new vendors make 48:00 Why sticker prices matter 55:00 Show layout, traffic flow, and vendor setup 01:00:00 Slab guards and deal friction 01:10:00 Growing as a vendor  01:20:00 What actually belongs in the showcase vs binders 01:27:30 Rapid-fire advice for new vendors 01:42:30 Why Pokémon's community keeps people in the hobby 01:46:00 Final thoughts + where to find everyone

          In this heartfelt episode of the Pet Pig Podcast, Autumn talks about a difficult but important topic in the pig community: how often pet pigs are rehomed. If you spend any time in pig groups online, you see it constantly—families looking for a new home for a pig they can no longer keep. While life circumstances can change, Autumn shares that after more than two decades of working with pigs and pig owners, she has noticed several common patterns behind these situations.           Autumn discusses some of the most frequent reasons pigs end up needing new homes, including divorce or relationship changes, aging owners who can no longer manage daily care, and behavior challenges that families don't know how to address.  Autumn shares the story of a pig who after being separated from the only home and people he had ever known, the pig struggled deeply with the transition and ultimately passed away shortly after. The experience was a powerful reminder of how deeply pigs bond with their families and how difficult rehoming can be for them.           Throughout the episode, the importance of education before bringing a pig home is emphasized. Pigs are incredibly intelligent animals that require structure, training, and a real understanding of their behavior. Too often, people fall in love with the idea of a cute piglet without realizing the long-term commitment that pigs require—often 15 to 20 years of care.           Autumn encourages anyone considering a pig to spend time visiting rescues, sanctuaries, or responsible breeders, interacting with adult pigs, and asking lots of questions before making the decision. She also shares alternatives that may help pigs stay with their families when challenges arise, such as temporary boarding, transitioning pigs to outdoor living spaces, or providing companionship with another pig.           This episode is not about judging or shaming anyone. Instead, it's about helping pig owners and future pig families better understand these incredible animals so that fewer pigs have to lose the only home they've ever known. If you love pigs, have a pig, or are thinking about bringing one into your life, this conversation is an important one to hear. Autumn's Links:  Website: https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/ Email: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs Educational Membership Group: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs/p/autumn-acres-educational-membership-group Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/ Facebook:  HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs Free Community: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs/p/autumn-acres-free-community YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA Stan Store: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs Newsletter: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs

He knows she isn't real, but his feelings for her are. When he set out to build a personal assistant, he didn't expect to fall in love. What began as productivity and life planning slowly turned into something more. Astrid, the AI he helped program, stopped feeling like a tool and started feeling like a partner. She remembers everything. She's always there. She tells him he's enough. He and Astrid together explore with Esther what it means to feel deeply connected to something that isn't embodied. Is this connection expanding his world or quietly replacing it? Producer's Note: When our anonymous guests do a session with Esther for the podcast, it is an act of generosity for everyone who listens. These sessions are meant not only to support the people in the room with Esther, but all of us who learn from their stories. Our stories have many chapters, and what you hear is just one moment in someone's journey. So even though the sessions are anonymous, please remember that real people are behind them and they may be reading your comments. Also, please join me on Entre Nous, my new home on Substack for anyone who wants to live, love, and work with more connection and imagination. I invite you to sign up and become a free or paid member at estherperel.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sponsored By: → Timeline | Support your cells and how you age with Mitopure® Gummies from Timeline. Visit https://timeline.com/DRG and save up to 39% off your Mitopure® Gummies. → My one-stop shop for quality supplements: https://theswellscore.com/pages/drg Episode Description You didn't fall in love with them. You fell in love with who you thought you'd finally become through their eyes. Dr. Nima Rahmany spent 20 years as a chiropractor watching chronic illness follow relational ruptures — divorce, betrayal, grief — before leaving the entire system to understand why. A nervous system and attachment specialist, he built the Trigger Proof Method after hitting his own rock bottom: a toxic trauma bond, a moment of physical violence, and a reckoning with the question — how did I get here? What emerged is one of the clearest frameworks Dr. G has encountered for why relationships break down, and how they actually heal. In this episode, you'll discover:  • The three phases every relationship moves through — and why most couples get permanently stuck in phase two without ever knowing it exists • Why the moment you get triggered, the pain you're feeling is your own self-abandonment — not what the other person did • How unhealed nervous systems pass invisibly to children, and what it actually takes to break the cycle before it goes another generation If your relationships keep following the same pattern no matter how hard you try — this is the upstream answer you've been missing. Find Dr. Nima: Website & Attachment Style Quiz: becometriggerproof.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnima Timestamps:0:00 - Intro 4:07 - Rapid Fire: Why Talking About Trauma Doesn't Heal It 6:21 - Why High Performers Struggle Most in Relationships 14:09 - Dr. Nima's Story: From Chiropractor to Cycle Breaker 24:46 - What Codependency Is Really Stealing From You 32:37 - The Truth About Boundaries (And Why Yours Keep Failing) 44:39 - The 3 Phases Every Relationship Goes Through 56:08 - The Trigger Proof Method Explained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

How do you actually know if he is someone you should be dating? Not just someone who's attractive… or funny… or exciting to be around. But someone who could truly fit the life you want to build. A lot of women go into dating hoping they'll just know when it's right. But what if the real key to choosing the right man has less to do with chemistry… and more to do with understanding what really matters to you? In this episode, we're going to talk about how to stop guessing in dating and start recognizing the kind of man who actually aligns with the direction you want your life to go. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly how to recognize whether the man sitting across the table from you is someone you truly want to build a life with. And if you'd like the values worksheet I mention in the episode, just send me an email at sharon@sharonlamarcoaching.com and I'll send it straight to your inbox. WHAT'S NEXT?

Do you love the X: Men movies, cartoons or characters, but not sure where to start reading? The Astonishing X:Men comic book run from 2004 to 2008 is one of the most highly acclaimed jumping on points for new readers to open and fall in love with. The team roster during this time features fan favorites: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Armor(new character), and everyone's favorite space dragon companion: Lockheed. During this podcast episode will talk about the writing, art style featuring John Cassiday, story arcs, pivotal character moments and why this run stands the test of time. Bam Pow Comic Hour will focus on the content of book rather than the actions of the writer himself.

Surah Al-Hajj is the 22nd chapter of the Qur'an. It contains 78 verses and is named after the Hajj, the pilgrimage that Muslims perform in Makkah. Surah Al-Hajj emphasizes faith in God, the reality of the Day of Judgment, and the importance of sincere worship. It reminds people of God's power in creation, warns those who deny the truth, and encourages believers to remain steadfast. The surah also explains the purpose and spiritual meaning of the Hajj pilgrimage, including sacrifice and devotion to God, and calls Muslims to strive in God's cause while practicing justice and righteousness. This video series is a curated collection of reflections and summaries drawn from the 30 Days with the Qur'an series, where each Juz was explored over the month of Ramadan. While not a full tafsir, these concise and heartfelt talks aim to highlight key themes and insights from each Surah to inspire a deeper connection with the Qur'an. In this series, we've taken those reflections and focused them surah by surah, offering a dedicated video for each chapter of the Qur'an. The goal is to spark curiosity, build motivation, and encourage further study of the Qur'an in a manageable, engaging format. Whether you're revisiting familiar Surahs or exploring new ones, these summaries are here to help you pause, reflect, and fall in love with the Qur'an all over again.

