Had a Crazy Couple of Months (Plus Voice Reveal) · 11:22pm Mar 23rd, 2020
So remember how I said a couple months ago that I had a bunch of things planned, including audiobook versions of some of my fics up on YouTube?
Well, I have made some progress on things, but man has my life been chaotic of late.
So I'd been trying out some rather odd seminars to help me stop having so many migraines. These prerecorded seminars were really stressful for me, and I don't actually believe most of what they're saying, but they actually have been helpful in a roundabout sort of way. That is to say, even though I haven't actually gotten through the whole DVD series and am foregoing the strange exercises they've prescribed, they have provided me with a new perspective on my situation and I haven't had any migraines in the months since. (This is despite having been exposed to strong scents and stressful situations a number of times since then, some of which situations I'll gloss over below.)
In early February, I got to attend the Life, the Universe, and Everything symposium in Provo, UT, which was a sort of convention for people who wanted to learn how to better write sci-fi and fantasy. A lot of cool authors I like were there on panels (such as Brandon Sanderson, Larry Correia, and Max Florschutz/VikingZX), and I took reams of notes. Well, just under sixty paper pages of notes (my poor wrist!), which condensed down to just over 35 pages on GDocs. I'll consider making those notes available to y'all via a link on a blogpost if there are enough of you that are interested, but I'd have to edit out the bits that would provide spoilers for my upcoming works. Whatever the case, I had a blast there and I learned a ton of things, a ton of which were super-relevant for my various writing projects.
Speaking of, I had an idea for a novel-length original fiction about an AI and their ethical programming while I was at one of the panels there, so I'll probably be working on that off-and-on for a good while between works of horse words.
So I headed back from Provo to CA, and on the way home our car started bleeding coolant like a victim in a slasher flick. Except with coolant/water instead of blood. So that was an adventure. We dropped the car off in NV and my little brother drove up to rescue us for second half of our journey.
About a week after that excitement cleared up, my grandpa died.
In my church and in my family, we talk about how death isn't the end and how we'll all meet again in the next life, where things really get interesting. Furthermore, I'm not great at getting attached to people, and have seen a number of family friends or residents of our care home pass away, and failed to be too broken up about it. My grandpa's death, though... I got really broken up about it. Way more than I'd expected to. I think it was more about how he was the kindest man I'd ever known, combined with the sheer injustice of the situation in which he had to live out his final years. I think I was really unpleasant to be around at that time, but my friends were really understanding and helped me to weather the unfamiliar emotions.
About a week after that was the funeral, for which we had to drive back to UT. (We picked up the now-repaired car on our way back home again.) The funeral was good, and I got to see a lot more of my family than I had in a good while. Even got to hang out with my favorite cousins for a bit. My dad provided a great eulogy, and some of my relatives gave okay speeches as well. I got to help carry the casket.
I think I'm mostly recovered now.
While I managed to avoid catching the Con Crud at LtUE, I was not so lucky at the funeral. Came away from there with an annoying cold that lasted about a week (plus way too much extra time to finish getting rid of all the extra mucous). Fun fact: The Common Cold is actually part of the Coronavirus family (or whatever groups of viruses are called). So that shot any plans I might have had for recording my voice for a bit.
And then when I'd recovered, the WHO declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic, which has been pretty stressful in for a lot of people. (Extra stressful for us, since we run an old-folks home.) We haven't gone absolutely nuts and started stockpiling toilet paper, but someone in our family got it into their head that anyone who goes outside should Lysol their shoes when reentering the house... Yeah, I've got nothing.
But now I feel like I've finally calmed down enough to get back to work writing and/or saying horse words. The next chapter of MHE will include zombies, sporting equipment, and at least one piñata. Today I set up my audio recording equipment and did a dry run for TCatM, reading through the entire thing (but without doing accents or special voices for the characters). Turns out I do like the sound of my own voice, even when hearing it in a recording, so that's nice. Here's hoping you don't mind it too much, yourselves.
The below embed isn't the full dry run (since I haven't done any editing on it), and is instead just the audio title card.
So, how do I/my setup sound? Do I need to tweak some knobs and adjust some filters, or am I more-or-less ready for prime time?
P.S.: During the panel on writing fights, Larry Correia (author of Monster Hunter: International, which inspired a certain crossover of mine) said something like this: "Of course, you're going to go into different levels of detail depending on your genre and your target audience. For instance, you're probably going to write a little differently if you're writing a book for My Little Pony." It took all of my might to avoid cackling right there, for reasons that should be obvious to those familiar with my catalogue.
Well now we have to wonder, has he read MLP fanfiction? He might well be surprised.
And your voice sounds good and clear, nice enunciation.
He don't know us very well, do he?
In any case, you sound a little quiet to me, but aside from that, you should be good.
Also, my belated condolences for your grandfather.
Forgot to ask in the main body of the blogpost, but I was planning to give Grandpa Merc (the narrator) a Scottish accent, and have been practicing one. Do you figure that would be good, or would it be offensive to actual Scotts?
5226805
The condolences are much appreciated, belated as they may be.
5226784
Good to hear that my voice is up-to-snuff.
And yeah, I figure Larry Correia would be amazed at the breadth and depth of our offerings as a fandom.
5226784 5226805
Well, Larry was aware that I got started doing MLP fanfics at one point. That could have something to do with it lol.
On a related note I can confirm that Larry doesn't read fanfiction. He's talked about it before. He's very aware it exists though, even for his own works.
5226832
My condolences on the loss of your grandfather.
Glad you've found a way to contain your migraines though! And that you enjoyed LTUE so much! I'm glad you were able to make it! It was a great convention this year!
And in all fairness, now is a great time to be doing readings. Quarantine means you're inside anyways!
I have little idea what's going on with your migraine situation, but I'm glad it sounds like it improved somehow. :)
Good luck with the original story!
Ah, sorry about the car trouble.
Oh, dear, and my condolences for your grandfather.
Glad you're doing better now.
Ah, though sorry you got sick.
At least to me, that clip sounds alright. I don't really have sound engineering experience or the like though, I'm afraid.
after reading FoME's comment: Oh, yes, it was a bit quiet, I thought, but I didn't think to mention that, since I could just adjust my volume up a bit. Suppose you might want to give that some more consideration, though.
re that postscript: Hah! I wonder just what he knew? :D
I don't know about the accent, though, I'm afraid, sorry.
5227069
Yeah, it's been a wild couple of months.
Thanks for the comment.
5227175
Oh, you're welcome. :)