So, the thing I am doing out of town right now is recording the audiobook versions of both Story of a Girl and Sweethearts. A long, long time ago in a land far away, I dabbled in acting. There was the high school drama, of course, some college classes, and a number of shows with community theater groups. (I actually met my husband doing theater!) Just before leaving San Francisco, I even took two six-week voice acting workshops. Then we moved and weren’t so much in the market for that any more and I spent most of my creative energy on writing. But when the audio rights for the books sold, I very, very tentatively asked if I could audition to be the voice talent for Story of a Girl. I didn’t want to complicate the process, and I knew not many authors get to read their own stuff, but if it wasn’t too much of a pain could I pretty please audition? And they should feel free to say no! Say no, it’s okay! They let me, and I figured they were humoring me. I recorded a couple of sample chapters with my iPod and sent a CD. Then they called me and said, yes, can you do both books? So here I am.

I hadn’t blogged about it until now because I was 99% sure I’d get here, they’d decide they made a big boo-boo, and send me packing. Yesterday afternoon we finished Story and started on Sweethearts, so I think it’s really happening and I feel at a 50/50 confidence level when it comes to blogging about it.

It is way more exhausting than I thought it would be, but it’s also tremendously meaningful and amazing to be inhabiting these characters in a new way and I feel like a lucky girl over here. I’ve been taking pictures of the process but of course didn’t bring my camera cable. Sigh! To come, I promise. And now, off to work!