Too Busy

“Busy” is a relative term. It’s not the same as a cashier handling a Christmas rush, a doctor managing an emergency room during a hectic night, or a delivery driver working all day for Amazon as a side hustle. For me, “busy” means my mental capacity to handle things in a timely manner has greatly diminished.

I’ve been so consumed by work every day that things are starting to slip. My task list has overdue items from more than a month ago.

Today, I received an email from Pair with my resource summary for my WordPress installations. It shows I used 885 GB over the past month—286 GB over my allotment. This means I’m facing a huge overage charge. Typically, we use around 274 GB in a busy month, so this spike caught my attention. I tried to investigate, but the control panel doesn’t offer the detailed information I needed. Then, I got sidetracked by other tasks.

Two months ago, I planned to switch away from Pair and even found a company to help with the transition. But I was too busy.

It’s ironic: being busy is actually getting in the way of getting things done.

Spirit

We took Camren to Mount A. last week to help him move into residence. Any reservations I might have had about the school vanished the moment we arrived in Sackville. What an incredibly welcoming university community! Everywhere we looked, students in colorful tutus were cheering on new arrivals. At the residence, they danced, sang, and efficiently unloaded our car, bringing all his belongings up to his room while directing us to find parking. Even the university president was walking around, personally welcoming each new student. The school spirit was wonderful, and the food in the cafeteria was great, too.

I had nothing like this experience as a freshman at UPEI or St. F.X., and Catriona didn’t experience anything close to it at UPEI either. Camren is lucky to have found such a great school.

A Little Push

In late March, after a 90-minute coaching session with Kerry Anne MacDougall, I left with a number of questions and a gentle push.

During our conversation, she pointed out that the topic which seemed to energize me the most was running. Running had always made me happy and healthy, yet I hadn’t been engaging in the activity at all. Mornings had become an unhealthy routine: roll out of bed, throw on sweats, drink coffee, and head straight to the office.

She encouraged me to start again. Just a little push to get moving. And so, I did.

Since that day, I haven’t missed a single morning. Rain or shine, right after my coffee, I lace up my sneakers and head outside. Sometimes I walk, sometimes I run, but most days I do a bit of both. It’s taken time to quiet my mind and rediscover that meditative “zone,” but it’s happening. Slowly, my weekly mileage is starting to reflect my former runner self.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little push.

ChatGPT and categorization

Next week we are scheduled to launch season 4 of Sleep Tight Science which will feature more calming music, weekly publishing, kids introducing the show using their own voice, and more breakout episodes like fun facts, and listener questions.

I’ve been stuck trying to think of where to start writing, so I thought I would rely upon the interests of the kids themselves. Kids have been submitting questions since the show began and I think this year we received a range of interesting question to answer. Except itchy are all in a spreadsheet, and to find patterns amongst all those questions is time consuming. Perhaps a perfect task for ChatGPT?

I exported the question column into a separate spreadsheet and imported the file into ChatGPT to analyse. This is the first result:

Miscellaneous - 318 questions
Food & Nutrition - 28 questions
Space & Astronomy - 26 questions
Animals & Nature - 22 questions
Weather & Climate - 19 questions
Human Body & Health - 17 questions
Science & Experiments - 4 questions
History & Culture - 2 questions

At first glance that is pretty useful. Except, what the hell is Miscellaneous? Thats lazy categorization. So I asked ChartGPT to categorize Miscellaneous further. This is the result:

How Things Work (e.g., how something is made, how things function)
Why Questions (e.g., why natural or human-made phenomena occur)
General Knowledge (e.g., common facts or inquiries not linked to specific categories)

This wasn’t particularly helpful, since most questions kids have about anything may include the words, what, how, and why. So I ask for further clarification again:

How Things Work - 148 questions
Why Questions - 109 questions
Other - 54 questions
General Knowledge - 7 questions

Thats pretty much the same answer again. So I asked for one more clarification, with it ignoring how the question was formed. This is the result:

Other - 246 questions
Manufacturing & Materials - 56 questions
Nature & Animals - 9 questions
Human Body & Biology - 4 questions
Science & Technology - 2 questions
Food & Nutrition - 1 question

Now we are getting closer, and I am feeling secure in the idea that ChatGPT won’t be taking over the world anytime soon, as finding patterns is fairly fundamental. I’m a big believer that there is a category for everything. Asking for more information on the “Other”, ChatGPT gave me this:

