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Voice Coaches Radio #487 – Don’t Procrastinate
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome to this week's edition of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Josh Heller, she is Marissa Lanshack, and we are delighted to have you joining us here this mo Well, it's morning now. Um, today. Welcome today. This day, whenever you're listening on this day specifically.
This podcast is going great so far. It could be three weeks from now. We don't care. We just want you listening. Hey, that's it. That's all it is. Thanks guys. How you doing, Marissa? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. So we have, um, up to do in regards to audiobooks, because both of us are in, uh, in, in the midst of it.
Actually, I just finished up and you're just about to finish up. Yeah, I'm in the editing stage, so all those breaths need to come out. And what I've realized is the next time I do one, not breathing. Not at all. Not even once. No breathing. Um, here's the thing about, about breaths. You know, I always find if, you know, leading into a sentence.
It's, if it sounds natural, I'm okay with it, especially if it's during, you know, dialogue. Um, Yeah, I don't have dialogue in mind. Oh, I see. Yeah. If it's like in the middle of a, like a sentence, like you're talking, talking, well then, yes, we should, yes, you should do that. And the thing is, when, when doing that, I wish there was a quick and easy and, you know, There isn't!
No! I googled it! Yeah, I wish you could just be like, hey, let's put it through a filter and the breaths are gone. But no, it's you literally have to listen back to it. in real time and hear them less than real it's like more than real time I should say because it's like four and a half hours of audio and it takes I think I spent an hour to do 40 minutes of it yesterday yeah so I was finding that for for my chapters the chapters that were about 30 minutes which was pretty consistent uh those were taking between 45 minutes and an hour so At least as much, if not twice as much, uh, time.
My book was also fourteen and a half hours when it was done. So, um, and, and, and as, as all of you as bad now about myself, because mine's only like four and a half hours. As, as all of you know, right, you get paid per finished hour. Per finished hour of the book. So you're getting paid for those four plus hours.
I'm getting paid for those 14 plus hours. I'm not getting paid for all the other stuff I'm doing. It's true. So my rate is going down, down, down. Yeah. Um, but then that's, that's, that's what I mean. And again, you know, what we're doing it through, right? Those kind of, um, uh, whether it's ACX, whether it's, you know, more freelance type work like that.
I mean, that's, that's what you're responsible for. You're, you're getting them a finished. product. And so you do have to do more. It's, it's, it's a good backdoor into the industry, but it is considerable. And it's important that everybody knows what they're getting themselves into. Um, because the recording part is, is great.
The editing part is tedious. Yeah, it's very tedious. And you know what, that's the thing, like, I know because I've done, I mean, for one of the radio stations I worked for, I, one of my One of my titles was production, so like I did all of the production for that radio station. So everything you heard in between songs or whatever, like that was me, even the writing of it, all of it.
And that in itself was kind of tedious because it would be like little short little blips, so and it would take me 30 minutes to produce one, but I guess I never really had the concept of the time when I was doing it until now. Because taking breaths out continuously, not as fun as like creating.
Something that's silly and ridiculous, you know? Yeah, no, and you're, so, you're taking breaths out. You're adding pauses in, right? You're, you're fading things in and out to try to make sure it sounds smooth ish. Um, and then, oh, heaven forbid, you know, and, and usually when I make a mistake, which happens frequently, um, I'll make like a noise or something, like a, just so I can see it right on the, uh, you know, on, on the, on the track.
But, you know, there are times where I make mistakes and I don't realize it, because I'm human. And, uh, that's, that, especially if it's, it's one thing if I make a mistake, it's not a big deal, I can clean it up. But then when you have to go back in and start, you know, actually doing pickups and dropping them in there, that is just frustrating.
Yeah. And I can never... I haven't gotten to that point yet. No, and I can never get my voice to... I think I may have caught one issue, but I have to go back and look. I'm, I'm doing the, the, like, actual, like, I've done the... The main edit, so like any time where I, because as I was going, like that's the thing is like, and I'm sure you're the same way being that you've done this for so long, that you can hear as it's coming out of your mouth like, nope, need to do it again, you know, and so I was automatically doing it again as I was going, and I would just edit it along the way.
No, and ideally that's, that's what you want to do, um. No, so I wouldn't edit it along the way. I would do it, um, and then as I'm going through, obviously I'd redo it right away, um, but I wouldn't clean it. I wouldn't edit it. I would keep the, keep the track rolling, uh, until I was done, and then listen back to it.
