Sorry for ghosting you...Update and New Episodes?

[00:00:04] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Zeitgeist. You've either been eagerly awaiting a new episode or you haven't even noticed that I've gone. Either way, hi, I'm here. I just wanted to give a little update on what's going on with the podcast, what's going on in my life. Since the last you heard of me, I was moving into a haunted apartment and that you never heard from me again.

[00:00:28] - [Speaker 0]
So for all you know, I could be a ghost now. I assure you, I'm I'm not. Maybe a little bit mentally and I definitely ghost to you, but I assure you I am amongst the land of the living. But unfortunately, the same cannot be said for other members of my little family unit. So one of the main reasons I haven't been doing the podcast is because my dog, unfortunately, tragically, unexpectedly passed away and my cat now has cancer.

[00:00:59] - [Speaker 0]
So my dog passed away immediately after that, found out my cat has cancer and I've been, you know, she's gone through a surgery and I've been dealing with that. So as you can imagine, that's a pretty good reason for not making new podcast episodes. If you want the full story about Claire, on the YouTube channel, I did make a video. And if you follow me on TikTok, you have already heard a lot of the story. You've probably been with me for the journey, and I appreciate the support from everyone during that time.

[00:01:27] - [Speaker 0]
So obviously, that took up a lot of emotional mental bandwidth, for the last few months and, you know but at the same time with the podcast, I I do wanna continue it, but I'm not sure what that looks like. And forgive me if this feels rambly, I usually have a script and a teleprompter to read off of, and I'm just kind of going off the rails here. And maybe that's another reason why I'm not a huge fan of the podcast as it is, is because it is so scripted and so restricted. And I think that does lend a bit of authority to my voice in the podcast, but at the same time, I do feel like it strips away a lot of the personality. You know, I grew up in the YouTube space and making kind of like story times and vlogs and stuff.

[00:02:12] - [Speaker 0]
So I'm very used to flying off the handle and being restricted like that, I feel like it it dampens a lot. But the podcast really does I'm not sure people understand how much time it does take for an episode, which is why I was releasing it biweekly. You know, I would do about thirty hours of research and writing, sometimes forty, plus another couple hours to shoot and probably another to ten hours to edit. I was doing audio and video, and I feel like the video just wasn't really landing. And I feel like that's because the way that this podcast is structured, it it really does lend itself to audio.

[00:02:46] - [Speaker 0]
Unfortunately, the landscape at the moment is audio podcasts don't really do that great. It's hard to promote them. It's hard to get people to listen, and I do prefer audio only for a number of reasons. It's but one of the issues with audio only is that I don't get any audience feedback. I can't tell what people are liking.

[00:03:07] - [Speaker 0]
I can't tell if they've enjoyed an episode. I can barely tell, you know, how many people actually listen to an episode. Podcast stats are notoriously terrible. So at some point, it just begins to feel like I'm releasing episodes into the void and no one's listening. Why am I spending forty hours on an episode?

[00:03:27] - [Speaker 0]
So I really need to reassess, like, what this podcast should be, what it can be, see if there is another format that may lend itself better for both your experience and for mine. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear it. It's another thing is that I I have requested feedback for the episodes, the structure, and it's it's hard to get that when it's on a podcast. That being said, what about new episodes? I would love to release some episodes starting, I'm hoping, maybe in September through October for the quote spooky season and see how that goes.

[00:04:02] - [Speaker 0]
I do hope that I have the time and the bandwidth. Another thing is that I just feel like everything is so oversaturated. What ghost story can I cover that you haven't already heard? I feel I do add some new flavor and texture with archival sources to these ghost stories, but at the same time, how many times are people willing to tune in to hear about the same haunted hotel they heard seven other podcasts record. I would love to do some investigation of listener locations.

[00:04:37] - [Speaker 0]
So looking into the haunted history of your own experiences, whether that's, you know, at a public place or whether that's your own home, and try and do that in a way that's sensitive and isn't going to dox anyone, I think would be interesting, but that would require a lot more listenership. So that's another thing is just the content. You know, how original can my content be? Yes. I use archival resources to investigate ghost stories.

[00:05:01] - [Speaker 0]
Does add something new, but does it add enough new value? I don't know. So all that to say, I would love to hear some feedback. So if you can go to the podcast Instagram and send me a message, comment on a video, that would be really helpful. Even just use the contact form at psychguyspod dot com with any kind of suggestions and feedback would be really great.

[00:05:24] - [Speaker 0]
Sometimes it just feels like I'm screaming into the void, and I know that's not necessarily true. There are some dedicated listeners out there, but I just never get to hear from y'all. And I like the connection that video can offer with with comments and, you know, you seeing my face, but any suggestions would be really helpful. But the plan is I'm hoping to release a few episodes for this Halloween spooky season and kind of see where we end up. But, yes, I just wanted to give you that update and let you know what was going on since you do deserve to know.

[00:05:56] - [Speaker 0]
I didn't want to make you feel like I was ghosting you and leaving you in the dark. That was not the intent. My life just got a little bit dark. So, yeah, thank you for listening to this update. I'm hoping to hear from some of you.

[00:06:08] - [Speaker 0]
And if not, that's okay too. It does require effort to get off of one platform, go to another, and and type something out. I get it. But I appreciate you all regardless, and I hope to see you soon. So stay curious, and I forgot to sign off for this.

[00:06:24] - [Speaker 0]
Until next time, take care of your pets and your loved ones. Cherish them because ghosts may not be real, but the living sure are. Bye.