It's All About the Work

At first, it was perhaps pretentious of me to like the sound of my own voice in starting out doing audio recordings. Well, at least, I thought, you have to feel confident enough to like your own voice to do audio recordings, in the first place.

But I soon learned, it quickly became more about the editing and the work--the grueling hours of editing to get the reading right and making sure the story I was communicating was being delivered to a degree I felt worth 'publishing' with 'my name behind it'.

But thankfully, I didn't mind that so much which was somewhat surprising (not entirely), because I guess if you are willing to put in that kind of detail and grind through it without much complaint, then it must be something I could do more of or go deeper into, yeah? 

I'm already a project-oriented type. I look at the project as a whole and want to finish it cohesively, completely, and as 'perfectly' as reasonable or possible.

I also don't like or need micromanagement. I self-impose to meet the deadlines. I very well know and am keenly aware of the deadlines which when they loom only a few weeks away, I'm already nervously calculating how many days I'll need to ensure I leave enough time for the post editing process which can take up a lot of my available time.

I weigh the project type (for example, volunteer reading at Librivox.org versus say a contract gig) and the deadlines. Based on that, if it is for the volunteer one, for example, I do let some niggling things go when I'm editing, being the perfectionist that I am. These niggling things for a volunteer project such as Librivox.org seem minor in the bigger picture since their expectations are lower than my own. So I appreciate the fact that there is a natural leeway inherent in something like Librivox.org as it makes me feel so much freedom, and the pressure off, knowing that I'll always exceed their basic standards. I just don't go below a certain level of quality regardless of the project type.

At the beginning, it was fun, but that quickly straightened me out because it's really--for me, now--all about the work. But thankfully, 'the work' for audio recording doesn't feel like torture that I can't accept. It's grueling of a kind, but that pain, for some reason, is tolerable. So far, I think it's because I've overcome those pains to date. When you do overcome it, it just feels so great seeing that I've achieved something I could be somewhat proud of which has some kind of a legacy behind it. It's my voice, and I didn't just let garbage go out there with it. It's not my worst work and, certainly, the best is yet to come, but it's something I've put out there already that I wouldn't mind others consuming or hiring me from it. 

At the end of the day, work is fun if you enjoy the work.