OK, so Tom is away visiting family and I went ahead and did a podcast on my own, which is probably a mistake. In this episode I talk about writing for Ars Magica; why you should, how you can, and how I found it. And I try to avoid breaking the NDA too. 
Feel free to comment if you do listen to it - arcaneconnection.podomatic.com/e ... 5_41-07_00
Tom will be back for next episode. If anyone would like to be interviewed please do drop me a pm so I can arrange to record you
cj x
"The Church" is indeed a sorely underrated Ars Magica book. It doesn't see a lot of use IMS, but was a wonderful companion to both RoP: TD and A&A in helping to flesh out the Mythic Church.
I think you may have slightly overstated the frequency of open calls, however: IIRC there have been four: Covenants, Magi of Hermes, Grogs, and the one announced last summer. If my calculations are correct, his amounts to once overy 2.5 years.
Huge thanks for the Sub Rosa mention and the very nice things said about it.
And I have to say, Sub Rosa is a great way of getting noticed. I was chatting with someone recently about a very exciting project that might be coming Sub Rosa's way over the coming year and I'm excited by it as both an editor of the magazine but more important as a fan of the game. It is certainly something that I'm more than happy to invest time in. While Sub Rosa might not be able to carry a couple of rounds of playtesting, Ben and I are keen to support writers and provide notes and feedback to help shape an article any way the writer wants and needs.
We've had a few first-time contributors even since Ben and I took the magazine on and that's a very rewarding thing. Of course, we always want more so if you do have ideas, be it scenario, mystery cult, magus, companion, or anything you like in the world of Ars Magica, get in touch. We'll help any way we can.
Yes, thank you for the shout-out for Sub Rosa. It's greatly appreciated!
I have to say, from personal experience, that Sub Rosa is a great way to get noticed. That's how I received my invitation to join the author's pool.
Great podcast, CJ; flying solo was fine-- I enjoyed it quite a bit.
-Ben.
Hey CJ, enjoying the podcast, just thought fwiw I would throw my two cents in on this episode and the podcast in general.
This episode:
Very Interesting as always, and some funny stories, but I would note that although this episode was fine that in general I think whenever possible its always best to avoid doing a one-man show kind of podcast, you always run the risk of it becoming just a lecture, as opposed to a fun discussion between a couple of people.
Show in general:
I'm really enjoying it, I haven't been playing Ars that long (every two weeks for the last year only), but I find the topics you are covering and how you are covering them really interesting. I would however offer two pieces of friendly advice:
(Also if you arrange a particular time/day to release the podcast weekly then you can record a few at a time in advance whenever you need to and have them ready to release if you are ever pushed for time, this also avoids you getting to podcast release day and finding you only have one person to do the podcast, you basically have a podcast buffer of one or two episodes to fall back on if need be)
Anyway the main point is that the podcasts are great, but just wanted to offer a little friendly advice.
Best of luck with all the future episodes 
Arcane Connection number 6 - Which Tribunal? specila now up - will reply properly later, off to rpg now.
arcaneconnection.podomatic.com/e ... 0_35-07_00
cj x
Loved #6, well done!
-Ben.
I can't keep up!
Great work CJ and Tom.
I'm looking forward to future episodes.
Just a suggestion:
Maybe you should try to make 1 thread where you put the links to all your Podcasts in the first post together with 2-3 words whats the topic of each podcast so its easyer to get to them even at a later point.
This would be especial great if you then even manage to get this thread then become a Sticky.
(So fare I only found the time to hear into 2 of your podcasts)
See this is where I think a sub forum would be better. Each podcast, and therefore topic, would still get its own thread, suo discussions would not become mixed and confused, but at the same time all the threads and episode's are all in one handy place.
Or one Sticky thread that just links to each seperate thread where the discusion can happen so no new Subforum is needed.
Very true, although two advantages of a sub forum:
With a sticky linking to new threads, CJ has to both create a new thread each time and also update the sticky, whereas with a subforum only a new thread needs to be created. It is a minimal amount of time-saving, but still many minutes build up to make hours.
Some podcasts will probably spark pages of discussions, some might not get a single reply, this coupled with the fact that the podcasts are currently being released so frequently could lead to a "clutter" (I use this term to indicate filling, not useless-ness) of threads wihin the main forum all rleated to the podcast only, some of which may just have single replies.
It doesnt bother me in the slightest how they decide to handle it, I am genuinely just trying to give some friendly advice 
I've just put up episode 7 which is a special episode, which I think a lot of people will enjoy, but first a quick explanation. Our normal schedule at the moment is to release two podcasts a week: we will keep this up till the second Ars podcast appears, then we will go weekly. When there are three we will go maybe every two weeks, and aim for quality not quantity. My original plan was that as Ars Mag the French fanzine reached 23 issues, we would do at least 24 before we end podcasting. However that depends on if people are still listening to us, and at the rate we are posting them that may be dubious!
So the normal schedule is Wednesday and Saturday we release a new podcast -- but unfortunately both Tom and i are away this weekend, and i am off to hospital tomorrow for surgery on my jaw. As a result I won't be able to podcast for maybe a week. We have not had a chance to record them in advance, and I won't be able to get to a PC to upload them anyway. So you can all have a lovely break from our awful podcast So instead, I have brought forward Episode 7 so I can record it while I still speak, and will release it now. The blurb reads for Episode 7 --
Thanks to everyone for the comments. Surprisingly none so far have been "give up". I have not really considered going for a subfora or sticky - this is an unofficial podcast, and once other podcasts exist maybe we can have a podcast sticky, but for now I just mention podcasts on any existing thread, or ones where the topic seems appropriate. However you can get a complete list from my podcast page at arcaneconnection.podomatic.com/
You can sign up free for Podomatic in a few seconds and follow the podcast - 5 people have done so, and get notified when we put an episode up. That's really quite kind of them, and I am astonished!
SO now I will be signing off, and you won't be bothered for a week or so by our podcasting shenanigans, maybe longer if my jaw does not heal quickly. Do take the time to listen to Epsiode 7 though and as always we appreciate all the useful feedback, even if i have been far too stressed to respond properly.
cj x