5 Life Lessons I Learned From My Audio Book

I’ve spent the better part of the last week recording the audiobook of my soon to be released, first book, Frankly My Dear I’m Gay!

Yes, 16 chapters, 706 minutes, 11.87 hours of me reading my book, and that doesn’t include the total time of 83 hours to record – stop, starts, edits, retakes. Whew I’m exhausted and need a cocktail.

Ok, ok, ok. I know I’m not the first one to write a book, record their own book, etc. Yet, if you’ve not gone through this birthing process…well, it’s one hell of a lot of labor pains…good, bad, and ugly.

I thought I had it all good to go, ready to watch my book get launched, and then, I started recording the audio version, and boy did life lessons come up to bitch slap me in the face and say, “Wake up ego man and smell the coffee lessons you need to learn!” Here’s what I discovered about myself and life.

• Missing periods, commas, quotes, and too many spaces are just a part of life…in books and your everyday existence. Get over it and know that you can do better next time.
• We each have a reading voice and a speaking voice. They are similar but different. Be consistent with your voice and you’ll discover how much more aligned you are with your values and beliefs in your book and life.
• Grammer faux pauxs (yes I purposefully misspelled grammar to make this point) are annoying, but if they are the show stoppers in your life or in the readers life, then “Go get a life!”
• It’s all in the details, but the missing details often show you another way of getting to the really juicy stuff or seeing what you’re really meant to see. Thus the reason, “The Devil is in the details!”
• Even if your book is not quite grammatically correct, has typos, is missing the occasional exclamation point, or needs some slight typesetting corrections, you still put out what you were meant to put out to have your message heard in the world. Anyone who gets hung up on all that other stuff, isn’t meant to hear your message, so don’t sweat it – again with books or by just being you in your message.

So, as you can see, giving birth, writing a book, editing it, recording the audio version, and seeing it hit the streets is a lot like being human and doing what you’re meant to be doing in this life, with all the grammar errors, missing periods, and the occasion, “Take twos!”

Now get out there and have fun birthing and living the book that is you and your life!