Kim Kash's Blog, page 3

Major Awards!

Imagine how excited Ralphie's Old Man would have been if he'd won TWO of these!

A few months ago I was thinking, Kim, you know, you've got some good freelance work going on, maybe that second novel needs to go on the back burner for now. Be practical. Then wham! My work got chosen for not one but TWO short story anthologies! Okay, Universe, I'll keep writing fiction....

First, I got word that my short story "The Gardener" would be included in the 2016 edition of the Chesapeake Crimes anthology. The long-running series is put together by the Chessie Chapter of Sisters in Crime. This writers organization is the brainchild of Sara Paretsky, founded in 1987 in response to the lack of mystery award nominations being offered to women writers. The Chessie Chapter has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to me for years. I used to read my daily Chessie email digest and think, man, someday I'm going to be adding announcements about my book release parties, my signings, my award nominations! And now, exactly that kind of stuff is starting to happen!

Just because my story was selected, doesn't mean it was ready for prime time yet--not in an anthology as polished as Chesapeake Crimes. Indeed, the real prize was having my story edited by Barb Goffman, a mystery short story-writer who has been nominated for the Agatha Award seven times, the Anthony and Macavity awards twice each, and the Pushcart Prize once. She won the Macavity Award in 2013, and in 2014 her book Don't Get Mad, Get Even was awarded the Silver Falchion Award for best single-author mystery-short-story collection published in 2013! Now, thanks to the connection made with "The Gardener," the second novel in my Jamie August series will undergo her relentlessly sharp line and copy editing.

All of this is so great, right? But wait, there's more! Just as I was coming off of that high, I received word that I'd been awarded third place in the Mystery Times 2015 short story competition for my story "Pesticides Can Kill You." (I seem to be running with a gardening theme with these two, but the stories are quite different.) "Pesticides Can Kill You" will be published in an anthology due out in April of this year.

I hope all this horn tooting conveys my giddy enthusiasm, and not just the endless patter of self-promotion that seems to be a requirement for any writing career these days. I mean, both of these awards plus five bucks will get you a coffee at Starbucks; I won't be giving up the freelance writing any time soon. But this--THIS is the kind of writing I always dreamed of doing. 

(Note: I grabbed the Christmas Story picture from hookedonhouses.net, which I stumbled onto while looking for the right leg lamp image. I'm afraid this site is going to become my newest online addiction.)

 

A New Strategy

Sporting a Greenbelt Farmers Market t-shirt in the Northern Saudi desert

When I first arrived in Saudi Arabia, everything was utterly new and novel, and I wanted to share every detail with my family and friends--all of whom were back home in the States. Now, we have crossed the five-year mark, and Saudi Arabia--despite its quirks--has become home. Not forever, of course, but for now.

In these blog entries, I have shared my wide-eyed newbie traveler impressions on the Middle East, and the many other places in the world that I've been fortunate to visit. Now, after five years, I am immersed in my new life and new community. In addition to loved ones back in the U.S., I now have dear friends who live right down the block. I have found some good local writing opportunities, and am also busy with volunteer work.

Also, I am putting the finishing touches on Ocean City Coverup, the second novel in my Ocean City series!

For these reasons, I plan to blog less often. I'll still post occasionally, when the blog seems like the best venue. Otherwise, I intend to make fuller use of my Facebook Author page. If you don't already follow me there, just click on the link, or the little Facebook icon up at the top of this page, and "Like" Author Kim Kash. There you'll see news about the novel series, pictures and comments from my travels, and other random things that I find interesting. This more casual approach to keeping in touch will give me more time for other stuff--like finishing OC Coverup!

Journey Well!

A Roman Aperitif

The back garden of the Roman flat where we spent our first weekend away.

My husband and I have recently returned from almost a month away--most of it traveling in France and then Spain with my husband's (truly excellent) parents. On the way from the Middle East to France, though, we took a weekend for just the two of us. In Rome.

