Hi all!
As we are living through a time of uncertainty, so goes the status of Season 3: Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Before anything else, we hope that this message finds you healthy and happy, as much as might be possible in the rapidly changing circumstances we’re all experiencing.
Let me start by saying that Shannon and I are both in good health. We haven’t been affected by COVID-19 directly, but like so many others we’re struggling with the indirect impacts.
We recently released Episode 31 sort of under the radar. It had already been a very long wait for the start of Season 3, much longer than anticipated, mostly because I had a very rough January with work issues and I wasn’t able to get the reading/research done on time. And… just as we were gearing up to swing into a full recording schedule and released the trailer announcing the start date of Season 3, the Pacific Northwest was hit with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recorded Episode 31 at the end of February, and by the time the scheduled recording date for Episode 32 came around, Oregonians were already being encouraged to practice self-isolation and social distancing.
Unfortunately, the Ravin’ Girls records in a room where Shannon and I sit about 2 feet away from each other. Because I am still reporting to work (“government essential services”) it can’t really be considered safe to have Shannon over to record—while my risk of exposure isn’t super high, it still isn’t as close to zero as we feel comfortable with.
So, for Season 3, we really only had Episode 31 recorded and in the hopper for editing. We debated whether or not we should wait even longer until we could release everything consistently and on schedule. We decided that releasing SOMETHING was better than nothing, even if there had to be a wait for the rest of Blue Lily, Lily Blue to truly get started. And then it took me even longer to edit Episode 31 because my attention span was utter and complete sh*t for about a month. Sorry about that… :(
A question that might come up: “Why not record remotely?” The answer: Because we weren’t prepared for that, we don’t have a second set of gear to get over to Shannon, and I haven’t worked out the logistics (software, hardware, editing) for it. Is it a possibility for the future? Totally.
If we record remotely, it might have to be in a different format. Maybe we could release some mailbags or short topic episodes, maybe we could do Special Episodes for some of Maggie’s books we haven’t covered yet, maybe we could do a “what are we reading/watching/listening to”, maybe we could cover some other YA series. I think it would be hard to record our normal type of episode, but it’s definitely something to work toward as this situation stretches on.
As we’re settling in and slowly getting our mental and emotional landscapes readjusted, as well as our physical, we’re trying to remind ourselves to be patient and gentle. We miss recording, we miss all of you, and quite frankly, we miss each other. The Ravin’ Girls has been, and always will be, at heart two dorks sitting in a room making each other laugh(/cry) about a series of books that they love. We are so, so incredibly fortunate that we’ve found like-minded spirits in our Lovely Listeners, and that if even a little bit of what we do has brought a smile to your face at a time when it was needed, we’ve far surpassed our wildest hopes and dreams from when we started this podcast.
Thank you all for your support, your patience, and your continued interest in taking this journey with us. Season 3 will be full-steam-ahead as soon as we can make that happen.
Lots and lots (and lots) of love,
-Nievita (and Shannon-by-proxy)
