EPISODE #60: YOUR VIBE IS DUST (ALL HALLOW'S EVE SPECIAL)

Happy Halloween! This episode was something completely different, and I enjoyed every single second of it. I had someone who obviously knew me very well come through. I'm still not sure who it was, though. You'll find out about that later as the episode goes on. There's also a Q&A Session for Rich Rubin's work at the end of this episode, as promised. Thank you for submitting questions. Stay spooky, everybody! Take care of yourselves today on Halloween and please be safe. Don't stop to chat with any spirits!

Here's more on the Estes Method if you're curious about how it works. 

The episode (on my main site, complete with links to some other listening sites) can be listened to right here.

My Mastodon account can be found here as well.

Would you like to support my friends?

You can help my friend Fallon (who was on the show in the past) here. 

On another note, please also check out Kurt Hohmann's podcast, Sinister Minutes. It's a spooky show, sure to make you ponder things long after the episodes are finished and you're sitting alone in silence. Eerie! 

My friend, Rich Rubin, is working on a new book. However, all of his other novels are available on Amazon. Check him out, and you won't regret it. The mentioned Q&A in the episode was for him.

Here's a blurb for one of his novels, The Challenges of Being Me (The Friend Group).

All I want is to be me. I want to be seen for who I am and my own accomplishments. I want to experience life on my terms. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

I’ve always been Lauren, that’s been the only constant in my life. I’m a daughter. I’m a younger sister who’s always tried to follow the path laid out by my older sister. I’ve spent my entire life following her playbook because that’s what I thought was expected from me. Now I’m about to graduate from college without a clue in the world as to who I’m supposed to be. The playbook goes like this:

Step one: Attend and graduate from the same college my parents did. Check. Both my older sister Jen and I did that.

Step two: Find someone during freshman year and start a relationship with them. My parents set the gold standard with this one. It’s no surprise that Jen found the man of her dreams the second she arrived on campus. As for me, I think I was supposed to have a boyfriend by now, but I never really wanted one.

Steph three: Fall in love. Not in my cards. I never even got to step two.

Step four: Get married and start a family. Can’t do this until I get to step three.

I’m about to throw in the towel about trying to find someone when I meet Claire two weeks before college graduation. For the first time in my life I’m feeling free to be me, no longer living with the weight of being Jen’s little sister. Things were going great until the day Claire hurt me more than anybody’s ever done before.

I want to run and hide, to pretend I never met her. But my friend Tyler needs me. We’ve been there for each other since the first day of freshman year. His girlfriend moved out without saying a word, I know he’s hurting. Once again I set my own needs to the side so I can support Tyler during his own time of heartbreak.

A funny thing happened. The more we hung out, the more he started seeming like his old self. I wasn’t just helping him move past this break up, I was also falling for him at the same time and starting to forget about my own pain.

New Episode!

PSA: Tomorrow is my Halloween episode!

On both the show and on the blog will be a lot of information for @dickrubin716's work as an author. For the month of October, I've been featuring his novels on the blog, leaving links on where to support him and how to purchase his work.

In the outro is a huge Q&A segment with questions submitted by my listeners for him and his answers, all well thought out and wonderfully inspiring. Let's all gather in the bear's den tomorrow and help support a fellow author in the writing community on Mastodon! Let's make connections! My favorite thing is being able to help friends, to bring them more readers, and to give back to my community and friends. Keep an eye out for tomorrow! In the meantime, a very happy Mischief Night!

EPISODE #59: I HAUNT THE SPACE YOU IGNORE

Happy October! The spookiest month of the year is here. Here's Part 2, and it was pure insanity for me. I hope everyone enjoys the plethora of jokes in this one as well. 

The episode (on my main site, complete with links to some other listening sites) can be listened to right here.

My Mastodon account can be found here as well. 

Would you like to support my friends?

You can help my friend Fallon (who was on the show in the past) here. 

On another note, please also check out Kurt Hohmann's podcast, Sinister Minutes. It's a spooky show, sure to make you ponder things long after the episodes are finished and you're sitting alone in silence. Eerie! 

Another close friend, Rich Rubin, is working on a new book. However, all of his other novels are available on Amazon. Check him out, and you won't regret it. I'll leave you with this, a blurb for The Challenges Of Being Me (The Friend Group). If you have any questions at all, you can find Rich here on Mastodon. He's always helpful, always willing to answer questions about his work, and enjoys the conversations that come along with it. Join our writing community today, if you're interested.

Rich is more than happy to answer any questions you might have about his work. Send anything his way, please and thank you. If you'd rather send me any emails with questions for him, that would be fine as well. We've already had quite a few questions, and he has privately answered them for me. 

The Q&A answers will be out on the 31st during my outro to the episode! You cook forward to that. 

Here's the blurb for The Challenges Of Being Me (The Friend Group).

