Sometimes My Job Is Kind of Weird…
September 2, 2009
I finally finished my massive rewrite of the contemporary fantasy I’ve been working on. It was a tremendous amount of work, deeply wrenching at times, and deeply satisfying at others. In a way I was taking an old book and grafting a new book onto it.
I let the manuscript sit for a little over a week, and now I’m polishing a bit. And sometimes when I polish, I read the book aloud. Why? Because it’s often the best way for me to experience the book, to check it for awkward wording, for overused phrases, for anything that might jar a reader or put off a potential editor. It’s a technique that works well for me — I recommend it.
But it’s a little weird sitting alone in my house and reading aloud. It’s even weirder when my kids and wife are home and they constantly think that I’m talking to them or that I’m on the phone or that I’m having a conversation with myself. (“Dad’s finally gone off the deep end…”)
Anyway, that’s what I’m doing this week. I’m reading to myself. Out loud. And for what it’s worth, I like the book a lot….
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I read books out loud to my wife. I don’t tell many people that. It’s just a little too freakin’ cutesy for most people to take.
I have always wanted to do professional voice-acting, and my wife enjoys being able to “read” a lot more books while still getting things done that require her eyes and hands.
Congrats on the completion. And I’m glad that I’m not the only one that reads stuff aloud like that to check it out!
My wife and I used to read to each other, too, Frank. We don’t have the time for it these days, but we always enjoyed it. I think it’s great that you two still do it — not cutesy at all. The weird part for me is reading out loud to an empty room.
Thanks, Alan. And yeah, it really is the best way for me to check my work.
Me too. On the reading together front, my wife is Polish. When I was first learning Polish she used to read me children’s stories aloud and translate – read a line in Polish, translate to English, read the next line, etc. It was a very cool way to learn a language. Of course, my Polish skills are still pretty bad, but I did used to love story time. I’ll have to remind her about that and maybe we can do it again. 🙂
That’s very cool, Alan. You should start up again. Though I know how hard it is to find the time.
That’s it exactly. We used to have so much frickin time!
On occasion, I read our mobile phones bills out loud to my wife and daughter.
Is that the same thing?
Graham
Graham, I think that falls under a slightly different category. But at least you’re spending time together as a family….