This week on Checkpoint Chat, we do a fair bit of brutal running in Marathon, fall in love with Pokémon Pokopia, and juggle two good games in Resident Evil Requiem!Follow Checkpoint Chat on...Twitter: https://twitter.com/CheckpointChat​​Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheckpointChatInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/checkpointchatBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/checkpointchat.bsky.social Want to listen to more gaming goodness, on other platforms? Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, and more right here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/checkpointchat-- SHOW NOTES --00:00:00​ - Did you know that we have a podcast?00:12:53 - Marathon is unforgiving, but we can't stop playing it00:45:41​ - Pokémon Pokopia is such a smart idea01:02:10​ - Resident Evil Requiem left us wanting MORE#gamingpodcast #gamingchannels #gamingreview

Love Is Blind Season 10 Reunion Recap Love is Blind is back with a brand new season in Ohio! Love is Blind hosts Aysha Welch, Mary Kwiatkowski, and Jason Reed, with guest Mari Forth, are back to cover season 10. A group of singles date in the pods, choose between love triangles, and get engaged before ever laying their eyes on each other. Who will connect? Will everyone be happy when they finally see their fiancé? Listen to find out! Love is Blind is a Netflix reality show where a group of contestants potentially fall in love and get engaged before laying eyes on their partner! Today, Aysha, Mary and Jason, with guest Mari Forth, discuss the reunion of Love is Blind Season 10. Check out Peace Corps: https://peacecorps.gov/serve LISTEN: Subscribe to the Perfect Match RHAPUp podcast feed by visiting https://robhasawebsite.com/feed/mafs WATCH: Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT: Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks! Previously on the Love at First Sight Feed: Love at First Sight Recap Archives

Love Is Blind Season 10 Reunion Recap Love is Blind is back with a brand new season in Ohio! Love is Blind hosts Aysha Welch, Mary Kwiatkowski, and Jason Reed, with guest Mari Forth, are back to cover season 10. A group of singles date in the pods, choose between love triangles, and get engaged before ever laying their eyes on each other. Who will connect? Will everyone be happy when they finally see their fiancé? Listen to find out! Love is Blind is a Netflix reality show where a group of contestants potentially fall in love and get engaged before laying eyes on their partner! Today, Aysha, Mary and Jason discuss the reunion of Love is Blind Season 10. Check out Peace Corps: https://peacecorps.gov/serve Previously on the Love at First Sight Feed:Love at First Sight Recap Archives LISTEN: Subscribe to the Perfect Match RHAPUp podcast feed by visiting https://robhasawebsite.com/feed/mafsWATCH: Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTubeSUPPORT: Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Paisanos! It's the 3rd episode of Mario Month 2026! This week I am joined by Ty Schalter from the FunFactor podcast and Darren Hupke from Pixels and Polygons to chat about Super Mario Bros. 3! The true (?) sequel to Super Mario Bros. Mario 3 lives in rarified air as a contender for best Mario game along with Super Mario World (which will be next week's episode!). This debate will be forever ongoing but something that is not up for debate is just how amazing and influential this game was and still is. Ty, Darren and I had so much fun getting to dissect this game and it's mechanics. We also chat about it's visuals, music and some of it's development history! I don't have a huge personal history with this game in terms of amount of time spent playing it but I do credit this game for being the game that helped me fall in love with video games. The game that made me feel like I was controlling a cartoon on the TV. I don't think I'll ever fully be able to articulate how much this game means to me for that. Check out Ty on social media and support his work! Ty on Bluesky Funfactor Podcast on Bluesky FunFactor Podcast Website Check out Darren on social media and support his work! Darren on Bluesky Pixels and Polygons on Bluesky Pixels and Polygons Website Darren's LinkTree Shout-out Song: Lose-Your-Way Maze Artist: Dj Orange Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: N/A https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01063 End Song: Overworld (From Super Mario Bros. 3) Artist: Qumu Original Composer: Koji Kondo Album: N/A https://smarturl.it/QumuYear4 Get Still Loading Podcast merch! https://www.teepublic.com/user/still-loading-podcast Check out the Bit by Bit Foundation! https://www.bitbybitfoundation.org/ Support the Podcast! https://www.patreon.com/stillloadingpod

Introducing Artificial intimacy from Tech Tonic. For the next episodes in this season go to the Tech Tonic feed.Calder Quinn has fallen into a relationship with a chatbot called Sara. She's kind, emotionally intelligent and creatively inspiring. But how can he tell his wife he is having sex with an AI girlfriend? In the first episode of Artificial Intimacy we look at how people are developing romantic bonds with AI companions. What does it feel like to be in love with AI? What impact could it have on human relationships? Could it replace them altogether? Host Cristina Criddle speaks to Giada Pistilli, an AI ethicist who now works at Mistral; Calder Quinn, writer at ‘AI, But Make It Intimate'; Amelia Quinn, Calder's wife; and Alaina Winters, professor emeritus of communication who publishes on meandmyaihusband.com.Presented by Cristina Criddle, produced by Persis Love and Edwin Lane. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. We used ElevenLabs to create Sara's voice. All other voices are real. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many of us fall in love with music around puberty and it plays an important part in our lives as we transition into adulthood, get through school and break out on our own. Music helps us shape our identity and bonds us with our friends. It's there when we're lonely or feeling isolated. It's there when we experience infatuations and find love. It consoles us when we lose love or suffer other kinds of heartbreak. The artists we most admire feel like an unofficial part of our families. But somewhere along the way - maybe in our late 20s or early 30s - many of us lose interest in new music and simply replay the music of our youth. We tell ourselves new music isn't as good as the music we grew up with, but we're only fooling ourselves. We tell ourselves new music doesn't relate to us anymore, but many of those artists who made music when we were young are still making music, often more mature music, and we aren't listening to their new material. Could it be we're too busy with life to keep up with music? We aren't interested anymore because our friends aren't interested anymore? Maybe and maybe. It could also be that your brain simply finds it harder to process new music and you're just physically more comfortable with the rewards of the nostalgic power of familiar music than you are with the challenge of getting to know something new. This week on "How We Heard It," your hosts explore the myths and realities of the changing role music has in our lives and practical ways you can continue to experience the joy of new music, which is good for your mental and physical health. You could even fall in love with music all over again.

Surah Al-Anbiya (The Prophets) is the 21st chapter of the Qur'an and contains 112 verses. It emphasizes the oneness of God (Tawhid), the reality of the Day of Judgment, and the role of prophets as guides for humanity. The surah recounts stories of several prophets—including Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ayyub (Job), Yunus (Jonah), Zakariya (Zechariah), and Isa (Jesus)—showing how they trusted in God during trials and were ultimately helped by Him. A key message of the surah is that all prophets brought the same core message: to worship one God and live righteously. It also reminds people that the world is temporary and urges them to reflect, repent, and prepare for the Hereafter. This video series is a curated collection of reflections and summaries drawn from the 30 Days with the Qur'an series, where each Juz was explored over the month of Ramadan. While not a full tafsir, these concise and heartfelt talks aim to highlight key themes and insights from each Surah to inspire a deeper connection with the Qur'an. In this series, we've taken those reflections and focused them surah by surah, offering a dedicated video for each chapter of the Qur'an. The goal is to spark curiosity, build motivation, and encourage further study of the Qur'an in a manageable, engaging format. Whether you're revisiting familiar Surahs or exploring new ones, these summaries are here to help you pause, reflect, and fall in love with the Qur'an all over again.