All I want is to be me. I want to be seen for who I am and my own accomplishments. I want to experience life on my terms. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

I’ve always been Lauren, that’s been the only constant in my life. I’m a daughter. I’m a younger sister who’s always tried to follow the path laid out by my older sister. I’ve spent my entire life following her playbook because that’s what I thought was expected from me. Now I’m about to graduate from college without a clue in the world as to who I’m supposed to be. The playbook goes like this:

Step one: Attend and graduate from the same college my parents did. Check. Both my older sister Jen and I did that.

Step two: Find someone during freshman year and start a relationship with them. My parents set the gold standard with this one. It’s no surprise that Jen found the man of her dreams the second she arrived on campus. As for me, I think I was supposed to have a boyfriend by now, but I never really wanted one.

Steph three: Fall in love. Not in my cards. I never even got to step two.

Step four: Get married and start a family. Can’t do this until I get to step three.

I’m about to throw in the towel about trying to find someone when I meet Claire two weeks before college graduation. For the first time in my life I’m feeling free to be me, no longer living with the weight of being Jen’s little sister. Things were going great until the day Claire hurt me more than anybody’s ever done before.

I want to run and hide, to pretend I never met her. But my friend Tyler needs me. We’ve been there for each other since the first day of freshman year. His girlfriend moved out without saying a word, I know he’s hurting. Once again I set my own needs to the side so I can support Tyler during his own time of heartbreak.

A funny thing happened. The more we hung out, the more he started seeming like his old self. I wasn’t just helping him move past this break up, I was also falling for him at the same time and starting to forget about my own pain.

Could he be the one? I’m starting to feel like I know who I am. Never in a million years would I think that would be possible. Yet, here I am. I’ve even worked up the courage to tell him how I feel, only for his ex to come back to town. I hate that for some people life looks so easy. I wish I knew their secret.

EPISODE #58: I'M GHOSTING NOT HAUNTING

October is finally here. Here's a whopper of an episode with an interesting ending. You can expect far more for this month as well.

The episode (on my main site, complete with links to some other listening sites) can be listened to right here.

My Mastodon account can be found here as well. 

Would you like to support my friends?

Time to mention a German friend of mine. Her username online is groovygrumpyghoul, and her nickanme is Groovy. She makes amazing art, and she's a wonderful person. Here we have a piece from The Thick of It, featuring a young Malcolm Tucker and Jamie MacDonald. Check out her work on Tumblr, linked above.

Caption: longing for the days of no surrender, years ago 

Another close friend, Rich Rubin, is working on a new book. However, all of his other novels are available on Amazon. Check him out, and you won't regret it. I'll leave you with this, a blurb for The Challenges Of Being Me (The Friend Group). If you have any questions at all, you can find Rich here on Mastodon. He's always helpful, always willing to answer questions about his work, and enjoys the conversations that come along with it. Join our writing community today, if you're interested.

Rich is more than happy to answer any questions you might have about his work. Send anything his way, please and thank you. If you'd rather send me any emails with questions for him, I'd be happy to read all of his answers during a little Q&A for this month in my coming episodes. 

Here's the blurb for The Challenges Of Being Me (The Friend Group).

All I want is to be me. I want to be seen for who I am and my own accomplishments. I want to experience life on my terms. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

I’ve always been Lauren, that’s been the only constant in my life. I’m a daughter. I’m a younger sister who’s always tried to follow the path laid out by my older sister. I’ve spent my entire life following her playbook because that’s what I thought was expected from me. Now I’m about to graduate from college without a clue in the world as to who I’m supposed to be. The playbook goes like this:

Step one: Attend and graduate from the same college my parents did. Check. Both my older sister Jen and I did that.

Step two: Find someone during freshman year and start a relationship with them. My parents set the gold standard with this one. It’s no surprise that Jen found the man of her dreams the second she arrived on campus. As for me, I think I was supposed to have a boyfriend by now, but I never really wanted one.

Steph three: Fall in love. Not in my cards. I never even got to step two.

Step four: Get married and start a family. Can’t do this until I get to step three.

I’m about to throw in the towel about trying to find someone when I meet Claire two weeks before college graduation. For the first time in my life I’m feeling free to be me, no longer living with the weight of being Jen’s little sister. Things were going great until the day Claire hurt me more than anybody’s ever done before.

I want to run and hide, to pretend I never met her. But my friend Tyler needs me. We’ve been there for each other since the first day of freshman year. His girlfriend moved out without saying a word, I know he’s hurting. Once again I set my own needs to the side so I can support Tyler during his own time of heartbreak.

A funny thing happened. The more we hung out, the more he started seeming like his old self. I wasn’t just helping him move past this break up, I was also falling for him at the same time and starting to forget about my own pain.

Could he be the one? I’m starting to feel like I know who I am. Never in a million years would I think that would be possible. Yet, here I am. I’ve even worked up the courage to tell him how I feel, only for his ex to come back to town. I hate that for some people life looks so easy. I wish I knew their secret.