Although what I was doing recently, because I was having so much trouble finding time to record, um, where I could actually, you know, record where there was, you know, not extraneous noises and things like that. I was recording, uh, three, four, sometimes five, or six chapters before going back and editing them.
So by the end, I had about a lot of editing to do. Yeah, that's, that's definitely timely. Which is, which is tough. And so, so for me, mine was, mine was due this past Wednesday. Uh, like I said, it came out to about 14 and a half hours, give or take. And, um, I spent, uh, Tuesday. All of it. All day. All day Tuesday.
The whole day. Uh, through the evening. I finished it Wednesday morning, but I spent all day Tuesday doing it. Uh, thank goodness I had Tuesday off, um, because I had to do, I mean, I spent probably 12, 16 hours working on it Tuesday. My eyes are still just a mess. Yeah, that's the thing, right? Nobody realizes how, how staring at a computer for so long like that can really just like drain you.
My eyeballs. Oh man, it does. And then, and then there were times where I'd be listening back. and editing it at night, and I'd start falling asleep. And so, I don't think I missed anything, but would I be 100% sure? No. No, not really. Um, and so I did finally submit it, and um, now I wait. Now I wait to see if they like it.
And I pray that they do, because if I have to do it again... I will cry. . Oh, aggressively. Aggressively. Um, can you save it for the podcast? ? Oh, the crying? Yeah, I can do that. Don't worry. It's the whole episode of just, I'll, I'll tell you what the next time I, so, so he, he got the, uh, he got the audio and he is like, all right, gimme like, uh, a week or so to take a listen to it.
And, uh, he's gonna have a couple other people listen to it. And I'm like, that's fine, whatever you need. And look, if it's like, can you fix this here, can you redo that there? Like, that's fine. But if he's like, I don't like to tone, redo the whole thing, we'll be like, Nope. Right. That shan't be happening. That shan't be happening.
Um, and yeah, I mean, it's, it, it, it's, it's a to these things are a lot of work. And I think it's important, you know, for people listening to realize that they should not under any circumstances do what we, specifically me, did, and that is procrastinate. Yeah, I didn't do that. So I'm right on schedule. Oh, man.
I, I, I had just over a month, just a month and a couple days to, to do this. Tome, right, to go through this novel, and I did probably a solid 30% of it the day before it was due. Oh, geez. It was it was bad Like it was bad and and it was it was super disheartening like I never didn't think I'd get it done It was never a moment.
I was like, I'm not gonna be able to do this Like I was like I'm going to do this. I'm just going to be Miserable and I was because you know things come up. So I figured okay. I have the long weekend Right, July 4th weekend, that'll be helpful, and, um, and, and it was not, because Because you didn't take what into consideration, Josh?
Everything, everything, so I was like, oh, Sunday, I'll have all day Sunday, I'll do that, and then there were fireworks, all. Fricking day just shooting off neighbors. Well, not only across the street, but we had a lot of storms through tons of thunderstorms. Tons of thunderstorms. So I couldn't do that. So Monday I was like, okay, well I'll do a bunch on Monday, that's fine.
And um, uh, I getting a new deck put in in my house and the guy had literally not been there for a month and a half. Uh, I'd been impossible to get in touch with, finally reached out to him, uh, and got in touch with him, and he came back, of course, that day, so there was sawing, and there was hammering, and there was drills, and it was just noises, and noises, and noises, and I couldn't do it, so, you know, I thought I was going to have like four days to, to knock it out, which is still not enough time, um, and bad scheduling, but I ended up having like one.
And so, uh, uh, that was a bad, bad idea. Um, you know, look, as small businesses, we need to be accountable for that, right? We need to be smart about that. And it's tough for such a large thing for me. I'm clearly not very good at this. Um, because it would always be like, well, man, I got like a month. I got plenty of time and then you're like, yeah, but you also have 450 pages you have to do.
Yeah. And so, you know, best laid plans, you know, uh, mice and men, I was like, I'll do a chapter here. I'll do two chapters a day. And, but that never happened, right? That was always like, yeah, yeah. And I'll get to it tomorrow. It's not a big deal. And then all of a sudden, oh, it's just a big deal. It's a big deal.
