Now on to my favorite part of the job, reading the manuscript! I read the entire book before I do any of my recording. This way I know what character motivations are and this helps me create the character voices. For example in my first book, The Lake Quilt Mystery, one of the characters used a fake accent in the beginning of the book. Things like this are helpful to know before I start recording.

As part of the reading process I create character voices and figure out how many different voices I need to have. In The Hot Mess I had 46 different characters (yes I counted) to create. Now to be fair this does include the narrator and all the characters who just had one line, like the gardener who found a body and said "Dios Mio!"

One more thing I have to do before I start the recording process is to make sure that I know how to pronounce all the words. Before I started this job I had no idea how many words that I know the meaning of, that I have no clue how to say. Words like autumnal, lasciviously, and obeisance. Another challenge is if the words are in another language. In Learning How to Swim, the chapter titles and a few scattered words were in Gaelic. In this case the author of the book, Annie Cosby, helped me out and sent an MP3 of someone saying all the chapter titles in Gaelic correctly. All I had to do was listen and copy what they said.

Up next recording...

January 23rd, what were you doing? I was watching the book I narrated go on sale at Audible.com . Exciting? Yes! Terrifying? Yes! I can now officially say "I read books for a living" and how cool is that? Just so you know it isn't quite as easy as it sounds. As any narrator will tell you there's the editing, lots of editing. There is also lots of character development and making sure you stay in character. Work, work, work.... that I absolutely love!

Enough about me here is a little about the book.

This is from the publisher:

Freedom Lake Resort.

Gated. Fenced. Remote.

Miles from home.

Miles from friends.

The moment 12-year-old Kelsey and her mother arrive at Freedom Lake, it's obvious that this is not going to be the kind of resort experience Kelsey expected. Or hoped for. A nurse escorts a girl in a strait-jacket out the back door of their cabin and Kelsey's creeped out. The girl begs Kelsey for help. Mrs. A., the woman who runs the resort, apologizes and explains that the girl hasn't been taking her meds. That's when Kelsey learns there's a private school on the property for girls with  "special needs" . It's off-limits to resort guests, not that Kelsey would have a reason to go there.

At first Kelsey believes Mrs. A. because she has other things to worry about. Like how she will fit in with the rest of the resort kids. One boy in particular. Things change when one of the "special girls" slips Kelsey a secret message. It's a riddle. As Kelsey begins to unravel its meaning, she realizes something chilling is going on at Freedom Lake Girls Academy. The more Kelsey learns, the greater her danger. If she's not careful, she might become a "special girl", too.

And here is my Amazon review:

Cute cozy mystery for teens and tweens
Kelsey is a likeable teen heroine who keeps working until she gets all the clues figured out. What's enjoyable is that the reader figures out some of the clues before Kelsey, but trying to figure out how she will manage to save the day keeps you hooked. A fun clean adventure.

Be sure to head over to audible and give the sample a listen        The Lake Quilt Mystery

And here is my goodreads review