The Excitement is Audible!
FINALLY, finally, The Good Hustle is OUT! I’m capitalising and punctuating myself silly with joy. Like all new ventures, the launch is only the beginning, and now the hard work begins. In the weeks leading up to the launch, I’ve observed myself being in a place of a lot of self doubt, with the ugly sisters of criticism and self doubt setting themselves up in my mind like a pair of hecklers.
All the things I write about in the book, all the behaviours and patterns that are so familiar. It’s funny how stepping out into the public eye, into scrutiny, is the greatest way ever to ensure that every deep seated issue you’ve ever had surfaces. I’ve been really thankful for my meditation practice over these last weeks, allowing me to experience this bubbling pool of fear with compassion to myself, to put it in its rightful place and to dismiss it as nothing but white noise, baseless opinion, that can be lovingly and swiftly turned down.
This week has been magic, aside from the book launch as I’ve had the deep joy of experiencing recording The Good Hustle as an audiobook for Audible. It’s awesome to do something I’ve never done before, and a great reminder of how important it is to continue to take risks and learn. As most of us (including me) have never recorded an audiobook, let me talk you through what is a logically simple, but actually complex, process. The book has to be read word perfectly, as it needs to sync word for word with the written text so Amazon’s Whispersync for Kindle can be activated. No ad libbing or word dropping or conflating of it is to it’s – nuh-uh.
Reading aloud, like you are having a conversation, without a single mistake, keeping the pace, the energy, and breathing at the same time, in a room with you and a microphone, quite frankly, it’s hard! Like, really hard. When I first auditioned, the people at Audible cautioned me that it was an arduous and marathon process and many writers aren’t up for it. Of course with my try first and freak out later approach, I parked my trepidation, steeled my core for a super hard week of recording, doing my day job, and getting the book ready to rumble like and strapped on the headphones. Did I mention it was hard?! What is completely exhilarating though, is knowing every word is going to be heard by someone, somewhere, and as a reader and writer, that I have this exquisite opportunity to be part of that conversation.
I’m an avid consumer of Audible books, so I know how important it is to connect with the voice reading to you, and whenever I was getting a little tired, or feeling my throat strain, or reading the same sentence five times to get it right, I’d remember that I was being given an incredible opportunity to connect, to give this message I feel so strongly about in an intimate exchange with me and my listener. The responsibility to honour this process as completely as possible has driven every minute in the studio this week (along with the deep squee of being able to record MY OWN BOOK FOR AUDIBLE, swoon!)
The team at Sound Kitchen where the recording is being done are so supportive and delightful, (hi Bill and Karly!) that I can’t imagine a better first time (and hopefully not last) doing the audiobook experience. Only 30 pages left to record, and in a few weeks time, I could be anywhere in the world – in a car, a headphone, at the gym, at home, on a plane, helping people discover their dharma and commit to their own heart centred happiness.
That knowledge alone is enough to make my snippy inner critics have the wind taken out of their sails, as when I step into my own dharma, there is nothing but a happy union of me and the rest of the world in perfect alignment, no commentary needed. Namaste Audible!