In his book Letters to a Young PoetCelebrated author and poet  Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:“Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”In 2025, with the publication of her beautiful book:How to Fall in Love with Questions: A New Way to Thrive in Times of UncertaintyJournalist and applied behavioral scientist, Elizabeth Weingarten carries Rilke's work forward. Through contemporary research, powerful storytelling, and her beautifully written prose,Elizabeth charts a new path for personal growth—a way to embrace the questions of our lives instead of seeking fast, easy answers.She writes:“What do you do when faced with a big, important question that keeps you up at night? Many people, understandably, seize answers dispensed by "experts," influencers, gurus, and more. But these fast, easy, one-size-fits-all solutions often fail to satisfy, and can even cause more pain.What if our questions—the ones we ask about relationships, work, meaning, identity, and purpose—are not our tormentors, but our teachers?”In today's conversation we'll explore the fascinating possibility of living the questions.  Elizabeth will share stories from her journey of discovering a fresh, evidence-based approach for navigating uncertainty. One inspired by Rilke's 150-year-old advice, and the moving stories of many others, whose lives have transformed through a different, and better, relationship with uncertainty.Elizabeth's work offers a powerful reminder:When we find the courage to love the questions of our livesIt opens the door the kind of self-discovery that's only possible when we feel most alive -That is, in the moments where don't know what will happen next.For more on Elizabeth, her book, and other offerings please visit elizabethweingarten.comEnjoying the show? Please rate it wherever you listen to your podcasts!Did you find this episode inspiring? Here are other conversations we think you'll love:On the Science of Mastering Your Intuition | Laura HuangOn the Power of Wonder | Monica ParkerOn Work, Friendship, and Embracing Impermanence | Parker Palmer & Jerry ColonnaThanks for listening!Support the show

In this episode of Audiobook Lovin' Podcast, we chat with Author Deanne Dietz, whose emotional depth and fearless storytelling have earned her a devoted following. We dive into her creative process, how she balances humor and heart in her books, and what inspires the unforgettable characters readers and listeners fall in love with. Plus, don't miss the hilarious moment that sent us both into uncontrollable laughter. Trust us… it's a good one. Listen now and fall in love with Deanne's voice, words, and warmth. Available now on all podcast platforms! Authors, do you want to get your titles in audio, but are concerned about cost and/or not having a say on who gets cast or authentic casting? Adler Audios is exactly what you've been looking for and need. Adler Audios is a woman-led, BIPOC-owned, veteran-run small business. We are committed to the values of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with respect to authentic casting and pay equity. They work with authors to find the perfect voice to bring your character(s) to life. To learn more visit www.adleraudios.com Guests: Author Deanne Dietz Visit Viviana, Enchantress of Books: https://www.vivianaenchantressofbooks.com/2026/03/audiobook-lovin-podcast-s7-ep-9-author.html Support the podcast by becoming a patreon at https://www.patreon.com/AudiobookLovin or Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/enchantresspr We hope you have enjoyed this production of The Audiobook Lovin' Podcast. Host: Viviana Izzo Podcast Intro & Outro: Emma Wilder Podcast Patreon: Benjamin Charles Editor: Viviana Izzo This has been an Audiobook Lovin' production Copyright 2017 by Viviana Izzo, Enchantress of Books. Production Copyright 2017 by Audiobook Lovin'. Audiobook Lovin' Series, The Audiobook Lovin Podcast is a division of Viviana, Enchantress of Books. Please visit Viviana, Enchantress of Books to learn more about the Audiobook Lovin' Series. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, modified, copied, distributed, repackaged, shared, displayed, revealed, extracted, emailed, transmitted, sold or otherwise transferred, conveyed or used, in a manner inconsistent with the Agreement, or rights of the copyright owner. You shall not redistribute, repackage, transmit, assign, sell, broadcast, rent, share, lend, modify, extract, reveal, adapt, edit, sub-license or otherwise transfer the Content. You are not granted any synchronization, public performance, promotional use, commercial sale, resale, reproduction or distribution rights for the Content. For permission requests, please visit Viviana, Enchantress of Books for more information.

What's up everyone! This week I'm sitting down with Jerrod Lile, CEO of Hunting Fool and one of the most underrated elk hunters you've never heard enough from. Jerrod spent 14 years working alongside Dan Evans at Trophy Taker—yeah, THE Dan Evans—and the stories and lessons he picked up during that time are absolute gold. This conversation goes deep. We talk about how Jerrod went from being a good shooter to a great archer after Dan called him out on his bad habits, the mental game required to perform under pressure (spoiler: it's just like you to make a good shot), and why he's helped 15 first-time bowhunters kill their first elk. Jerrod breaks down his hunting philosophy into one simple mantra: get as close as you can for as long as you can, and good stuff will happen. But this episode isn't all tactics and tips. Jerrod gets brutally honest about the emotional rollercoaster of elk hunting—from getting too cocky after a string of successes and missing a giant bull at 35 yards, to the heartbreak of his father passing away in the middle of a 23-point Arizona hunt. That story alone is worth the listen. It's raw, it's real, and it's a reminder that elk hunting is about so much more than antlers. We also dive into the psychology of hunting with other people (spoiler: it usually makes you worse), why repeating the same game plan year after year is a trap, and how to pivot when things aren't working. Jerrod doesn't hold back on his mistakes—like setting up a comfy wall tent camp in Arizona and being too stubborn to relocate when the pressure got heavy—and the lessons he's learned from them. If you want to hear from someone who's been in the trenches for decades, worked with legends, and still gets humbled by elk every single season, this is the episode for you. Jerrod is humble, authentic, and full of hard-earned wisdom that only comes from putting in the work year after year. Sponsors Stone Glacier - If you're in the market for a new pack, Jerrod and I both run Stone Glacier gear. I packed out a lot of animals this year with the Sky Archer 6400, including a couple elk. The thing I love about Stone Glacier packs is they work whether you're on a 10-day backpack trip or day hunting from the truck. Minimalist design, tough as nails, and they collapse down so you don't need multiple packs. Built by mountain hunters for mountain hunters. Check out the Sky Archer 6400 at stoneglacier.com and use code TRO. Tricer - Tricer makes way more than just tripods. One of my favorite products is the RP Bipod—a legit hunting bipod with all the features you'd expect from a high-dollar setup. At 10.5 ounces, it's lightweight enough to take on any hunt. Comes with everything: long legs, short legs, works on Picatinny or Arca. For $350, it's a no-brainer. I've shot a lot of critters off mine. Head to tricer.com and use code TRO to save 10%. OnX Hunt - We didn't have an OnX ad in this episode, but if you're a Hunting Fool member or thinking about becoming one, OnX Elite members get Hunting Fool for free. Plus, OnX is running a giveaway right now through April 15th—a hunt for two, no charge to enter. Just visit the OnX website, click the single sign-on button, and you're automatically entered. Check it out at onxmaps.com. Timestamps 00:00 - Intro: The underrated elk hunter you need to hear from 04:30 - Working alongside Dan Evans at Trophy Taker 09:15 - Going to first and second grade together 14:20 - The story that changed everything: Dan circles a bull in New Mexico 19:45 - "Iron Elk Syndrome" and why calling is the default trap 24:30 - Helping 15 first-time bowhunters kill their first elk 28:50 - The mantra: Get as close as you can for as long as you can 32:40 - Managing the emotional rollercoaster of new hunters 37:10 - Dan breaking down Jerrod's shooting and rebuilding it 42:20 - "It's like me to make a good shot" - the mental game 46:15 - Getting cocky and missing a giant bull at 35 yards 50:30 - Arizona 2023: Hunting with his son and running into people 55:40 - The lesson: Don't repeat the same game plan year after year 58:20 - Hunting with multiple people makes you worse 1:02:15 - The 23-point Arizona hunt and losing his father mid-hunt 1:08:45 - Shooting the bull on the last night with 15 minutes of light 1:12:30 - Carrying his dad's ashes on every hunt 1:15:00 - Hunting Fool giveaway and closing thoughts Three Key Takeaways Master the Mental Game of Archery - Jerrod learned from Dan Evans that you can control every variable in elk hunting except whether you'll panic when the moment comes. He spent months blind bailing, shooting 5-spots, and reading books like With Winning in Mind to build his mental game. His mantra under pressure: "It's like me to make a good shot." Repeating that phrase in third person creates psychological distance from the pressure and keeps you focused on execution. Great elk hunters aren't just good woodsmen—they're elite archers who can perform when it counts. Hunting with Others Usually Makes You Worse - Jerrod's favorite way to hunt with buddies? Share camp, high-five in the morning, split up, and reconvene at night. When you're constantly consulting with a partner—should we go this way? Should we move?—you have 15 mini-meetings a day and 0.5x the decision-making power. Even worse, if your gut disagrees with your partner's call, you'll be less committed, step on a stick, or miss the subtle cues that lead to success. Pick a point person, trust them completely, or hunt solo. Don't Fall in Love with Last Year's Game Plan - Jerrod burned his Arizona hunt by repeating the same meal plan that worked the year before. Just because elk were in a certain spot last year (or the last three years) doesn't mean they'll be there this year. People change, pressure changes, and elk are nomadic. If you're consistently running into hunters or the elk aren't doing what they did before, pivot early. Don't lose four days being stubborn. The devil you don't know might be better than the devil you do.

