What I’ve been up to …

With apologies for the quality of the photos in this post (cell phone / dim lighting / pre-recording nerves), I’m still going to include them, because they show you where I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing:

Yes, I’ve been in a recording studio!

I’m recording the Appaloosa Summer audio book, and I never knew it would be so much fun.

As referenced above, it’s a bit nerve-wracking. My breath gets away with me sometimes, so by the end of a chapter I can hardly breathe. And sitting with Jake – the extremely talented engineer I get to work with – and listening to my own voice, reading out my own words, while we do edits, is fairly surreal.

But being able to go into a proper studio is amazing. And the dim lights are kind of nice. It’s like going into a cave where nobody can reach me for a couple of hours.

Here’s the booth where I stand, and I can see Jake through that window:

Again – image quality – sorry!

A sense of humour is one-hundred per cent necessary. There are very normal, every day, not difficult words that I suddenly can’t pronounce. And there are things I wonder why I wrote into the book – like coyotes howling yip-yip-aroooo … – come on! I did try to record that a few times, and then Jake was kind enough to play it back in my headphones and threaten to use it as his ringtone, and I asked him to delete it and move on. There will be no voicing of the coyote howls in Appaloosa Summer.

Also, this is where I find I’m relieved I was sparing with swear words and what we’ve come to call “quivering bits” – it would be very difficult to stand in that booth and read out anything more graphic than the kisses as I’ve written them in the book.

This has been an amazing experience. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve left my comfort zone. I’ve fed off the energy of working with other people who are as committed to what they do, as I am to my writing. For those things alone, it’s totally worth it – however, I’m also going to get an audio book out of it!

And, it will be free!

Something special for my readers – I’ll let you know when it’s available.

Not just yet, as I’m back in the studio next week and, of course, looking forward to it …