The Colosseum

I've been to Rome once before, but this was my husband's first visit. We had so little time that it didn't make sense to try for some kind of mad, comprehensive sightseeing spree. Instead, we just set out on foot or on the subway from our tiny, beautiful, perfectly located rental flat. (Thank you, Giacomo and AirBnB!) 

On the way to dinner....

Our first night out, we dined at one of the touristy restaurants on the Piazza Navonna. The food was average. However, we were sitting at a table next to another couple, and their monumental evening was enough to make ours unforgettable as well. Halfway through dinner my husband nearly squealed with contained excitement. He was trying to be discreet, but was frantically pointing over at their table. I looked just in time to see the man slip a diamond ring onto the woman's finger! Later in the evening, we congratulated the newly engaged couple. We told them that this holiday is a celebration of 20 years of marriage for us--and 50 years for my in-laws.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi on Piazza Navona

The next day, we packed a picnic lunch (heavy on the pork and booze, a foreshadowing of the rest of our trip) and walked and walked through the Borghese Gardens, which are dotted with fountains and ornamental buildings as well as museums and a zoo. We just walked under the trees, ate bread and sausage, and drank Italian red wine because, after a long Middle Eastern summer, that's what we wanted to do.

Picnic food. Okay, that's a lie: we didn't haul real dishes out to the park. This was a similar feast we had on our patio. But we did eat food just like this at the Borghese Gardens.

Borghese Gardens, complete with umbrella pines, which to me are oh, so Italian.

On our last evening in Rome, we took the advice of our Air BnB host and booked a table at Pastificio, a proper restaurant (like, the kind where you'll find actual Romans, unlike the picturesque but bland--and pricey--tourist places on the Piazza Navonna.) We ate well and enjoyed being surrounded by Italians having a night out at what they consider to be a good restaurant (Pastificio had several Italian award notices on its front door, and also one from the New York Times). It was a loud and late evening! 

Pastificio in the San Lorenzo neighborhood

Next: our adventures on the Canal du Midi in southern France, including how to navigate through a canal lock.

Anniversary Celebration on the Canal du Midi

In a few days, we'll pick up a rental riverboat--and bikes-- just like this in Lattes, France.

Twenty years ago, my husband and I got hitched at the courthouse in Leesburg, Virginia. (Our best picture from that day is stored away somewhere, but it's one of him in the stockade out front with me standing next to him, smiling sweetly.) A year later we had a big celebration with the white dress, the wedding party and the works. But that day at the courthouse is the event that we've always considered to be the real deal, the marker of when our marriage began. 

Forty years ago, my husband's parents tied the knot! (I believe their ceremony was slightly more elegant than our snowy courthouse day.) 

To celebrate their 40th, and our 20th wedding anniversaries, the four of us have chartered a riverboat in southwestern France, and will spend the next few weeks floating along the Canal du Midi. It's one of the oldest canals in the world, begun in 1663 to link the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. It passes through the region that makes some of my favorite wines.

For the next few weeks I will be completely unplugged. I'll be eating, drinking, visiting, and relaxing with my family.  It's a good life!

Photo courtesy of Locaboat

Who'd Play Jamie ... Another Contestant!

Oh no! How could we leave out Katherine Heigl? Good grief! I mean, everybody knows her from Grey's Anatomy, but she played Stephanie Plum in One for the Money. (Plus, my father-in-law nominated her. Sheesh! Clearly I don't know what's good for me. Let's fix this pronto!)

Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum

Now vote! Write in your choice for Jamie August from the many stellar nominees here and in the previous post. I'll announce the winner next month.

Who'd Play Jamie on the Silver Screen? Take the Survey.

Jamie August

Recently I posed the question on social media, "Who should play Jamie August in the movie?" Hollywood isn't calling--yet--with offers to turn my novel Ocean City Lowdown into a feature film. But hey, I should be ready, right?

It was fun to sift through the responses that came in from friends and fans of Ocean City Lowdown. I'm notoriously awful at remembering actors' names, and kind of clueless about celebs generally, so it was fun to look all these people up, watch some clips, and consider each of them cast as Jamie. I think some are spot-on, others are head-scratchers, and it is possible that one might have been floated in jest. Perhaps.

