At last, a 4-star review

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Great to get a good review of An Illusion of Peace at last, and even better it is from someone who has written several excellent science fiction books (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Vialls/e/B009UQFSR0).

Was it perfect review? No, he makes the very valid points that it might have benefited from a professional editor and better cover design.

It is always difficult to effectively proofread and edit your own work and almost inevitable that, despite having proofread it three times, I missed some small errors. I suppose that I saw what I wanted to see.

As regards the cover, I must admit that I took the easy route of using one of the Amazon KDP standard cover images, adding and styling the text.

So, lessons for next time:

First, get a professional editor to look for typo’s, inconsistencies, spelling errors and general mistakes.

Second, get a professional to design the cover.

Why didn’t I do that this time, I hear you ask? And thank you for asking. The answer is possibly a lack of confidence in my book. Maybe I don’t consider myself as a real author, just someone playing at writing and didn’t want to spend money on an amateur work.

I suspect I am not alone. How many writers have the confidence to regard themselves as a ‘proper’ author? Is insecurity a key part of the writing process?

Well, the next book will be done properly, with an editor and a cover designer. But, in the meantime, I remain happy with this book. My reviewer found the story good and it kept him reading. What more can an aspiring writer and insecure author ask for?

Welcome to the site

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It’s a busy world out there for an aspiring voice over guy with plans to write. Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest; more social media channels that you can shake an aspiring author at.

I have never had a personal website to advertise myself, well now I have, and here is the first post on said site.

I was born at a very young age, in close proximity to my mother, a little over 50 years ago. Between then and now I have not died, and, in the meantime, been a medical student, editor, cyclist, beekeeper and graphic designer, of sorts. 

In the latest development in this particular life story, I have been narrating and producing audiobooks, and writing. 

Why start voice over work? It started in my current “proper” job, when they needed some voice overs for educational material, and assistance in producing audio material. Following that enjoyable experience, I built a home recording booth, got a decent microphone and software, and recorded audiobooks, now up for sale on Audible.com.

It is not a quick process. For every hour of finished material, editing can sometimes take up to 4 hours. The human mouth can make a whole variety of noises that should not end up in a professional audiobook. Despite that, it is such fun to learn characters from the inside, to voice them, and to really bring them to life.

As for the writing, there is a saying “Everyone has a book in them, but in most cases that’s where it should stay”. Maybe that is the case for me, but until I extract some writing, give it life and publish it, how will I learn whether the world is ready for me? Ultimately I hope to write a book and produce the audiobook myself, but I also hope to win the lottery and live to be 130. While the last 2 might be tricky, the first 2 might be within my power if I try. So, here I am trying!

I have been producing a story in a serial format for work colleagues and friends, as a way of trying to keep myself and them reasonably sane during the lockdown. It has gone down quite well so far, and an additional reason for setting this site up is to allow me to tidy up the story, pull it together and publish it more widely. I will put it up in a dedicated post, and add each episode to a static page on the site. If you like it, or have any comments, please let me know. 

I also have an interest in exploring the lesser known, if not necessarily true, history behind common sayings and objects. My thoughts on the subjects might also appear on this site, but will definitely fall under the category of “fake news”, so beware! 

So, that’s me, audiobook voice over talent, aspiring writer, relapsed cyclist, and generally interested in life. If I can be of service to you, if you have any comments about anything on this site, if you would like a bit of advice on voice over work, please contact me, and enjoy the posts.