Reading

Well - my tiny contribution to the vast Librivox project is complete and catalogued (here), as part of the March Madness drive to complete as many projects as possible.
I found the whole process both harder and easier than I expected. Firstly, one day after volunteering, my three-year-old lad passed on a lousy head cold, the viral nature of which he had specifically brewed up to deprive me of my voice. When, finally, I was capable of recording, I stole up to the bedroom with a laptop and headphones, and did the whole thing in one go. I felt quite pleased with myself and posted on the forum that my contribution could be expected in the next 24 hours, to allow for editing. I even played my wife my masterful first effort. Mistake. Or not, as it turned out.
I was unaware at the time, but I must have been overly conscious of my sleeping children, and was practically whispering the text. Furthermore, the mike had managed to pick up a lovely whistling noise from my bunged up nose. But now I had told everyone it was ready! And Kayray had offered to take the editing off my hands! Could she edit out my nose? Could she edit in some clear diction? Probably not.
So, I recorded it again at the office, after hours. And felt strangely liberated by the ability to chew the scenery, without waking anyone. Editing was a breeze, and the whole thing was over in no time. Then, grey-eyed Kara took the whole thing away, proof listened to it (without even being asked!) and dealt with all the other messy issues. A midwife to the MP3 indeed.
All in all, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed having it done. I must have an exhibitionist side in hiding. Which is paradoxical. And then, when I realised that the LibriVox Conradian cupboard was bare, I volunteered to read 'Youth' - all by myself, as my son would say. Heady times indeed.