Their pictures are below, in alphabetical order (thanks to IMDB, Starpulse, and JustJared). Here's where you come in! Vote for your favorites IN THE COMMENTS at the end of the post--or add a new suggestion. Next month I'll tally up the votes and declare a winner.

Who's your favorite starlet for the Jamie August role? 

Jade Bartlett

Anna Camp

Charisma Carpenter

Joan Collins

Cameron Diaz

Natasha Lyonne

Kate Mara

Chloë Grace Moretz

 

Cobie Smulders

Emma Stone

Karinne Vanasse

Are you starstruck yet? Cast your vote right here as a Comment. Thanks!

Middle Eastern Road Trip, Part 2

Walking to our room at The Chedi, Muscat

Here I continue the tales of our recent road-tripping adventures on the Arabian Peninsula. 

Oman has a different climate than Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. It is slightly cooler, and definitely wetter. In fact, near its mountainous border with Yemen, Oman's landscape is misty and rainy this time of year, because it is affected by the monsoon season. (Need a geography refresher? Look here.)

For most of our time in Muscat, Oman's capital city, it was in the 90s (F), overcast, and humid. Which doesn't sound like much of a picnic, but I felt my skin soaking in the humidity, and my eyes were nicely moist. For a girl used to D.C. summers, this felt like home--but with no mosquitoes!

An overcast afternoon at the hotel's beach: For me, it was a perfect beach day.

Because it's summertime, and it was the end of Ramadan, I was able to get a great deal at The Chedi, a very elegant resort at the edge of Muscat. Condé Nast Traveller describes it as "a setting that has been meticulously designed to be part Philippe Starck, part Lawrence of Arabia."

The Chedi lobby (photo courtesy of Conde Nast Traveller)

We are fortunate in the Middle East to have access to 5-star hotels which, unlike in Europe and North America, are reasonably affordable for riffraff like us! So we have seen our share of baroque-style gold bathroom fixtures and ridiculous chandeliers.

But this! Our room had an alcove with a built-in sofa and meticulous, modern architectural details that reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright, actually. The sheets had such a high thread count that they felt like silk. There were burbling fountains and zen-like pathways between the low, whitewashed buildings. I caught a whiff of a mysterious, intoxicating incense each time I passed through the lobby.

We noted with surprise that their main restaurant won a 2013 Wine Spectator award for its wine list. So, of course we had to speak to their sommelier--how wonderful to be in a place where they have one! You'd expect it in Europe or the U.S., but in the Middle East? Not so much. Because this was the tail end of Ramadan, drink service was limited to dinnertime in the main restaurant. Fair enough.

A dhow and a yacht in the harbor

We did manage to drag ourselves away from the lovely Chedi to see Muscat's waterfront corniche, and its souq (which opens directly onto the corniche.) There were millionaire yachts floating next to traditional wooden dhows. 

Muscat's souq. Note the timbers and decorative painting on the ceiling.

Muscat's busy, maze-like souq is built around a series of central spaces like this one, with paths spoking out in every direction. The souq was crowded with Eid holiday shoppers, as gifts are traditionally exchanged during the Eid (which is the celebration that follows Ramadan). It was noisy and crowded, but felt very calm and safe. In fact, all of Oman felt very calm and safe. Michael bought Omani headscarves, and the shopkeeper taught him how to tie one in the Omani way, which is unlike the loose style worn in other Arabic countries. 

The Omani head scarf, extreme style! You'd only wear it across your face like this to protect against wind and sand. Or if you're an international man of mystery....

After a couple of days of 5-star pampering, it was time to head down the coast to Ras Al Jinz, a sheltered beach that is the breeding ground for four types of sea turtles. 

The beach at Ras Al Jinz

It was hard for me to figure out exactly when breeding season is supposed to be--different sources say different things. I think it's a long season, what with four different breeds of sea turtles showing up, but for all that we've heard plenty of stories of people coming to Ras Al Jinz multiple times and standing out on the beach in the dark seeing ... nothing. But we got lucky.

