Closing a Chapter: Reflections, Revelations, & Farewell to Women Who Walk Podcast [Ep 48]

In this final episode of Women Who Walk, I bid farewell to podcasting (for now). Throughout the three seasons and 48 episodes, I’ve had the honor of interviewing globally mobile women, who shared stories of courage, adaptability, and resiliency moving multiple countries for work, for adventure, for love, for freedom. The podcast has not only connected me to the women and the worlds they inhabited at the time of the interview, but also brought to life the vivid landscapes, streets, and cultures in which they were immersed. To help me reflect on the significance of the past 2 years and how meaningful this creative journey has been, Fiona Marques, a podcaster and fellow Australian also living in Portugal, interviews me.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Louise: Welcome to Women Who WaIk. I'm Louise Ross, writer and author of Women Who Walk the book, the inspiration for this podcast. And just as I did for the book here, I'll be interviewing and unpacking the journeys of impressive, intrepid women who've made multiple international moves for work, for adventure, for love, for freedom - reminding us that women can do extraordinary things. You can find a transcript, with pictures, to each episode, and my books on my website, LouiseRoss.com. 

[00:00:47] Louise: Hello listeners. Welcome to Episode 48 of Women Who Walk. 

[00:00:52] Louise: Two years ago in the spring of 2021, I launched this podcast. Two years and 48 episodes later, I've decided it's time to make the space for a new creative project. In other words, this will be my last episode. 

[00:01:11] Louise: It's been three seasons of fascinating interviews with 44 globally mobile women, and I say 44 interviews because an additional four were solo episodes during which I talked on topics pertinent to the themes of this podcast.

[00:01:29] Louise: Between them, my guests have lived in upward of 50 countries with every woman having lived in more than three countries. And for my Episode 7 guest, as many as 24 countries. But to be fair, Jodi and her wife Natalie are international housesitters, so they move countries regularly.

[00:01:52] Louise: And there was quite a bit of overlap with a number of women living in the same country and sometimes at the same time. For instance, I introduced Andrea Barton from Episode 4 and Rosemary Gillan from Episode 39 to one another. In fact, the three of us now chat on Skype periodically. And Joyce Agee from Episode 46 is in contact with Rosemary since they live only a couple of hours from each other. With all three of these women living in Australia, it made sense to put them in touch. Perhaps one day we'll all get to meet one another in person. 

[00:02:34] Louise: My guests from Episode 26 through Episode 30 are all young members of an organization called Families in Global Transition, which I'm also a member of and though none of us have met in person, we all know of one another via FIGT's, annual online conference.

[00:02:55] Louise: Episode 31 through 36 are women who've moved to Portugal and who are self-employed in the healing arts as holistic, alternative, or non-medical practitioners. A number of those guests have met in person via the international community, and of course networking events in and around Lisbon.

[00:03:19] Louise: So though all of my guests have lived in many, many countries and have moved about the world with some frequency, the podcast reminded me of how small our world is such that there really is only six degrees of separation. 

[00:03:35] Louise: And just to stress the point of how close we are via technology and those six degrees, and yet how geographically scattered we are, I'm going to read off a list of some of the countries my guests have relocated to. 

[00:03:51] Louise: Here we go: Liberia, Brazil, Indonesia, Bhutan, Australia, the UK, the US, Russia, Nigeria, Qatar, Chile, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, China, Bangladesh, Romania, Transylvania, the Ukraine, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Austria, Scotland, Hong Kong, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Nepal, France, Dubai, Turkey, Vietnam, Mauritius, Tanzania, Spain, Mexico, Cameroon, Japan, East Timor, Jordan, South Africa, Moldover, Sri Lanka, Malta, Malawi, Mozambique, India, Hungary, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Canada, and of course Portugal. 

[00:04:48] Louise: The other thing that interviewing my guests afforded me, and perhaps you too, is a chance to visit these countries vicariously through the women's stories. My idea was not for the podcast to be a travelogue, but in some ways it naturally became that with the women sharing rich, visual descriptions of the views from their windows, the scenes on the streets in the city, town, or village where they were living at the time, and something of the nuances of the cultures in which they're immersed.