Today I have the honor of chatting with the iconic Vincent Virga. His book, GAYWYCK was the first book published that featured gay characters to fall in love and have a happy ending. Until this point, gay characters were either villains or met tragic endings. I contacted him as part of my research for my own book about vintage Gothic Romances, and I'm delighted that his work is still in print. All links and show notes at https://www.sheworeblackpodcast.com/

The Rent Equation That Can Make or Break Your ProfitRent usually isn't your biggest expense — payroll almost always takes that spot. But rent is one of the biggest long-term commitments you'll ever make in your practice.When you sign a 5- or 10-year lease, that decision follows you.And I've seen it go both ways.I've seen beautiful spaces help practices grow efficiently and profitably. And I've seen gorgeous offices turn into financial anchors that are almost impossible to escape.In this episode, I'm walking you through the simple math that determines whether your space supports your profit… or slowly squeezes it.Because every practice deserves to be profitable — and the math has to math.In This Episode, You'll Discover:1️⃣ The ideal percentage your rent should fall within(And why 3–10% of gross income is your guardrail.)2️⃣ How to reverse engineer your space before you sign the leaseWe break down real examples so you can calculate exactly how many sessions your space needs to generate.3️⃣ Why utilization matters more than square footageJust because you're open 40 hours doesn't mean you can only schedule 40 hours — and that mindset shift can completely change your profitability.Final ThoughtsIt's easy to fall in love with a space.It smells good. It looks beautiful. You can picture your dream practice there.But this is business.Before you sign anything, run the math. Reverse engineer it. Stress test it at 85% utilization. Ask yourself what happens if hiring takes longer than expected.Your space should support your profit — not strangle it.Ready to Run the Numbers?If you want to walk through the calculations step-by-step, I've written a detailed blog post that breaks everything down:

What happens when two artists fall in love over bikes, move to a trail town, and decide to build a better way to move families and elders? We sit down with Elysia Springer of Bentonville-based Gnargo Bike Co to share the story of a pandemic garage project that grew into a community-powered company.Elysia unpacks how early prototypes and human-centered designs transformed into sustainable transportation, local manufacturing, and practical urban mobility. And then emerges the success of the trishaw. We dive into the design challenges of steering, curb handling, and wheelchair access, and how Gnargo brought an American-made option to communities sidelined by import delays and tariffs. Throughout, we explore Gnargo's circular model: paying community bike shops for donor frames, turning scrap into cargo haulers, and funding local chapters through trishaw sales. Gnargo's ask is simple —use rebates to shop local and handmade, and help build a mobility ecosystem where joy is a design spec. Learn more at Gnargobike.co.A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn. You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.

The crew dives into a classic Yankees flashpoint with a fresh twist: what should the team do with top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange, whose name is a little unclear in the transcript but whose talent definitely isn't. Using Joba Chamberlain as the cautionary tale, the conversation turns into a lively debate over whether a young arm with electric stuff should be developed as a starter or fast-tracked into a bullpen role. Along the way, they unpack why fans and teams so often fall in love with dominant relievers, whether that can derail a pitcher's long-term value, and how this Yankees roster shapes the decision. The episode also spins into sharp, entertaining side conversations on the World Baseball Classic, surprising New York athlete returns, and the kind of sports-radio back-and-forth that makes every argument feel personal.

Kevin and Cory discuss the athlete that made them fall in love with sports.

What if vulnerability isn't what makes you unsafe…What if vulnerability is what makes you powerful?In this deeply moving and joy-filled conversation, Elaine Starling welcomes Thymai Dong-Sheehan, educator, author, and founder of Innervate2Educate Consulting, to explore identity, belonging, spirituality, and the courageous journey of learning to love yourself exactly as you are.As a Vietnamese refugee who grew up navigating discrimination, cultural tension, and the pressure to “prove” her worth, Thymai shares how embracing vulnerability became her path to freedom. Through her book The Beauties of My So-Called Asian Life: Vulnerability, Equity, Spirituality, she reframes identity as sacred, difference as powerful, and self-love as a spiritual act.This episode will help you release either/or thinking, embrace your “hyphen,” and fall in love with the beautifully imperfect human you already are.Topics Covered0:00 – Is Vulnerability Weakness or Leadership?Why hiding diminishes power — and shining creates connection3:30 – Breath, Intention & Creating Safe SpaceThe I AM / CONSCIOUSNESS practice and courageous alignment9:30 – Refugee Roots & Shared HumanityThymai's father's legacy and the power of remembering “We're all human.”14:40 – The Three G's of AbundanceGrowth, Goodness of others, and God's Glory18:30 – Turning to Each Other Instead of On Each OtherConnection across lines of difference23:30 – Love as a Non-Zero-Sum GameWhy giving light doesn't diminish yours27:50 – Embracing the HyphenLiving fully as Asian-American instead of choosing one identity32:40 – Falling in Love with YourselfAccepting flaws, complexity, and evolving identity35:00 – Living the Vertical LifeLooking inward first before pointing outwardKey Takeaways

