#294 – 2025 Spun Today Wrap-Up Show

Welcome back to the Spun Today Podcast—the show anchored in writing, but unlimited in scope. In this episode, host Tony Ortiz celebrates the start of a new year with a reflective journey through personal creative goals and the highlights of 2025. After the longest hiatus in the podcast’s history, Tony Ortiz dives into a wrap-up of the top five Spun Today episodes from the past year, sharing the stories, lessons, and memories that shaped the journey, including heartfelt tributes to friendships, deep-dive breakdowns of TV and movies through a writer’s lens, and insightful interviews with fellow creatives.

You’ll hear honest reflections on the writing and podcasting goals set for last year—what worked, what didn’t, and the exciting intentions set for 2026. Whether it’s exploring the creative process behind storytelling, wrestling with writer’s block, or extracting actionable inspiration from pop culture, this episode is packed with insights to fuel your own creative ambitions. Stick around for new developments, bonus content, and a renewed commitment to sharing the ups and downs of the writing life. Let’s kick off 2026 together, with more positivity, creativity, and motivation to get out of our own way and make space for growth.

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Links to the TOP FIVE Episodes of 2025:

#5: Episode 283 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/283

#4: Episode 280 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/280

#3: Episode 286 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/286

#2: Episode 282 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/282

#1: Bonus Episode Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/278bonus

 

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Check out my Books

 

Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way

FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale

Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories

 

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transcript

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transcript 〰️

Tony Ortiz [00:00:19]:

What up? What up folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today podcast, the only podcast that is anchored in writing, but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz and I appreciate you listening. This is episode two, 294. Respond to the podcast, the very first episode of 2026. It has been a minute, folks. I took a bit of a hiatus, if you hadn't noticed, right around before Thanksgiving, up until now left you all high and dry and I missed you. I miss doing this. That was the biggest break ever in 10, 11, 12 years.

Tony Ortiz [00:00:57]:

10, 11, 12. Somewhere within there that I've been doing this podcast and I definitely, definitely missed it. I'm very much so excited to get back in the swing of things. Producing this podcast is a cathartic experience for me. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot more about my craft, the craft that I love writing. Being able to take deep dives into it by analyzing from a writing perspective the TV shows and movies that I watch, the books that I read and sharing all that information, trying to synthesize it in a digestible, somewhat entertaining, hopefully way to you find folks. So I'm definitely excited about 2026 getting back in the swing of things in the consistent manner that you find folks had been used to prior to the end of 2025.

Tony Ortiz [00:01:50]:

Thank you very much for taking the time to listen. This is going to be a 2025 recap show, a wrap up show if you will, where I'm going to share with you the top five most listened to episodes of 2025. I'm going to reflect on the goals, the writing goals that I set for myself for 2025 when I did the wrap up show last year, see what targets I hit, what targets I missed, and establish my writing goals for 2026. Similarly, I am going to reflect on the podcasting goals that I set for myself for 2025 and then re establish and share with you my writing goals. I'm sorry, my podcasting goals for 2026. It's a good way to keep yourself honest, you know, check in on yourself every once in a while, take note and recalibrate as needed. But to do so, I feel you have to kind of sort of honestly look into and reflect on what you've done, what you haven't done. And the top of the year I feel is a great time to do just that.

Tony Ortiz [00:02:52]:

So please stick around for all that good stuff. But first I wanted to tell you all about a quick way that you can help support this show if you so choose. Aside from going to sponsor a.com shop checking out all the new merch there, you can also go to sponsorate.comsupport where you'll find a bunch of affiliate links where you get discounts for shopping at stores that you may already be shopping at Amazon, Stitch, Fix, AG1 and a few others. And it's a great way to support the show. Here is another one of those ways that you can help support if you so choose and then we'll jump right into the episode. You can also support the Spun Today podcast by rating and reviewing the show. Wherever it is that you're listening to this episode, I'd really appreciate it because it really does help. Also, follow me on all socials.

Tony Ortiz [00:03:47]:

Fun Today on X Formerly known as Twitter, Spun Today on Instagram and spun today on YouTube where you'll not only find the full length episodes of the podcast, but also chopped up clips and additional content. And of course you can follow the Facebook page@facebook facebook.com forward/spun today the top five podcast episodes of 2025 starting off with number five, the fifth most listened to episode of the year. Which is kicking us off on a sad note. But I am in a way glad that it did make this list because that means folks listened. His voice transcended and I know his loved ones that I have spoken with definitely appreciated the episode and it was episode 283 Cycles of Life, Loss and stories Honoring Friendship and Remembering Pablo Mosquera Jr. RIP Pabss he's a sponsored alumni, one of my closest friends that sadly passed unexpectedly in April 10th of 2025. Still something that feels surreal. Probably the the closest person to me that I've lost.

Tony Ortiz [00:05:02]:

And this episode was an homage to him. It was a re release partially of one of the episodes that we recorded together, which in retrospect I'm so glad to be able to have because although it is tough, it is also a blessing to be able to have the option to listen to his voice. And we used to do this thing where we would quote unquote cut work. You know, just take like an idle Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday off from work in the middle of the summer and go to Coney Island Beach. Why Coney Island? I don't know I remember why exactly we landed on that beach specifically, but we just used to chill, drink, eat Nathan's and shoot the and it's definitely good times. We we've also spoken or I've spoken about in the past all the bike marathons, the bike tours that I've done and it was with him, Pablo, as I'm sure anyone who's listened to any of those episodes knows. So yeah, definitely a tough loss. One of the lowest lows of 2025 for me, but again, honored that his episode or one of his episodes made this list.

Tony Ortiz [00:06:17]:

Number four. The fourth most listened to episode of 2025 was episode number 280 titled from Kendrick Lamar's layered messaging @ the super bowl to Beast Games A Creative Journey. That episode based on the title, pretty self explanatory. It took a deep dive into all the layers and hidden messages and double entendres and visuals that had multiple meanings or that people projected meaning meaning onto from Kendrick Lamar's super bowl performance from last year. Which by the way, I'm definitely looking forward to Bad Bunny this year. Very curious how that's going to turn out. And I also spoke about the first Beast Games series on Amazon, which I thought was pretty dope. And they announced, by the way, I heard recently a second season that's going to have like far less people.

Tony Ortiz [00:07:17]:

Jimmy Donaldson mentioned in an interview that I saw recently, I think it was like a New York Times interview where he spoke about how like a bunch of people from that first season wound up suing him after the season to see if they can get money apparently and say that their lives were in danger and they weren't sure what they were signing up for, so on and so forth. And his perspective on it is that he's definitely minimizing the number of people participating in season two and also having a more rigorous vetting process to make sure that the folks that are going to be part of the show know what they're getting into and are either fans or at least know who he is. Not necessarily fans, I think I'm. I think I added that myself, but just folks that ultimately know what they're getting into to try to mitigate that type of response after the fact. Number three, the third most listened to episode of 2025 was episode number 286, finding inspiration through Loss, Pandemic Reflections and honoring Pablo. Pablo made the list yet again. Shout out to Pabs. This one was another one of those episodes that I I re released the original audio of or you know, recorded like new intros and outros for just reflecting again on on the Loss.

Tony Ortiz [00:08:48]:

And this one was another one of those trips to the beach around pandemic times. Right? Like right after or not after, but not too far removed From like the 2021, 2022 pandemic years, if you will. If I'm remembering correctly. And again, bittersweet. You know, obviously goes without saying that I miss my friend who. And this goes back to the whole you don't know what you have until you lose it. Saying who was a bigger part of my life than I even realized. We would literally text every single day, if not every other day, max.

Tony Ortiz [00:09:26]:

And when a person like that in your life is. When there is a person like that in your life, you tend to at times probably take them for granted. Like you feel they'll always be there. So it kind of, it's kind of like a lesson for me to appreciate that much more the folks that I still do have in my life and it's just like leaves a void when they're not there, you know, Sucks. But again, knowing that two of his episodes hit the top five list of most listened to episodes in 2025 of the Spun Today podcast is a beautiful thing to see. And I again appreciate his loved ones that I know appreciated being able to hear him again at number two, the second most listened to episode in all of 2025. Episode number 282 titled Journey from Freelance Writing to Teaching. Insights from Amanda Lucas.

Tony Ortiz [00:10:23]:

Shout out to Amanda Spontane alumni. Second time on the show. Two great episodes that we've recorded in the past. This most recent one from last year chronicles her journey from all the different levels of her teaching, from home homeschooling to teaching at a chartered school and private school and I believe public school, unless I'm misremembering, apologize if I am Amanda. But to then starting her own school and she takes us through all the ups and the downs, the practical aspects of it, the permitting process issues that she ran into with zoning laws, having to hire staff, having to let staff go, taking on students and signing up their families, finding a physical location to teach the leasing process, so much nuance from within. Her journey from A to Z, which is what I love doing in these like interview style episodes that I do when I have someone on is just take a deep dive into Allah Arishafir hat tip to him, take a deep dive into what it is that they do or what it is that the topic is about and just get as detailed and nuanced as possible and hope that folks that are interested in that type of thing, whether it be from the perspective of someone that wants to start their own school, you can literally listen to that episode and definitely have a blueprint of how to get it done. Obviously everybody's journey is a little bit different, but it'll definitely give you a at least a scaffolding of how to start and potential pitfalls that you'll hit along the way. And if you're not interested in starting a school specifically, it's still a story about entrepreneurship, about overcoming, about dealing with obstacles and keeping that positive attitude that Amanda has in spades and absolutely shines through in this episode.

Tony Ortiz [00:12:23]:

Episode. So definitely dope to see that her episode made it to the top two and at number one. The number one most listened to episode of the Sponsor day podcast in 2025 was a bonus episode titled Writing Lessons from Gotham's Underworld Companion to Episode 278. And now this is something that I started new towards the end of the year I think I put out two bonus episodes, maybe three, but I think two that I really enjoy doing and absolutely plan to continue expanding on them. And they are essentially a companion guide to a previous episode where I took a deep dive like on some TV show or movie, in this case the Penguin series. And I sent synthesize the writing lessons that I picked up from those episodes into a bite size 3 to 5 minute long bonus episode which is just those writing specific anecdotes and takeaways and lessons. And for each of those bonus episodes which again I'm going to continue putting out in plantsuit throughout the year, which we'll get into a little bit more when I speak about the podcast goals for the year. Each of those lessons are accompanied by a completely free PDF if you go to the website for the episode so sponsor.com podcasts and find the specific bonus episode that you're interested in.

Tony Ortiz [00:13:54]:

And in there you don't even have to put in your email address. There will be a link to the companion PDF with these writing lessons and you know they're slightly more expanded that what I speak to in the actual podcast episode, but that I know fellow writers and creatives definitely would find helpful I definitely do myself. Which is mainly why I I do this right. Like I mentioned before, this is the way for me to learn more about the writing craft. This thing that I want to be great at one day. And this is just a fun creative way of me being able to explore that and hopefully share with you fine folks that can gain something from it as well. And that folks were the top five most listened to episodes of 2025 of the Spun Today Podcast and just want to give a shout out and a round of applause to each and every one of you who make that list possible just by listening to this show. So thank you.

Tony Ortiz [00:14:55]:

Now let's switch gears and speak about the writing goals that I set for myself in 2025. So I set 1, 2, 3, 4 goals for specific concise, because I thought that would help me achieve more writing goals for 2025. And I achieved only one of them. And that one is only one of them by the time you listen to this episode, or actually by the time you listen to the next one. So let me circle back. The first goal that I set for myself in 2025, or for 2025 rather, was consistency. Sticking to a schedule. Absolutely did not stick to one.

Tony Ortiz [00:15:36]:

Goal not achieved. Goal number two was to record the audiobook for Melted Coal, which again, not achieved, not done yet. And I published Melted Cold, literally grabbing one off my shelf right now in 2023. So we're in 2026, almost three years later, even though I think it was towards the end of 2023, but definitely two years later and counting and goal still not met. Again, 2025, shitty year in terms of achievement, if you will. Goal number three was to finish the first draft of Fractale 2, which is the continuation to my debut novel, Fractal, which I published even before Melted Cold, which is my short story collection. So the goal was to finish writing the first draft and then submit it along with book one in the series for editing. That was a sub goal to that and goal not achieved.

Tony Ortiz [00:16:41]:

I've had like a brick wall of writer's block when it comes to that second fractal book, which I finally had a breakthrough on, which I'll tell you guys a bit more about in a bit, but it's definitely been a long, lingering goal that has not been achieved. And last but certainly not least, the goal that I actually did achieve, which was finish writing and publish Make Way for your En Espanol. And I'm considering this achieved because I'm literally just putting the final touches on it, but it's completely translated into Spanish. Make Way for you is the first book that I ever wrote. It's called Make Way for you, Tips for getting out of your own way. I call it the poor man's version of the War of Art, which it definitely is to me. The War of Art, by the way, by Steven Pressfield, for those of you who don't know which I think I mentioned in in every episode that I record, but this book was like my homage to that. It's a collection of these freely written thoughts of mine that I wrote for years in notebooks and that I started seeing a a trend in.

Tony Ortiz [00:17:49]:

And they were These in essence cathartic. It was a cathartic process or it is a cathartic process free writing is. But they were in essence a me writing to myself, me trying to push myself, me trying to motivate myself to get out of my way. And once I noticed that thread of all these different pieces that I wrote, different times on different days, different years, in some cases under different circumstances and all hand is through line of yo, get out of your own way. Go do the thing that it is that you want to do. You want to write, write, continue writing. You want to put out a book, put out a book, learn how to do it yourself, seek out the answers. When you run into questions, into barriers, into obstacles.

Tony Ortiz [00:18:38]:

And essentially it's that process, that journey put into this book and was the first book that I published. It kind of came like full circle for me. And my hope is that folks can get that type of insight or motivation from it and that it can help them in a similar way in whatever creative pursuit it is that they are striving for. So I not only translated it into Spanish like I mentioned, but I also have a brand new cover that I'm excited about. It's kind of this like minimalist type of COVID that I've been chasing after with for a while for so for like melted cold. I wanted. I love the way that cover came out. The graphic designer Noel Se Young did a great job on it.

Tony Ortiz [00:19:31]:

Shout out to him. But the COVID from Make Way for you I did myself way back when. And it's always been kind of like plain and dull for me, which sounds a bit counterintuitive because what I was trying to achieve is like a minimalist look. And it is pretty minimal, but it looks like homemade, if you will. So I took this opportunity in releasing the Spanish version of the book to come up with a brand new cover design that I'd be happy with. And I did. And in keeping with the spirit of this first book or this, this, not this, I guess non fiction arm of Spontaneity Publishing, if you will, that I like keeping or at least this specific series of free, free writing that I do not get professionally edited, that I do the COVID did the original cover myself. I wanted to stay within that vein of it being just 100 me or through my efforts, you know, I did use for the COVID and cover design only very important to say I did use AI to help me AI tools to help me create the new cover design.

Tony Ortiz [00:20:47]:

And I think you guys are really going to enjoy it. That's done, the translation is done. I'm literally just putting the final touches to the copyright page and the acknowledgement acknowledgments page in Spanish and then literally just have to upload the file. So that's why I said by the time you guys listen to this or the next episode for sure, that will be out and available. And I'll definitely link to it on my books page, which is sponsored.com books and you can definitely check it out, look for it on Amazon, on any E Reader, Apple Books, Kindle, get a print copy, a hardcover, so on and and so forth. So definitely good on me, I guess, for at least achieving that one goal. Now in terms of writing goals for 2026, I'm going to run it back. Consistency and sticking to a schedule.

Tony Ortiz [00:21:39]:

It's definitely on the list. Recording the audiobook for melted cold Now I've dabbled in this past year in again trying to achieve that goal, which I did not achieve. Some of the stories, the very first one primarily has multiple characters in it. The story is a night out. It's essentially a group of six friends that go out to dinner one evening to celebrate an event. And it goes very left the evening, and I call it a mashup between the Usual Suspects and Ocean's Eleven. And I thought about recording the audio myself, which I still might, but I'm no voice actor. And it's really a craft, an art in and of itself to be able to perform an audiobook level and, you know, take on different accents and keep track of different voices within the story, so on and so forth.

Tony Ortiz [00:22:37]:

Yes. Alternatively, I could just read it in my own voice and not try to do too much with it. But we'll see. See how that turns out. But I was also exploring again, speaking within the vein of AI and the tools that are becoming available for authors. I dabbled with 11 labs like their stock voices, but I wasn't really convinced. I also didn't at least I haven't identified an option to apply different voices for different characters of the stock voices that 11 Labs has, which if there's a way, that would be great and I would probably buy in more easily. I also tried the there's a version where you can clone your own voice, but again, that also wasn't convincing to me.

Tony Ortiz [00:23:29]:

It just didn't sound right, like something was off about it. Kind of like that uncanny Valley type of thing. So I'm not sold on those yet. I might go and try. I started reading into it but haven't followed through with it. But Audible is offering an AI version of like an automated AI or an AI way to automate your book into audio. So I need to try that to see how that is and then, you know, make a decision, make a determination from there. But yeah, recording an audiobook for melted cold, definitely a goal on the list for 2026.

Tony Ortiz [00:24:04]:

And rounding it off with two more goals for 2026 is finishing the first draft, the fractal two, and submitting again, books one and two for editing. Now I did, like I mentioned earlier, I had this like story plotting breakthrough while watching Back to the Future 2. I had this epiphany with like, it was like a nut in the story that I couldn't crack. They couldn't figure, I couldn't get past like a specific point. And again, I've been writing the book for years, on and off, keep coming back to it with fresh eyes and nothing but these books as I envision them, book one, book two and book three, you know, it's a time travel story. This righteous group of people that go back in time to try to right the wrongs of the past. And it's very much so inspired by Back to the Future of my favorite trilogies of all time, probably my favorite trilogy of all time, and definitely one of my favorite 80s movies. And in watching Back to the Future 2, I had this, this breakthrough of an angle that I could take for part of the story that I wanted to tell.

Tony Ortiz [00:25:12]:

And since then I have been writing fairly consistently, much more consistently than I had been for pretty much all of 2025. So I'm definitely excited about that. I think this year could be the year that I actually complete that goal. And I gave myself. So it's those three strict goals. So the consistency and sticking to schedule, the recording of the audiobook for melted Cold and then finishing the second draft, the first draft of Fractale, Book two working title, by the way. And if and only if I do finish all of the above, then I'll allow myself this additional goal of a workbook version of Makeway for you, which is my non fiction that I mentioned, and creating a workbook version of it, which is essentially the exact text of the book, but enriching it with writing prompts and blank pages so that folks can use it as a workbook. And you know, you read a passage, you have writing prompt and then right there within the book you write to that writing prompt, which I think could be something interesting.

Tony Ortiz [00:26:20]:

But yeah, stay tuned. And let's see how I do with these writing goals this year. And now in terms of the podcast, let's go over my writing goals for 2025, which I had four, starting with a return to consistency of every other Thursday releases, which definitely was not achieved because I started for the very first time. So I, I've done the podcast consistently since the 20th of September of 2014. So for 10 years through 2024, every other Thursday without fail. On weeks where I did not have a brand new episode, I would at least re release an older episode, but definitely not leave folks hanging. In 2024 there were a couple weeks within there a handful where that slipped and instead of releasing on Thursday, I would release on a, on a Friday or Saturday. And then once I started slipping, flipping, that translated into 2025 and then I would miss a week and instead of releasing that we got released the next week, then I would re release an episode and I just had an atrocious worst year ever in the history of the podcast in terms of consistency in 2025.

Tony Ortiz [00:27:26]:

So that goal was absolutely not achieved. And then of course the hiatus that I mentioned at the end of the year, yeah, definite failure. The second goal that I had was to drastically reduce the number of re released episodes. So I felt like it was a bit of a crutch where I was giving myself excuses to not record an episode or allowing excuses to creep in and you know, they could be sometimes valid excuses. Life is going to life, but if you let life too much, you'll turn around and like Paulo Coello said or said, one day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted. So do it now. And I definitely don't want to run into that type of situation. So yeah, a goal was to reduce the number of re release episodes and that obviously was not achieved.

Tony Ortiz [00:28:21]:

And the issue, underlying issue there was exacerbated by the fact that I just missed weeks here and there and actually produced about 10 less episodes for the year than I otherwise would have had. I stayed consistent. Now goal number three was to increase listenership by 25% which ironically, given the inconsistency of the releases for 2025, I actually did achieve that goal. Had an increase in listenership of 60% just for like total downloads of the audio of the episode. And then when factoring in YouTube videos and shorts, there was a 20% increase year over year overall. So definitely a surprising win there actually. And last but certainly not least, the fourth goal that I had for 2025 in terms of the podcast was to continue and stay consistent with social media media posts and establish consistency with shorts posts on YouTube and so on and so forth. And I actually did achieve that.

Tony Ortiz [00:29:27]:

I stayed consistent. Continue putting on clips and full segments on YouTube and the shorts as well. And videos meaning on YouTube specifically of meaning, you know, anything in the duration of three minutes and up. So it could be full podcast episode, it could be a segment of a podcast or a clip that was just over three minutes that saw a 15% year over year gain in terms of of views, but the shorts had a 20% drop in terms of views year over year. So definitely got to work on my shorts game this year, which leads me. But you know, Overall I had 4 goals from a podcast perspective. Stuck to, failed at 2 and achieved 25050 split for such an inconsistent year of podcasting. I'll take it.

Tony Ortiz [00:30:19]:

And now my podcast casting goals for 2026, a return to consistency of every other Thursday releases. Absolutely number one on my list. Because I want to continue to hone in on the format that I'm happy with, which is the breakdowns of movies and shows. Not just from like a recap perspective like I used to do before, but also taking writing deep dives into them and researching and pulling out writing techniques from those elements of those shows and movies that resonated with me and sharing them with you finer folks and just thinking to myself, how can I replicate that type of thing, that type of method within my own writing? Because I feel if I'm learning, those of you that are interested in this type of thing would be learning as and it's a win win. Also, like I mentioned before, and definitely, definitely going to continue with the quick bonus episodes, which again are the condensed writing lessons from longer episodes that I keep to like three to five minutes. And it's just like a lightning round, if you will, of writing lesson, writing lesson, writing lesson, writing lesson. And each are accompanied by, like I said, a free PDF of an extended version of those writing takeaways that can be found in the episode notes of those bonus episodes. So definitely stay tuned for more of those.

Tony Ortiz [00:31:46]:

I also want to make sure that because I kind of in the past had this elaxed kind of, you know, what am I going to speak about this week? Which show? Which movie? Or do I want to do a free writing session episode? I want to get more consistent with that and I want to make every third episode a standard free writing session episode, which is where I share a piece of my own free writing and reflect on it. I share a writing tip, one specific Tip that I picked up from a writing blog or a book on writing or a podcast, so on and so forth. And I also tell you guys about what I've been reading. And that's where I do like breakdowns and takeaways from those books that I've been reading. So definitely look out for that format of episode, every third episode or so. And also I want to sprinkle in throughout the year, at least three interviews. And aside from that, I want to increase listenership again by 25%. I'll stick to that goal.

Tony Ortiz [00:32:46]:

Third, I want to continue and stay consistent with social posts, like I mentioned before, maybe step my game up a bit on those shorts. And last but not least, from a podcast perspective, actually, I lied. I have two more. I want to up my merch. So now I have like a notebook and hoodies and T shirts that. And coffee mugs that I'm happy with, some more happier than others. But I want to do some redesigns I want especially for the notebook. It's pretty much a notebook with sponsor logo on it, which is cool, but I don't know, I want something more universal, if you will.

Tony Ortiz [00:33:24]:

I designed one book before that was really minimalist and literally just said in. In kind of cool, like a cool font and diagonally across the coverage said right, like the word right on it. Which I liked. So I'm thinking something along those lines to like revamp the Notebook this year. But yeah, definitely revamping around the merch area. And last but certainly not least, I want to create a Goats drop. So I have this segment called Goats Doing Goat Shit where I like to highlight goats within their own genres or fields that go above and beyond in some way, shape or form. And I want to create a drop, like a sound drop for that.

Tony Ortiz [00:34:09]:

And I have in mind what I want. And I tried putting it together, but definitely huge shout out to like DJs and producers that actually do this because mine sounds like. And I was just like splicing the different sayings and sounds that I wanted to put together. So yeah, I want to continue working on that. And it is something that I want to create myself. Definitely fun to like try to figure out something that sounds sonically at least kind of good to me. But yeah, it's like a drop that I want to play, you know, a 30 second drop or something like that that I want to play before that segment each and every time. I think that'd be pretty cool.

Tony Ortiz [00:34:47]:

And yeah, folks, that was it. That was my little recap of and wrap up show of 2025. Definitely looking forward to 2026, making it a better, much more positive year. Shedding all the negativity from 2025, all the downs, looking for more of those ups. This year, I'm wishing for you the same. And until next time, peace. What's up folks? Tony here. I hope you're enjoying the Spun Today Podcast as much as I enjoy producing it for you.

Tony Ortiz [00:35:24]:

Here are a few ways you can help support the show. You can support the Spun Today podcast financially by going to spuntoday.com support. There you will find a couple different ways that you can do just that, some of which will actually not even cost you a dime, such as using my Amazon affiliate link. When you go to spunthoday.com support, you'll see my affiliate link to Amazon. Click on it and it will take you to Amazon's website where you can do your shopping like normal. Normal. This will not cost you anything extra, but Amazon will pay me for driving traffic to their website. If you'd like to support the podcast more directly, you can do so by becoming a patron@spuntoday.com support.

Tony Ortiz [00:36:07]:

You'll also find my Patreon link. This is where creators such as myself can be paid directly by patrons like you. You can either make a one time donation or schedule recurring donations if you so choose. There are also different tiers of support and depending on which you decide to go with, you'll also receive some perks in return such as early access to content, free digital copies of my books, free bookmarks, etc. That is again by supporting via my Patreon link available@ sponsorday.com support similar to Patreon at that same location. You'll also find my Ko Fi link as well as my Buy me a coffee link. They work very similar to Patreon and are different ways that you can help support the show financially. And last but certainly not least, you have the good old fashioned paypal donation button.

Tony Ortiz [00:36:53]:

Any which way that you choose to support is greatly appreciated. It all helps me do more of what I love, which is writing and podcasting. Again, go to spun today.com support. You can also support the Sponsor Day podcast by rating and reviewing the show. Wherever it is that you're listening to this episode, I'd really appreciate it because it really does help. Also, follow me on all socials. Puntaday on X, formerly known as Twitter, Spun Today on Instagram and punt today on YouTube where you'll not only find the full length episodes of the podcast, but also chopped up clips and additional content and of course you can follow the Facebook page at Facebook facebook.com forward/spun today Another way you can help support the Spun Today podcast and also upgrade that stale wardrobe of yours is by going to Spun Today.com support and clicking on the banner for Stitch Fix. Once you do, you'll enjoy a $25 discount to your first purchase.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:55]:

And the way Stitch Fix works is pretty cool. I use it and I've never been disappointed. You'll set up a profile. You'll put in all the sizes for your clothes as well as all the different brands and types of clothes that you like to wear. It's really simple and intuitive to set up. They'll show you pictures and pretty much give you a thumbs up or thumbs down option on if you would wear something or not. And you get to select all the brands that you already are used to wearing. With this information, there are thousands of passionate trend setting stylists who'll curate a Stitch Fix box for you.

Tony Ortiz [00:38:28]:

They'll send you five items that you get to preview before they mail it to you and you'll get to select based on the image if you like it or not. If not, they'll replace it with something else and if so, they'll mail it to you absolutely for free. You can try everything on and you have a few days to send everything back or keep the stuff that you want to keep. Then you can use that $25 credit that I mentioned towards your purchase of those items again. To freshen up your wardrobe and also support the Sponsor Day podcast, go to sponsor day.com forward/support and click on my affiliate link banner for Stitch Fix and enjoy your $25 credit. Do you want to start your own podcast? Have a great show idea that you want to get out into the masses but don't know quite how to get it from your head out into the world? Well, here's how. Use the Podcast Host Libsyn. That's who I use to bring the Sponsor Day podcast to you.

Tony Ortiz [00:39:20]:

And now you can use them the same way using the promo code Spun Spun. You can open up your Libsyn account today and get two months of free podcast hosting. Here's how it works. Once you record your show, you upload it to your Libsyn account where you can fill in your episode notes, upload your podcast art, and schedule when you want your episodes to release. Once you do that, Libsyn will take care of the rest of the they'll distribute your show to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all the other podcasters that you choose instantaneously and seamlessly. Again, go to Libsyn.com and use the promo code spun S P U n to get two months free. Or use the affiliate link that's in the episode notes. Again, that's libsyn.com promo code spun.

Tony Ortiz [00:40:11]:

Take that great podcast idea from out of your head and put it out into the world. And as always, folks, substitute the mysticism with hard work and start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Thanks for listening. I love you, Aiden. I love you, daddy. I love you Grayson I love you, daddy.