You know, we need to be smart and, and, and hopefully those of you listening are like, yeah. Yeah. I'm, you know, I'm an adult, I can schedule things, I can, you know, I can be responsible like that. I mean, I'm listening over here and I'm like, I'm an adult, I can schedule things. I'm not Josh. Well, and you should.
Like, that's good. Don't do what I did. That was a terrible idea. And again, sometimes you're going to run into things like, you know, you're on, so I had a book I needed to finish up and I literally had like a week or so to do it. And so I did spend, you know, hours late into the evening doing it because I didn't have a choice because that's what the timeline was.
And I had to, you know, go to work during the day, right, and take care of my kid at some point. So things are going to happen, but this was, you know, I let this spiral out of control. And that is not good. Don't do that. Don't, don't do that. How do you feel right now, though? I'm exhausted. I'm absolutely physically I was kind of hoping you felt a little bit better than exhausted, but I guess I'll take exhausted.
My eyeballs are, are I'm physically drained. Um, that was, that was unpleasant. Thank God for a weekend. That was unpleasant. I have a one day weekend this weekend. Okay, never mind. I have to work Saturday. I'm sorry I brought it up. I have off Sunday and that's it. Uh, so that's gonna be, I mean, and again, thank goodness I do because that meant the last weekend I had the extra day.
But, um, yeah, I'm not. excited about that either. But you know, I mean, again, it's my own fault. I don't want to blame it myself, like clearly. And um, and you know, that's, uh, that's unfortunate. And so don't do that. Use me as a, as a, as a lesson. Don't do that. Don't do that. Now, the book that I did, there's a sequel coming out, uh, later this month.
And so if he likes it, hypothetically, I will get another 450 pages to do. So at that point, maybe I'll be like, I should probably learn from my mistakes and actually schedule this out correctly. And, uh, we'll, uh, we'll, we'll see if that happens. Or he'll ask you to do it and you'll immediately crawl into the fetal position.
Yeah, can you do this for me? Yeah, you know, I don't, I don't wanna. I don't wanna. Um, so, uh, so yeah, so don't, don't, don't do that. If you, you know, make sure you're smart about it. And again, I, I feel like, you know, most of you are probably like, I'm not a child. Like, I know how to do these things. I can schedule these things out.
In which case, awesome. Awesome, this podcast is not for you today. This podcast is for people like me who are procrastinators and who wait to the last minute and who, uh, who are not very good at, uh, at, at scheduling and, uh, you know, let's be honest, it's not professional. What I did was not professional, right?
It was not. But you know what, Josh? I think more people are like you than, than me. Not to like toot my own horn, but I have learned over the years that most people show up late to things. I'm always that 10 minutes early kind of girl. I don't know anybody that's 10 minutes early. I always know everybody that's like 10, 15, 20 minutes late.
So, I don't think you're alone. No, probably not. And I mean, again, you know. In my defense, I did get, I did get it in, and I, and the quality was not compromised, uh, just the quality of my life, uh, the quality of the product was not compromised, at least I don't think so, um, but it was a, it was a nightmare. It was an absolute nightmare.
And, um, and that's, that's, that's not how it's supposed to be. So just be smart about it, right? It is, it is a job, and we need to look at it that way. It's not a hobby, it's not something we do for fun. Fun. I mean, we do, but, um, you know, when you're, when you're, you know, when you have a timeline, when you have, you know, money on the line, be smart about it.
And hopefully I learned my lesson. And if, if, you know, I'm going to find out, like I said, in about a week or so, uh, what he thinks of it and, um, and, oh my God, if he doesn't like it, I'm blind. Um, and, and see if, you know, and if everything goes well, I'm hoping that, that I can get the, uh, the, he has a few other books too.
And, uh, hoping that I can, uh, I can get those as well. Um, and if I do, we'll find out if I learned my lesson, and the answer is probably not. Probably not. It just means that eventually it might just be Marissa on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, because, uh, I'm not going, I'm going to literally... I mean, Josh will be here, he just won't be making much sense.
I'll be under the desk, um, rocking back and forth, generally. So, be smart. Be smart. You know, schedule things out. Things come up. Right, we've talked about on the podcast already about my neighbor mowing the lawn while I was recording. Like, that's not helpful. That's also out of my control. And no, those things are going to happen, right?