Human Behavior (e.g., yawning, reactions to lightning)
Animals & Pets (e.g., dog and cat behavior, puppy teeth)
Everyday Objects (e.g., pancakes, toys)
Science Curiosities (e.g., sun rotation, infinity)

That’s pretty good, but I need to assign numbers so I can rank them based on interest. So asked for further clarification. This is what I got:

Uncategorized - 197 questions
Human Behavior - 24 questions
Animals & Pets - 13 questions
Science Curiosities - 9 questions
Everyday Objects - 3 questions

I’m tired at this point, and want to start writing so I feel like giving up. I entered a couple more prompts and this is the final result:

Miscellaneous (Overall) - 318 questions
Uncategorized - 197 questions
Manufacturing & Materials - 56 questions
Human Behavior - 24 questions
Animals & Pets - 13 questions
Science Curiosities - 9 questions
Nature & Animals - 9 questions
Human Body & Biology - 4 questions
Everyday Objects - 3 questions
Science & Technology - 2 questions
Food & Nutrition - 1 question
Food & Nutrition (Main) - 28 questions
Space & Astronomy - 26 questions
Animals & Nature (Main) - 22 questions
Weather & Climate - 19 questions
Human Body & Health - 17 questions
Manufacturing & Materials (Main) - 56 questions (but grouped under Miscellaneous)
Science & Experiments - 4 questions
History & Culture - 2 questions

Perhaps there is something in my prompts that could be adjusted. More exact language perhaps. But while somewhat useful, I’ve come away disappointed. It did a much better job at the start of the year when I was stuck for topics and asked it to give me a list of animal topics that we haven’t covered yet that would appeal to our listeners. It gave me a long list, some of which I used.

Half Inch Off

Just about everything that might need replacement in this old house of ours is off from standard by 1/2 an inch. I don’t know why, but perhaps it’s an old standard, or just as likely a quirk.

The latest is the one standard looking window in what functions as my office. With temperatures in the office well above 26˚C in the afternoon I find it difficult to function, and more often than usual am falling asleep. I could easily decamp to the house, I use a laptop after all, but I find Logic Pro’s overactive interface too much for a 13” laptop screen. The portable AC I bought for cheap a few years ago has been inadequate and inexplicably failed, so I went to Canadian Tire and bought a window unit without much thought.

Luckily, I decided to measure the height of the window before taking the AC out of the box, because as it turns out, it doesn’t open high enough. The standard looking window, is non-standard, and off by 1/2”. Fortunately, I could still return the unit. Unfortunately, it’s still hot.

Malware

Our websites were down for a couple of days due to a Malware infection that caused them to redirect to various shopping sites.

It is a mystery how miscreants can exploit six separate websites running unique instances of WordPress in this manner. Pair doesn’t know, but I suspect their setup is somehow insecure.

We had a choice of paying over $1000US to have software fix the problem for us, plus an ongoing subscription to maybe prevent it from happening again or doing it ourselves. I did it myself, but I’m sure I wasn’t entirely successful.

It all feels like a scam to me. Software that is ubiquitous but too complex requires whole separate businesses to function, each with its subscription fees, just to deliver simple HTML files over the web.

This experience has effectively ended my 20+ year relationship with Pair, which means I will look for an alternative to WordPress for my hobbies, like this weblog. We’ve already decided to use a non-nonsense service like Squarespace for our work sites.

Quiet no more?

Sheryl and I are both very quiet and seldom talk about our experiences or accomplishments outside of this blog. We don’t “do” marketing, in contrast to many others trying to meet similar goals.

I remember years ago when I had just wrapped up an art exhibition at the old Hsinchu Railway terminal, when a colleague said, “This is great, but it’s too bad no one knows you.” The implication being that I would enjoy greater success if I didn’t work in obscurity. I didn’t change due to this comment despite it coming from someone I respected, but perhaps it’s time to find a way that suits my socially introverted personality.

These past few months, I have generally avoided looking at our download numbers. Our relationship with iHeart and their required server changes have meant that we have lost easy access to trends. I was nervous to focus on a purely quantitative measurement for fear of bad news, so I’ve looked at rankings, engagement, and revenue, which are all positive.

Bad news comes whether you want to look at it or not. Today, I noticed our numbers are way down from a year ago. If this rate of decline continues, we might cease to exist or, more likely, fail to meet our obligations to our partners.

Since we started podcasting, our growth has been constant, but that growth has slowed, and on Apple Podcasts, at least, it dropped dramatically in May.

