That’s a great tip, Peter. Thanks for sharing that here. Listening to your book as it’s read to you must be an interesting experience.

Sandy

I used to read all my work out loud, but I still missed things because I sometimes “read” what I intended to write and not what I actually wrote.

Now I use text-to-speech software and let my computer read to me. For me, that is much more effective.

Thanks for making me laugh, Flora, and Wayne, thanks again for such a great guest post!

Sandy

Wow! Thanks for even more great advice.

Now I have more motivation for finding a significant other. Maybe I’ll hold an audition with each candidate reading a 250 word sample from my book. Hmmm. Maybe I should add a few more criteria.

There’s one very good reason for not recording your own work: it doesn’t sound like you. About 70 percent of how we perceive our voice comes from what we hear through our lower jaw, sinuses and nasal cavity. Everyone I know who’s heard themselves recorded the first time swears it’s not them (that included me).

Give a 250 word sample to a friend and have them read it to you. You’ll get a better idea how its sounds when it’s “not in your own skull.” Also, I’m not sure why, but I seem to get a better notion of how the prose sounds by having my wife read it to me. So, you might want to put a male acquaintance in that role.

wh

Thanks for this wise advice. I don’t like recording my own work because of the urge to rewrite as I go. I never thought my reluctance may stem from some of the the problems you’ve noted.

Even after it’s been edited, it seems my work can benefit from being read out loud before having it narrated or published.