Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Narrators

10 Things I Learned About Speaking at a Conference

On Friday, 10 October 2014, I presented the topic “Setting Sail In Audiobooks” at the Georgia Romance Writers’ (GRW) annual Moonlight and Magnolias Conference. Although I gave a polished talk with a fabulous multimedia presentation, the overall experience is not one I want to repeat any time soon.

I’ll be honest — before yesterday, I had never given this sort of presentation. I had done presentations in my government career, of course, so I had no fear of speaking to a group.

I raise the point about this kind of presentation because a more experienced public speaker might have been able to avoid the technical and communications problems I encountered. I therefore thought it might be helpful to share some things that could have gone better to save others from a similar plight.

1. Only go when you are INVITED.

In January of 2014, I sent a message to the Georgia Romance Writers to inquire about speaking to their group about audiobooks at a monthly meeting and/or the annual conference. The conference chairperson responded that I could submit a workshop proposal for the conference. If my proposal was selected, I would have to pay the conference registration fee for attendees.

I responded that I was unwilling to pay registration fees since I wouldn’t be an attendee. My thinking was that I was offering to HELP them for free. I certainly was not going to PAY for the privilege of spending my time, energy, and creativity in developing an engaging and informative talk and then more time at the actual presentation.

In March, after the proposal window had closed, the conference chairperson wrote to me:

Are you still interested in presenting at the Moonlight & Magnolias conference in October? We have an opening in the workshop schedule, and since you’re local and provide a service to authors, we’re willing to waive the registration requirement.

My gut whispered to me that they didn’t want ME. They just wanted someone to FILL A SLOT and were SETTLING for me “since I’m local and provide a service to authors”. I chose to dismiss those thoughts, telling myself they were just my own inner resistance to stepping outside my comfort zone instead of a warning signal. I responded that I would be delighted to accept the slot.

2. Ask for equipment to transmit both the computer video and AUDIO.

I had to submit my equipment requests in June, long before I started creating my slide show. Even though my topic was AUDIObooks and AUDIO is my life, I didn’t think to specifically ask for equipment to transmit my computer AUDIO along with the screen display.

My snazzy slide show included 4 terrific videos that demonstrated key points. As I practiced my speech last week, I suddenly realized that the projector might not transmit the computer’s audio. I wrote to the conference coordinator, who said they only had a projector, and she didn’t think she could get speakers for my computer. She referred me to the hotel contact person to solve the audio problem. I’m guessing that no one at previous GRW conferences has ever had a multimedia show, so no one ever thought of or asked for audio equipment.

The hotel was only providing a microphone and podium. However, it could easily include the additional sound mixer configuration for my computer audio for an additional $130. GRW apparently was unwilling or unable to pay the additional fee.

]I had to solve the audio problem. My choices were:

  • Pay the hotel the $130 to set up the additional equipment.
  • Take an external speaker from home, perhaps even a studio monitor.
  • Remove the videos from the slide show.

I decided to take a Bluetooth speaker. I had to hold my microphone in front of the speaker in order to project its sound throughout the large ballroom.  I’ll have more to say about this solution in subsequent points.

3.  Test and re-test every aspect of your slide show.

My laptop worked well with a Bluetooth speaker that we had purchased from Williams and Sonoma. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that it must time-out after a certain amount of inactivity. When I got to the 2 videos at the end of my presentation, the Bluetooth speaker wouldn’t play the sound. I might have discovered that fact if I had played all of my videos with the external speaker during my rehearsals.

4.  Ensure that your name and presentation name are the way you want them to appear on the schedule and program.

When I received the conference schedule in September, I just looked for my name to see the date and time of my session. I didn’t notice that my session title was listed as the very bland and vague “Audiobook Presentation” instead of the name I had given it “Setting Sail In Audiobooks”.

 

Of all the presentations, mine was the only one with such a non-descript name. The other presentations retained the names given them by the speakers. Some of the presentation names contained more characters than mine, so my presentation name would have fit in the space provided.

I only noticed this undesirable and unauthorized change on Thursday night before my Friday session. Sure enough, the printed program listed my presentation name as “Audiobook Presentation”. This name probably translated into a lower attendance level for my session.

At least my name was spelled correctly.

My presentation had an intriguing name.
The slides continued the sailing theme.

5.  Visit the room where you’ll present and know how the equipment will be configured at least 1 day before your session.

