Week 1:

I began Monday. I’ve decided I really am liking the materials  for this audio book collection so far. There are a total of ten pieces by 10 female authors, of the mystery genre, which I am “giving voice” to.

I must admit I haven’t gotten into reading mysteries since I outgrew Nancy Drew, but the characters are amazingly created, the descriptions so vivid, and the dialogue is immensely fun to act.  Such a joy to experience such well-written materials!

So far I have completed 5 , with 6 more (including the introduction) to go. So far: “Sister On The Case- Introduction written by Sara Peretsky , Lady Patterly’s Lover, by Charlotte MacLeod, For the Common Good, by Patricia Sprinkle, Estelle Is Dead, by Medora Sale, and A Family Sunday In The Park; V I Warshawski’s First Case, by Sara Peretsky.

Recording for an audio book. It is rigorous work. Not easy at all. The first day I read one of the longest stories, spending almost all day in the booth, taking a short break about once per hour to get up and walk around a bit.

I’ve noticed a measuable amount of back and shoulder stiffness, and right-hand (my mouse clicking hand) fatigue, from editing.

The text itself has been a challenge, too. The client sent a Word doc, scanned from the book. Reproduced, the type is very tiny for my aging eyes. So I selected all, put into an unformatted text doc, selected all and pasted into a new word doc. I adjusted the font type and size, marging, etc. and printed my own way. Much better, indeed!

I first print the story, and silently read it to understand its content. Then I record. Then I edit for mistakes or miscues, omissions, etc, then I’ll “proof ” , and listen to one more run through to be free of mistakes.

My voice as held up just fine, and I’ve managed to keep my turn times for the “regular” clients at my usual pace. Even so, I really have been pushing.  Just working about 10 hours per day in the booth, to get it all done. And there’s so much more to do. I just printed out my next story, the longest one, 18 8 1/2″ x 11″ pages, single spaced, 12 pt. type.  It’s caled, Not Just The Facts, by Annette Meyers.
I imagine the total time of this one to be close to 50 minutes, after editing.

I’m taking it to read in bed tonight, with my heating pad at my back, neck and shoulders.