Livestream Cancelled Sunday

Slow Steady Progress on the Audiobook of "What in Hell is with Us?" calls for Sacrifice, Moderation, Rest and Recuperation

We have been getting up at 4am this week to do voiceover for the audio book version of "What in Hell is with Us?" When we began our voiceover work early this morning, we had one quarter of the book in the can. We could only commit to three hours today, but by the end of the session we had increased the fraction to one-third. Typically, we were able to record 10 pages per hour. But this morning we seemed to find a groove and managed 40 pages in 3 hours, without increasing the pace of the voiceover itself (just fewer flubs, interruptions, hiccups, starts/stops, etc). So, at the rate of progress, and two thirds of the book remaining, we still have roughly 7 days of steady voiceover work until the entire book is in the can.

We can't proceed with the publishing process until we complete the audiobook version, not least because reading the book aloud to high standards of clarity affords us the best possible methodology to catch issues missed during the editing process. (No editor reads aloud to check for grammar and spelling, and we've looked at the words on the page so many times our mind practically fills in blanks and fixes errors subconsciously). But recording the book, there is no room for error. The mind can't play those tricks on us so easily, and when it does, the focused concentration we bring to reading aloud and recording prevent us from being duped.

That is also why we can't do more than 40 pages a day (3-4 hours max). If we try to push our throat and end up losing our voice we will bring the whole enterprise to a grinding halt. It's not just a vocal issue, however. It's a matter of the intense concentration and energy that goes into a sustained performance of that length (like doing a three or four hour one-man show every day).

So we have cancelled today's livestream, and are giving our voice and ourselves some much needed rest. We also won't be taking any long phone calls until the audiobook is complete. If our voice holds out, the book might be ready to go by the end of November. We'll see. Hopefully we will see you all at our regular time next week. Have a great week and we apologize for any inconvenience.

In any case, we just thought we would share our progress on the audiobook with all of you, seeing as we cancelled today's livestream because of it. We felt you deserved a bit more of an explanation.