Upsides:  Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing podcast was the very first writing resource I found when I decided once and for all that I wanted to be a writer.  Very thorough, covers just about every question a beginning writer would ever think to ask.  Mur gives tips of her own, as well as author interviews and answers questions from listeners.  There’s also a LOT of episodes, old ones you can download from the site in archives, regular episodes, as well as (as of recently) ISBW Lite episodes every single day.

Downsides:  Well, if you’re like me and you have a relatively low bandwidth cap but can’t stay away from Mur’s sweet, sweet voice like crack – there’s a LOT of a episodes.  It can be a lot to fish through if you’re looking for the answer to a specific question and aren’t quite sure what episode it might be in.

2.)  http://www.writingexcuses.com/

Upsides:  Writing Excuses is probably the most fun I’ve had listening to a podcast.  Hosted by Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, and Howard Tayler.  These guys have great chemistry and make for wonderful listening.  They’re entertaining as well as informative.  Like ISBW, there are a lot of episodes available and the feed is very regular with new content.

Downsides:  The episodes are only about fifteen to twenty minutes long.  Occasionally that’s an upside if I’m not in the mood to listen to something that drags on for long, no matter how helpful the topic is.  But sometimes I feel like their topics could be expanded on a little bit more than they are.  Sometimes they call can of worms on topics that don’t get followed up on (or not very quickly), though only rarely.

3.)  http://www.stormwolf.com/thesecrets/podcasts/

Upsides:  Michael A. Stackpole runs The Secrets podcast and a Newsletter counterpart that goes into vastly more detail than the podcast does.  Sometimes uses his own books as examples to make his points even clearer.  He is very helpful, and very detailed in his topics and overall a worthwhile listen.

Downsides:  The Secrets is either not being updated anymore or updates so rarely I’m not entirely sure it ever will be continued.  I am subscribed in iTunes and find the archive episodes still useful, but I wish there was more content.  Also, some of the archived episodes off his website are (unlike ISBW and WE) not for free — though I understand he has every right to ask for payment, but it’s still a downside to my own wallet.  Just sayin’.