I’m in a sort of limbo right now between having finished a book and trying to find a publisher. It would be imprecise to call it a purgatory. Not until I find out where I’m going, or where it’s going rather. My book was supposed to be a billboard, a way to publicize Patty Vance’s cold case. So podcasting was slated to appear much later on the so-called project timeline. But now that I’m suspended in this not purgatory, I found myself asking ChatGPT if there are true crime podcasts that accept case submissions.
Yesterday I took the plunge and filled out the submission forms for “Crime Junkie” so that maybe they might cover the story behind the Patty Vance murder. Full transparency I asked ChatGPT for help crafting a summary. No problem. But in the section that you are expected to summarize the case, the final prompt threw me for a loop. It asked, “why you want us to cover it.” “It” being the case. My generic answer is to get justice for my friend. Or to plaster her face and story wherever possible in the hopes that someone will come forward. But another answer is that I’m afraid to let her go. I never thought of myself as a hopeful person. Just the contrary. But listening to the women on “Crime Junkie” discuss cases makes me realize that they are better equipped than me. They know how to talk to law enforcement, know all the avenues to pursue for answers.
What if it’s not hope that keeps me pressing on? What if it is some close cousin to denial, a refusal to accept what I’ve been told over and over again? The odds of her case being solved are slim to none.
I don’t even want to think of podcasts as the last great hope. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I guess the answer is that yes to podcast. That is if they’ll take “it.”
