{"id":19510,"date":"2024-04-10T20:10:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T00:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19510"},"modified":"2024-04-10T20:10:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T00:10:28","slug":"spring-achieved-and-a-writing-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19510","title":{"rendered":"Spring achieved, and a ‘writing’ update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo credit: Matt Botsford. Unsplash license.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before I get to my tale of angst,<\/strong> I feel I ought to note that today was beautiful in terms of weather. Nearly 70 degrees. It was the first day of the year I slid the screens down in a couple windows and opened them for fresh air. I always feel an easing of the soul when this happens. The dark time is ended. We\u2019ve made it through alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have another ‘writing’ update <\/strong>\u2013 and the collective holds its collective breath. (No breath for you! Your social credit score has fallen below permissible levels!<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019ve told you before, I\u2019ve been plugging along, trying to learn Audacity, the free recording software that most aspiring book narrators seem to start with. Audacity is quite sophisticated, really, which is part of what scares me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to radio school (Brown Institute, Minneapolis, 1980), I enjoyed a peculiar place in my class. Aside from being one of the oldest students, I was generally considered (or so I remember it) the best copy reader and the worst engineer. A popular, oft-repeated story told of how I panicked in the control room one day, reached desperately for some dial or other, and went over backward in my chair (it had casters), so that I presented the spectacle, through the control booth window, of my feet waving in the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was completely true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disconnect I seem to have with my hands \u2013 sort of like a seven-second delay \u2013 has always prevented me from handling any mechanical device with confidence, from a can opener to an automobile. Also, I seem to lack the common male aptitude for spatial visualization. So I\u2019m clumsy with any kind of equipment. Typing is a repetitive and minimalistic task, so I can handle that. I\u2019m not much good for anything more demanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But today, my drilling with Audacity \u2013 just recording and playing and editing a little, throwing my work away at the end of each session \u2013 seems to have begun to bear fruit. I\u2019m feeling a little more confident with it. Not a master, but not a stranger in town anymore. That\u2019s gratifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my major regrets in my life comes from those radio school days. One of my instructors, a professional broadcaster who taught as a side gig, offered to help me get into voiceover work. He considered me talented enough to make it in that business. I was flattered, and made a preliminary demo reel, just for his critique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He critiqued it. Suggested some improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was embarrassed that it wasn\u2019t perfect, and I gave up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was stupid. I had a chance to get into a field where I could have prospered. But that never-silenced Voice In My Head argued me out of trying any more. My whole life could have been different if I\u2019d accepted the criticism, made improvements, and kept at it until I made the thing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Voice In My Head, I realized recently, doesn\u2019t really hate me. It\u2019s just terrified of failure. It\u2019s trying to protect me from getting hurt. It fails proactively, because it’s less painful to just surrender at the start, rather than trying and falling on my face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This book narration thing, it seems to me, is a second chance. This time I\u2019m going to try. This time I\u2019m going to take the risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, what do I have to lose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I get to my tale of angst, I feel I ought to note that today was beautiful in terms of weather. Nearly 70 degrees. It was the first day of the year I slid the screens down in a couple windows and opened them for fresh air. I always feel an easing of the … Continue reading Spring achieved, and a ‘writing’ update<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[4784,2298,2637],"class_list":["post-19510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-narration","tag-radio","tag-spring"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19511,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19510\/revisions\/19511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}