Hey everybody Ryan Kraus here. It's been a while, but I can see from the numbers that a ton of podcast listeners are still enjoying the Cold Case Murder Mystery's catalogue of past episodes, so I'm stopping by to ask for your help with a difficult situation I'm facing in life.

As some of you are already aware, I recently found myself forced into homelessness

by a series of incredibly damaging incidents that were beyond my control.

No, it isn't a sad story of somebody falling into a deadly addiction or outright losing his mind, but is instead the product of a word most people

don't like to see or hear. They want it hidden away and silenced forever. A scary little word that gets even the most empathetic people to

clam up. Abuse. Just so that there's no confusion, I'm going to quickly document what happened and then update

you on where that has put me today so that we have a clear portrait of what occurred, where

it left me, and how we can heal this wound with a strong sense of community and compassion.

Before making Cole Case Murder Mysteries, I had been an aspiring screenwriter who wrote entertaining scripts that got attention for being unique and innovative in a similar way as this show.

But they weren't necessarily commercially viable, so I would get a lot of managers and or executives saying, hey, I liked it or I loved it, but do you have anything

that is commercial in a way that it might sell, or even in a way that we could sell people on you as a writer.

And I really didn't because that was my style.

So I was stuck in that limbo of getting people interested and having them bring me to the doorstep

but I never quite got invited inside

past all those gatekeepers in a meaningful way.

When that happens, sometimes you have to ask yourself what you need to do in the context of taking

a chance that will lead to a breakthrough.

What scares you, but might actually help?

That's what you need to answer because the breakthrough lies within that wisdom.

Like most writers, I love the idea of being this invisible entity behind the page, one that never had to perform, so to speak, because it's where I was most comfortable.

I didn't want to be an actor. I didn't want to be seen or heard beyond the implications

of what was in the script. On the other hand, I recognized the value of being seen and heard, specifically in the sense that if you build it they will come you'll be more visible

...