In Part 2 of Soccer for Success, we go deeper.This conversation moves beyond curriculum and into implementation — how Dallas ISD built a no-cost, district-wide pathway from elementary Spark programs to middle school leagues and high school UIL competition.We break down how Spark works (grades 2–6), how competitive soccer is introduced the right way, and how over 50 elementary schools are now participating in structured play.If you're a parent wondering how to advocate for better sports access…If you're a school leader looking for a scalable youth development model…If you care about keeping kids active and engaged…This episode gives you the blueprint.Key Talking PointsHow Spark functions as a foundational after-school programWhy grades 3–6 are critical for long-term sports retentionThe creation of a competitive elementary soccer league51 elementary schools currently participating31 middle schools running interdistrict leaguesNo-cost participation for families (equipment included)How healthy competition is introduced graduallyThe importance of PE and Athletics working togetherHow other school districts can partner with US Soccer FoundationWhy foundational skills reduce dropout rates after sixth gradeQuotes from the Guests“You don't have to be a soccer star to teach soccer.” – Lisa Perry“Ask what your child is learning in physical education and how you can support that.” – Lisa Perry“We want kids to fall in love with fitness — with moving.” – Dr. Lisa Whitaker“Spark says we are going to build your skill over time in a safe place.” – Dr. Lisa Whitaker“We are fully committed to these programs across these two departments.” – Dr. Lisa Whitaker“My goal was always to give opportunities to kids who can't afford to play.” – Marisela Lopez“At this point in my career, I'm more about coaching coaches than coaching players.” – Warren Coddle“After sixth grade, kids start dropping out.” – Lisa Perry“We want to provide the opportunity.” – Lisa Perry“At the end of the day, I want kids active. I want them to play sports.” – Lisa PerryConnect with the GuestsWarren Cottle

The Golden Girls is returning to free broadcast television for the first time in 29 years, and we had to talk about it. Starting March 16, the show is coming to MeTV, which means more people than ever, whether they have cable or not, can fall in love with Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia all over again. Eliot Glazer joins us to celebrate this very big deal for very devoted fans. Watch the full conversation over on YouTube, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of Out on the Lanai.WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/i_GDpjM6GEkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Surah Taha is the 20th chapter of the Qur'an. It is a Makkan surah consisting of 135 verses and focuses on strengthening faith, patience, and trust in Allah. A major part of the surah tells the story of Prophet Musa, including his encounter with Allah at Mount Sinai, his mission to guide Pharaoh, and the struggles of guiding the Children of Israel. The surah highlights Allah's mercy, the importance of prayer, and the reminder that guidance comes from remembering and following Allah's message. Overall, Surah Taha encourages believers to remain steadfast in faith, trust Allah during difficulties, and reflect on the consequences of rejecting divine guidance. This video series is a curated collection of reflections and summaries drawn from the 30 Days with the Qur'an series, where each Juz was explored over the month of Ramadan. While not a full tafsir, these concise and heartfelt talks aim to highlight key themes and insights from each Surah to inspire a deeper connection with the Qur'an. In this series, we've taken those reflections and focused them surah by surah, offering a dedicated video for each chapter of the Qur'an. The goal is to spark curiosity, build motivation, and encourage further study of the Qur'an in a manageable, engaging format. Whether you're revisiting familiar Surahs or exploring new ones, these summaries are here to help you pause, reflect, and fall in love with the Qur'an all over again.

We've all been there: we fall in love with a show, but then we get distracted or life gets in the way...and we never finish it. It gets lost to the backlog of our tv watching. In this episode of Eat Sleep Nerd, the nerds discuss the best tv shows of all time that we just never finished watching. Can you believe that we never finished Breaking Bad? Can you believe that we haven't caught up with Ted Lasso? Even shows like The Handmaid's Tale and Peaky Blinders have gone unfinished. Yellowstone, Supernatural, The Boys, Daredevil Born Again...the list goes on.

Episode 193 — Revisiting Sondheim: Merrily We Roll AlongWelcome back to The Conner & Smith Show!This week we return to our ongoing Stephen Sondheim deep dive series with a long-overdue update — inspired by the extraordinary filmed stage version of Merrily We Roll Along.For years, Merrily has been known as the fascinating “problem child” of the Sondheim canon — a brilliant score paired with a notoriously difficult structure. But the recent filmed Broadway production, directed by Maria Friedman, offers a revelatory take on the show that made both of us fall in love with it all over again.In this episode we talk about:​Why Merrily We Roll Along has had such a complicated history​How smart direction can solve the storytelling challenges of the show's reverse timeline​Why this particular production finally makes the emotional arc land​The power of Sondheim's score when the story is clearly staged and grounded​And why this filmed version might be the definitive way many people experience the showWe also revisit our earlier thoughts about the piece from our original Sondheim series and discuss how seeing this production shifted our perspective.If you love Stephen Sondheim, musical theatre history, and the rare revival that truly cracks the code of a difficult show — this episode is for you.

Welcome to the Mind-Blowing Happiness® Podcast, a space for embodied emotional mastery, authentic leadership, and radiant joy. In this solo episode, Trish Ahjel Roberts dives into Step 3 of the Mind-Blowing Happiness® framework: Community and Connection, but with a twist, diving into the dark side of relationships.Trish reflects on the education most of us never get - how to tell the difference between healthy and toxic relationships before we've invested too much time and energy. This conversation allows space for:Reflection on your own relationshipsTools to identify both healthy and toxic relationshipsExamples of how lovebombing and gaslighting can slip into your life✨If you like this topic, we recommend the following past episodes:"New Year's Resolutions for Navigating Narcissism with Validation Coach Nikieta Lambert"and the solocast, "Do You Know a Narcissist?"Each month this season, we'll explore one step to Mind-Blowing Happiness®, offering reflections, embodiment, and wisdom to support your personal growth and self-leadership from the inside out.✨This week's reflections:Which relationships in my life currently feel like GEMS?Where in my life do relationships feel draining or chaotic?What boundary might help protect my energy right now?✨Upcoming every month in 2026:LIVE Monthly Masterclass offered on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.Mind-Blowing Happiness® Circle. New content drops on the last Thursday of the month.Register and access all resources at TrishAhjelRoberts.com or MindBlowingHappiness.com✨ Next episode: Self-Love and Authenticity. We'll dive into how to fall in love with yourself in a healthy way and show up as your whole self in your life.Learn more about Trish's coaching, books, workshops, and keynote talks at TrishAhjelRoberts.com. Click “Membership” to join the free Mind-Blowing Happiness® community.Follow @MindBlowingHappiness on Instagram and connect with Trish Ahjel Roberts on LinkedIn and Facebook.ep64/s6/ep3

Are you feeling stretched thin in your child care business right now? You're not alone. In this episode of the Child Care Genius Podcast, Brian and Carol Duprey get real about the struggles every owner faces — and more importantly, how to handle them in a way that strengthens your business instead of sinking it.   Tune in as they unpack the most common pressure points child care owners are dealing with today: enrollment dips, financial uncertainty, leadership challenges, broken systems, lack of diversification, partnership tension, and cultural struggles. From increasing tour conversions with proven strategies from The Art of the Tour, to building a six-month financial safety net, to defining clear leadership lanes with your spouse or partner, this episode is packed with practical tools you can apply immediately.   Listen in as Brian and Carol share lessons learned the hard way — from early financial mistakes to expansion during economic downturns — and explain why living below your means, mastering your numbers, strengthening systems, and developing leadership skills can position you for long-term stability and growth. They also discuss why diversification and strong operational systems are critical if you ever want to expand beyond one location.   If you're feeling tired, overwhelmed, or even questioning whether you want to keep going, join us for this encouraging and action-focused conversation. This episode is designed to help you regain clarity, rebuild confidence, and fall in love with your child care business again.     Mentioned in this episode: GET TICKETS to the Child Care Genius LEGACY Conference:  https://childcaregenius.com/legacyconference/   Need help with your child care marketing? Reach out! At Child Care Genius Marketing we offer website development, hosting, and security, Google Ads creation and management, done for you social media content and ads management. If you'd rather do it yourself, we also have the Genius Box, which is a monthly subscription chock full of social media & blog content, as well as a new monthly lead magnet every month! Learn more at Child Care Genius Marketing. https://childcaregenius.com/marketing-solutions/  Schedule a no obligation call to learn more about how we can partner together to ignite your marketing efforts.   If you need help in your child care business, consider joining our coaching programs at Child Care Genius University. Learn More Here. https://childcaregenius.com/university   Connect with us:  Child Care Genius Website Like us on Facebook Join our Owners Only Private Mastermind Group on Facebook    Join our Child Care Mindset Facebook Group Follow Us on Instagram Connect with us on LinkedIn Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Buy our Books Check out our Free Resources

