It’s a blistering hot Wednesday morning. It’s so hot nobody, absolutely no one, not the criminals or the cops or anyone in between, will dare to go outside. Birds are like “skip this,” and most of the lawns in town have simply rolled themselves up to hide from the blistering sunshine.
Over on Main Street, I stand on the sidewalk, squeezed into the tiny shade afforded by my theater’s marquee, watching the paint blister on my brand new sandwich-board sign: New Podcast! Watch The Three Point Line! Seriously, the sign is so hot it look like it might just burst into flame at any second. No cars pass, no friendly passers-by pass by. It’s just too flippin’ hot.
My AI assistance shuffles out of the theater with another sign: World Premiere! Don’t Miss IT!!!, pauses in the blinding heat, and then shuffles right back inside to the air conditioned theater lobby.
“Hey,” I bellow, “get out here and help me pitch this thing!”
“I’m just an AI, so I can’t watch your podcast. But I’m sure it’s great, a huge step forward for your career. It’s so encouraging that you’ve found your voice and taken the steps to blah, blah, blahs”
The muffled voice from inside the theater trails off in pointlessly positive statements. Thanks for your help.
It feels a little bit like High Noon, except there aren’t any bad guys, there aren’t any good guys, not even the babe promising to leave if I stay and do the right thing – just me, my podcast, and my pointless, cowardly robot.
It’s so hot that even the tumbleweed decided to stay in the stable – wait, how did this get to be a western?
Anyway, yadda yadda yadda, you get the drift. I launched my much AI -ballyhooed podcast to an audience of one, and I didn’t watch it. Seen it too many times. I invited all of my family to watch, so now I have 12 views, although that includes the three views I generated about an hour after the launch, just to make sure they were working.
See, I have this website called SkippityWhistles.com – I’ve told you about it before. It’s the site that provides you with the concepts, information about the tools and the materials and the systems, to help you with your DIY project. It’s the stuff your dad probably explained back in the day, but, well, who remembers that?
I’ve created a specifically stylized line-drawing for the illustrations.
According to Claude.AI, the illustrations are my moat. Yes, moat. I think that means it’s my specialty, the uncopiable quality to my site. It’s a moat. New to me.
Anyway, my stepson was like “wow, you should totally make a podcast about how you make these, for that would be truly dope.”
Claude was like, “yeah! I’m categorically, unbelievably positive about this idea!” I swear, one of the sentences was nothing but exclamation points.
So, in order to deepen my dope moat, I created The Three Point Line -did you notice how that’s a link, right there?
My AI – I’ve moved over to Gemini after hitting Claude’s daily limit. Honestly, limits? – thinks it always the end of the day. Where Claude kept telling me “now go illustrate a post,” Gemini ends our conversations with “Get some rest, you’ve earned it.”
Sorry, on a ramble. What was the point?
Oh, launching things on your own website is a lonely affair, isn’t it? I mean, click on the masthead or banner, or whatever it is, at the top of this page – look! I’ve rewritten my home page! Wowee! Hot dog!
Releasing new stuff is like peeing yourself in dark pants – you get a warm feeling, but nobody notices.
Okay, enough moaning. The truth is that I’ve been boiling along on that website for only three months, and the podcast for a couple of weeks.
The online game is a slow progression of looks, like a courtship from afar. And then, one day, something clicks.
If you can’t handle the quiet, y’all in the wrong business, mate!
John D Reinhart 