[00:05:21] Louise: Rather, my intention was to celebrate the courage, the adaptability, the resiliency of the women as they moved about the world for work, for adventure, for love, for freedom. As per my tagline. 

[00:05:37] Louise: Originally, I thought I'd record the following episode as a solo show. However, a dear friend, Fiona Marques, also an Australian living in Portugal and, also a podcaster, suggested that she interview me, and that we talk about what the last couple of years of podcasting has meant to me. I thought it a great idea. 

[00:05:58] Louise: Fi's originally from Canberra, Australia's capital territory. She's been living in Portugal for about 18 years and with her Australian-Portuguese husband and their young daughter. I met Fi within a couple of weeks of arriving, and she invited me to join a women's personal growth group that she was facilitating. The group members are all long-termers, having lived in Portugal for many years and I was delighted to be amongst them. I talk a bit about this in Episode 42. 

[00:06:34] Louise: And before we get to my conversation with Fi, I'll add that she's a Vedic Astrologer. So if listeners are interested to find out more about her work, her website is FionaMarques.com. 

[00:06:47] Louise: And so on to my last episode of Women Who Walk. 

[00:06:51] 

[00:07:03] Louise: Hi Fi, thanks for participating in this final episode of Women Who Walk. You very kindly offered to interview me for this final episode so that I wasn't talking into the ethers, doing a solo episode about why this is my, my final episode. So thank you for, uh, offering to interview me. 

[00:07:28] Fi: I'm thrilled to be here, Louise, and I am achieving my secret ambition of being on the Women Who Walk podcast. The final episode. Indeed. So I've got some questions here, and I know that you do address it in your introduction, before each of your episodes, but can you tell us in a little bit more detail, why did you start Women Who Walk?

[00:07:47] Louise: In short, I think the pandemic and the lockdowns we experienced had a lot to do with it. Really that could have been the perfect time to write another book. But as you know, I don't know that my listeners know, but I live on my own. So working on a solitary project, which is what writing is all about, it just felt way too isolating, especially at a time when we were already isolated from one another. So for me, podcasting turned out to be the perfect stay-at-home project, cause during the pandemic, it offered me a way to, I guess, stay engaged, connected, and optimistic. 

[00:08:27] Louise: But of course there's so much more to it than that, and I've got a little bit of a backstory here. You know, I always find with my creative projects, and, and that's what the podcast has been for me, a fantastic creative endeavor actually, there are always a series of preceding events that somehow pave the way for me to begin something new. And the first event was the success of my book, Women Who Walk, How 20 Women From 16 Countries Came to Live in Portugal. And for those who listen to this podcast, I'm sure it's clear that the podcast is a spinoff of the book.

[00:09:05] Louise: But by success I mean not just from the perspective of book sales, but I personally felt it was a success because that book and its sequel, The Winding Road to Portugal, were really enjoyable projects for me, uh, especially because I had fascinating conversations with many, many individuals and not just those that I interviewed for the books, but also people working in the area of global mobility that then interviewed me about my books, and I had wonderful conversations with them too. 

[00:09:42] Louise: And one of those interviewers, a British woman by the name of Louise Wiles, so another Louise, has a podcast called Thriving Abroad. And uh, she interviewed me a couple of times and I was really impressed by what she was doing. So in one of our post-interview chats, I asked her about podcasting and she shared lots of info with me, and I took that on board.

[00:10:08] Louise: This was prior to the pandemic, and then an Australian writer and editor, Andrea Barton, she reached out to me to ask if she could interview me for her blog, The Winding Narrative. And again, in the post-interview chat we talked about promoting our writing and the topic of podcasting came up and I said, I was thinking about setting one up, and it was Andrea, who in true Australian fashion, gave me this really big nudge, just do it, she said. But I really had no clue how to just do it. 