Around 9:30 p.m., a guide took a group of us out to the beach and immediately we found a mama leatherback turtle, easily 175 pounds, who was in the process of laying her eggs in a deep hole she had dug in the soft sand. Watching those pearlescent eggs coming out of that  huge, silent creature felt sort of intrusive, certainly weirdly intimate. (No pictures--flashes weren't allowed and anyway that would have been crass!) 

Next we saw another mama turtle who was in the process of burying the eggs she had just laid, using her powerful back legs to kick sand into the hole. Several of our group got sprayed with flying sand. Finally, we saw a third turtle making her way back across the sand and into the sea. We watched as her shell, at least five feet long, disappear into the waves.

Terraced farmland in the Hajar Mountains at Jebel Akhdar

The next morning, we drove inland from the coast up into the Hajar Mountains, where we stayed in the city of Nizra. The picture above shows the kinds of views we had once we got out of the car and started walking through the countryside high in the Jebel Akhdar region, up in the mountains. This was after we crossed the check-point where the police make sure you really do have a four-wheel drive vehicle! Bear in mind, these pictures were taken in August--in the hottest, driest season of Oman's year. Yet, look how green!

Grape arbor in Jebel Akhdar. We also saw pomegranates, corn, and roses (grown for the flowers and also for rose hips)

We saw aqueducts, wadis, and small shady pools in our treks around Jebel Akhdar.

A little pool at a bend in the road. There were even small fish swimming in the water.

Yes, that is a village way, way down in a valley in Jebel Akhdar. Views like this are common here.

We hiked down to an abandoned village--one of two in a valley. They had been traditionally constructed of stone and mud. It felt like the village must have been hundreds of years old, but we walked through others that looked fairly similar--and they were still occupied.

Stone structures held together with mud.

Standing in one abandoned village, looking across the valley at another.

A village in Jebel Akhdar that is still very much alive and well, with terraced fields, a school, and an active social life. Around lunchtime, we saw people heading towards one of the buildings carrying bowls and trays of food. Potluck!

Terraced fields: that's corn growing down there! If you look closely in the fallow fields, you can see some flat rocks lying around. In the active fields, flat rocks like these are used like locks to direct water into some rows and keep it out of others.

Keeping bees in the fields

It's a small world. Go Terps!

Each of the mountain villages had a parking lot, usually perched on a plateau or a widening of the road above the village proper. There are no cars inside the villages themselves. We couldn't resist taking a picture of a Jeep with a University of Maryland sticker on the back window! (I retouched the tag so the numbers don't show, but it's an Omani license plate.)

Trail marker

How did we know where to hike? The whole region is riddled with hiking trails, all blazed with the striped mark shown above. Sometimes the trail marches right through the middle of a village--in which case, there will be trail blazes painted on the sides of buildings themselves. 

Hotel goats

After a day of tramping around the mountains, we returned to our hotel in Nizwa. Earlier I had noted with some concern that the emergency exit in the hallway near our hotel room was padlocked shut. That afternoon it became clear why: the neighborhood goats like to hang out in the shade of the hotel building--and you KNOW if that door wasn't bolted shut someone would have let those goats in to roam the halls.

Finally it was time to bid a fond farewell to Oman, and begin our return trip north. We stopped off in Qatar for the weekend to visit friends--and saw sculptor Richard Serra's ambitious and strange installation out in emptiness of western Qatar. (Another instance where four-wheel drive was the only way to get there.) 

East-West/West-East by Richard Serra

One of the four steel plates standing in a line in the Qatari desert

If you're interested in reading more about this piece, the New Yorker did an article on it back in April, when the installation was being unveiled. In the article, I learned that the head of Qatar's Museums Authority, Sheikha al-Mayassa Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, a sister of the Emir and a Duke University graduate, was recently named the most powerful person in the art world by ArtReview. The Museums Authority spends about a billion dollars per year on art. A billion! 

Painting party (Photo courtesy of Daisy Omissi)

After our East-West/West-East experience, and a picture-postcard sunset on the beach of Qatar's west coast, we returned to our friend's house for pizza, beer, and our own artistic outpouring!

The next day we made our final push for home. We have talked several times since then about how happy we are to have made this 9-day road trip and seen so much of this part of the world--our new home. Each of the countries we visited has its own feel, its own energy. When you just fly in for the weekend, it can be hard to get that. 

Sunset at Ras Al Jinz

Middle Eastern Road Trip, Part 1

Climbing Jebel Shams, the highest mountain in Oman.

To celebrate the arrival of our new SUV (much needed after both of our elderly Land Rovers died) we set out on a big, American-style road trip. Across the Middle East.

Great roads! Nothing much on 'em...

We drove over 4,000 kilometers from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia through the United Arab Emirates (stopping in Dubai), then into Oman, where we toured around for several days. Then we backtracked through the UAE and detoured through Qatar before returning home nine days later. (If you're not familiar with the geography in this part of the world, please look at this. The whole conversation will make so much more sense.)

Well, it's not that there is nothing on the road. There are camels.

Judging from the reactions we got from people who saw our Saudi license plates, it seems people really don't do this sort of road tripping thing here. "You're doing what?" hotel clerks would ask. "You drove from where?" 

Sometimes the camels ride in truck beds. Have you ever seen this on 95 heading north to Boston?

Nobody thinks much of doing a road trip from Maryland to the Outer Banks, say, or to Boston. But here, driving that distance means crossing multiple international borders and getting as many visas. It also means traveling for hundreds of kilometers at a time (apologies to American readers: everything is in kilometers here) on roads with no gas stations, no rest stops, no turnoffs, no buildings--nothing at all. Between cities, we learned to top off the gas tank when we could.

Saudi dates: the best road snack ever.

Another big difference between this road trip and any we've taken before: we set out driving during the last few days of Ramadan. During the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. So even if there had been a Waffle House just off the highway (a girl can dream...), it would have been closed during daylight hours. So we packed plenty of road snacks: nuts, cheese, crackers, and sticky, delicious Saudi dates. We didn't make a big deal of hiding our food and water, but we tried not to wave the stuff around when we were in a clump of traffic. Because, more than anything else, that just makes a non-Muslim look clueless and rude here. It's like bringing BBQ ribs to a vegan potluck, or waving chocolate under a Catholic's nose when they've given it up for Lent.

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"Commuting" workers at the end of the day, carrying their lunch tiffins.

Within a few days, Ramadan was over and the Eid holiday that follows it was in full swing. Traffic was heavy on the city streets of Muscat (Oman's capital city), with both cars and people clogging the lanes. In some areas, driving was scary because pedestrians kept showing up on the roadways, crossing them or, like these guys, walking right alongside the cars.

Camels give way to goats on rural Omani roadsides.

In the rural areas outside of Muscat, we noticed several things. First, there are goats. Lots of goats. Goats in singles and pairs, goats munching on trees, sorting through dumpster trash, goats socializing, relaxing in the shade. Sometimes a few donkeys are hanging out in the goat crowd. It's a very goaty country, Oman.

Dumpster goat

We also noticed that there are bus shelters all over the place, and enough of them had people inside seemingly waiting for buses that we were persuaded to believe that there is an actual, working public transit system in Oman. With a quick search, I can see that there are intercity buses serving more than a dozen destinations around the country.

Here's a bus shelter in Oman.

And another bus shelter. (Yes, I was taking photographs of bus shelters from my car.)

Finally, we observed that, like its charming and plentiful bus shelters, Oman has great water towers. Oh, the things you notice on road trips!

This is not an ancient fort. It's a water tower. There are many just like this in the Omani countryside.

On our long drive back to Saudi Arabia from Oman, we stopped for the weekend in Qatar. Throughout the Middle East, major publicity campaigns are underway to reduce littering. (Remember the American one from the 70s: "Give a hoot, don't pollute! Never be a dirty bird....") Some countries are clearly having more success with this than others. 

Qatar's ominous billboard campaign against littering.