Thunderstorms are going to happen. They do. Um, and you can't plan them, I don't think. And if you can... Gotta watch that radar on your weather app. That's awesome. Oh yeah, like they know what they're talking about. Come on. Hey, they've been pretty accurate the last few days. I'm just said it's gonna rain, like, a lot, and like, yeah, no, it's true.
It's like, it's like living down, when I lived down south in like, uh, in, in Pensacola, Florida. You know, it's like, it's gonna rain this afternoon. Yeah, I could have told you that. Rains every afternoon. Like. It is. Of course it is. It's hot, it's humid, it's gonna rain. Thank you. Give me a million dollars. Um, but you know what?
Uh, uh, things are gonna happen, right? Things are gonna get in the way. People are gonna shoot off fireworks randomly. God, that's so annoying. It is. So annoying. Uh, and thank goodness we're done with that. My cats, by the way, Oh my, my dog, I didn't even realize that she was following me around the house, but she was, because she was as close to me as possible, because like, I, I didn't see her in my peripheral vision, you know, so she was that close to me, she was so scared.
My poor cats, like one of them was under the bed, one of them was, was literally in a, a tent in my son's room, like underneath, like, we couldn't find him, like we could not, I don't have that big of a small house, we couldn't find him. Well, can I tell you, like, I, I've owned this house now 10 years, but there was at least four where I was not in it because I was living in Boston and I had to rent it out and all these things.
And so this was the first year back, and I think because there were no fireworks last year, I, I'm really close to the village of, of Waterford, so like that's just where they shoot him off. And my house was shaken. Like they, they let loose this year. And I don't know if it's just because like we had nothing last year or they just decided, Hey, we're going to go all out just cause, but.
So we're not, we're like, we're not anywhere near like actual, like legit, like. town fireworks. These are just people. And, and so, I'm from Well, they're legal here, so. Yeah, I'm from Massachusetts. It's illegal in Massachusetts. So, did people shoot them off? Occasionally. Like, you'd hear one or two kinda, kinda pop off.
But, like, they were illegal. You couldn't buy them. And so, there weren't that many. Oh my word, it's everywhere. It really is. Some of our neighbors, like not like right next door, but like, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood. Like, I don't know how much money this, these, these people spend on this, but it has to be like a grand.
Well, it's America's birthday. I mean, gotta celebrate. This is true. I grant you that. But still, like, come on, man. So, anyway, so, uh, those things will happen. So, make sure that you prepared for those things to happen by, you know, Paying attention to the date on the calendar. Yeah, that'd be good, that'd be good.
I always knew what the date was, and I always knew that was like, yeah, well, I just, you know what, that's, that's, that's, you just gotta Be aware. Be aware. So, uh, don't be like me. Be professional. Be professional. And, uh, I'm a little disappointed in myself that it, uh, that it came to that. Um, but it is done and hopefully I will know what they think of it sooner rather than later.
And if they liked it, I will let you know. And if they didn't, I won't be here. Uh, so, yeah. So there you go, so you'll know soon enough, you'll know soon enough, but again, regardless of what the project is, right, regardless whether it's a lengthy audio book, whether it's a, you know, a, it is, but whatever it is, you know, make sure that you're taking it seriously, make sure that you are planning accordingly and make sure that, you know, you, you are not, uh, waiting until the last minute to do it like I did, because either a, something will come up and you won't be able to get it in on time, which is.
just a death knell, so make sure that doesn't happen, or B, you will get it in on time and you will feel like poo. Like me. Like me. You'll be okay. So, shame on me. Shame on me. Do as I say, not as I do. And if I do end up getting this sequel or whatever, um... And we'll have to see if I learn my lesson. Odds are, no.
But we'll see. But we'll see. Um, so yeah. So, uh, and yours is due this weekend? Mine is due on Monday. So, I'm, you know, I'm, like I said, I'm in that, that editing stage. Uh, I did figure out, I believe, how to correct that audio so it's good for Audible through the program I'm using and I didn't have to go through anything else.
I just watched a YouTube video and taught myself. I've figured out most of what I know about this, well actually in most things. So yeah, like my big thing is I just want to get all the breaths done and then I'm going to go and uh, over the weekend I'm going to take a listen back to all of it before I, you know, get it separated into different chapters and whatnot.
It's a lot easier to do when it's not 15 hours long. Yeah, no, but it was 250 pages, so it was still quite a bit. Thankfully, like, the book that I'm doing is like a networking kind of situation, so it has some workbook pages, so, you know, here, what I thought was going to be, like, forever long, um, you know, I just had to read a page of questions, so I was like, oh, sweet.