[00:10:42] Louise: In my last interview, which is Episode 47, that was with Jo Penn, who's a prolific fiction writer of, thrillers and dark fantasies and she sets them in international locations, and she's also a very successful entrepreneur writing nonfiction on the business of writing. And I'd vaguely remembered that she'd written a how-to book on podcasting. So I found that book. It's titled Audio for Authors: Audio Books, Podcasting and Voice Technologies, and I bought it and got to work following closely the chapter on setting up a podcast. Because it's not all about podcasting. There's only a chapter. I think one chapter on podcasting. As I read through it, I realized it was gonna require a great deal of upskilling, especially because the technology was totally new to me. And one tip was to make sure that you have at least four or more interviews ready to go live before you even launch.

[00:11:47] Louise: So that was a huge nudge to just do it, to start interviewing, which I did, because after all interviewing was actually the easy part for me. Once I'd finished those first few interviews, I knew I'd found something that was going to keep me really engaged as we headed into the pandemic. And it was during that time that I did those first few interviews and then I launched with those four episodes. And, you know, I was in my happy place because I was having really engaging conversations with women around the world. I mean women who'd lived in many different countries for various reasons.

[00:12:22] Louise: And it was a perfect way for me to stay connected with people in the outside world and hear their motivating and inspiring stories and this, all the while we're in lockdown, while I was stuck at home alone. So I guess the podcast created an opportunity for me to continue having the kind of conversations I'd been having for years with, with the women and then the men whose stories I documented in my two nonfiction books.

[00:12:50] Fi: That's amazing because I know that story from the other way around in that I have a really vivid memory during lockdown. My, my husband was really sick and I used to take him to these medical appointments and I, I couldn't go in, so I'd wait in the car, in the car park. And I remember Louise was one of the people I would call in these hours while I'm waiting to get through these appointments.

[00:13:11] Fi: And I remember your enthusiasm for starting the podcast. And we were talking about it being like a vertical learning curve. 

[00:13:19] Louise: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:20] Fi: So much. But I had never thought that actually it was a great, um, a great activity to do during lockdown because it keeps these deep conversations going, which are the hard ones to have when we're all either really lockdown or we are social distancing, or we're discouraged from spending that quality time with each other. I'd never put that together. I think that's a beautiful way to, you know, frame this podcast. Thanks for sharing that, Louise. 

[00:13:47] Louise: And you're absolutely right because I think locally we were probably staying connected via WhatsApp and, and phone calls and so on. But a lot of the conversation at that time was, um, It was kind of inward looking. We were talking about the pandemic. We were talking about how we were, using our time at home. Whereas when I was having these conversations with women around the world, the, the conversations were more broad. They were sort of, not so much external, but we were talking about the bigger picture. We weren't focused on the, the challenges of the pandemic. So there was a real relief in fact, to have those conversations. 

[00:14:28] Fi: Yeah, totally. It's almost like traveling without traveling. It's the chance to connect with different cultures and have new experiences, but from the confines of lockdown. Beautiful.

[00:14:41] Louise: Exactly. It was, it was cyber traveling.

[00:14:46] Fi: Good. And so in that context, Louise, what did you envision would be the takeaways for your listeners from the Women Who Walk podcasts? 

[00:14:54] Louise: So my, my very first episode is a solo episode, to introduce the podcast and talk a bit about my vision for it, and I titled that first episode Women Can Do Extraordinary Things.

[00:15:08] Louise: And at the end of the episode, I say the following. And so I'm reading this from the transcript of that episode, uh, which is on my website. Um, I'm just pulling it up.

[00:15:19] Louise: So I say, "A couple of times a year I housesit for a friend in London and while there in 2019, I learned of Women of The World Festival or WOW. It's founder and director, an awe-inspiring creative by the name of Jude Kelly had this to say, 'Women can do extraordinary things because they're human. The difficulty is they've been made to feel that it's an unusual thing, mainly because people have not called on them to be extraordinary and haven't really wanted them to be extraordinary. But we are.' She goes on to say, 'We have a mutual responsibility to value our own stories.' 

[00:16:07] Louise: And then right at the end of the first episode, I say, "my vision for this podcast is that it achieves Jude Kelly's directive by becoming a library of substantive stories told by extraordinary Women Who Walk, uplifting stories that I hope will shed light on the gray areas of your life while giving you many, many reasons to value your own unique journey."

[00:16:35] Louise: I love what Jude Kelly said because she's absolutely right. We have a mutual responsibility to value our own stories. And I really took that on board such that I envisioned or at least hoped by recording my guest's stories, listeners would realize the value in their own stories and, and feel encouraged and also feel empowered by virtue of the fact that indeed, we women can do extraordinary things.

[00:17:03] Fi: And do you have feedback? Do you know if you've achieved that? How has your audience responded to that vision? 

[00:17:11] Louise: Well, I do think I created a library of substantive stories told by some pretty amazing women. But beyond that, I, I really have no idea if listeners felt inspired by my guests and, and in turn saw the value in their own stories. I mean, I can't know that because the podcast provider platforms like Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, they're not set up in such a way that listeners can write a review or comment or give feedback and, and it's a bit frustrating actually. You often feel like you're talking into space, literally, sending the spoken word out, out into the ethers.

[00:17:49] Louise: But what I do know when I look at the backend stats, they tell me that listeners download episodes from 89 countries in 1,150 cities around the world. That over half of my listeners are in the US. One quarter are in Europe, and then the other quarter is scattered throughout, Australia Asia, Africa and South America. At the end of the day, the stats are just numbers. They're not indicators of whether listeners are in any way inspired by the podcast. However, I'd like to think that I did achieve what I set out to achieve and, and periodically someone will email to say that they'd loved a particular episode and, and of course women locally will also periodically reach out to say that they enjoy listening. And I did have some lovely feedback from Joyce Agee who is the Episode 46 guest, and Joyce thanked me for my work on behalf of so many women saying she appreciated the depth of the interview, she felt I was genuinely interested about what she had to say, which she added is not a common experience, which I think is true. We, we are not good listeners. And it's so important to feel heard and to feel that someone is genuinely interested. And I have to say that I was always genuinely interested in what the, the guests had to say.

[00:19:15] Louise: So that was very meaningful feedback because it, it has in fact been work. She was basically saying thank you for your work on behalf of the women that you've interviewed. And it is a lot of work, which I was happy to undertake on behalf of the women I interviewed cuz their voices and their stories, I mean, I loved hearing them and I wanted to share them with listeners who I also hoped would appreciate what they were hearing. 

[00:19:43] Fi: Yeah. And has it changed you as well, the opportunity to, in each book, all of the research, you listen deeply to your contributors and then through the podcast. Has it also had an impact on you? Has it changed something about you? 

[00:20:02] Louise: That's an interesting question. I don't know that I feel changed. What it has done is confirmed probably a skill that I've always had, but never really quite, uh, manifested to the degree that the, the books and the podcasting has allowed me to do, which is that I really so much enjoy hearing other people's stories and just giving them to the space to, to be heard. Another piece of feedback I get about the men's book, for instance, is that it's remarkable the degree to which the men revealed when they told their stories. And in retrospect, it really is quite remarkable because we don't think of men as being particularly open and revealing about some, some deeper emotional issues.

[00:21:00] Louise: Um, but I think this journey has helped me realize that I have the capacity to allow people to feel safe, to talk, to open up, to not feel judged. And I think where I'm going with this is that, um, I haven't changed as a result, but I've been allowed to flourish to allow this skill to really blossom, which has been wonderful. I really see that this is a skill that I've always had, but I've really been able to put it to such good use doing the, doing this work. 

[00:21:41] Fi: And in some ways we are, we are talking already about this, that that's one of the high points of the experience. And I'm gonna invite you now to, to reflect a little bit. It's, it's two years since you launched, you've produced 48 episodes. How do you feel looking back, what have been the high points of this experience? 