The reasons are in part due to increased choice. There have always been podcasts creating audio for kids superior to what we can do, and many have teams of talent supporting them. What has changed is the sheer number of shows that are now being produced. It feels like the difference between broadcast TV and Netflix. There is so much choice you get tired of scrolling for a show and watch whatever is recommended. This is fantastic for the industry but requires the producer to find ways to stand out.

Standing out is increasingly difficult because on Apple Podcasts, at least, they have started to curate what makes it to their main pages aggressively. This curation is partly provided by an American non-profit called Common Sense Media, which I hear is woefully underfunded and backed up with requests. We reached out to them a number of times years ago and never got a response. The other curation is created by a small team within Apple Podcasts, who create categories like “trusted providers,” “essentials,” and “new and noteworthy.” I have no idea how one becomes a trusted provider.

Podcast growth is extremely time-consuming and can be wildly expensive. We have never had the time, money, or need until now. While we still have little time or money, it is obvious that we need to get out there and do something. We can no longer afford to work in relative obscurity.

Calgary meet

Camren and I flew to Calgary last week to attend a swim meet at the MNP centre. However, the meet changed locations two days before our departure due to the ongoing water restrictions in the city, so he swam at a much smaller pool in Cochrane. This was unfortunate, as many of the better swimmers bowed out. Cochrane only has a 25-meter pool.

We stayed a couple extra days after the meet to visit the Banff area and join the hordes of people looking to get a picture of their visit to Lake Louise. That day, we logged about a marathon’s worth of hiking, walking, and trail running, culminating in a great steak at Sky360 back in Calgary.

This trip was a great way to celebrate another birthday, and with Camren set to leave for university in the fall, the last chance to spend some time with Camren.

We have a complaint

We finally launched Sleep Tight Premium on Apple Podcasts, an annoying process that took forever. Not everyone is pleased that Sleep Tight Stories features subscriber only stories. We always have produced stories specifically for subscribers, but you wouldn’t see that unless you took that leap of faith and subscribed via Supercast. Apple, being Apple, shows these stories amongst the ad supported stories to boost conversion.

As always we will listen to feedback and adjust as needed.

Not easy

“You’re 4x more likely to succeed with a business than a podcast. If you’re podcasting to make money, stop!” According to the PodMatch June 2024 report.

Sharing for future reference. Reports like this are generally geared more towards gaining traffic to a website, than gaining real insight, but I do agree with the sentiment.

Accomplishment stuffing

“Hello, I’m an accomplished, multi-award-winning podcast producer known for creating captivating audio content for such famous shows as ….”

One of the trends I’ve noticed lately—well, maybe not a trend, as I’m sure it’s always been common—is listing all possible accomplishments in a self-introduction or description of a show. It always makes me smile, but then it leaves me wondering: If this is the way people promote their work and themselves, should we be doing it too? (The above was from a speaker’s introduction at Podcast Powerup.)

I notice it in podcast descriptions, like “multi-award nominated … show” quite often.

In our latest ads, we had written by Jaime Lee Mann for Sleep Tight Stories. She started with the line, “Sleep Tight Stories is a calming bedtime podcast with more than 60 million downloads.” I rejected it immediately. Aren’t our quantitative accomplishments irrelevant? But other shows mention these facts as a matter of course.

Perhaps this is a matter of personality. We prefer to keep quiet, which might be the antithesis of everyone else’s strategy for building a small business.

I’ve experimented with sharing what we are up to and what we have done – to see how it makes us feel. Getting some recognition is important, especially with all the time and effort we put into our work. I just can’t imagine sharing everything I know or have done each and every chance I get.

More cover art

These are our latest covers without titles. I think these are a better match for what we are doing than far too polished look I can produce in AI.

Toronto Visit

Sheryl and I spent the weekend in Toronto, flying up early Saturday morning and returning early this morning. This was, I believe, the first time we had flown anywhere together without the kids in 21 years, and it was long overdue.

We flew up to attend the Podcast Power Up Summit, which is part of the Radiodays North America & CMW Music Conference. I don’t generally see much value in attending conferences, especially since most occur in the States, and the cost of flying down there from the Island is usually exorbitant. This one eschewed the common “this is how you create a podcast-type fare” for more interesting discussions.

Walking into a room full of strangers who seem to know each other is a source of discomfort for Sheryl and me. At any social gathering, I would be that weirdo standing in the corner drinking coffee while everyone else is on the dance floor. I was better this time and managed to chat with people I have connected with over email. We had our picture taken, listened to some interesting people talk about podcasting, and generally enjoyed the whole experience.