I can do that. Easy. Well, bully for you. Yeah. Um, well, cool. You'll have to let us know how it goes, what they think, and, um, yeah. When you are a published audiobook, uh, narrator. Yeah, it'll be soon. Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, thanks for all of you for tuning in and listening, uh, listening to us gripe. For a while.
That's kind of what this has turned into. Uh, and that's okay. And, uh, but, uh, if you want to reach out to the show... Go ahead and do it. All right, uh, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com is probably the easiest way to get in touch. Uh, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com, get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa. Um, we are, uh, uh, next week we will be introducing you to another new member of our team.
Uh, this past week you, you met, uh, Janelle and, uh, you'll be meeting Katie. We're meeting Katie next week, uh, one of the newest members. In fact, I believe the newest member, uh, of the, unless we've hired other people I'm not aware of, which is possible because. These people were hired, um, without me knowing
Not that they, not that they have to let me know. Okay. Lemme put it that way. Not that they, no one had, no one has to ask my approval, but I just had no idea. Like one day we were having a, uh, a birthday party, I think it was for your birthday, is that it might've been. And I was standing outside the kitchen.
'cause we have birthdays seemingly every week. And, uh, we were singing Happy Birthday. And that's all fine and good and great and happy birthday by the way. Thanks, belated. And uh, and then everyone started walking out and I was like, I don't know that person. I don't know that person. I don't know that person.
Um, who are these people? And that's when I was introduced to Katie, and you will be introduced to Katie next week. Uh, so tune in for that. But, uh, reach out if you want, questions, comments, concerns, anything you'd like, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com. Best way to do that. Marissa, thanks so much. Great to talk with you.
Of your audio book. Thank you. Can't wait to hear about it. Alright, and until next time, so long everyone.
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This podcast is going great so far. It could be three weeks from now. We don't care. We just want you listening. Hey, that's it. That's all it is. Thanks guys. How you doing, Marissa? I'm good. How are you? I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right. So we have, um, up to do in regards to audiobooks, because both of us are in, uh, in, in the midst of it.
Actually, I just finished up and you're just about to finish up. Yeah, I'm in the editing stage, so all those breaths need to come out. And what I've realized is the next time I do one, not breathing. Not at all. Not even once. No breathing. Um, here's the thing about, about breaths. You know, I always find if, you know, leading into a sentence.
It's, if it sounds natural, I'm okay with it, especially if it's during, you know, dialogue. Um, Yeah, I don't have dialogue in mind. Oh, I see. Yeah. If it's like in the middle of a, like a sentence, like you're talking, talking, well then, yes, we should, yes, you should do that. And the thing is, when, when doing that, I wish there was a quick and easy and, you know, There isn't!
No! I googled it! Yeah, I wish you could just be like, hey, let's put it through a filter and the breaths are gone. But no, it's you literally have to listen back to it. in real time and hear them less than real it's like more than real time I should say because it's like four and a half hours of audio and it takes I think I spent an hour to do 40 minutes of it yesterday yeah so I was finding that for for my chapters the chapters that were about 30 minutes which was pretty consistent uh those were taking between 45 minutes and an hour so At least as much, if not twice as much, uh, time.
My book was also fourteen and a half hours when it was done. So, um, and, and, and as, as all of you as bad now about myself, because mine's only like four and a half hours. As, as all of you know, right, you get paid per finished hour. Per finished hour of the book. So you're getting paid for those four plus hours.
I'm getting paid for those 14 plus hours. I'm not getting paid for all the other stuff I'm doing. It's true. So my rate is going down, down, down. Yeah. Um, but then that's, that's, that's what I mean. And again, you know, what we're doing it through, right? Those kind of, um, uh, whether it's ACX, whether it's, you know, more freelance type work like that.
I mean, that's, that's what you're responsible for. You're, you're getting them a finished. product. And so you do have to do more. It's, it's, it's a good backdoor into the industry, but it is considerable. And it's important that everybody knows what they're getting themselves into. Um, because the recording part is, is great.
The editing part is tedious. Yeah, it's very tedious. And you know what, that's the thing, like, I know because I've done, I mean, for one of the radio stations I worked for, I, one of my One of my titles was production, so like I did all of the production for that radio station. So everything you heard in between songs or whatever, like that was me, even the writing of it, all of it.