I did visit the hotel the day before the conference. I stood on the stage at the podium in a ballroom of 25 tables with 10 chairs at each table. I envisioned the room full to capacity of people who were interested in my topic and excited to get my information about using ACX to create audiobooks.

The hotel A/V director told me that GRW had not ordered a screen for Friday. I had to send yet another message to the conference chairperson about the screen. She assured me that they would have a screen for Friday.

I naively thought that in the ballroom setup, the screen would be ON THE STAGE, behind me at the podium. I didn’t know until I got in the room for my session that the screen was a small thing set off in the far corner with a projector on top of a table! I asked them to move the table and screen closer to me so that I could still use the podium. I didn’t want to hold the mic for the entire session while also bending down to the table to read my presenter notes from my computer.

On Monday, I had asked the conference chairperson what kind of cable connected to the projector. I didn’t get that answer until I walked in the room on Friday.

6.  Plan for all contingencies.

Take all kinds of cables and adapters that you might need. I had both HDMI and VGA cables and adapters so that I was prepared for any projector connection.

Print your presentation notes. Thank heaven I had taken this step because Powerpoint on my Mac never gave me the option for dual monitors. The attendees viewed the slide show, and I referred to my paper notes.

Make sure your printed presentation notes include the latest tweaks. I had changed the order of a couple of notes on Friday morning but didn’t print them. I was a little thrown during the presentation when the sequence was wrong.

7. Learn your moderator’s name and go over logistics and details the day before your session.

If I were a conference chairperson, I’d make sure that:

  • every session speaker knew the name and contact info of the session moderator
  • the moderator would ensure that the speaker had everything she needed and felt welcome
  • the moderator would be on hand to help the speaker get into the room

The GRW conference chairperson sent me no information other than the fact that I would have a moderator. She also said she’d be around to help connect the computer to the projector.

As a person outside of the organization, I expected more consideration and communication than I received. I’m sure it’s a big job to plan a conference, so perhaps the chairperson was overwhelmed by the task. I can see now that I should have been persistent with my questions until I got answers.

I met my moderator about 3:55pm for my 4:00pm session.

8.  Be self-reliant.

I can thank my parents, perhaps especially my mother, for teaching me this lesson early in life.

No one from GRW met me after I arrived at the hotel to help unload my car. I had already planned to get one of the hotel luggage carts to unload my briefcase with computer, a box of postcards for my door prizes, and a gift basket and 4 gift bags for door prizes. Fortunately, the bellman said I could use the cart for the next hour. I actually kept it for 2 hours since I didn’t have time to return it before I started my presentation.

I met my moderator as we were walking in the door. I appreciated her help during the setup, and the conference coordinator did come back and help her move the table and projector. I thought I was going to have to do it.

9.  If you are giving away door prizes, offer raffle tickets as people walk in the door. 

To celebrate my latest audiobook and first romance FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL…, I made 4 gift bags and 1 grand prize gift basket containing some cool swag that ACX and Belle Books generously provided to me along with all of the types of candy mentioned in the book. I had printed postcards and attached stickers to 5 of them. My plan was to pass out the cards at a certain point during the presentation and determine the winners before I ended my talk. I inserted the marked cards throughout my box of postcards.

I was shocked and dismayed when only about 25 people showed up for my presentation.

My moderator passed out my cards at the appointed time. When it came time to determine the winners, no one had a winning card. I was reminded of Michael Scott’s “Golden Ticket” idea in The Office. His hidden golden ticket idea didn’t work out well for him, and my specially-marked postcards didn’t work out well for me. It would have been so much easier and cheaper if I had just handed out raffle tickets to give away my door prizes.

10.  Give your best to the people who came to hear your talk.

The show must go on, so you’ve got to make lemonade….or something like that. Even though the size of my audience was not optimal, I knew that the people who were there came to hear me and wanted to learn about creating audiobooks. I did everything I could to make my presentation outstanding.

Well, I mostly did everything, but I wish I could’ve done something about the Bluetooth speaker so they could hear my last 2 videos. Those videos featured Colin Firth and Steve Martin. Just think — I was sharing a stage with Colin Firth and Steve Martin, but no one in the audience could hear them! 🙂

The people in the ballroom before me didn’t finish on time and wouldn’t leave the room until my moderator ushered them out after 4pm. I was late setting up, which made me even later in starting. I wanted to finish on time so I wouldn’t be rude to the person who was scheduled to speak at 5pm. Perhaps if I hadn’t felt so rushed for time, I might have troubleshot the Bluetooth speaker for a moment.

I really appreciated the attendees’ interest. A few people asked very thoughtful and intelligent questions at the end, and I had a delightful hallway conversation with one author as I was leaving.

I didn’t leave any business cards or my stack of postcards in their goody room. My hand-out in their binder included a copy of my business card and a link to a document I’ve compiled of audiobook resources for authors.

*******************

I spent months researching and collecting ideas for this presentation and weeks in creating the slide show. It would be a shame if all of that time, thought, energy, creativity, and money only benefitted the people who were in the room yesterday. Therefore, I’m going to convert my show to a video and add narration to it.

I may not ever present in person again at GRW, or any other writers’ organization, but I will continue to help authors through my blogs, videos, and forum posts.

How To Become An Audiobook Narrator

Are you thinking about getting into voiceover work? You’ll want to read this article that is devoted to that topic.

If you’re specifically interested in becoming an audiobook narrator, read on!

As you probably know, audiobooks have become mainstream entertainment. Consequently, many voiceover talent, screen and stage actors, and people in other fields are eager to become narrators. As I wrote previously:

A good narrator will make the performance transparent and SEEM like the easiest thing on earth….just like talking. However, good narrators usually have completed professional training in voice-over and also have thoroughly prepared the material they are reading by researching pronunciations and determining characterizations before they ever walked into the recording studio.

Before you do anything toward actually becoming a narrator, my first question to you is:

Do you actually LISTEN to audiobooks? If not, your first step should be to start listening to books. You can borrow audiobooks from the library or buy them on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes.

My second question to you is:

Have you taken my Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz? I list 30 questions and discuss the answers in a series of 4 articles to help you decide whether you would be a good fit for this type of work. Take the quiz and come back to this post if your answers point you toward pursuing this career.

Develop Skills

If you have never recorded an audiobook, I suggest that you first watch prolific and award-winning audiobook narrator and teacher Sean Pratt‘s video “So You Want to Be An Audiobook Narrator”. Warning: You will be tested again!

Audiobook narration requires different skills than commercial voiceover or theatre acting, though either or both disciplines are very helpful toward becoming a successful narrator.

A great way to start developing these skills is to record for the blind, either locally or through Learning Ally. This option is a wonderful way to gain and practice skills in storytellng and production while being of service to the community.

I previously suggested that people volunteer for LibriVox. Be warned that LibriVox releases its recordings into the Public Domain, which means someone else could sell your recording and/or harvest your voice for AI without any compensation to you. For that reason, I no longer recommend newcomers volunteer there.

To do volunteer work through these sites, you would need a computer, a microphone, and some sort of audio editing program. Since Audacity is a free audio editor, many people start recording with it and move up to a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that offers non-destructive editing. Be aware that proficiency in audio recording and editing comes with a learning curve. I wrote an article that lists 7 ways to get up to speed on your DAW. You also can do a Google search to find innumerable videos and blogs to help you learn audio editing techniques.

You might have to go to a designated studio to record for the blind as many of those organizations do not utilize remote narrators.

Like any performance art, audiobook narration is a highly competitive BUSINESS. It’s not a field in which you should expect on-the-job training. When you are cast to narrate a book, you are expected to know how to complete the project within your deadline.

I recommend that newcomers take classes from established coaches before creating a demo to gain work. Listeners expect a very high level of performance and pristine audio free of background sounds, mouth noises, etc.

Pat Fraley is a fabulous and highly entertaining voiceover and audiobook teacher. He often teaches narration classes with Scott Brick, a superstar narrator in the audiobook industry. If you can’t get to one of their classes, Pat also has home-study courses on his web site, along with The Gypsy’s Guide to Professional Home Recording. This guide is an excellent resource to help you create a better sounding studio on a budget. You’ll find other terrific, vetted audiobook coaches and consultants linked in the Connections section of my NarratorsRoadmap.com home page.

Find Work

With a demo and some storytelling and production skills, it’s time to start marketing yourself for work. Audible’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX.com) is a terrific site for beginners and professionals alike. Narrators can establish a profile that includes an unlimited number of samples. Author, agents, and publishers — collectively known as rights holders — post titles for which narrators can audition. Everyone participates for FREE! Audible created the site in 2011 in order to produce more audiobooks for the ever-growing market.

First, I recommend that you read my article and its comments on the ACX blog titled How to Act Like an Audiobook Narrator. Next, read my article 4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer.

You may also want to get my 3-hour webinar Put Yourself in the ACX Driver’s Seat, in which I go through the ACX system and show you how to evaluate listings and maximize your experience on the site.

The video below will give you some more info about working as a narrator through ACX, as well as some introductory coaching. Listen closely when Pat Fraley, Scott Brick, and Hillary Huber, another award-winning narrator, offer performance direction to some volunteers.

Be sure to watch the videos posted on the ACX site to learn how to create retail-ready audio that will meet ACX’s technical standards.

The majority of books posted on ACX are paid on a royalty share basis. You receive no money up front but receive royalties on each sale for 7 years. The royalty percentage is currently capped at 40%, which means you and the rights holder would each earn 20% of the proceeds. You will NOT earn 20% of the retail sales price due to the variances from Audible member credits, price reductions, Whispersync sales, and foreign currency exchanges. Due to the monetary risk involved with royalty share projects, many narrators refuse to do them.

However, money isn’t the only consideration when deciding whether to accept a royalty share offer. This article outlines other pros and cons of royalty share agreements.

If you decide to audition for royalty share projects, you’ll find some helpful tips about choosing a good project and managing your expectations in this post.  It also links to my post about my audiobook marketing articles on the ACX blog.

You should establish a profile on ACX if only to join the Facebook group named Indie (ACX And Others) Audiobook Narrators and Producers. Members of this very active group range from the newest person to industry veterans with years of experience and 100s of audiobooks to their credit. You could spend weeks reading and learning from the helpful discussions listed in the comprehensive group FAQ, which I created and maintain. The FAQ contains a link to a spreadsheet of proofers and editors.

Auditioning on ACX is just one way to find work as a narrator. I listed 9 other ideas in this essay. One of those suggestions was to start your own audiobook production company. I did (!), and I outlined my steps for you here. One narrator made a spreadsheet of the top 50 books they had heard, researched the producers and publishers associated with them, and contacted all of them. Another option is to license the audio rights to a favorite book, cast yourself to narrate it, and publish it yourself! This article will give you inspiration for that approach.

Manage Your Time

Once you start your first project, you might be surprised how much time is required to narrate, edit and master an audiobook before release. A rule of thumb is that 6 or more hours are needed in real-time for EXPERIENCED people to produce 1 finished hour of audio. While this blog post explains more about it, the time breaks down as:

  • 1 hour to pre-read each hour’s text and research pronunciations
  • 2 hours to record an hour’s worth of text (allows for re-takes due to stomach rumbles, coughs, or any other kind of mistake or noise)
  • 3 hours to edit, proof, and master the hour you just recorded

Not all of these tasks are necessarily performed by the narrator. The narrator working at home either must do them or pay another professional to do them. A book with a 10-hour finished time therefore may require 60 hours in real time to create.

You can use the word count to estimate the the finished time as described in this article about determining your rate.

Study Other Resources

I also recommend that you read these thoughtful articles and guides from other narrators about getting started in audiobook narration:

You may also find these books and audiobooks from industry veterans to be very helpful:

While other people who call themselves narrators have written books and/or created on-line courses, I’d advise that you look at the author’s audiobook credits on Audible before deciding to buy. Some people with little to no actual experience in this profession have written books to cash in on the audiobook boom. If most of the books in a narrator’s portfolio have a finished time of 3-4 hours or less and/or are book summaries, diet plans, or cookbooks, I suggest that you spend your money on a product from a more well-established person who has narrated popular genres.

You’ll find even MORE resources on my site NarratorsRoadmap.com!

Being a professional audiobook narrator is the fulfillment of a dream for me! Is it also your dream? By taking the actions you’ve read here, you’ll be on your way to bringing your own dream to fruition! I’d love to hear from you when you publish your first audiobook!

 

Last updated 10/30/21

The Story Behind The Story Part 1: Illustrations

In July, I published the Kindle edition and audiobook of Edna Ferber’s classic coming-of-age story Fanny Herself: A Passionate Instinct. On the surface, the task of publishing new editions of a public domain work might seem simple. After all, the author has done the hard part of actually writing the text. As you’ll discover in a short series of articles from several journal entries I want to share, the effort and decisions occurring behind the scenes were almost as difficult and time-consuming as creating a new story.

You may remember from this post that in order for me to publish an audiobook from a public domain book on Audible.com  — my end goal — I have to create a new Kindle version of the text. This version must be distinguished from the free version in the Kindle store in 1 of 3 ways:

  1. annotated with substantive, hand-created content
  2. illustrated with 10 or more pictures that are relevant to the text
  3. translated into another language

I had illustrated my first book The Heart of The New Thought and decided to illustrate Fanny Herself.

Monday 31 March 2014

When it comes easy, you know it’s meant to be, and the Universe was certainly smiling on me this afternoon to make it easy for me to illustrate Fanny Herself!

Last night, I started looking for stock images to illustrate the book. I thought it would be easy to find a Victorian, plush photo album shaped like an acorn. I’m sure I’ve seen such a thing in a magazine. I spent at least an hour and maybe even 2 looking for that one picture but came up empty. As we went to bed, I thought I should plan to annotate my Kindle book instead of illustrate it.

I started researching the famous violinist Schabelitz to see if he really was a violinist or an imaginary character. Ferber mixes real and imagined people and things so easily that I don’t know where fiction ends and facts begin.

I found info about the German influences in Wisconsin and a journalist in Cincinnati named R. E. Schabelitz. These were interesting finds, and I thought of other things to add.

I saw several links to the book and looked at a few. One was the Emory Women Writers Resource Project, which might be a useful repository of future publishing projects.

Another link was the JACKPOT! I found Volume 83 of The American Magazine containing their issues from Jan.-June 1917. Fanny Herself, I quickly learned, was serialized in that magazine starting in April 1917! And guess what?! Within each month’s portion were hand-drawn illustrations by M. Leone Bracker! I found 10 between April and June, which is all I need to offer the book on Kindle. I also found a picture of Ferber and made copies of the magazine cover and some promotional paragraphs.

I looked for volume 84 in Google. They have digitized a number of volumes of The American Magazine, but they weren’t in order. I never could find volume 84. I was thinking about checking libraries to find it.

I decided to look on eBay. I queried “American Magazine 1917” and got 41 results, most of which were for different magazines like the American Magazine of the Arts, Mentor, etc. Someone had the April 1917 issue of The American Magazine for $20.

I about jumped out of my skin when I saw the holy grail:  Volume 84, bound like a library copy, of the July-Dec. 1917 issues of The American Magazine!! I didn’t even read the description! I saw the pictures and the price of $18 plus $3 shipping, and I bought it!

I then saw that the front and back covers of each magazine are missing, along with about 12 pages throughout the book. The probability that those 12 pages were the pictures I want is too remote to even consider. It’s coming from North Carolina, so I should have my book later this week.

When I think of the probability of the very book I need being on eBay at the precise time I looked, my astonishment and elation increase. What are the odds?! Obviously the Universe and perhaps Edna Ferber herself want me to have an easy time of bringing new life to this book! I’m soooo excited that I will be able to include the original illustrations from the magazine in my book!!

M. Leone Bracker’s 1917 artwork for Fanny Herself

 

Audiobook Releases Summer 2014

Dirty Harriet Rides Again is book 2 in Miriam Auerbach’s Dirty Harriet mysteries. Once again, Harriet Horowitz has to kick some serious butt in Boca Raton….after consultation with her friendly local alligator Lana, of course! 🙂

It’s not the first time that Harriet has been at a wedding when a murder occurs. The first time was when she shot her abusive ex-husband. (Well, he did deserve it.)

This time, she is attending the wedding of her gay friends Chuck and Enrique. I won’t tell you who gets killed, and I certainly won’t tell you how Harriet figures out the killer! I will say, though, that the zingers in the book are hysterical, and the singers in the Holy Rollers Motorcycle Club and Gospel Choir provide more than just a little entertainment!

This cozy mystery audiobook runs 5 hours and 36 minutes. It’s a fun listen, especially while poolside or at the beach.

By the way, I was thrilled to learn that author Miriam Auerbach is a finalist in the Best Novel: Cozy/ Traditional category for the 2014 Silver Falchion award! I loved narrating the audiobook of her nominated book DIRTY HARRIET. Congrats to Miriam and Bell Bridge Books on this honor!


 
The next new release really means a lot to me because I published it!

For the first time on Audible on iTunes, I’m proud to present the UNABRIDGED edition of the classic text FANNY HERSELF by renowned American author Edna Ferber.

Due to Amazon/Audible/ACX publishing rules, my audiobook has a different title: Fanny Herself: A Passionate Instinct.

This wonderful, coming-of-age story follows Fanny Brandeis from her childhood in Winnebago, WI into her 20s as a businesswoman in Chicago. Even though the book was written in 1917, many of the themes are still relevant.

Fanny’s mother, a widow, makes a decision about her children’s education that affects all of them throughout their lives. Like many of us, Fanny has to decide how whether she will pursue wealth or her creative dreams. We also wonder whether Fanny will find love.

I have recently discovered Edna Ferber and find that she is a brilliant storyteller.  Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1925 and may be best known for her book Show Boat, which was adapted into a successful and long-running musical.

Rather than relying on dialogue to progress the story, she offers such vivid descriptions that we feel we are right there with the characters, experiencing the world as they did. Her female characters are strong and assertive, and I could identify with both Fanny and her mother. I was sorry when the story ended!

The book runs 12 hours and 44 minutes, perfect listening for those long drives to and from the beach or rainy weekends.

Ferber originally published this book as a serial story that ran in the April-November 1917 issues of The American Magazine. Check out my companion Kindle ebook which contains the original, beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations that accompanied the magazine segments.


 
I love Edna Ferber’s work so much that I narrated the first of many of her short stories to come:  Cheerful By Request.

As a child, Josie Fifer always spoke in front of crowds and liked to make people laugh. She thought she would be an actress on the stage. However, her life changed in a freak accident.

Can she find happiness and fulfillment in a new career?

Although the story is over 100 years old, it offers an important truth that is still relevant to the modern listener.

The black, the pearls, the theatre marquee, the star, and the mauve — oh, especially, the mauve! — are all important elements of this wonderful short story. I get giddy with delight when I think about how perfectly the cover art and the music in the credits complement the story.

The story runs just over an hour, an ideal length to hear while commuting, cooking, or doing other tasks.


 

TDIMH — Maybe When I Retire

This Date In My History is an ongoing series of blog posts taken directly from my private journal entries written at least 10 years ago. 

I decided to make it a little more obvious that these journal entries are not current after the last article in this series caused a few people to think I was really down in the dumps. While I truly appreciate their friendship and encouragement, I share these journal entries to help encourage others along their path.

Situation

In this entry, I was in Phoenix for 2 weeks to attend a class for my day job, which I described in an earlier entry:

One down and 7 more to go. Seven more weekdays of mind-numbingly boring class on Exchange 2000 with all these people, 2 of whom are constantly, obnoxiously loud and on my nerves….The temperature here has been 109 degrees. Everyone says “yes, but it’s a dry heat.” It’s still hotter than hell. It’s like poking your whole body into an oven.

Journal Entry

TDIMH — Wednesday June 26, 2002 10:45pm watching Seinfeld in Phoenix

“Maybe when I retire” seems to be a common phrase and state of mind for most people I know.

I was trying to get [a coworker] thinking about her dreams this morning at breakfast. I guess the questions not only came too early in the day but also too early in her life. She’s 43 and said she might like to open a dive shop in Japan — someday — “maybe when I retire.” Most people can’t seem to think about the here and now, preferring to think of “somedays” that may never happen.

Not me. I am so focused on my goals, and I am determined that no one or nothing will stop me from achieving them.

Half of the people attending the class have spent the last 2 weeks drinking by the hotel pool.

Not me. I’ve spent time almost every day trying to make new contacts for voice work. Tonight, I was online for 3 hours. I posted a situation wanted at [one web site]. I looked at web sites on Mandy.com and sent an email to one company. I also have spent time today looking at [at least 5 other sites].

I am a working voice actress who makes my living voicing commercials, narrations, audiobooks and cartoons primarily from my home studio. I am well-known in the industry; well-loved by legions of fans; well-respected by peers, directors, and producers; very well utilized because I can pick and choose my projects; and EXTREMELY well-paid.

Today’s Take-aways

1. How you spend your days is how you will spend your LIFE. How will you spend your next 24 hours? If you have a day job, realize that it isn’t the thing that is holding you back. I’ve previously written about ways to find happiness when you hate your day job. Taking active steps toward your dream will spill over into every other facet of your life.

2.

3.  A dream is just a wish until you WRITE IT DOWN. Most of the last paragraph in the journal entry was so far away from my reality in 2002 but is becoming truer for me every day. It’s important to write what you want to happen in the present tense as if it’s already here. Doing so rewires your brain so that you can feel and live the truth of the thought. You become filled with a joyful expectancy that naturally inspires you to take action to make your statements a reality! To prove this point, take a look at Jim Carrey’s wonderful true story about visualization and manifestation.


Photo: iStockPhoto/maxmihai

 

Livin’ La DIVA Loca

When we last left our hero and heroine (also known as Drew and me), they were leaving Memphis, TN and headed down 78 Highway to Holly Springs, MS. If you’ve never heard of Holly Springs, you obviously haven’t heard one of the Dixie Diva Mysteries audiobooks that were written by Virginia Brown and narrated by me!

These fun books revolve around Trinket Truevine, her cousin and best friend Bitty Hollandale, and several (ahem) “ladies of a certain age” who live in Holly Springs and can’t seem to stay away from chocolate, alcohol, and murders! I’ve narrated 5 of these books, and I understand that Virginia Brown is writing the next one in the series. I can’t wait to record it!

As I was narrating book #5, Divas Do Tell, earlier this year, I commented to Drew that it would be fun to go on the Pilgrimage some time. You see, Holly Springs has a number of antebellum homes, and each year the town Garden Club convenes a house tour known as the Pilgrimage. Many of the home owners or hostesses dress up in period costumes, and all discuss the history of the home and its furnishings.

I looked on-line for the dates and was thrilled to see it was in mid-April. (I’ve since learned that it always is in mid-April.) We decided to go so I could get some pictures and videos for future marketing efforts.

One of the homes on this year’s Pilgrimage was the Walter Place. As Virginia Brown wrote in Dixie Divas (book 1):

Since she’s been six years old, Bitty has wanted a particular house on West Chulahoma Avenue. The Walter Place is built of stone, has twin turrets like a castle, estate size grounds, and was a temporary home for General Grant and his family when they stayed in Holly Springs in 1862.

The Walter Place

Once I saw it, I could understand why Bitty would want it! Antiques fill the house, which again would fit Bitty’s style perfectly.

The Terrace on Chulahoma is almost across the street from the Walter Place and also was on the tour. I liked how the owner of that house had mixed old and new furnishings in order to make it livable and comfortable. Some of the homes seemed more museum-like. They were full of fine antiques and knick-knacks without a TV or recliner in sight.

Montrose

Much of the action in Divas Do Tell (book 5) occurred at Montrose. The  author wrote:

Montrose is a beautiful home that now houses the Holly Springs Garden Club and events like weddings or graduation parties. It also hosts the annual April pilgrimage.

Like the Walter Place, Montrose has one of those beautiful curved staircases in the foyer. As we walked up to the second floor, I had to wonder how the women wearing hooped skirts — both on the Pilgrimage and the original owners in the 1800s — could actually navigate the increasingly small turns without taking a turn for the worse!

We were very interested to learn how the house was kept cooler in the days before the invention of air conditioning. The slaves who built the house knew to use charcoal in the walls before adhering the bricks. The charcoal worked as a natural insulator. The front and back doors would be opened to allow the breezes to flow through the house.

After a delicious lunch at JB’s On the Square, we went in Booker Hardware. I think Booker Hardware is mentioned in every book, and a particularly funny and memorable scene occurred in that store in Divas Do Tell. In Drop Dead Divas (book 2), Brown describes it this way:

Booker’s Hardware has been in the same place since the mid-eighteen hundreds. It still has the same wide plank floors, old wooden cabinets that hold screws, and a lot of the same kind of merchandise. It’s a great place to buy a Number 8 washtub or a butter churner, or the newest in chainsaws or drills.

Booker Hardware interior

Before leaving Holly Springs, we walked around the square and visited the cemetery. I was especially happy to hear Memphis radio station WKQK playing Barry Manilow’s Copacabana that Friday afternoon as we left Holly Springs and headed about 30 miles away to Oxford, MS.

Oxford is the home of the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss as it is usually and affectionately known. In each book, we’re reminded that Bitty graduated from Ole Miss, and her twin boys are enrolled there. The campus features prominently in Divas and Dead Rebels (book 4) as the story line centers around a dead professor (gasp!).

Since I went to a commuter college, I’ve adopted Ole Miss as my football team. If I had gone to school there, I probably also would have been in the marching band.

Ole Miss Band Building

While I only got to spend a short time in Holly Springs and Oxford, I look forward to Livin’ La DIVA Loca some more when I narrate the next audiobook in the series!

Photos:  Drew Commins