The highlight of the weekend was the box of pastries we ate outside at Blackbird Baking in the Kensington Market. There is nothing like getting a sugar and caffeine high while people-watching. Delicious pastries.

The other was going to hear Barry Elmes with Brian OKane on Trumpet. Brian attended Humber while I was there, and as it turned out, I hadn’t heard him play in 37 years—a number I doubt, but it appears to be true. He sounded great.

We did a lot of walking on Saturday, about 33km. And it felt like we were being constantly gassed. I have never smelled so much cannabis in my life, and there are cannabis stores everywhere. I have nothing against cannabis, alcohol, sugar, or whatever substance you need to bring about temporary happiness, but the amount seems problematic.

There is one constant in travelling out of Charlottetown – inconvenient flight times and delays. I’ve always flown light, but this weekend, flying with just a tiny backpack greatly alleviates the stress of boarding and onboarding. I am off to Calgary at the end of the month, and I think I’ll try to fly with just a tiny backpack again. It’s worth it.

Montague Post Office Woes

A week or more ago, I ordered a couple of bags of what I thought might be some lovely-tasting Geisha from Vancouver and gave them my home address to ship to.

I’ve been doing this all the time lately, especially from Amazon, as we get packages shipped very quickly to our door—quicker than we did in Stratford. Sending them to our Montague PO Box can add 2 weeks to delivery. I didn’t realize just how slow they were until we tried ordering a box, and it showed up 2 days later.

Most roasters ship straight to our door, so I didn’t give it much thought. Except it seems this roaster uses regular Canada Post, which, when they received the box without a PO Box number in Montague, immediately sent it back to the sender (or maybe they are enjoying my coffee in the back room). What a waste!

The people who work there are generally very nice, but the whole system is a joke.

Generative cover art

We are behind schedule in launching our new Apple subscription, in part because we have to upload a thousand or more files manually. Apple has an API that podcast host providers can tap into, but the feature isn’t on by default with ours, and they seem just about impossible to deal with, so here we are.

One of the pain points we are trying to address is how hard it is to listen to serial fiction in a date-based feed. If you want to listen to any of the chapter stories we have produced, you have to scroll down to where the beginning is and start from there. And you need to do that each and every time.

To address this, we have created several new “shows” with these stories in serial format so you can listen to them as intended without scrolling.

We are ready to launch four of these right away, but we are waiting for cover art. I’ve contacted three separate artists to illustrate these covers, and the process is excruciatingly slow and expensive.

I had a meeting over coffee with a local author this week about a project. She showed me how she creates her covers using Canva Pro, a tool that everyone seems to have migrated to. Her process was incredibly slick and effective.

I haven’t had much luck using AI to create art of any kind—it always has that glossy sheen and bad lighting. But this time, the results were consistently different.

These images contain errors, but the quality seems quite astounding, especially considering how little effort I put into the prompt.

The problem with using generative tools is that you can say, “Please remove the red flower, but keep everything else the same,” and it will fail.

While I strive to maintain consistency in requests for recreations, the exact reproduction of an image from request to request can vary slightly due to the generative nature of the AI model I use. Each time an image is generated, even with the same prompt, there might be minor differences in details due to the stochastic elements of the image generation process.

I have mixed feelings. I still can’t shake the feeling that using tools like this is somehow wrong.

Should we celebrate more?

I think about this question from time to time. We don’t celebrate our successes, no matter the size.

Tomorrow, Camren has his last IB exam, effectively ending not just three weeks of the hardest exams he may ever face but also the end of high school for him. He’s going out for dinner with a buddy because we don’t really make a big deal of things.

I regularly see podcasts making a big deal of achieving some download target—maybe 10,000 or a million—or splashing all over their social media the fact that they were mentioned in an article somewhere. We did once when we reached 500 stories on one of our podcasts, but it was more a function of having nothing else to say.

Is this an essential part of promotion?

Sometimes, I think we are afraid of being seen and run away from any outward appearance of success.

How’s your day going?

I started mine with my obligatory walk up the hill that is our street, which is usually followed by a short walk and run, as has been my habit for weeks.

As I walked, I thought, what the hell is wrong with me? I can’t see anything clearly. My eyesight is digressing faster than I had ever imagined possible. It was then I realized that I was wearing my reading glasses, so I walked back into the house, put on my proper glasses, and the world was correct again.

The invisible podcast ad campaign

The 2nd of May marked the start of our first campaign to promote Sleep Tight Stories. While there was a wild disconnect between the dizzying dollar amount and impressions assigned to the campaign, we have never been able to do any significant promotion like this until now. We had high hopes for its success.

We prepared copy and spent hours producing audio spots for network and broadcast.

In the past, we were featured on Spotify in Australia and mentioned in a Canadian tech newsletter, which gave us a significant uptick in these regions.

It may still be early for this campaign, but our numbers are way down, not up. Either the campaign is not running as we have been told, or this is somehow staving off our disappearance from Apple Podcasts. It’s pretty disappointing.

Our goal this year is to broaden our focus beyond podcasting to include different platforms, including print, and introduce new products altogether. This is both to diversify our income and improve my mental health. There is no denying that without Sleep Tight Stories, these other efforts will become increasingly difficult.

Contrasts

This past week has been one of contrasts.

We recently invested in having Jaime Lee Mann write copy for us. The impetus was an ad run we are contracted to have for our Sleep Tight Stories show. And, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have a writer lead how we move our efforts forward, by writing copy that identifies what we do. Often, product development is engineering-led or, in enlightened organizations, design-led. It makes sense for us to have words lead the way forward; she has a great imagination.

Jaime is a professional through and through and great to work with. She genuinely cares and is a nice person, to boot.

The others we work with could learn a lot from her.

To them, an agreement and pay schedule are but a guide. There is zero communication and regular mishaps. The latest is an ad running across all our shows that we didn’t approve. It’s loud, doesn’t identify as an ad, and is entirely out of character for our show.

When you work with someone as great as Jaime, you sleep at night comforted that someone you work with cares about the end result. Last night was an anxiety-riddled half-sleep, with me worrying about how our shows would be ruined tomorrow.

Big company’s ≠ professionalism.

Money

From Daring Fireball, an apparently oft-cited quote from Walt Disney,

We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.

works well for all kinds of creative work in which you make a profit.

Value

I’ve taken some time to think instead of do. I like to dream, and according to my elementary school teachers I had a real talent for dreaming in class.

So, I have been dreaming up new ways to frame our activity to make it a sustainable source of fun and income until that inevitable day of cognitive decline arrives.

Ego gets in the way. I can’t just publish a kid’s podcast. I must publish five all by myself. I can’t just publish five podcasts; I must also publish a bunch of books with toys and other things. We will keep it tight and tidy, but we need some help to do so. So, I have been reaching out to people.

I am admittedly very cheap, and other than coffee, I find everything overpriced. Except it seems my time. That I have learned is grossly underpriced.

The plus side of selling yourself cheap is that it may open you up to all kinds of opportunities you might not have otherwise considered, like creating audio for kids. The negative is that you are poor.

Fellow

I don’t generally get excited about purchases of any kind, but this grinder from Fellow had me checking the FedEx website a few times. After seasoning the burrs, I haven’t had a bad cup of coffee. The only issue is that now my caffeine intake is way up.

An Island Moment Part 2

Back in July 2019, I wrote about what was perhaps the best personification of a healthcare system that worked. I use this example a lot when I mention in conversation about how things should work here, and though it’s a mix of private and public care, I am thankful for it.

Today I get to share the other end of the scale.

Lately, I have noticed that the text on my computer screen is not as crisp as it once was, so I thought I should update my eyeglass prescription. I found it hard to believe that my eyesight could deteriorate in a couple of years, but Sheryl was complaining about the same, and well, middle age.

Being busy, I put off the appointment until today, and it seems Dr. Catherine Arsenault has saved the day again—although perhaps too late.

During my last visit less than two years ago, she mentioned that the pressure in my left eye, where I had trouble before, was rising, and it was best to see Dr. Elaraoud again for care. His office was supposed to call, but they never did. And, being busy and not realizing the importance, I didn’t call Dr. Arsenault back to check on the referral. I guess with a new prescription, feeling well, and not suffering from any effects, I let it slip by.

As a result, there is some irreversible damage to the nerves in my left eye.

I started to get angry and mentioned that I could fly elsewhere for care, including the US, if necessary. She assured me that Dr. Elaraoud’s office would indeed call this time. Quickly, I calmed myself down as I realized that it was on me to take matters of my health more seriously, not a dysfunctional health system.

Workplace Progressives
An Island moment

The kids

In 1986 I was a shitty trumpet player with no business attending a music school dedicated to performance and the business of music. But I did. And I did so with only a student loan and the support of a single parent. I went to school in Toronto, didn’t work during the school year, and had a place of my own to live in. I ate a lot of pizza and drank lots of beer.