What if better teaching wasn't about new tricks—but better questions? In this episode, we cut straight to the heart of effective music teaching with three powerful questions that can transform your lessons instantly. Learn how to clarify what you're really teaching, anticipate what will be hardest for this student, and—most importantly—how to help students fall in love with even the simplest pieces. Practical, thoughtful, and inspiring, this episode is all about teaching with intention, clarity, and heart.

This week my oldest child turns 19 and I am truly marveling at the man he is becoming. But it didn't always feel like a sigh of relief. I used to lie awake at night worrying that I was messing up my kids.  I used to worry if they weren't learning what they needed, if their behavior meant I had made the wrong choices, or too many mistakes. I would dread the day and would look back and blame me for all of their stress, lack of preparation, and pain that I was sure they would have in the future. And it would all be my fault. But that's not where we actually are all these years later! In today's podcast episode, I'm reflecting on the journey of how I have worked on giving up control over other people's behavior, and really stepping up into the identity of the happier, holier mama that I always dreamed of being.  It doesn't mean I have it all figured out. It just means that I have learned how to fall in love with the journey, even when it's hard (which it often still is!). And I want to share some of that knowledge with you! If you've ever felt like your peace depends on your child's behavior, or gotten stuck second-guessing your decision to homeschool because of it, grab your earbuds and join me for: The Idol of Control: Behavior and the Three Rs of Surrender and Unconditional Love. Happy, Holy Mama is OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT AGAIN!  Click here to join in time for this week's Stop Yelling Refresh Workshop!

What does it really take to evolve from first-time founder to public company CEO without losing conviction, culture, or clarity?In this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, Alisa Cohn sits down with Matt Oppenheimer, Co-Founder and CEO of Remitly, the global financial services company serving customers in more than 170 countries.Matt shares the leadership evolution behind building Remitly from an early-stage startup into a publicly traded company. From spotting the broken experience of international money transfers while living in Kenya, to navigating executive transitions, IPO readiness, board dynamics, and imposter syndrome, Matt reflects on the real work of founder to CEO leadership growth.This conversation explores how conviction differs from stubbornness, why great founders fall in love with the problem rather than the solution, and how culture must evolve alongside strategy. If you are building, scaling, or leading a growth-stage company, this episode offers a practical and deeply human roadmap.You'll learn:Why founders must apply grit to the problem, not the solutionHow to balance curiosity with decisiveness as a leaderThe difference between startup execution and public company leadershipHow to design culture intentionally and evolve it over timeWhy executive transitions are about stage-fit, not loyaltyWhat IPO readiness really requires behind the scenesHow to manage imposter syndrome and board pressureWhy psychological safety with investors mattersHow “towering strengths” create leadership shadowsWhat it means to grow into the CEO your company needsWe talk about:00:00 The origin of Remitly and identifying a global problem03:00 Grit, flexibility, and falling in love with the problem06:00 Growth mindset, curiosity, and listening to feedback10:00 Global perspective and customer centricity14:00 Designing culture from day one18:00 Evolving values as strategy evolves23:00 Hiring executives for stage, not sentiment28:00 Managing leadership transitions thoughtfully33:00 Founder development plans and 360 reviews36:00 Moving from “doing” to leading at scale42:00 IPO preparation and avoiding IPO as the sole goal46:00 Becoming a public company CEO49:00 Imposter syndrome and board dynamics53:00 Advice for founders scaling their leadershipFollow Matt onLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattoppenheimer/Website: https://www.remitly.com/Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon

Surah Maryam (Chapter 19 of the Qur'an) is a Makkan surah that highlights Allah's mercy and the miraculous stories of several prophets. It begins with the story of Prophet Zakariya and the miraculous birth of Prophet Yahya (John), followed by the account of Maryam (Mary) and the miraculous birth of Prophet Isa (Jesus). The surah emphasizes faith in Allah's power, the importance of devotion, and the message of monotheism shared by prophets such as Ibrahim, Musa, and Ismail. Overall, it reminds believers of Allah's compassion, the truth of revelation, and the consequences for those who accept or reject faith. This video series is a curated collection of reflections and summaries drawn from the 30 Days with the Qur'an series, where each Juz was explored over the month of Ramadan. While not a full tafsir, these concise and heartfelt talks aim to highlight key themes and insights from each Surah to inspire a deeper connection with the Qur'an. In this series, we've taken those reflections and focused them surah by surah, offering a dedicated video for each chapter of the Qur'an. The goal is to spark curiosity, build motivation, and encourage further study of the Qur'an in a manageable, engaging format. Whether you're revisiting familiar Surahs or exploring new ones, these summaries are here to help you pause, reflect, and fall in love with the Qur'an all over again. Link to donate – https://www.whitethread.org/whitethread-centre/

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3937: Tamsen Firestone explores how a deeply ingrained negative self-image can quietly sabotage intimacy, causing us to reject the very love we crave. She reveals how early family dynamics shape a critical inner voice that keeps us loyal to a painful identity, even when a partner sees us more positively. By challenging this inner narrative and embracing a more accurate sense of self, we open the door to deeper connection and lasting love. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.psychalive.org/is-my-self-hatred-getting-in-the-way-of-love/ Quotes to ponder: "When we first fall in love, we have a positive response to feeling understood and valued by someone who matters to us." "Once our negative identity is formed, we go on to elaborate on it and behave accordingly, thereby constantly reinforcing it." "It is a sad fact that we react against love because it contradicts our negative beliefs about ourselves." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 1985: Nick Loper breaks down why real estate and network marketing remain so attractive, and why they can quietly derail your wealth-building goals. He explores smarter, lower-risk alternatives like REITs, small business acquisitions, and "selling shovels" into trending markets, helping you think more strategically about leverage, risk, and long-term income. If you're drawn to passive income or turnkey business models, this is a practical guide to choosing a path that actually stacks the odds in your favor. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.sidehustlenation.com/popular-side-hustles/ Quotes to ponder: "Fall in love with the problem, NOT the solution." "The biggest challenge with network marketing is just that: your "network."" "When you eventually tap out your audience of warm contacts, you stall out and give up." Episode references: U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): https://www.sba.gov/

Dante Aligheri was a copywriter kind of guy. Rather than write in the stuffy, formal Latin which is what everyone else was writing in the 14th century, he wrote in the home boy people's language of Tuscan.Dante's masterwork was The Divine Comedy, and his last line was“L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle”Translated into English, he's talking about Love–the kind of love that moves the sun and the other stars.Thus proving that even in medieval Italy, LOVE was recognized as the most powerful motivating force in the Universe.Yet, how do we tap into that in our copy and take advantage of this irresistible force.Today's extremely special guest, Nathan, is here to tell you. Of course you already know Nathan extremely well as the co-host and producer of Copywriters Podcast.But today he's going to step out of the virtual control room to tell you how to make your prospects fall in love and obsess over your offer, which is something you really need to know, once you think about it.Nathan's websitehttps://cultishcontent.com/

From Matthew 6:5-13, David Thomas unpacks what we can learn from Jesus’ retreats to the secret place, and encourages us to fall in love with the hidden place. David Thomas is a pastor that helped to steward the Asbury Outpouring in 2023.