Qatar's Keith Haring-styled anti-littering message sounds Orwellian. "We All See You. You Are Not Alone. (Don't throw waste in your neighborhood.)" These signs loom over the giant, beautifully maintained highways, so the message is actually quite accurate. If you buzz down the window and toss out your Rock Star can, seriously, everyone will see you. So don't do it!

Ruby Vroom meets Richard Serra

Next time I'll talk about what happened those times when we got out of the car.

The Advance Scout

Sunset at Fager's Island (the 1812 Overture is heating up by this point.)

My longtime friend Melina, born and raised in Maryland like me, went to the beach last weekend with a friend and a trunk full of Ocean City Lowdown paperbacks. What a sport! She chronicled her day's adventures, and hit me hard with a wave of Maryland nostalgia! Here's what Melina was up to last Saturday.

It was a sunny, gorgeous day on the back roads of 404. There were watermelon stands and fresh corn signs all along the way. We stopped at Ocean Downs Casino. WHEEL of FORTUNE! My dear friend Lesley won a heavy pour of Sauvignon Blanc. It was Sicily bonus day and every half hour a name would be announced and someone squealed across the room.
 
Anyway ... time to boogie over to Rehoboth! We drove the 26 miles up Rt. 1 through the Fenwick, Bethany stretch. That area has become a haven for gated communities and Mercedes. Dewey, on the other hand, was like a frat house. Traffic slowed to a crawl as parties from bars on both sides of the street spilled into the road. There were sloppy drunks, t-shirts, cut off shorts and couples of every combination.
 
Once in Rehoboth, we parked on Baltimore Ave. and found Proud Books. Jacques was behind the cashier bar surrounded by products like "Gun Oil" and tchotchkes both fabulous and inappropriate ( I would have loved to see the look on my sweet sister Terri's face). He had mischievous eyes and a curly, wicked smile.
 
He called us “advance scouts.” OMG. We just thought we were friends supporting a great author/book. He asked a lot of questions about the book and what we liked about it. Wanted specifics on the dirty parts. I focused on the salacious strip tease, but realized I should read the book again to really know it better because you never know what folks will ask! The lesbian question came up. Er…. “She will appeal to the Iesbian audience,” is what I went with. He really softened when we said it was your first novel in the series and took six copies. He sent us over to Cats Meow and Browseabout Books.
 
We went through the adorable alley that connects Baltimore Ave. to the main Rehoboth thoroughfare. The alley has a couple of shops in it with jewelry and coffee. Then we turned right and spoke to the folks at Browseabout. The Cats Meow is adjacent, with older customers picking up fancy beach wares. The book side was neat, with an even bigger book selection than Proud.
 
We moseyed down to a beach glass and jewelry store called Scandanavian Occasion. Picked up some silver earrings and spoke to the young lesbian folks who seemed to be running the place. They do sell books and other decorations for your beach house and pretty trinkets and things.  I left them a book.
 
Then we went into Jake’s for some amazing salads, fish tacos and stuffed mushrooms. Decor was meh..but great food and service. We parked ourselves on the beach for a while to feel the salt air and listen to the waves. The beach was crowded with Latin and African American families—way more diversity here than I see in Ocean city. Most moms had magazines to read. I didn't see many tablets or books among the heat and sand and water.
 
Then back down Route 1 to OC.
 
Ocean City in July is a wonderful, hot mess. There are folks everywhere. Apparently we import Jersey families now. Dogs, boats, kids, classic cars and skateboard dudes. We passed a tattooed longhair golden god with dubious career goals. I could see Jaime with him. Muscle shirts still big. Sunsation has an array of them, plus shorts with “Ocean City, MD” on the bum and neon lace cover up tanks and matching micro mini skirts to go over your bikini. I can only imagine the spiderweb sunburn that could result.
 
We didn't have luck with bookstores in OC. Where are they? There was one mentioned on Yelp called Mel’s New and Used Books on 101st, but we couldn't find it. We ended up leaving a copy at the OC Chamber of Commerce, the OC Library and the Carousel gift shop.
Liquor stores were filled with po-po. I don't know if there was a crackdown on underage drinking or what.
 
