Your Voice

That's me?

I’m doing an audio version of my memoir, I Reserve The Right To Be Terrified.

I don’t know how long before it gets released into the wondrous publishing world, where otherwise useful people go to die.

I just listened to the opening few pages (words). Disorienting.

I preached for 30 years. Have been doing book signings for 25 years, at which I read excerpts.

I have never listened to a recording of my voice. Maybe because I knew it wouldn’t sound like Martin Luther King, or Jesse Jackson. Not even like Billy Graham.

It sure doesn’t!

The sound of my voice seems so uninteresting, I found it hard to concentrate on what the words were saying. Maybe the reader’s voice should be neutral. After all, people tell me they listening to audio books while they drive. Might a captivating voice cause them to lose the concentration driving demands?

I hope my voice comes through as easier for you to listen to than it does to me, because I sweat blood to compose what I hoped would be engaging in ways that would encourage you to imagine your own life as you may not have before.

I’ve never listened to another audio book. I am a visual person and easily lose the thread while listening. I am one of those who can put people off in conversation when I begin hearing the voice of the person behind me more than the person speaking to me. I think that’s one of the symptoms of dyslexia.

I wanted to do the audio book, both because so many tell me that’s the only way they “read” books. And to see what it’s like.

Gary, the audio engineer who encouraged and then gently led me through the experience, amazed me with what he could do with modulating voice and going back to correct mistakes. I asked him to leave some of my minor glitches, that didn’t change the meaning, so the listener would know it was me and not a robot.

But maybe a robot isn’t such a bad idea?