I’m trying to get back into the swing of writing on The Other Blog after a few months away. Sometimes, I’m not entirely sure why I have another blog. Is this really necessary? Sometimes, it feels like just another thing to do, and I’m not sure what the point is.

I’m trying to reframe my thinking so that The Other Blog isn’t just a task on my to-do list, but a creative outlet where I can explore my interests and passions, a space to express my thoughts on things that inspire me.

I’m trying to remember that this blog is for me as much as it is for an audience of others; it’s a place to synthesize my thoughts and experiences, which can maybe feed into other projects, and to reflect on the progress of those other projects.

So here goes.

What I’ve been working on

Clearly, I haven’t been working on The Other Blog for the last few months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working. I’ve got a few creative projects keeping me busy, and these are the top three.

EPIC Carteret

In theory, I’m more than halfway through the ten-episode podcast EPIC Carteret, which I started back in August 2023.

  • In Episode 5, I interviewed Beaufort Mayor Sharon Harker for an episode on how epic leaders earn trust, a topic that I find especially poignant in an era when trustworthy leaders seem few and far between.
  • In Episode 6, I talked with anthropologist and author Barbara Garrity-Blake about cultural preservation and revitalization.

I’m currently editing Episode 7, a chat with my friend and writer Melissa Kelley about the importance of enthusiastic volunteers in building a thriving community, and I’ve got the other three interviews all lined up, too.

The problem is I’ve still got a few more people I’d really like to interview, so it may go longer than I intended, even though, frankly, I’d also really like to be done with it.

That being said, the first five episodes have been downloaded nearly 3,000 times, which is 2, 993 more times than I would’ve predicted initially. I’m proud of what I’ve managed to accomplish with this project considering I went into it with no podcasting skills to speak of.

In addition to learning how to produce a podcast and edit audio, I also learned how to write a winning grant proposal, and I’m already putting that new skill to use, which brings me to…

far°off.shore’

When I started EPIC Carteret, I already had my next podcast idea in mind. In fact, one of the reasons I started EPIC Carteret was to build an audience (and trust) for far°off.shore’, a speculative fiction podcast about a disappearing island.

Taking my cue from some of my favorite docudrama podcasts like Tanis and The Lovecraft Investigations, which I wrote about in an earlier post, I’m writing far°off.shore’ in the style of investigative journalism, and as with EPIC, I am the narrator. However, in this case, it could be argued that I’m playing a character based on me.

Like EPIC, this podcast will feature interviews with real experts – historians, philosophers, scientists, and therapists, to name a few – but the central storyline is entirely fictional. It’s also a little eerie and weird. I’ve written the script for the first few episodes, including:

  • episode 1, a history of disappearing islands, in which we will travel to 1991 and a North Carolina island that no longer exists in order to uncover the secret history of lands lost to time and tide, and
  • episode 2, the ferry to the end of the world, in which you must pay your fare and embark on a one way trip to the weird, one of humanity’s most ancient rites of passage.

I’m working on the website, and I’ve just finished a grant proposal for this podcast, so keep your fingers crossed for me if you’re not doing anything with them!

far°off.shore’ shares some characters with my other project, a collection of short weird tales entitled…

Witch Stories of Coastal North Carolina

That title is tentative, and not all of the stories are witch stories, per se, but the main character is real folklorist Tom Peete Cross, who wrote a monograph on North Carolina witch lore back in the early 1900s. All of the stories are loosely tied to that monograph (and another fictional account he only wrote in my imagination).

The collection will ultimately have 13 stories, one for each full moon of the year, and as of right now, I’ve got three completely written, an additional three mostly written, and the remaining seven in various stages of development.

Where I’m finding inspiration

Plato

My philosophy roots have been calling me lately, so I’ve been dipping my toes back into Plato, reading from The Allegory of the Cave, Phaedrus, Ion, and Timaeus while listening to the podcast The Secret History of Western Esotericism, all of which is rich material for my weird writing.

Coffee with Marjorie Peltier

I’ve been meeting up with my friend Marjorie at local coffee shops to talk about writing, politics, culture, and other weird stuff, and I come away totally inspired to sit back down to writing. I highly recommend making a regular date with a writer friend if you need inspiration, and if that doesn’t work, visit Marjorie’s blog Messages from the Psyche.  

Journal of American Folklore

Tom Peete Cross’ witchcraft study was commissioned by the American Folklore Society, and my friend Marjorie happens to be a member of said society. She was generous enough to share her copies of the organization’s recent journals, and they’ve offered a lot of food for thought. I may even have to join myself.

What’s coming next

I’m planning a personal writing retreat at the end of September at a friend’s river house to try to make a big push on the far°off.shore’ script because the EPIC Carteret ghost story contest and class, plus planning for the Winter Hauntings event in January, will take up a lot of my fall season. I’d like to have the script finished by the end of October and start recording in November. My goal is to release the whole series in May 2025.

I’ve got some other ideas in mind, but jeez, don’t you think this is enough? How about you? What are you working on now? What’s inspiring you? What’s next for you?