So we went to Fager's Island for dinner and to watch the sun go down to the 1812 Overture. It was such a gorgeous night. The dark, cloudy water goes silvery blue on the bayside at sundown. The sky was pink and coral. Just breathtaking. Dinner there was not as good as lunch at Jake’s, but their margaritas never disappoint.

OC is funny. I haven't hit on their literary underground. I wonder if Sunsations or other stores that sell beach bags would sell your book?
The Convention Center always has something going on ... this was Greek weekend, for instance.

Had a great time! At your service and hope to sell the remaining books! Love you. Keep writing. Jamie forever!

-Melina
 

Melina and Jamie

The Voice of Ocean City Lowdown

Izolda's little sound booth during the recording of Ocean City Lowdown

The audio version of Ocean City Lowdown has just been published, and I have to say, it was quite a learning experience for someone who hadn't a clue about the nuts and bolts of creating an audiobook. People who know as little about the process as I did have asked me, "Why didn't you do it yourself?" Oh, no no! Now I have observed the preparation, the voice training, the acting skill, the equipment, and the post-production work that goes into creating a professional-quality audiobook, and I understand that such an undertaking requires much more than a voice recorder and some good intentions. Fortunately, I was working with voiceover expert (and longtime Marylander) Izolda Trakhtenberg. We had an interesting conversation about her work: 

Kim: You do a lot of research before and even during the recording. For example, didn't you consult with the Ocean City Board of Tourism? What other kinds of interesting or oddball things have you had to research, for this project or others?

Izolda: I called the Ocean Board of Tourism to ask about pronunciations of geographic locations like Assawoman Bay. If a character says the name and she or he is supposed to know the place, then I'd better have the pronunciation right. I also like getting the feel of places and locations where the stories take place. As part of the research for Ocean City Lowdown, I went to Essex and Dundalk and hung out in the local Starbucks and a couple of diners. I wanted to soak up the accents and the cadences of how people talked and related to one another.

As part of a movie project I did for NASA on Earth's biomes, I spent time researching the plants and animals of those places so I could describe them with feeling. One of the most unusual items I researched was the Rafflesia flower in Indonesia. It smells like rotting meat. When I narrated that movie, I wanted to convey that sense of what rotting meat would smell like in the jungle. I endeavor to bring a sense of immediacy to every narration. I want the listeners to feel like they are right there, in the moment, like the action they are hearing is happening right now and they are participants in it rather than just witnesses to it. Research helps me get into the story so I can then try to communicate that immediacy to the audience.

K: How do you study the accents that are needed for your work? What was your process with Ocean City Lowdown? Who/what were your sources for that unique Maryland sound?

I: I have a few sources for accents, including Evangeline Machlin's work on speech for the stage and performance. I also use Paul Meier's books and terrific website. His Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen has been a great help. For Ocean City Lowdown, I went to the source as much as possible. I asked friends for recommendations on where to go and people I could listen to. I then got in touch with these friends of friends and asked if I could record them speaking to get a feel for how they say what they say. I also went to the Dundalk Public Library and hung out at the tables and listened to people interact. I stopped a couple of young women who sounded like they might be around Jamie's age and asked if I could record them speaking. While the accent of a place is important, I find that cadence, the lilt of how people from a certain area speak, is equally important in conveying a sense of place. If the cadence, the musical ups and downs of speech patterns, don't ring true, the rest of the characterization will not ring true either. The same can be said about characters' ages. Younger people sound different than older people. Voices change as we grow older and those differences in vocal tone, quality, and timbre have to be imparted to the audience.

K: Do you listen to music, eat specific foods, or do any other stuff to get yourself into the mood for whatever you’re reading?

I: If the work I'm narrating contains music references, I will listen to those. Otherwise, I prepare to record by doing a comprehensive set of physical and vocal warm-ups. I do a lot of tongue twisters and sing and speak at the outermost reaches of my vocal range. Since the characters in any reading will have a wide range of vocal styles, I need to have facility in speaking up high or down low, quickly, slowly, softly, loudly, etc., with whatever the work requires. 

