ON Desk
I started recording audio for A Crown of Cobwebs, as promised! So far, so good! There’s been a bit of a learning curve, as I had to figure out the proper way to drape myself in a blanket to block out any external noise, and I’m definitely getting a lot of pops on my P’s, but progress is being made! I ordered a pop-guard—a pop-shield, a thingy to catch the pops. We used those on Interstellar Sunrise and they worked, so should be back in action soon! Don’t know why I didn’t think I’d need one but nothing like mistakes to teach you!
Recording has been a lot of fun because I love doing the voices (I think you’ll like them!) It’s also been very helpful because speaking every word of the book aloud works as a pretty good filter to catch any last little mistakes. I haven’t found anything wrong with it, but I have rewritten two sentences so they can be, you know, actually spoken aloud. I’m hoping recording the audio will serve as the final, final copyedit. I want to release the ebook, the paperback and audiobook all at once and crush the internet! MWAHAHAHAHA!
Personal Note
Our new baby boy has begun to smile! Especially when he’s plopped in daddy’s hands after hanging out with mommy for a while, he just grins and grins and grins. Its melting my heart, y’all. Makes taking care of the little loaf of bread easier now that HE CAN DO A THING!
We just had an extended conversation where he grunted after I’d ask him questions. Ah… the simple rewards of a growing baby.
Its going much better than it did with our firstborn, I think mostly because there’s less existential dread of accidentally killing the baby and the world ending. Apparently, there’s these people called doctors and you can just take imperiled babies to them and they’ll help you fix them. For some reason, with our first, it felt like we were always on the verge of messing something up. Maybe now that he’s three years old, healthy as a raccon, and sharp as a knife we’ve realized that we did alright by him. Maybe we realized its not as dire as we previously thought. Who knows? Being a parent is weird. Not for the faint of heart.
Bird of the Week
A drive to Windy Point just west of Austin on a cloudy morning, and my son and I found ourselves deep inside a fog bank. We got out of the car to find fog so thick we couldn’t see the other side of the river. While my son threw rocks into the placid water, I scanned the fog for any sign of a common loon. Looking into the glowing vapor would blind me after more than a minute or two, so I kept having to pause my search to point out spiderwebs heavy with dew to my son or skip a rock with enough force that it would vanish into the mist before sinking into the water.
It felt like each time I put my binoculars, a splash came from somewhere deep within the fog, right where I had been looking. I saw nothing but ripples of water until finally I caught a glimpse of a heavy bill and black webbed feet before the loon once again dove beneath the surface to resume its subaquatic hunt.
Not the best look at the bird, but a hunt I’ll never forget!