And that in itself was kind of tedious because it would be like little short little blips, so and it would take me 30 minutes to produce one, but I guess I never really had the concept of the time when I was doing it until now. Because taking breaths out continuously, not as fun as like creating.
Something that's silly and ridiculous, you know? Yeah, no, and you're, so, you're taking breaths out. You're adding pauses in, right? You're, you're fading things in and out to try to make sure it sounds smooth ish. Um, and then, oh, heaven forbid, you know, and, and usually when I make a mistake, which happens frequently, um, I'll make like a noise or something, like a, just so I can see it right on the, uh, you know, on, on the, on the track.
But, you know, there are times where I make mistakes and I don't realize it, because I'm human. And, uh, that's, that, especially if it's, it's one thing if I make a mistake, it's not a big deal, I can clean it up. But then when you have to go back in and start, you know, actually doing pickups and dropping them in there, that is just frustrating.
Yeah. And I can never... I haven't gotten to that point yet. No, and I can never get my voice to... I think I may have caught one issue, but I have to go back and look. I'm, I'm doing the, the, like, actual, like, I've done the... The main edit, so like any time where I, because as I was going, like that's the thing is like, and I'm sure you're the same way being that you've done this for so long, that you can hear as it's coming out of your mouth like, nope, need to do it again, you know, and so I was automatically doing it again as I was going, and I would just edit it along the way.
No, and ideally that's, that's what you want to do, um. No, so I wouldn't edit it along the way. I would do it, um, and then as I'm going through, obviously I'd redo it right away, um, but I wouldn't clean it. I wouldn't edit it. I would keep the, keep the track rolling, uh, until I was done, and then listen back to it.
Although what I was doing recently, because I was having so much trouble finding time to record, um, where I could actually, you know, record where there was, you know, not extraneous noises and things like that. I was recording, uh, three, four, sometimes five, or six chapters before going back and editing them.
So by the end, I had about a lot of editing to do. Yeah, that's, that's definitely timely. Which is, which is tough. And so, so for me, mine was, mine was due this past Wednesday. Uh, like I said, it came out to about 14 and a half hours, give or take. And, um, I spent, uh, Tuesday. All of it. All day. All day Tuesday.
The whole day. Uh, through the evening. I finished it Wednesday morning, but I spent all day Tuesday doing it. Uh, thank goodness I had Tuesday off, um, because I had to do, I mean, I spent probably 12, 16 hours working on it Tuesday. My eyes are still just a mess. Yeah, that's the thing, right? Nobody realizes how, how staring at a computer for so long like that can really just like drain you.
My eyeballs. Oh man, it does. And then, and then there were times where I'd be listening back. and editing it at night, and I'd start falling asleep. And so, I don't think I missed anything, but would I be 100% sure? No. No, not really. Um, and so I did finally submit it, and um, now I wait. Now I wait to see if they like it.
And I pray that they do, because if I have to do it again... I will cry. . Oh, aggressively. Aggressively. Um, can you save it for the podcast? ? Oh, the crying? Yeah, I can do that. Don't worry. It's the whole episode of just, I'll, I'll tell you what the next time I, so, so he, he got the, uh, he got the audio and he is like, all right, gimme like, uh, a week or so to take a listen to it.
And, uh, he's gonna have a couple other people listen to it. And I'm like, that's fine, whatever you need. And look, if it's like, can you fix this here, can you redo that there? Like, that's fine. But if he's like, I don't like to tone, redo the whole thing, we'll be like, Nope. Right. That shan't be happening. That shan't be happening.
Um, and yeah, I mean, it's, it, it, it's, it's a to these things are a lot of work. And I think it's important, you know, for people listening to realize that they should not under any circumstances do what we, specifically me, did, and that is procrastinate. Yeah, I didn't do that. So I'm right on schedule. Oh, man.
I, I, I had just over a month, just a month and a couple days to, to do this. Tome, right, to go through this novel, and I did probably a solid 30% of it the day before it was due. Oh, geez. It was it was bad Like it was bad and and it was it was super disheartening like I never didn't think I'd get it done It was never a moment.
I was like, I'm not gonna be able to do this Like I was like I'm going to do this. I'm just going to be Miserable and I was because you know things come up. So I figured okay. I have the long weekend Right, July 4th weekend, that'll be helpful, and, um, and, and it was not, because Because you didn't take what into consideration, Josh?