I eat no dairy before recording because it will clog my throat. I also gargle with warm salt water before and after a recording session. Otherwise, to get in the mood to record, I open the chapter I will be reading and spend a little time reading the book. I like to get a little lost in the story before I voice it so that I can bring as much of it as possible to life vocally.

K: You went to Ocean City for the very first time while you were in the middle of recording Ocean City Lowdown. How did the real Ocean City compare with your impression of it from the story?

I: I loved both.  The biggest difference between the book and the actual place was that I was there in May and everything felt warm and nothing was frozen. The book takes place in the cold of winter so that was a striking difference. It was great fun to see the places you describe in the book. I didn't get to go into Seacrets, but it looked like a great time. I saw South Moon Under and Piezanos and a good number of other places described in the book. My favorite part of any place near the water is the water. I'm hoping Jamie's next adventure takes place when she can be on the ocean more.

K: You’ve done fiction voiceovers as well as educational audios. What’s your favorite kind of voiceover project? Or, what are aspects you enjoy about these very different kinds of projects?

I: I love them all, but if I have to choose, audio books are my favorite kind of voiceover project. I enjoy commercial narrations and educational voiceovers, but I love the creativity that I employ to bring characters to life with my voice. I love developing the characterization and personalities of the people who populate a book. Their voices, cadence, and vocal mannerisms have to convey their whole lives since there are no visual cues in an audio book to give the reader any clue as to who these people are. Voice acting excites me because it allows me to flex my acting and theater muscles. Theater was my first love and audio book recording is a bright, big window into that world.

When I narrate movies, I am an accompanist to the main event. The visual aspects of a movie tend to be what most seeing audiences focus on. The narration accompanies what is happening on screen. In order to narrate those projects effectively, I have to change my focus to one of supporting what else is happening instead of being the primary conveyor of information, education, or entertainment. Again, that type of narration flexes a different but just as fun set of muscles.

K: Your work is creative, but it's also technical. What are some of your favorite things about each side of this coin?

One of my favorite aspects of narrating a book is the opportunity to get into the minds of the characters in the book. The book describes their motivations and their actions. And I have to bring those to life vocally. I prepare for voicing each character like I would prepare and develop a character for a stage play. I study each character's desires, motivations, and relationships. Then, I communicate those using only my voice. The difference between a stage play and an audio book narration is that a stage play will have many actors playing the various roles. As the narrator of an audiobook, I have to play every role and do it in such a way that the listener feels like she or he is listening to many people who live in the world of the book. Granted, I do not create radically different voices for each character, but I do attempt to give each person in the story an inner life that is imparted to the listener as the story unfolds.

I need to capture what they want and how they ask for what they want without any of the visual cues that would be conveyed in a movie or television show. Audio book narration is also different from the old radio plays in that there are no sound effects. The voice has to bring all of the drama and action of a story to life without any additional sound.

In addition to doing the actual voiceover/narration work, I am also my own production team. I am the engineer, the director, and what they call, "the talent." So, while I am recording, I have to remain cognizant of any slips that I make in wording, pronunciation, recording quality, or slips of the tongue. So, while part of me remains involved in doing the creative part of actual narration, another part of me is listening for a word I misspoke, or a sentence I read slightly differently than I might want to have read it. I then have to stop everything, cue up the correct point in the recording and start over. Often, I will have to do take after take until I get a sentence or a word just right. Often, authors are really good at writing for speech. In other words, the writing is easy to read out loud. It lends itself well to narration. Sometimes, the phrasing is challenging or sentences are long and that makes narrating as if the action of the story is unfolding in the moment much more challenging. So, I have to practice some sentences many times to get them so I can say them as if they are happening right in the moment.

My own personal bane are the words, "rear wheel." If I ever have to say them in a narration, I will be in trouble. For some reason, these two words together give me a challenging mental block. I have to say them over and over until I get out of the groove of saying "real wheel."