It’s finally happened! The audio version of my book Warrior Mother is available on Amazon and Audible. The links to find it are at the end of this post.But let me tell you the back-story on how this came about.
As a writer I’ve heard a lot about literary voice, especially from my writers’ group. In breaking me of habits I acquired writing as a professor in academia, and since I was writing a memoir, they would often say, “we want to hear you on the page.”
Voice is the style or personality of the author showing through the words and phrases. Since as a dancer my first language is movement, the transition to using only written words to tell my tales was not a swift or graceful one. It took longer than I expected to perfect my writing skills to do justice to the story I was attempting to tell. I did succeed to my own satisfaction eventually and Warrior Mother received book awards and positive reviews from readers and professionals alike. I come up with a way to Perform the Book that merged both verbal and non-verbal language with help from my improv troupe and others around the country. This became an especially satisfying way to share the book. https://sheilakcollins.com/services/performances/
But almost from the beginning I felt a strong urge to tell the Warrior Mother story in the audio book format. Here I could use my actual voice to communicate through tone, rhythm, and pace, the passion I felt for my subject. I received encouragement from people who know about such things that, since the story is my story and I have a decent voice, and some experience in theater, reading my own work would be recommended. Conversely if your book is a novel or mystery story that involves many characters with various accents, it’s best to hire a professional actor.
About a year ago, I set out to narrate Warrior Mother. My closet became my sound studio. I connected with a talented sound specialist who had the know how, the equipment needed, and the patience to deal with my somewhat unruly dog Cody. In order to keep him from barking and messing up the sound track Cody had to sit beside the technician, all the while appearing fascinated by his every move.
I’ve received my first audio book review from a woman who knows a great deal about books since her profession is to help people write their books. Here is what Bonnie C. Budzowski wrote to me, “Your book is truly beautiful, and the quality of the audio is excellent. Listening to your own voice telling your story enhanced my experience.”
The process of narrating my book has been most satisfying. I’m not sure I can articulate it yet, but it has changed me in a different way then writing the story changed me. And it definitely has changed my writing – increasing my attention to pacing and rhythm, and tone, and yes, literary voice.
https://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoirs/Warrior-Mother-Audiobook/B074KPS1TQ?ref_=a_newreleas_c2_19_t
