I’m excited to announce that my first audiobook is now available on Amazon and iTunes. The narration of The Time Capsule is performed by none other than yours truly. See the brief guided tour of my humble recording booth above.
When I first decided to create an audiobook, I had no clue how challenging it would be. I worked in radio news for many years and was used to anchoring newscasts, doing live reports as a field reporter and an inside reporter, and recording a variety of short and long reports and programs. I usually did my own editing and was accustomed to the recording and editing process. But I was humbled to learn that narrating and editing an audiobook was ever so much more work than I imagined.
First off, it’s a big chunk of reading. The total listening time for my book is almost nine and a half hours. The time I spent recording the finished nine and a half hours was probably three times that number.
Second, I live in a noisy urban environment. Even though the Atlanta airport is nowhere near my house, some flight paths travel directly overhead. And while the jets are at a high altitude, the roar of planes comes right through my microphone, even with all the sound buffering I created with blankets, comforters and cushions etc. This, despite situating my homemade recording booth in the basement. The mic also picks up the sounds of construction a few blocks away, barking dogs several houses down, passing vehicles, garbage trucks doing their rounds, birds singing sweetly outside my windows and the cute little squirrels barking – yes, barking – in the trees! Third, my fancy schmancy microphone picks up every smack and click my mouth makes, and every last growl emanating from my stomach. Which makes for a never-ending editing process because I had to do multiple takes of every paragraph! Agh!
The unrelenting noise during daytime and evening hours meant I had to get up around 3:00 or 3:30 a.m., fix myself coffee and strawberries and head down to the basement to do my recording before the jets and traffic began. Of course, I had to make sure the furnace or air conditioner was turned off for the duration because both create a roar that’s picked up during recording. Then the process of uploading and getting approval from on high took much longer than anticipated as well.
But enough whining. The project is done. My debut audiobook is available for your listening pleasure. And I'm thrilled to have it out there!