[00:22:00] Louise: Hmm. I've sort of addressed a little bit of that, but I always felt that my work, whether I was collecting and writing the memoirs of others or recording the podcast interviews, that I was in service to individuals whose voices we're not necessarily accustomed to hearing. In that regard I was a vehicle for their stories to be heard and, and stories that I considered motivating and encouraging, uplifting and adventurous, you know, all that good stuff. And look, that might sound a bit lofty, but when I think about the years that I have been collecting the stories, which, which actually started way back when I was a young psychotherapist at a women's clinic in Colorado, and then working at a preparatory school for mature age international students.

[00:22:51] Louise: Because while working both those jobs, I was writing short stories loosely based on client and student accounts, and then the last eight years, collecting stories for my two recent books and the podcast. I really do feel as though I have been a vehicle through which others have been able to share their stories and the kind that we often don't hear or read, whether in media or via social media or platforms.

[00:23:18] Louise: And so in that regard that these stories are out there and that people are reading them in my books and listening to them on the podcast. That is the high point in this creative journey. 

[00:23:30] Fi: Beautiful. Now, of course when we talk about high points, it also gives us a chance to reflect on low points of the experience. Are there any low moments that you feel comfortable sharing with us here today? 

[00:23:43] Louise: Well, I'm, I'm gonna try and not laugh.

[00:23:45] Fi: We, we know the low points. 

[00:23:47] Louise: We do know the low points. Yes, we do. Yes. As I said in the introduction, listeners Fi is also a podcaster and we often chat about these low points and prior to recording this, we had 30 minutes of low points. I'm happy to rant a bit about technology. So we love it when it works, but when it fails or when I bungle it, and I think maybe today I did, I think my internal microphone's not working properly. Or, when a guest's technology didn't support the recording platform, I used. Oh my God, I just wanted to throw in the towel and quit. Thank God you didn't wanna quit this morning though, Fi, otherwise we, we wouldn't be doing this. 

[00:24:28] Louise: So behind the scenes, it's rarely smooth sailing. If one interview and recording went off without a glitch, it was worth celebrating because there were really so few episodes that were technically a success for me.

[00:24:42] Louise: Whether it was the sound quality or the internet connection on my end or the guest's end, there were always issues. I mean, a couple of episodes, we just winged the recording, cause one guest, uh, I remember she was in Africa and she only had an iPad, which didn't support the recording platform, so we had to do the interview via WhatsApp. She was on WhatsApp. I was on WhatsApp holding my phone up against the microphone recording. And then Joyce, who I just mentioned, had minimal technology available, so we recorded over Skype. It's so rustic. It sounds, that sounds not good, but the story was great.

[00:25:20] Louise: And of course a couple of my elder guests, were totally overwhelmed with the technology. Fortunately, those two women live close by me, so we simply sat at my kitchen table and used one mic and my laptop. And actually they were delightful episodes. I mean, to have two women really quite afraid because they didn't know how to do it and to have them agree and have them over. We had pre-chat, we had tea, then we had the interview. And they did just brilliantly. Then we had post-chat, another cup of tea, and off we went. I mean, so grateful that they gave it a go. The, the sound wasn't great, but we gave it a go. In other words, there are episodes when I was like, okay, we're just gonna wing this and hope for the best. 

[00:26:07] Louise: I think at the end of the day, the constancy of that workload and the stress of the winging it, it was just, it was way more than I'd anticipated. So that, that was the low point. Often feeling like it was just a slog to get those two episodes out a month. And you know, and I think people who do one a week must have a team behind them because there's no way I could have ever produced one a week. Good grief, no. Two a month were, seriously, all I could manage. I mean, Fi you, you do several a month I think, don't you? 

[00:26:38] Fi: No, I also aim for two, and, uh, as the 30th or the 31st looms, I'm always very happy when the month has 31 days cuz an extra day for me to find time. So I agree with you. I think two a month for a solo podcaster is a huge amount. I think it also depends, doesn't it, on, on the style of your podcasting. Both of us produce transcripts and that takes time and we edit, and we put as best as we can, a polished episode up every two weeks. And I think sometimes people, you know, put up the raw conversation, which has a style all of its own. So I think there are different ways, but certainly having a team would be great.

