Audio version of a short story knocks me back

Just received an audio file of a recently accepted short story. I don't usually like hearing my own voice, even in interviews, but hearing someone else read my work is a decidedly different experience and a surreal feeling, to say the least. Firstly, I am filled with gratitude. But I am almost afraid of listening it through to completion as it sounds so polished and enunciated and professional that it sounds like the words are from another dimension, another writer. Wait! Is this impostor syndrome sneaking through the back door?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There are cracks in this pandemic

To paraphrase the poet Leonard Cohen, there are cracks in this pandemic, where the light is creeping through. At least I hope so. The days lengthen. March 14 looms as the date Daylight Savings spring ahead. A snow moon, I just discovered, peaks this very weekend, bathing the land in light as bright as day, but more potent. I have gone through a hard-working week, editing this bear fiction anthology, further learning the fundamentals of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS, for us pros), the handyman and his crew working here most days to fix the interior wall of the master bedroom and the causal ice damming on the roof and the broken dry wall resulting from water leaking through into the furnace room. I have almost successfully organized most days, due to pulling up on my evenings a little. The three P’s are still in play, like trickster constellations. Being incommunicado after my annual conversation with someone, a  friend - well, much more than a friend, actually - of years ago,
Read more

Long weekend, but not in the good sense

Just had a crisis-laden weekend with a lost day of work, virulent politic arguments, clogged toilets, car troubles, and reneged business deals. In the end, we agreed to disagree with a parent who thought that the there was no problem in peaceful protests before the Antifa people provoked peaceful religious protestors; then added that there were no problems in the America before the “Black Lives Matter people” started causing problems (to be clear-these are both arguments we violently oppose). We took the plunge and cleared out the ceramic problem; and took our toys from an Ottawa Honda Dealer to another sandbox, Cornwall Honda, and traded in our vehicle for a new ride. We were in the market to do so, with a growing family. The trusty 2005 Honda Civic, having served us well for just over 13 years, had a broken thermostat but it was time, just the same, to say goodbye.
Read more

Progress in the pandemic!

Made it to my desk by 8:38 A.M. - a new record! Heard from a friend who I am technically not supposed to be talking to, on account of history. Think Tom Cochrane’s song, “No Regrets”, and I will leave it at that. Props to her for being sensible in spite of our naughty past. We talk to each other now as if we are holding our breath sometimes. We are all too aware that sharing little fantasies with each other is rather distracting. It is still slow-going on editing the anthology of bear fiction, but I am finding I am learning so much and this is the fun of the work for me. That, and finally getting to discuss my burning editing questions. How do you consistently use em dashes? No spaces, either side. i.e.: This is the way—which I really people understood—that em-dashes should be used all the time. Is the word ‘king’ capitalized? Only when using a surname; otherwise it is lower-cased. i.e.: “King Edward” versus “The king entered the room.” Exceptions to this rule include Duke whic
Read more