With a lot of time to reflect during this hiatus, I've come to realize the way I began making this show and how I struggled to maintain it was outrageously unhealthy for me.
To be fair, when I began the show, I recorded a short, sweet little episode at Royal Legion Tattoo and thought, hey, this is something special. I need to release it and keep doing these. I had no idea how demanding the show would become. It would take a major toll on me with the levels of physical, mental, and emotional commitment it demanded. I spent the entire last 3 seasons of the show pushing myself beyond my limit and it cost me in so many ways.
So I had to step back and think, how can I return to this show and not kill myself doing so? The show does not pay my bills because we do not make that kind of money with it, so I still have to maintain a full-time day job. Honestly, living in Austin, I've now had to pick up an additional part-time job as well teaching podcasting classes at the local college. So, I knew there was absolutely no way to go back to doing the show the way I was before or it was going to be my demise.
I asked myself, what's the hardest part about producing this show? What makes it so stressful and difficult? I realized it's the episode release schedule.
As many of you listeners probably realize, the Night Owl is unique, one of a kind as far a paranormal podcasts go. Well, we didn't get there by creating a simple formulaic show. What we do is real, it's in-depth, it's complex, and most importantly to note, it's all unpredictable. Each case, we have no clue what's going to unfold. There's not outline or script we are following. So this meant I, as the producer, researcher, editor and host of this show, was working around the clock to make sure we had episodes ready for release at the end of each month to keep our show alive. But in many cases, the stories on the cases we were on would still be unfolding the very week I had an episode due on the case. I was pushing myself and my team to rush cases, to take time out of their busy schedules and mine, to drop everything and try to solve the mystery of a complex haunting in a short amount of time so I could make an episode out of it. To be honest, I'm surprised the show lasted three years like this and it didn't implode sooner.
After examining all this, I've decided I'm done with that. This show is special and I know it. I feel it every time I take on a new case, pack up the truck, and meet up with Alexis and Sara at a location. What we do is not something you can rush or put on a predictable calendar for consumption. So I've made an executive decision that The Night Owl Podcast will no longer have any episode release schedule whatsoever from here on out.
What this means is when we have cases, we will dedicate as much time as we need to them. We will not be rushed or pressured to wrap things up in any amount of time. And we will allow space for exhaustive research and investigation. When the cases are 100% completed and wrapped, I will edit at my own pace to craft a series of episodes to tell it's story, and then release them.
What does this mean for the show and for you listeners? It means you are going to continue to get great quality episodes and series from The Night Owl. Heck, it means you will mostly likely be getting even better quality episodes because we will not be rushed. Another positive is that I'm most likely going to edit an entire series (multiple episodes that are part of one haunting/story) and then release them all at once. That way, you won't have to wait a month to hear the next episode in a series. You'll be able to have mini-binges of the show!
SO WHEN WILL THE NEXT EPISODE COME OUT?
Still TBD. The Gaslight-Baker case was never fully completed when life decided to throw me this massive curve ball. I'm currently editing the second part of the Gaslight series with hopes of finishing it in the coming months. We are also very excited about this new residential case we are wrapping up right now that is truly one of the most jaw-dropping stories that's ever unfolded on this show. I know this case will take at least through mid July to completely investigate. Then I begin the editing and assembling process.
I'm not in a good place to rush things and I don't ever intend to from this point forward. So be patient Night Owls, and trust me, it'll be worth the wait.
Stay restless,
Stephen