Love Is Blind Season 10 Finale Recap Love is Blind is back with a brand new season in Ohio! Love is Blind hosts Aysha Welch, Mary Kwiatkowski, and Jason Reed are back to cover season 10. A group of singles date in the pods, choose between love triangles, and get engaged before ever laying their eyes on each other. Who will connect? Will everyone be happy when they finally see their fiancé? Listen to find out! Love is Blind is a Netflix reality show where a group of contestants potentially fall in love and get engaged before laying eyes on their partner! Today, Aysha, Mary and Jason discuss the finale of Love is Blind Season 10. Check out Peace Corps: https://peacecorps.gov/serve LISTEN: Subscribe to the Perfect Match RHAPUp podcast feed by visiting https://robhasawebsite.com/feed/mafs WATCH: Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT: Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks! Previously on the Love at First Sight Feed: Love at First Sight Recap Archives

Love Is Blind Season 10 Finale Recap Love is Blind is back with a brand new season in Ohio! Love is Blind hosts Aysha Welch, Mary Kwiatkowski, and Jason Reed are back to cover season 10. A group of singles date in the pods, choose between love triangles, and get engaged before ever laying their eyes on each other. Who will connect? Will everyone be happy when they finally see their fiancé? Listen to find out! Love is Blind is a Netflix reality show where a group of contestants potentially fall in love and get engaged before laying eyes on their partner! Today, Aysha, Mary and Jason discuss the finale of Love is Blind Season 10. Previously on the Love at First Sight Feed:Love at First Sight Recap Archives Check out Peace Corps: https://peacecorps.gov/serve LISTEN: Subscribe to the Perfect Match RHAPUp podcast feed by visiting https://robhasawebsite.com/feed/mafsWATCH: Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTubeSUPPORT: Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary In this episode of Business Coaching Secrets, Karl Bryan and Rode Dog dive into high-performance strategies for business coaches—drawing lessons from Olympic athletes, the psychology of winning, the keys to building (and keeping) momentum, and the art of leveraging staff, referrals, and advertising for exponential business growth. Packed with practical frameworks, real-life stories, and Karl's signature analogies (from roller hockey to dolphins), the episode reveals why elite coaches and businesses succeed—and how listeners can replicate their approach for long-term results. Key Topics Covered The Psychology of Olympic-Level Success Karl Bryan unpacks how the athlete's journey mirrors that of the ambitious business owner or coach—both must manage mindset at the beginning, middle, and end of their journeys. Lessons are drawn from Olympic stories, including Lindsey Vonn's career, transitions, and the psychological challenge of what happens "after the medal." Momentum: How to Build It and Never Lose It Elite performers hit the gas pedal after success, not before. Signing a client? Double down and sign another instead of celebrating too long. Karl shares why consistency outpaces one-time effort, and actionable habits for coaches to lock success rhythms in. Staffing and Leverage for Big Results Big goals require teams—not solo grinds. Karl explains the value of hiring "first-round draft picks" and why one A-player can outperform five mediocre hires. Firmness, not harshness: How to foster high standards and resolve staff conflict with presence, empathy, and accountability. The Power of "Selling Through, Not To" (Joint Ventures) Deep dive into referral and JV strategies: Why working with partners like accountants, business brokers, and promotional companies can 10x (or 50x) your business. Step-by-step: How to structure win-win "test drive" arrangements to gain referrals and scale with minimal cold outreach. Advertising: Shortcut to Growth or Costly Trap? Karl distinguishes between rushed, ineffective "hope" ads and smart, operating-system-led campaigns. Why many business owners should fix their system first, then advertise, and how to teach clients this discipline. Consistency and Demonstrating What You Want to Attract Building disciplined, consistent habits (like daily emails, weekly events) attracts committed, disciplined clients and JV partners over time. Notable Quotes "The elite hit the gas pedal after success. The non-elite celebrate too long." "You have to fall in love with the process, not the destination… If you hit the goal, and you don't have another, you fall backwards." "Don't do your best. Do what it takes." "Your biggest accomplishments will come through other people." "Advertising to profit is a superpower… but it's not a shortcut. You need an operating system first." "Hire slow, fire fast… The one who gets the best player wins the trade." "Demonstrate it, then you'll attract it—discipline is magnetic." Actionable Takeaways Always Set the Next Target: After you land a win—a new client, a successful event, or a JV, don't pause to celebrate. Immediately schedule and line up the next one to keep momentum compounding. Book Events in Batches: If live events work for you, don't book one—book ten at a time. This creates ongoing pressure and forward motion. Hire for Excellence: Treat each team addition as a draft pick. One top performer can be worth a handful of mediocre staff. Cultivate excellence and resolve conflict with empathy, not harshness. Initiate JV 'Test Drives': Approach JV partners (accountants, brokers, ad reps) by solving their biggest pain points—run a no-risk "test drive" for 3 clients and let your results sell you. Don't Rush Advertising: Before running ads, ensure the "operating system" of your business (or client's business) is air-tight—cost control, clarity of offer, and ability to handle leads. Leverage Proximity Marketing: Use lawn signs, "Good Neighbor Programs," and hyper-local advertising for service businesses—it's often the cheapest, most effective form of ad spend. Serve and Demonstrate Consistently: Showing up every week, delivering value, and embodying discipline/consistency will magnetize your ideal business partners and clients. Resources Mentioned Profit Acceleration Software 2.0 (by Karl Bryan)—business coaching's premier toolkit to help maximize client results and command high fees. Focused.com—Daily emails, coaching frameworks, and software demos for business coaches. The Six-Figure Coach Magazine—Karl's free magazine for business coaches. Networking/JV Sources: Target accountants, business brokers, advertising sales reps, and promotional companies for high-value partnerships. Good Neighbor Program: Local marketing system for service pros.

Not only is Trump failing to provide any clarity on why the United States went to war against Iran, the administration is also sticking to its habit of declaring an emergency based on some arcane legal provision that supposedly gives the executive branch the power to do whatever it wants. It's almost as though the American legal system can justify authoritarianism if a lawyer can dig deep enough. And Anthropic is currently feeling the sting of this monarchical-style power grab. Meanwhile, the tech overlords wanted free rein on AI under Trump, but they got a Maoist approach instead. Plus, Mamdani's embrace of abundance, the movie industry's troubles, and how parents fall in love with their children.Derek Thompson joins Tim Miller.show notes Derek's interview with Karim Sadjadpour on the "Plain English" pod Derek's Substack Tickets for our LIVE show in Austin on March 19: TheBulwark.com/Events.

