For the first time in a while, I need to talk about Wait, That’s Random without introducing a forgotten war, an inexplicable government decision, a bizarre coincidence, or somebody accidentally inventing something while trying to do something completely different. Although, knowing history, there is probably a story somewhere about someone accidentally starting a podcast. I’ve decided to put Wait, That’s Random: This Day in History on hiatus. That sentence is harder to write than I expected. I’ve spent a lot of time with this show. Not just recording it, but researching it, writing it, editing it, publishing it, promoting it, building the website around it, making short-form videos, checking pronunciations, tracking down strange details, and occasionally wondering why a historical figure couldn’t have had a name like Bob. And I’ve loved doing it. 

One of the reasons I started the podcast was because I genuinely enjoy history. I love finding the stories that sit just outside the ones everybody already knows. The strange coincidences. The overlooked people. The moments where history suddenly feels less like a textbook and more like a room full of actual human beings making decisions, taking chances, getting things wrong, and occasionally stumbling into something extraordinary. But the podcast was also something else for me. It was practice. I wanted to become a better storyteller. I wanted to get better at speaking naturally into a microphone. Better at pacing. Better at transitions. Better at taking something researched and written and making it sound like I was simply sitting across the table telling someone something fascinating I had just discovered. The only real way to get better at that is to do it. 

So I did. 

Every day. 

One episode after another. And somewhere along the way, the podcast became part history show, part storytelling workshop, part pronunciation obstacle course, and part daily reminder that there is always something else worth learning. The problem is that a daily show also requires something else every day: 

Time. 

And lately, I’ve been running short on that. My audiobook work has been growing, which is a good problem to have. Narration takes time, concentration, preparation, recording, editing, pickups, communication, and all the other pieces that happen behind the scenes before an audiobook ever reaches a listener. Then there is my full-time job. Voice work has always had to fit around that, along with everything else life tends to put on the calendar. Then there is the podcast. And then there is the rest of life. 

That last part is the one I’ve been thinking about most. For a while, I kept telling myself I was simply “fitting everything in.” I would fit the podcast around audiobook work. I would fit audiobook work around everything else. I would fit social media somewhere in between. I would fit research into another opening. I would fit editing into the evening. Eventually, though, “fitting it in” starts to mean taking time from somewhere else. And too often, that somewhere else was time with the people I care about. That is the part I don’t want to normalize. I love working. I love narration. I love making the podcast. I love the strange satisfaction that comes from starting with a blank page and ending with something another person can listen to. But I don’t want to reach the point where every free hour automatically becomes another working hour. And I don’t want something I genuinely love creating to become something I resent because I’m exhausted from trying to keep up with it. 

So I’m pressing pause. 

I don’t know how long that pause will be. I also don’t know exactly what Wait, That’s Random will look like when it returns. Maybe it comes back with a different schedule. Maybe it becomes a few episodes a week instead of seven. Maybe it works better in seasons. Maybe I finally discover the secret twenty-ninth hour of the day. If I do, I promise I’ll share the coordinates. What I do know is that I don’t want to simply disappear. If you’ve listened regularly, you’ve given me something valuable: your time. You’ve let me tell you stories. You’ve followed me down historical rabbit holes. You’ve listened while I tried to pronounce names from languages I absolutely do not speak. You’ve joined me for wars, inventions, disasters, discoveries, strange laws, unexpected coincidences, remarkable people, national days, birthdays, and all the other things that somehow found their way into the show. 

That matters to me. And because it matters, I wanted to explain why the show is going quiet instead of leaving an unexplained gap in the feed. This hiatus isn’t because I stopped enjoying the podcast. If anything, the opposite is true. I want to protect the part of it that I enjoy. I want to be able to come back to it with curiosity instead of obligation. I want the next version of the show—whatever that turns out to be—to exist because I’m excited to make it, not because a calendar says another episode has to be finished before midnight. And I want a little more room for everything outside the microphone. There is one other thing I’ve realized while making this show. 

It worked. 

Not necessarily in whatever way people normally measure podcasts. It worked for me. I am a better storyteller than I was when I started. I’m more comfortable behind a microphone. I hear pacing differently now. I notice when something sounds written instead of spoken. I think more about curiosity than chronology. I’m better at finding the part of a story that makes someone lean in. I’m still improving. I hope I always am. But this show helped me become better at the work I set out to improve. That makes every episode worth it. 

So, thank you. 

Thank you for listening. Thank you for laughing with me. Thank you for indulging the occasional bad joke. Thank you for joining me while I discovered just how strange history can be. And thank you for giving me permission—whether you intended to or not—to step away for a while and make a little more room for life outside the studio. While the podcast is taking a break, I’m not disappearing. I’ll still be posting News & Updates here about audiobook projects, voice work, new releases, behind-the-scenes things, and whatever else I’m working on. Wait, That’s Randommay be quiet for a while, but there will still be plenty happening around here. This isn’t goodbye. It’s just a pause. Normally, this is the point where I would say: “I’ll see you tomorrow.” That would make this a very short hiatus. So instead, I’ll say this: I’ll see you on one of the days after that. Take care of yourselves. I’ll be back when the time is right.