“Putting together the podcast has been like swimming laps or practicing free-throws — it’s creative cross-training that benefits my broader writing pursuits, even as it allows me to explore esoteric topics that fascinate me.” – Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate (which is remixed from Jay Acunzo’s 3 Clips podcast) Rolf and Jay talk about how a visual medium like travel gets translated to audio, and how podcasting serves Rolf’s creative career (4:00); how the walking episode differed from normal ones, and the walk naturally mixed spiritual and practical themes (10:00); how to approach an interview without an outline, creating unstructured content that is beholden to things like having to take a pee (15:00); ow smooth conversation is often the result of planning and effort, deviating yet remembering what the core topic is (22:00); using spontaneous moments in a strategic way, and how Rolf will organize and plan the podcast looking forward (34:00).
Jay Acunzo has worked for companies like Google and ESPN, and his projects (such as his 3 Clips podcast) aim to demystify the creative process behind creating memorable projects, careers, and companies.
Notable Links:
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.
How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band
Walk and Talk: Notes from a peripatetic salon across northern Thailand
Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
What it’s like to spend a full year traveling within a day’s radius of your home
Sports, superstitions, and sacraments: A Deviate Super Bowl Special (2024 remix)
Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth, and “success management”
The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)
Going abroad for love, and travel writing that says something new about a place
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club redo)
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club remix)
Vagabonding audio companion: A life in (and philosophy of) long-term travel
A train isn’t just a vehicle; it’s a place (a remix encore, with Monisha Rajesh)
Travelers experience more when they slow down and ask lots of questions
“Dare to do Dirt”: Seeking rural places (and how to best experience them)
Vagabonding audio companion: Why (and how) travel souvenirs matter
Travel can return you to a kind of childhood (online book club remix)
What museums reveal about places (and what they have to offer travelers)
Vagabonding audio companion: How to study abroad (even if you aren’t a student)
Fear, family, and walking the Camino de Santiago (live with Andrew McCarthy)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Concrete Pastures Podcast
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad
Travel with Rick Steves
Frequent Miler on the Air