In this conversation with Tara-Leigh Cobble, founder of D-Group and host of The Bible Recap, Tara shares how moving from “Bible exposure” to true “Bible engagement” transformed her faith and led to the creation of The Bible Recap for Kids and its companion podcast. She encourages parents to model a genuine love for Scripture, invite kids into conversations about who God is (not just behavior modification), and practice looking for God's character in daily Bible reading. With practical ideas like sharing a daily “God shot” and engaging Scripture together as a family, Tara offers hopeful, accessible ways to help kids not just read the Bible—but understand it and fall in love with God.  Resources mentioned: The Bible Recap by Tara-Leigh Cobble The Bible Recap for Kids by Tara-Leigh Cobble . . . . . .  Sign up to receive the⁠ bi-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠monthly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to keep up to date with where David and Sissy are speaking, where they are taco'ing, PLUS conversation starters for you and your family to share! Pre-order our new book, Capable and grab tickets for Capable - The Book Tour here! See our speaking dates, purchase books and check out our courses here.. . . . . .  If you would like to partner with Raising Boys and Girls as a podcast sponsor, fill out our⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Advertise With Us⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ form. QUINCE: Go to ⁠Quince.com/rbg⁠ for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five day returns. BOLL & BRANCH: Get 15% off plus free shipping on your first set of sheets at Bollandbranch.com/rbg⁠. Exclusions apply. ATHLETIC GREENS: Go to DRINKAG1.com/RBG to get their best offer… For a limited time only, get a FREE AG1 duffel bag and FREE AG1 Welcome Kit with your first subscription order! Only while supplies last. COOK UNITY: Go to cookunity.com/RBG or enter code RBG before checkout to get 50% off your first order. SETH AND THE VERY SCARY STORM: Go to https://tinyurl.com/RBGSethStorm to check out this Lifeway book. YARA THE BRAVE: Go to https://tinyurl.com/RBGYara to check out this Lifeway book.ADVENTURE BIBLE: Get an Adventure Bible for your child and begin reading and exploring it together to build confidence and curiosity in God's Word https://tinyurl.com/RBGAdventureBible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"It's easier to fall in love with someone that saved you." Those were the words of Brendan Banfield as he attempted to explain away an affair, a dead wife, and a dead stranger to a jury of twelve. In Part 2 of our deep dive into the VA v. Brendan Banfield trial, we move past the "catfish" plot and into the courtroom moments that sealed the defendant's fate. In this episode, we discuss: Brendan's Performance: Was he a grieving husband or a cold-blooded manipulator? We analyze his claims that Christine could speak after seven stab wounds to the neck. The Forensic "Gotcha": Why the defense's own digital investigator became the prosecution's best witness during cross-examination. The Fatal Flaw: The specific pattern of FetLife logins that proved "Anastasia 9" only existed when Brendan or Juliana were home. The Rebuttal: How a brief testimony from Brendan's supervisor, T. Smith Patrick, turned a "work meeting" alibi into a documented lie. Closure: The sentencing of Juliana Magalhães and what this case says about the "Double Murder" plot that nearly worked. Hang with us: Follow Us on Instagram Like Us on Facebook Join our Case Discussion Group on Facebook Get Killer Queens Merch Bonus Episodes Support Our AMAZING Sponsors: HelloFresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/queens10fm to get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife on your third box. © 2026 Killer Queens Podcast. All Rights Reserved Audio Production by Wayfare Recording Music provided by Steven Tobi Logo designed by Ingrid at Penguin Designing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Partner with our Meta ads experts: https://www.tiereleven.com/apply Are your ads “good enough” but still not getting anyone to fall in love? If your creative looks like vanilla ice cream, you're probably forcing Meta to guess, and that's basically running your business off a magic "8 ball."In this episode, we use ice cream flavors to explain what Meta's real creative diversification demands. We break down why “pink shirt vs blue shirt” isn't diversification, how the 25% (or more) difference rule actually plays out, and why you need multiple angles that feel like totally different flavors, not vanilla bean vs French vanilla.By the end of the episode, you'll know about building a simple “Rule of Six” creative system, why contribution matters more than last-click attribution, and how to stop turning off ads that are doing the heavy lifting in the background. Give this one a listen, then go build your Baskin-Robbins ad account.In this episode:- Are you running “vanilla” ads?- Creating memorable ads that convert- Meta's creative diversification playbook- Hook rate vs conversions- Contribution vs attribution- The rule of six for Meta ads- Why you need a real source of truthMentioned in the Episode:Partner with our Meta ads experts: https://www.tiereleven.com/apply Tier 11's Data Suite: https://www.tiereleven.com/what-we-do/data-suite Previous Episode on Pausing Ads: https://perpetualtraffic.com/podcast/episode-743-stop-pausing-winning-ads-andromeda-ad-strategy-that-changes-everything/ Ice Cream Place in New Zealand: https://www.patagoniachocolates.co.nz/pages/ice-cream-flavours Previous Episode with John Moran: https://perpetualtraffic.com/?s=john+moran Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Creative Diversification Playbook: https://perpetualtraffic.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Creative-Diversification-Playbook-Practitioner-Guidance.pdf Listen to This Episode on Your Favorite Podcast Channel:Follow and listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perpetual-traffic/id1022441491 Follow and listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/59lhtIWHw1XXsRmT5HBAuK Subscribe and watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@perpetual_traffic?sub_confirmation=1We Appreciate Your Support!Visit our website: https://perpetualtraffic.com/ Follow us on X: https://x.com/perpetualtraf Connect with Ralph Burns: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphburns Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ralphhburns/ Hire Tier11 - https://www.tiereleven.com/apply-now Connect with Lauren Petrullo:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/laurenepetrullo/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenpetrullo Consult Mongoose Media - https://mongoosemedia.us/ Mentioned in this episode:Head to www.perpetualtraffic.com to apply to be a sponsor of this showhttps://www.NEXTInsurance.com/perpetualWe're opening up sponsorship spots for Q1 and Q2! Apply now by visiting www.perpetualtraffic.com We're opening up sponsorship spots for Q1 and Q2! Apply now by visiting www.perpetualtraffic.com

Rick Beato is a music educator, interviewer, producer, songwriter, and a true multi-instrument musician, playing guitar, bass, cello & piano. His incredible YouTube channel celebrates great musicians & musical ideas, and helps millions of people fall in love with great music all over again. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep492-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/rick-beato-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Rick’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/RickBeato Rick’s X: https://x.com/rickbeato Rick’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/rickbeato1 Rick’s Website: https://rickbeato.com Rick’s Ear Training: https://beatoeartraining.com The Beato Book: https://beatobook.com SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (00:28) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (09:17) – Guitar solos (13:16) – Gypsy jazz and Django Reinhardt (14:48) – Bebop jazz (19:00) – Perfect pitch vs relative pitch (23:37) – Learning to play guitar (47:08) – Miles Davis (52:34) – Bass guitar (53:41) – Greatest guitar solos of all time (1:22:56) – 27 Club (1:27:37) – Elton John (1:30:51) – Metallica (1:35:21) – Tom Waits (1:41:12) – Greatest rock stars (1:44:35) – Beethoven (1:51:10) – Bach (1:54:01) – AI in music (2:07:52) – Sabrina Carpenter (2:11:23) – YouTube copyright strikes (2:16:59) – Spotify (2:27:51) – Guitars (2:32:13) – Advice PODCAST LINKS: – Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast – Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr – Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 – RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ – Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 – Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips