While I count January 12, 2007 as the birthday of Ishmael Wang, February 18th is the anniversary of the first episode I published on Podiobooks.com.
It was the 98th title and Podiobooks had just over 10,000 members. I remember that it took a couple of months or more for me to pick up 100 subscribers and I was being trounced on the charts by Morevi and Earthcore and 7th Son.
In the beginning, I set out to see if I could finish a novel, and have a little fun. I wrote, recorded, and edited Quarter Share in secret so I could present it as an anniversary present to my wife, Kay, who suffered through so many false starts and rough writings that it’s a miracle she’ll read anything of mine any more.
Because of a tagging error on the files, I missed the date by a day so the first episode didn’t drop on our anniversary, but actually the day after.
Today, four years later (almost) with eight books, almost 20,000 fans, 162 episodes of my own work, and two books in print, this little writing project is bearing a lot more fruit than I ever thought it would.
She’s put up with it, even when it made her uncomfortable to have all you strangers in our life. She’s been a supporter and a fan and a friend for over thirty years. Today marks our 26th wedding anniversary.
To quote the Grateful Dead: “What a long strange trip it’s been.”
Personally, I’m hoping for longer and stranger.
