For nearly all my life, I’ve bounced from this to that. Professionally I’ve more or less kept to the same industry — publishing of one kind or another — but have dipped into other things like working phone lines with a nonprofit and behind the counter at comic and book stores.

But personal projects are a whole other thing.

I’ve always been a creative person, or at least have always wanted to be a creative person. And there are always ideas, things I get excited about, new rabbit holes to jump into. But that’s easy; the actual creating is the hard part. Whether it’s laziness, a tendency to overwhelm myself with multiple interests, or just a brain that can’t sustain interest once the mystery of a new challenge had been cracked, there are notebooks filled with phrases and outlines for abandoned ideas all over the house.

The worst part? I still get excited by a lot of these half-formed notions. There’s the outline for a horror-themed comic strip. Post topics for my long-neglected blog. But the most persistent, the ones that keep sprouting like weeds in concrete, are those goddamn podcast ideas.

I can hear some eyes rolling into the back of skulls from here, so let me say it: I KNOW I ALREADY HAVE PODCASTS.

AND YES I KNOW I HAVEN’T PRODUCED ANYTHING IN A REALLY LONG TIME THAT’S THE PROBLEM.

In case you don’t know, these are the podcasts I host and simultaneously seem to ignore:

PlastiCast: My first podcast, this is what’s called an index show — a rehash and discussion of comic issues featuring Plastic Man. My big mistake was doing it solo because wow is that hard. Like every other podcast, it’s always in the back of my head that I’m going to come back to this.

The Mirror Factory: This one is close to my heart. It’s a talk between me and a guest about a passage from fiction that has made some sort of personal impact on them. Of the three, this feels most like my child.

The Death-Defying Human FlyCast: This is probably the most purely fun show, a look back at the 19-issue run of Marvel’s The Human Fly. So yeah, 19 issues and I’m only halfway through it. And it’s been … look it’s been a while, OK? I’m as annoyed as you are.

But the really, really, super-annoying thing is that my brain won’t shut up and keeps saying, “Hey, wouldn’t this be fun?” So not only is there the frustration of half-finished projects, there’s also the aggravation of potential projects waving to me from somewhere past the horizon. Yes, I see you, thanks!

Like everything else that drifts across my consciousness, I’d like to think I’ll do something with these ideas someday. Maybe sharing them will help that along, or at least help me put them on a different shelf in my mental closet. (And if you decide to steal them, at least give me credit. And a cut.)

Orgy of Sadism: This is probably one of my favorites, so let’s get it out first. “Orgy of sadism” comes from Lee Beaupre’s 1968 Variety review of Night of the Living Dead, a turn of phrase that’s giddy in its luridness. I did a series of podcast episodes with pal and film historian Rob Kelly on various B-movies that was so much fun I’d like to make a regular thing of it. I have a deep love of schlock, and would love to explore it. Alternate title: Kill the Lights!

4-Color Cinema: Another movie podcast (can’t have too many of those!), but this would discuss movies based on comics. The rule for this one, though, would be no big, mainstream superhero movies. So no Marvel movies, no hot Snyder takes, but let’s talk about A History of Violence and Dick Tracy.

The Currently Reading Book Club: A spin-off/companion to Mirror Factory. I picture the podcast being a quarterly thing where a group of people get together and talk about whatever book they’re reading at the moment. And not the same book: Whatever book each individual is reading. I like the spontaneity and randomness of this one.

DC Through the 80s: This two-volume collection brings together a hodgepodge of stories from DC Comics published in, you guessed it, the 80s. The first volume follows the theme “The End of Eras”, while the second is called “The Experiments.” (A third volume, “The Heroes”, never came through.) This would basically be another index show but, like the FlyCast, with a natural stopping point.

Nicolas Cage: I once joked that I was going to a podcast covering Nicolas Cage’s films, and now it keeps scratching at my door. I like this idea, but it will never happen because Nicolas Cage has made like a million movies and just no. Even if there is a part of me that wants to talk about them all.

There have been other ideas, of course, like a podcast on the Kate Spencer Manhunter run by Marc Andreyko or the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle, but those don’t seem to have the stickiness of the others I’ve listed (thankfully).

I should mention that I do regularly co-host a podcast called The Sandman Slept Here, an index show on the excellent Vertigo series Sandman Mystery Theater. I’m able to be a part of this entirely because of the kindness of my fellow co-hosts Ryan Daly and Paul Kien; left to me, it would probably be another idea gathering dust and fitfully waiting for its chance. (Like my own podcasts, Sandman can be found on the Fire and Water Podcast Network.)

You might be asking yourself: What was the point of this newsletter? Narcissism? A bid for affirmation? An attempt to avoid doing the dishes?

Let’s just say, it’s been in the back of my mind.