Audiobooks Archives - Page 3 of 3

A spring update: Warm days with the kiss of summer test my resolve to keep my butt in the writer’s chair. Across the road, the bleat of new lambs draws me to the fence to try to catch a glimpse of their antics. Today I walked over and had a visit with John and Linda Mather and took these photos of the new lambs and the yearling calves.

Yellow primroses and glass fishing floats in a garden — Primroses & fishing floats

Wandering back to the house, I stroll by the flower gardens and can’t help but pull a weed and pick a bloom.

It’s probably a good thing I have some deadlines to keep me focused. With that in mind, I thought I’d share an update.

The Gift Betrayal

I’m very close to finishing the companion piece to Awakening, which is Jackson’s story. The title is The Gift: Betrayal. I’m starting to think about covers and need to line up editors and beta readers. It’ll be a push, but I’ll try to have it published this fall.

One black and one brown yearling cow — Cows in the ‘Hood

I’m also excited to be presenting a workshop on indie publishing which I’ll be delivering in a fifty-minute format at the Creative Ink Festival in May, and in a three-hour format at the Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival in July. My goal with both workshops is to provide participants with a better understanding of what to expect before, during and after publication.

More Spring Updates

On the audio front, the excerpts for the first three books are now done and live. You can find them here: Awakening Revelation Redemption. (*Update: I’ve rebranded the books. Awakening is now Secret Sky, Revelation is now Hidden Enemy, and Redemption is now Burning Lies. But I haven’t yet rerecorded the excerpts). There have been mixed reviews, and making them is far more time consuming than I imagined, but it’s a lot of fun.

Our neighbour, John Mather on his tractor — Gentleman Farmer John Mather

My other writing projects aren’t getting a lot of writing time, but they’re never far from my thoughts and percolate on the back burner while I clear the deadlines.

Meantime, boxes of books are arriving as I stock up for the year.

Enjoy the warming weather. Until next time . . .

The Gift Legacy is enjoying some fabulous 5-star reviews. See what the fuss is about. Get your own copy of Secret Sky with one click right here. And if ebooks or Amazon aren’t your preference, other options are available under the Bookstore tab.

I’m miles outside of my comfort zone, in an entirely different format, as a matter of fact. I’ve decided to try my hand at audio recording. After all, I’m often invited to read from my books. It’s in that light that I decided to record audio editions of the excerpts from all four books in the Gift Legacy series. But it’s left me wondering if I’m out of my depth with voice recording.

How hard could it be?

Let’s just say it’s been an eye-opener.

I now have a much deeper respect for voice actors who are able to switch up their voices in a variety of ways to speak for different characters. I don’t have that knack. Nor, apparently, do I have the ability to read a simple sentence with the same intonation three times in a row over a very short span of time.

But it has been fun, despite stealing time away from my writing. I’ve learned a lot about mics (dynamic is the type you want for voice recordings) and boom stands (a must for changing positions) and Audacity, an incredibly easy to use and free software program that I would highly recommend for audio recording.

And though I may never do more audio recording than these excerpts, it’s been an incredible experience.

Click here to hear the excerpt for The Gift Awakening. (Update: Awakening is now Secret Sky, but I haven’t yet re-recorded the excerpt.) I’m working on The Gift Revelation right now, and the others will following in the coming days. I’ll put up a link on the “excerpts” page when I’m done.

I would love to hear your opinion of the recording. Whether you find it pleasant, are indifferent, or hear nails on chalkboard, leave your comments below.