[00:27:18] Fi: I, I think personally, I love this jack of all trades period that we are in, that me sitting here at my computer, I can record an interview with someone anywhere in the world. I can use software to do the transcript. I can video edit it, put it up on YouTube. This is fantastic. You've written a book and published it. My husband's just publishing his book on Amazon. I also love how people can pay me money from all over the world because I can link into these credit card providers and PayPal. So I really like that I am empowered to do anything. I love it.

[00:27:54] Fi: And at the same time, it comes with the cost of having to be a jack of all trades. If you think what studio sound is traditionally all about, we're talking about a purpose built venue, all set up, all soundproofed with somebody balancing the audio, as it's being recorded. So before you even start recording, a person with qualifications is there fiddling with the little dials to get everything right. And you and I are here launching our little platforms and hoping that, that the sound is coming through. It's very humbling, and very empowering. I love it. But I totally agree with you that it has the technological low points. For sure.

[00:28:35] Louise: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:36] Fi: And it's, it's a big mental load, isn't it? It's uh, it's the, it's the faffing around the actual thing that you do. There's a lot of faff. 

[00:28:44] Louise: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And you've addressed some of the faffing. Yes, as you said, we both do a edited version of our recordings. And I must admit, it's something that I realized that I love doing, making the the final transcript, the best it can be. I'm not sure that we, we realize when we talk, we use so many filler words and so many 'ands' and 'ah's and 'buts' and 'you knows,' and I like to edit those out so that we sound the best we can. 

[00:29:15] Fi: Yeah. 

[00:29:15] Louise: So that listener's time is not wasted with all the, the filler junk that we tend to use in our everyday conversation. Cuz when I listen to podcasts, I don't like to listen much beyond 35, 40 minutes. That's a yoga session for me. That's when I usually listen to podcasts. If I'm listening to a lot of filler words that extend it to 50 minutes or beyond. I don't finish it. I simply don't finish the episode. I really want the meat of the conversation.

[00:29:47] Fi: Yeah. 

[00:29:47] Louise: And then I move on to whatever else I'm doing. 

[00:29:49] Fi: Yeah. I think it's really important. It's also about honoring the guest, isn't it? Because you want the guest to come off as confident and respected as possible and we can help that out through the editing process, just taking out the things that we went off on a tangent or whatever. Or like you say, lots of ums and ahs. For me, that editing is also to try and elevate my guest to you receive the best reception from the listeners.

[00:30:16] Louise: Nicely put. Exactly. Yeah, I agree with that. Mm-hmm. 

[00:30:20] Fi: So is it the challenges of these low points that, that we've just talked about that has caused you to decide to hang up your microphone for now? 

[00:30:30] Louise: Well, in part it is because the challenges of technology as we've been talking about, certainly added to the workload. And the other thing is that the technology keeps upgrading. I mean, it's a never ending learning curve. I can see you shaking your head. I feel like really I now have to spend more time sitting in front of my computer learning this new interface of, like the recording platform that I use or the updates on the transcription platform that I use, or the changes to YouTube, cuz they're constantly evolving their platform to, to now support podcasters.

[00:31:04] Louise: And now of course it's ChatGPT, which is actually something I do want to dedicate some time to learning and using cuz I can see how I can make it work for me once I start my next project, which leads me back to that question of, you know, hanging up the microphone. Basically I wanna find the time to start work on a new writing project.

[00:31:28] Louise: And I can't do that with the, the demands of podcasting cuz it just leaves me so little creative headspace to think about something new. And as the old adage goes, one door has to close in order for another to open. So that's where I'm at. I need to close this door to open the new one.

[00:31:46] Fi: Does that mean that you are, you're not locking the door, you think, is it possible you might come back to podcasting at some point? 

