You're listening to a throwback edition of What's Ray Sain, recorded during the early development of the show.

If it sounds different, well, I used to do this whole damn thing on my own.

I've got a bigger team now, but these early episodes were made with love and are absolutely worth listening to.

Enjoy the show.

You're listening to What Ray's saying, the podcast.

I'm back, and I'm sorry.

It's been a long time, but there's a lot going on right now.

I'm trying to get across the finish line to finish up the last part of writing my dissertation.

It's a struggle every day.

It seems constant years in the making.

But this episode is a special episode.

And it's special because there are a number of sources that say that about 90% of all podcasts, that's 90% now, don't make it past 10 episodes.

And most podcast reviewers won't review your podcast until you get past 10 episodes.

So here we are.

We are 10 episodes in.

But this one is a little different.

This is part one of three episodes I intend to release in the next 10 episodes, somewhere in there, not one after the other.

I'm calling them collectively the storyteller's journey.

You can learn a little bit more about me and how I got into storytelling, how I got into podcasting from the start, the middle, and the reality of it.

So, coming up. From the source of all black knowledge, back from two weeks in CERNB, Georgia where I served as artists and residents,

back on the mountain, in the final phases of writing my dissertation that is stressing me out, fighting the urge not to bite through my own arm, angry that my tom turkey

got poached when I got back home. But maintaining self-discipline, but still keeping my

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