Everything, everything, so I was like, oh, Sunday, I'll have all day Sunday, I'll do that, and then there were fireworks, all. Fricking day just shooting off neighbors. Well, not only across the street, but we had a lot of storms through tons of thunderstorms. Tons of thunderstorms. So I couldn't do that. So Monday I was like, okay, well I'll do a bunch on Monday, that's fine.
And um, uh, I getting a new deck put in in my house and the guy had literally not been there for a month and a half. Uh, I'd been impossible to get in touch with, finally reached out to him, uh, and got in touch with him, and he came back, of course, that day, so there was sawing, and there was hammering, and there was drills, and it was just noises, and noises, and noises, and I couldn't do it, so, you know, I thought I was going to have like four days to, to knock it out, which is still not enough time, um, and bad scheduling, but I ended up having like one.
And so, uh, uh, that was a bad, bad idea. Um, you know, look, as small businesses, we need to be accountable for that, right? We need to be smart about that. And it's tough for such a large thing for me. I'm clearly not very good at this. Um, because it would always be like, well, man, I got like a month. I got plenty of time and then you're like, yeah, but you also have 450 pages you have to do.
Yeah. And so, you know, best laid plans, you know, uh, mice and men, I was like, I'll do a chapter here. I'll do two chapters a day. And, but that never happened, right? That was always like, yeah, yeah. And I'll get to it tomorrow. It's not a big deal. And then all of a sudden, oh, it's just a big deal. It's a big deal.
You know, we need to be smart and, and, and hopefully those of you listening are like, yeah. Yeah. I'm, you know, I'm an adult, I can schedule things, I can, you know, I can be responsible like that. I mean, I'm listening over here and I'm like, I'm an adult, I can schedule things. I'm not Josh. Well, and you should.
Like, that's good. Don't do what I did. That was a terrible idea. And again, sometimes you're going to run into things like, you know, you're on, so I had a book I needed to finish up and I literally had like a week or so to do it. And so I did spend, you know, hours late into the evening doing it because I didn't have a choice because that's what the timeline was.
And I had to, you know, go to work during the day, right, and take care of my kid at some point. So things are going to happen, but this was, you know, I let this spiral out of control. And that is not good. Don't do that. Don't, don't do that. How do you feel right now, though? I'm exhausted. I'm absolutely physically I was kind of hoping you felt a little bit better than exhausted, but I guess I'll take exhausted.
My eyeballs are, are I'm physically drained. Um, that was, that was unpleasant. Thank God for a weekend. That was unpleasant. I have a one day weekend this weekend. Okay, never mind. I have to work Saturday. I'm sorry I brought it up. I have off Sunday and that's it. Uh, so that's gonna be, I mean, and again, thank goodness I do because that meant the last weekend I had the extra day.
But, um, yeah, I'm not. excited about that either. But you know, I mean, again, it's my own fault. I don't want to blame it myself, like clearly. And um, and you know, that's, uh, that's unfortunate. And so don't do that. Use me as a, as a, as a lesson. Don't do that. Don't do that. Now, the book that I did, there's a sequel coming out, uh, later this month.
And so if he likes it, hypothetically, I will get another 450 pages to do. So at that point, maybe I'll be like, I should probably learn from my mistakes and actually schedule this out correctly. And, uh, we'll, uh, we'll, we'll see if that happens. Or he'll ask you to do it and you'll immediately crawl into the fetal position.
Yeah, can you do this for me? Yeah, you know, I don't, I don't wanna. I don't wanna. Um, so, uh, so yeah, so don't, don't, don't do that. If you, you know, make sure you're smart about it. And again, I, I feel like, you know, most of you are probably like, I'm not a child. Like, I know how to do these things. I can schedule these things out.
In which case, awesome. Awesome, this podcast is not for you today. This podcast is for people like me who are procrastinators and who wait to the last minute and who, uh, who are not very good at, uh, at, at scheduling and, uh, you know, let's be honest, it's not professional. What I did was not professional, right?
It was not. But you know what, Josh? I think more people are like you than, than me. Not to like toot my own horn, but I have learned over the years that most people show up late to things. I'm always that 10 minutes early kind of girl. I don't know anybody that's 10 minutes early. I always know everybody that's like 10, 15, 20 minutes late.