[00:31:53] Louise: It's highly possible, but for now, I, I do just wanna take a break as I've alluded to, to find the time to begin work on a new writing project. Um, I've also said I've spent years dedicating time to collecting the stories of others and, and actually I think it's time now to contemplate my own story. And so I've been thinking about a memoir, but it won't be all about me, because my intention is actually to weave something of my story in and around the love story of my parents.

[00:32:24] Louise: Mum and dad married in the 50s while Australia was still recovering from its participation in World War Two which my dad had fought in. And my mum who was 11 years younger than Dad, had been busily leading a very adventurous life. And, I actually talk a little about my mum in the first episode, which is interesting because I think in that first episode, I was already planting a seed of perhaps writing something about her story because she was also quite an outdoorsy woman. And then once she'd graduated from what was basically a technical school for girls, she worked in Flinders Lane, which was the epicenter of Melbourne's rag trade, back then, as a fashion designer.

[00:33:09] Louise: So she had this very kind of glamorous life, I think, in her mid-to-latter twenties. Prior to that she had been this incredibly outdoorsy hiker, a skier, camping gal. I have photos of her days in the outdoors, and it's remarkable to me that she had this sort of dual life. So it'll be a love story between these two people set in Australia's urban post-war years. But I, I need time to really think about how I'm going to evolve this story. 

[00:33:41] Fi: Hmm. Gosh, I'm loving the idea of that story. You're absolutely right, one needs to create the time and space for that. And I think podcasting does use a lot of creativity. And when you're on a schedule to put out two episodes a month, it doesn't leave a lot of free creative time. 

[00:33:58] Louise: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:59] Fi: I really respect that choice. As we are getting towards the end of our exploration of the Women Who Walk podcast. Do you have a final message that you want to share with the listeners? 

[00:34:11] Louise: Oh my goodness. It absolutely has to be, thank you for listening. Thank you, listeners, wherever you are in the world, thank you for your interest. When I do those periodic checks of the backend stats, I can see that episodes continue to be downloaded. That's really thrilling to me. To know that people all around the world continue to find Women Who Walk, and listen to not just recent episodes, but all the way back to earlier episodes, which is fantastic. And of course, thank you to all my guests for participating. Thank you for trusting me and for sharing your stories.

[00:34:48] Fi: Louise, it's been a joy to take part in this opportunity to hear all about the podcast and your reflections on it. I'm thrilled to have been here and I wish you all the best of luck with your upcoming writing project and all of your endeavors in the future. Thanks for inviting me onto your show.

[00:35:07] Louise: Thanks so much Fi, and again, thanks for suggesting this. I was initially going to do a solo episode to finish up, but you proposed that you interview me, which is a great way to end this, because we've been friends for all the years that I've lived here. I think I met you a couple of weeks after I moved here.

[00:35:26] Louise: And you've seen me through many ups and downs and we have processed podcasting ad- Infinitum. So you have been there this whole journey. You've been there, as a real support person who completely understands the, uh, creative journey of podcasting. Thank you too. Thank you so much.

[00:35:46] Fi: And right back at you because it really is such a world of its own. Louise and I are a part of a larger friendship network group. We have many common friends and contacts, and there's no one that can understand the hours that one spends balancing the sound or jiggling with this thing or that thing, or only to accidentally hit delete and have to start all over again.

[00:36:08] Louise: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:09] Fi: To have a, a physical friend to share all of that with. I'm afraid you may be hanging up your microphone, but I'm sure it will not be the end of you hearing all about the experience of podcasting. I'll still be reaching out for sure. 

[00:36:21] Louise: You will. We'll still be talking about this many years down the road, I'm sure. Thanks Fi. 

[00:36:29] Fi: Thanks, Louise. Bye everyone.

[00:36:32] Louise: Thank you for listening today. So you don’t miss future episodes, subscribe on your favorite podcast provider or on my YouTube channel @WomenWhoWalkPodcast. Also, feel free to connect with comments on Instagram @LouiseRossWriter or Writer & Podcaster, Louise Ross on Facebook, or find me on LinkedIn. And finally, if you enjoyed this episode, spread the word and tell your friends.