So...not much new on the writing scope. I try and write as much as I can. I have rediscovered my Twitter interest. Well, that was a short lived month or so. I can see how addictive Twitter can be. Following people and all is tedious, I mean had this been around when I was a teen I seriously would have been following all my bad-boy Rock star obsessions - the ultimate stalker training ground! However it is overload - there is so much on the Twitter-verse its hard to tell where to begin and its like a vortex so you can never really end it. But bless the creators and their algorithms for keeping tabs on me and sending me the odd bulletins that so & so has twitted again and to see their post!!! Pass. But seriously, I don't think I have the time for another social media platform. I like Facebook for the most part but that's probably under the 'addiction' category.
I've been discovering the world of podcasts over the last year. It was something I never really thought of it as being thought provoking or even entertaining before. I heard about it but in the back of my mind, I'm like, 'Pfft talk radio', no thanks. But honestly sitting at my desk mindlessly pushing paper all day, how many more times can I listen to 'Hungry Like the Wolf' on my ipod. I wanted something to spark my mind and feed my hunger for knowledge. (Duran Duran pun intended).
This led me on a quest for the ultimate podcast. You probably have guessed thus far that I have a bit of an obsession with the paranormal, so that led me down the rabbit hole. Yes. there is a lot of garbage floating out there in podcast land and that's pretty much in line with the internet. Not everyone should air a podcast. Many come off as pompous and ego serving. Others fill the first five minutes with sound effects and eerie music dubbed over meaning to horrify the listener...set the scary ambience...... perhaps mental foreplay for what's really in store to satisfy their audiences' curiosity. But instead many ramble on for the first 15 minutes as the hosts jovially catch up on what they ate for supper the night before, texts that had been sending each other since the last show, or their own 'hilarious' personal interest story...blah....blah...blah. No....just NO! I then managed to find some of the better podcasts and would honestly say one maybe two out of five have awesome content to listen to and not only does it catch my interest but sustains it.
A podcast has to captivate me to the point where I go through their archives and see if I can search out more of their golden stories. The ones that seem to stand out to me are broadcast/supported through something called Parcast. Many of the other ones are constantly begging for 5 star reviews and are interjected with ads to sell stamps, mattresses, watches or packaged meals. I guess the hosts gotta eat too (aka paying the bills by advertising and yes that was my sad excuse at a pun) My favorite podcast that doesn't disappoint is Mysterious Universe. Its quirky, contemporary and very well researched. These Aussie boys know what they at talking of and even if it is 'WooHoo' (aka calculated & questionable Bullshit), they don't necessarily dismiss it, however they use it as a target of inside joke-like shaming in sound-bites on future episodes. Their show runs the gamut of paranormal, UFO, ghosts, hauntings, disappearances, bigfoot, mysticism, telepathic events, remote viewing and my favorite astral projection (and yes, I do buy into some of it).I think you get the idea. Going back to the topic of 'Podcasters need to eat too', some of the slicker ones try to build an audience by selling 'membership' orientated shows on the side where as you pay a nominal fee of like $9 a month and get plus content. This is either new show material or a continuation for the main show that was aired on public podcast domain. That sucks, but oh well you can't get something for nothing in this life. I get where they are coming from as the bottom line is that it is business. However I am cheap and for what its worth if I had to pay for Facebook I probably wouldn't. I've probably wasted enough time on Facebook over the years when I should have been writing, like the old days before the internet, that I would have successfully pushed my writing career into Supernova Stephen King / Karin Slaughter level and would have had someone write this blog content for me......however I regress.
Going back to the project that I am currently working on right now, I can honestly say it is completely 100% as the result of the idea of podcasts. Thank you podcasters for your inspiration. The one thing that I particularly zone into on these podcasts I listen to is because of their authenticedness - if that's even a proper word (oops sloppy writer - I love inventing my own mushed up words - I'd make a fantastic omnipotent leader one day) You see, a lot of these paranormal podcasts get their ideas and topics from callers....listeners that either write in or call in their true life encounters with ghosts, UFOs, etc. Being in that seat myself the odd time I completely believe these strangers. And, let me set you right - when someone calls in with a fake story so dramatic it gets the attention of that podcast show and they feel the need to air it and I highly doubt if some of the poorer shows even review the full content before its even aired. DELETE. I can smell an imposter a mile away. Some people just want to be heard and make things up to get that spotlight - their 15 minutes of tangible fame (google Andy Warhol kids - you can thank me later). Every time one of these believable stories gets broadcasted on a podcast, I can relate. I've had some weird, unexplainable shit happen and have witnesses who can attest to my stories. These legitimate stories are the real deal and not spam. You can sense it in the intensity and reaction...reflection of their voice when they recant the details. You can almost imagine the hair and goosebumps rise on the speakers skin when they are trying for the right words to relate their experience and the predicament they were placed in when they came face to face with their paranormal experience. For the most part it is unfathomable. I love it. it sends off a 'me too' energy (not that Me Too) So much so I want to reach out to these shows and share my experiences, and collaborate how real the circumstances are.......
WAIT......
These podcasts that share real listener stories.......are PROFITTING from this endeavour. That's a Hard 'NO' for me. As much as I admire some of the true gold podcasts I have a hard time lending my experiences to line someone else's pocket.
Rethinking this for a moment led me to come up with a Non-Fiction collection of stories based on my own true adventures and experiences, 48 years in the making.......CREEPY ME.
I've very open and honest and personally some people will think I'm nuts. But then again aren't all writers a little bent over the edge?
'Creepy Me' should be completed by this summer and I'm hoping to have it self published by Halloween. That's how driven I am about my collection that I am willing to pay out of pocket to self publish it. Its been my latest passion project.
Again, I thank the many podcasts I listen to that have inspired me and I am even more thankful to the two dozen or so podcasts I listened to and ended up deleting.
A quick mention of the magic-touch podcasts that have left me with that special eerie feeling that doesn't leave me for days and some that continue to provide a chuckle or too are:
The Big Séance (thank you Patrick Kellar & pour me a tea), Bizarre States (shout out to Jess and Bowser BYEEEE), Anything Ghost, Astonishing Legends (keep up the awesome job Scott & Forrest), Bedtime stories, Conspiracy Theories, Haunted, Haunted Places, Jim Harold's Campfire, Lore, The Grave Talks, Unexplained Mysteries, Why is this Place Haunted....just to name the paranormal podcasts I listen to and of course my longest standing obsession Mysterious Universe (Aaron and Ben - Krickey mate)
Thank you all for your inspirational segments on what some days could be described as that 7.5 hour lag time between getting to work and going home.