The conversation with William Martin set me to thinking. Perhaps I was already thinking about historical plots, and that's why I listened to this particular episode, and I'm certainly glad I did. This podcast episode was originally recorded (apparently) in December 2020. I happened upon it a year later, in December 2021, and it's a good thing I did. On the very day I intended to visit the state historical archives, I was able to listen in on this valuable discussion. From the King of Historical Fiction, I learned about integrating depth historical research with fiction-writing strategies. That portion of the podcast was very useful to me personally, for two reasons. First, I'm a Ph.D. candidate in a history-related field, deep into primary and secondary resources. It was fun and stimulating to hear Martin discuss these matters from a place of creative passion. Second, this discussion was useful to me personally because it suddenly threw ideas into my mind for novel propositions I had not even considered before. So that was rich and positive. I think any listener would find that in this recording, there are plenty of specific tasks or suggestions for the intentional writer to snatch up and put to work. As always, the episode opens with news about the publishing industry. Even though the "news" was one year old when I came along, hearing it still added to my fund of knowledge. Following the news segment were recorded comments made by participants in one of the recent Red Sneaker writers' events. Each speaker brought out an interesting perspective, and I personally found it neat and encouraging just to hear the voices of other actual human beings working along the same lines as am I. All in all, it was fun, educational, mentally stimulating, and practical. Now I'm going to the State Archives to follow up on ideas captured from this podcast, so see ya'll later!