Hello and welcome to Peace, Love, and Robots, a podcast about anything and everything and all that's in between, I'm your host, Jeremy, and this is season 2, episode 10 for November 18, 2021.
One week from THANKSGIVING, here in the States. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but Thanksgiving is my favorite food holiday. I'm looking forward to the meal, and the leftovers for a few days after.
As always, this podcast is brought to you by the ads you hear at the beginning and end of the show, so if you listen all the way through, I will forever be in your debt.
Speaking of debt, if I sell just 39,991 copies of my book on Amazon, I'll be able to pay off my student loans. So if you haven't ordered your copy yet, what are you waiting for? It will make a great gift for friends and enemies alike.
I'm now kind of in that weird limbo between projects, where I'm not sure what to start working on, since I have so many options. I have fiction and non-fiction ideas and premises, I just don't know what gets my engine going right now. I'm sure I'll get there.
I didn't realize this until now, but it's a bit like how I used to be at the video store back in the day, or even on Netflix, or the hundreds of other streaming services. There are so many choices, it takes forever to pick one. Like, am I ready to commit to something dramatic? What if I go for something easy? What's my mood right now?
So. Many. Choices.
Sometimes I'll look at the queue I've created on Netflix, knowing full well that everything on there is something I wanted to watch at one point, and still not have anything spark my interest.
I don't know. it's a lot like my podcast life. I've been podcasting off and on since something like 2006. Those early shows are long gone, but I've had a lot of podcast ideas that I've either never launched or launched and left to die on the vine. I thought today, I think i'll go over a few of them, and try to justify why I haven't done them, or gave up on them.
Most recently, at the beginning of the pandemic, I started The Socially Distant podcast. I thought, maybe this is a historic moment that needs to be documented. I was hoping for more listener engagement, and it was minimal. I made it three episodes before I dropped it.
A few years ago, I started the Storytime with Uncle Jeremy podcast. That one lasted a bit longer - 59 episodes. I really started it for my National Podcast Post Month shows, which is why there are so many of them. They are mostly a collection of different stories pulled from my life experiences, or opinion pieces. I bailed on this one after a while, and didn't feel like it was worth restarting when I launched this podcast.
My first podcast on Spreaker was Because I Said So. This was something I started with my sons, and I've meant to return to it, but it's been difficult to nail down a time to do it, and with my daughters in the mix now. It was a lot of fun, and my youngest son in particular has asked multiple times about doing it again. It lasted almost 40 episodes, and until now, it was my most successful podcast endeavor.
The biggest podcast regret that I have, is Mind the Gaps. I really like the concept of the show - watching movies I've never seen before, and then talking about them. I've always been a movie fan, and watching classics and experiencing them for the first time is a ton of fun. I might actually return to this one, but the prep for each episode (watching a movie once if not twice, taking notes, looking at behind the scenes info, etc.) is very time consuming. I've actually considered just turning the concept into a book instead.
Speaking of book ideas, I almost turned another book idea into a podcast, that show was called My Aural History. The gist of that show was going through the soundtrack of my life, and tying a specific memory to a specific song. What stopped me from doing that show was the legality of using music in a podcast, since anything that has a copyright is verboten. I've considered just writing it as a book, and using the song titles - can't use lyrics due to copyright - to get my point across.
Those last two ideas are not out of the realm of possibility - they'll most likely become books, though.
Anyway, it's hard to look at the graveyard of failed ideas. Their presence shows a lack of grit. A lack of hustle. But then again, a sketchbook full of half drawn figures is evidence of someone at least trying. And that's the perspective I need to remember when looking at the past.
So, trying and failing is better than not trying at all. What do you think? You can let me know by sending me an e-mail at peaceloveandrobotspod@gmail.com or leave me a voicemail at 585-371-8986. I would love to hear from you.
And if you want to see more content from me, check out my substack at zehr.substack.com - I post a new column every Monday and Friday - that's three times the content from me every single week! I'd love to have you subscribe over there - you can even get it sent to your e-mail! It's that easy, guys and gals.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - You can now buy my book on Amazon - it's available both on Kindle and in Paperback. Buy both versions, so I can make more money.
Peace, Love, and Robots: How do you know you won't like it, if you don't try it?