From Purple Button to Published: Launching a Writing Podcast Through Disability, Grit, and Voice Tech

We launch a new show at the crossroads of disability, writing, and podcasting—born from a $75 hosting “oops,” a purple button, and a mentor’s nudge. We share the origin story, the tools that make writing accessible, and the plan to bring authors of all abilities to the mic.

• why disability-informed craft matters for writers
• how grief sparked a first book and a mission
• the role of Danielle Coulter and Joanna Penn
• dictation, AAC, and iPad workflows for writing
• release cadence and interview format
• marketing through podcasting and SEO basics
• education goals and long-term vision
• how to send topics, feedback, and guest ideas

I want your feedback. I want what topics you want me to cover along with interviews, and I'm happy to do the research, and I'm happy just to do the discuss what you want to discuss, and maybe we can have a round table and yeah

Transcript

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Welcome and Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hi you guys Okay. Welcome to Ink with a Disability by me, Wayne Scholes. This

Disability Meets the Writing Process

SPEAKER_00 0:14

podcast is going to be about disability and the process of writing books. We're also going to talk about the craft of disability. I am the author of 12 books. Soon to be 13 books. And I am in the process of writing, well, editing, getting edited a book on how I podcast.

Inspiration: Danielle Coulter

SPEAKER_00 0:49

And so I was inspired to do this by a dear friend of mine named Danielle Coulter. So her book can also be found on Amazon. If Dan can thread, you can do it to sledding as in snowboarding. So sledding down the mountain. As in snowboarding. So um and her website is attached to my website, which is a winningheart.com.

Early Writing After Loss

SPEAKER_00 1:28

And how I started writing my books is um after my mom died in 2010, I decided to write a tribute to my mom and unbeknownst to me, strangers started buying it to educate themselves about stable palsy. Although when I was writing it, I um it was Apple iTunes at the time, and I decided to make that little purple button dance

Podcasting’s On-Ramp and Accessibility

SPEAKER_00 2:12

on my iPhone. And so this was iOS 18 when were on when Apple started integrating podcasting into the iPhone natively. And so now you don't need a separate app for it. So um and people have recently got into podcasting because of me, and podcasting is a great way of doing things. I mean, I've listened to several podcasts.

Show Format and Release Plan

SPEAKER_00 2:57

There's several of us doing podcasts with disabilities, but none of us are doing podcasts on writing with a disabled spin. And so this podcast will be released on um Tuesdays and Thursdays along with my other podcast, Minute for Mindfulness, and I will have guest interviews on this podcast. What happened?

The $75 Push to Start

SPEAKER_00 3:35

I've been dying to do this podcast for years, and what happened is I accidentally hit the go button on $75 worth of um podcasting space on Buzzfelt. And so I thought, oops, and then I didn't take oops as a I took oops as a sign. This is something you want to

Tools: Dictation and AAC

SPEAKER_00 4:05

do. Teach people how to write books using speech dictation and using AAC devices instead of devices such as iPads and liberators. Liberators are huge commuters, they now use AAC devices, communication devices for those who are non-verbal is our iPad. And

First Guest Tease

SPEAKER_00 4:31

so my first interview is going to be a surprise. It's going to be a surprise. It's not don't be a shock to you guys. Um I'm going to be interviewing the person that inspired this podcast because this is something I want to do. And me hitting the go button was of $75 on podcasting space turned um this podcast into a dream.

Origins of “Ask Win”

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Originally it was Ask When was supposed to be this podcast. I just didn't realize I would do this podcast 15 years later. And it's going to be launched tomorrow. So on October 12th, it's going to be launched. And so yeah, I hope you guys enjoy. I want your feedback. I want what topics you want me to cover along with interviews, and I'm happy to do the research, and I'm happy just to do the um discuss what you want to discuss, and maybe we can have a round table and yeah. So welcome to the Major Village of Inks with a Disability, Inked as a Pen Ink. So that is um that is inked as an INK ED. Inked as in pen ink. So all this podcast will be dropped as a bonus episode on my other podcast. So um I hope you guys enjoy, and then I'm going to talk about in the next, well, actually I'll do that right now. I

Marketing Through Podcasting

SPEAKER_00 6:41

wrote I, in the process of me writing I Win, I have quickly discovered that um people know what a book is and people know what a Kindle is. And so I um first of all didn't know how to write a book. And as I said earlier, I made the little i well the little iTunes button dance on my iPhone because it was purple and purple's my favorite color, so wouldn't kind of exist a purple button with nothing in it. So when I was listening to Joanna Penn of the Creative Penn, P-E-N-N, and so Joanna is one of she used to be in banking,

Education, Ministry, and Goals

SPEAKER_00 7:38

um, lost a job in banking and became one of the top independent published authors in um the UK. So if you look up Joanna Penn on YouTube, you can see me. I went up doing um I interviewed way back when on her podcast too. And so every single time it came out I listened to it, and when it talked to the when it came to the part about marketing, I'm like, shit, now how am I going to market this book? And I'm like, shoot, how am I gonna market this book? Well, I thought, well, what about creating a podcast? And this is the first um time podcasting's

Scope: Authors Across Abilities

SPEAKER_00 8:40

not as known was not as known as it is now. So um I thought, well, I'm going to create a podcast about cerebral palsy. But um the well, to my advantage, the when I typed it into iTunes at the time, iTunes wasn't um uh there was no such thing as cerebal palsy as a key word. So I decided ding dong, that's going my neck. And I decided to start interviewing other people who didn't have a disability. So if you the podcast asked when was born, and then I the first person I interviewed was Joanna Penn. So it's like I don't have a disability, I have a dream to do this and let's do it. And so it kept going and going and going. And I didn't realize that podcasting and a communications degree where I would land up.

Contact and Community

SPEAKER_00 10:04

My ultimate goal is to get a communications degree, then become episcopal priest, which in the next couple of years I will be. So after I get the communications degree, the communications degree starts on, hopefully starts on October 23rd out of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, where I'm based. So I um will um talk about that. I will, but basically this podcast is going to be about books and writing and crafts writing and interviewing um authors from all walks of life, disabilities are not primarily disabilities, but interviewing authors from all walks of life. So I hope you enjoy and please give me feedback and please shoot me messages. I can be contacted at winningheart.com and Danielle could

Network of Three Podcasts

SPEAKER_00 11:22

be contacted, Dankin Sred.com, and she can be contacted if you just Google Daniel Culture, her website will pop up if you just google win w I N Charles C H A L L A S. The my podcast will pop up, and this podcast should be Googled by tomorrow. So yeah, I want to hear know what you guys think and know how I can improve this. And let's get a third podcast walking and rolling. Now I have a three podcast. My main one, a mental health one. That's a minute of mindfulness, talking about mental health from a disabled point of view and now writing and the class writing and uh interviewing. This as I

Launch Details and Wrap

SPEAKER_00 12:27

said, ask when my uh original podcast was supposed to be um inks with a disability, but uh $75 on Blood Sprout has now turned into Inks with a Disability. So thank you, Bruzz Sprout, for helping me with that turn a dream into reality. And so I will catch you guys later and leave me a message, send me a text. You can send me a text through BuzzSprout, and it should be air guys in disabil in Apple iTunes and all the major players as of tomorrow. So Inks with a disability, here we go. Season one kicks off today with a trailer episode. Thanks you guys.