And We Have Audio . . .

You know, it seemed like a simple idea. Do Keynote presentations, add audio, put together a workbook and a notebook, hey, piece of cake. I've been teaching for forty years, I can do this.

So far for this project, I have learned Photoshop and Audacity, found where the Mac keeps its special characters, become a passionate devotee of Graphics Fairy and Dover Clip Art, and realized that my voice is so nasal that I sound like Fran Drescher. Lani finished her 102 lecture day before yesterday, but it's taking me longer because of the learning curve and my distaste for my own voice. She's had a lot of experience in broadcasting, plus she has a great voice. I don't even like to leave messages on answering machines. But I have just now finished my sixth attempt at recording a half hour audio track for Lecture 103: Introduction to Conflict, and this one is a keeper (still nasal, though). The slideshow is done. The audio is done. I'm going to tweak the notebook and workbook some more because they don't look right to me, but the content is good. I'm thinking my first Writewell lecture is pretty much finished.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's good. Lani and I kind of egged each other on in the graphics department. I had a lot of clip art in mine, and then I watched hers and thought, "Man, she's good," and went back and reworked mine. Eventually, we'll be the death of each other but at the moment, it's good for us to raise each other's bars. I may, however, have gone overboard on the clipart. The last frame of the lecture, before the end credits, is a compilation of all the examples in the lecture. I like it, if I used a mousepad, I'd want it for my mousepad, but that's a lot of stuff for thirty minutes of lecture. On the other hand, there are 180 slides. You be the judge:

We don't have a definite launch date yet, but it's soon. The website is pretty much done, Alastair has figured out the pay-and-deliver system, and by the end of the week, we should have the first three lectures ready to go. Oh, and do not search for Writewell.com because that's somebody else. We're WritewellAcademy.com. or we will be once the site goes up.

I can't believe that audio is finally finished. I think Wolfie's barking in the background on it, but that's just extra texture right? Because I am not recording that sucker again.

Edited to add: It wasn't. There was so much heavy breathing on there, it sounded like an obscene phone call. I recorded it again, but still, since I'm stuffed up, too much mouth breathing. Maybe I'll do it again pretending to be Marilyn Monroe. She was a heavy breather. ARGH.