Camren, a dedicated competitive athlete with an academic record I could have only dreamed of, has been awarded scholarships and bursaries for 2024, but he still doubts he can attend. The costs have risen exponentially, while the scholarship awards have not, nor have salaries. How many kids will no longer be able to afford the quality of outcomes a higher education provides?

What a world we have left for them.

Coaching

I had a coaching session recently in Charlottetown. I’m generally not one for believing in the value of life coaches or other similar services. I prescribe more to the David Goggins approach to life, or at least Mel Robbins.

But it was one of the most valuable 90 minutes I have spent in a long time. I don’t know what it was—the timing or a need to share. Most likely, she was simply really good. I used to consider myself a master of the user interview, but she was far better at establishing a positive connection with a stranger than I ever will be.

I went in there looking for guidance on how to change my mindset, and I left with a number of key questions that need to be answered before any strategy or change might occur.

Sometimes, you need the right person at the right time to give you that push you need to move forward. I look forward to another session in the future.

Editing

I recently hired an editor for an early story I wrote, Nibbles The Mouse.

It’s a humbling experience, as the pages are full of red.

I openly state when asked about my writing that I consider each story to be nothing more than a rough draft. It’s true, but it’s a kind of hedge born out of insecurity. I didn’t realize just how true it was until now.

The story will be better for it, but I wish I had caught the mistakes earlier.

Negative reviews

At the beginning of our journey, we received a rash of negative reviews of our work. Though it sometimes stung, we made changes over time to address these concerns and haven’t often received this kind of critical feedback since, which is a problem.

We aren’t so big that we get much in the way of online discussion or mentions in the press, so I went looking. With the interest in screen-free ways to access audio, like Yoto player, Tonie, and our sponsor Storybutton, I decided to dive into forums that discuss the experience of listening to audio on these platforms.

It’s important to note that these listeners have far different expectations than those sharing an iPhone or iPad with their kids. They also are not necessarily aware of what a podcast is or the community built around podcasts such as ours.

There were two criticisms I have found stated time and time again.

The first was advertising. It’s an understandable complaint. We have gone a few weeks without an ad, and then boom, there is an advertisement for bed sheets or meal delivery before every story. I don’t like ads much either, but without ads, there wouldn’t be stories like Bernice the Bear, which their kids seem to love. People don’t often realize that others have a mortgage to pay.

The other complaint concerned our birthday shoutouts. “Why the hell are there 100 birthday shoutouts before a story?” was one complaint. Kids love hearing their names on a podcast, and we are often surprised by how popular this part of the show has become. But it hasn’t scaled well. Even after charging $35US per shoutout, we still get inundated with requests.

We haven’t considered creating with these closed platforms in mind, but as I find more of these criticisms and the platforms increase in popularity, we’ll likely make more changes to how we produce our audio.

Just start somewhere

Whenever I mention to those with more talent and experience in writing that everything I release is essentially a very rough draft, I can see a slight grimace forming at the corner of their mouth. To release a story that is not perfectly formed is not best practice.

Our listeners don’t seem to mind too much, as children tend to possess an interesting combination of open appreciation, criticality, and forgiveness of the less-than-perfect.

This allows us to produce more stories on a tight time schedule. You can’t expect perfection if you only have 3 hours or so to write something new.

Eventually, some investment in time and money must be made in editing so that the stories can be released in different mediums for reading. Without the benefit of Sheryl’s voice and my music, the accuracy of the word becomes more important. With hundreds of stories, it is difficult to know where to start, but that’s where the uniqueness of our model comes into play.

I have access to the listening data, regular communication from listeners, and comments and reviews of all our stories, which tells me which resonates most with kids. So, while I may like the story about a Mermaid visiting Souris, it turns out that the most listened-to story was about a mouse in a barn. In fact, over the course of a year, Nibbles the Mouse has been listened to hundreds of thousands of times. I have no idea why.

In the Montague Community School writing class, we were asked to submit a story to share during the final banquet. The teacher graciously offered to edit each of our stories and then print off copies that others could take home. So I took the opportunity to send her a copy of Nibbles the Mouse, and now I have a far more complete version. I think she was slightly taken aback by my copyright message on the first page. It was a bit heavy-handed (it had a reprinted with permission message), and I hummed and hawed, but in the end, I acquiesced to the instruction I received from lawyers.

With a more polished version, I can find an editor and an illustrator and start creating prototypes to see what format best fits these stories.