So, I don't think you're alone. No, probably not. And I mean, again, you know. In my defense, I did get, I did get it in, and I, and the quality was not compromised, uh, just the quality of my life, uh, the quality of the product was not compromised, at least I don't think so, um, but it was a, it was a nightmare. It was an absolute nightmare.
And, um, and that's, that's, that's not how it's supposed to be. So just be smart about it, right? It is, it is a job, and we need to look at it that way. It's not a hobby, it's not something we do for fun. Fun. I mean, we do, but, um, you know, when you're, when you're, you know, when you have a timeline, when you have, you know, money on the line, be smart about it.
And hopefully I learned my lesson. And if, if, you know, I'm going to find out, like I said, in about a week or so, uh, what he thinks of it and, um, and, oh my God, if he doesn't like it, I'm blind. Um, and, and see if, you know, and if everything goes well, I'm hoping that, that I can get the, uh, the, he has a few other books too.
And, uh, hoping that I can, uh, I can get those as well. Um, and if I do, we'll find out if I learned my lesson, and the answer is probably not. Probably not. It just means that eventually it might just be Marissa on the podcast. Yeah, yeah, because, uh, I'm not going, I'm going to literally... I mean, Josh will be here, he just won't be making much sense.
I'll be under the desk, um, rocking back and forth, generally. So, be smart. Be smart. You know, schedule things out. Things come up. Right, we've talked about on the podcast already about my neighbor mowing the lawn while I was recording. Like, that's not helpful. That's also out of my control. And no, those things are going to happen, right?
Thunderstorms are going to happen. They do. Um, and you can't plan them, I don't think. And if you can... Gotta watch that radar on your weather app. That's awesome. Oh yeah, like they know what they're talking about. Come on. Hey, they've been pretty accurate the last few days. I'm just said it's gonna rain, like, a lot, and like, yeah, no, it's true.
It's like, it's like living down, when I lived down south in like, uh, in, in Pensacola, Florida. You know, it's like, it's gonna rain this afternoon. Yeah, I could have told you that. Rains every afternoon. Like. It is. Of course it is. It's hot, it's humid, it's gonna rain. Thank you. Give me a million dollars. Um, but you know what?
Uh, uh, things are gonna happen, right? Things are gonna get in the way. People are gonna shoot off fireworks randomly. God, that's so annoying. It is. So annoying. Uh, and thank goodness we're done with that. My cats, by the way, Oh my, my dog, I didn't even realize that she was following me around the house, but she was, because she was as close to me as possible, because like, I, I didn't see her in my peripheral vision, you know, so she was that close to me, she was so scared.
My poor cats, like one of them was under the bed, one of them was, was literally in a, a tent in my son's room, like underneath, like, we couldn't find him, like we could not, I don't have that big of a small house, we couldn't find him. Well, can I tell you, like, I, I've owned this house now 10 years, but there was at least four where I was not in it because I was living in Boston and I had to rent it out and all these things.
And so this was the first year back, and I think because there were no fireworks last year, I, I'm really close to the village of, of Waterford, so like that's just where they shoot him off. And my house was shaken. Like they, they let loose this year. And I don't know if it's just because like we had nothing last year or they just decided, Hey, we're going to go all out just cause, but.
So we're not, we're like, we're not anywhere near like actual, like legit, like. town fireworks. These are just people. And, and so, I'm from Well, they're legal here, so. Yeah, I'm from Massachusetts. It's illegal in Massachusetts. So, did people shoot them off? Occasionally. Like, you'd hear one or two kinda, kinda pop off.
But, like, they were illegal. You couldn't buy them. And so, there weren't that many. Oh my word, it's everywhere. It really is. Some of our neighbors, like not like right next door, but like, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood. Like, I don't know how much money this, these, these people spend on this, but it has to be like a grand.
Well, it's America's birthday. I mean, gotta celebrate. This is true. I grant you that. But still, like, come on, man. So, anyway, so, uh, those things will happen. So, make sure that you prepared for those things to happen by, you know, Paying attention to the date on the calendar. Yeah, that'd be good, that'd be good.
I always knew what the date was, and I always knew that was like, yeah, well, I just, you know what, that's, that's, that's, you just gotta Be aware. Be aware. So, uh, don't be like me. Be professional. Be professional. And, uh, I'm a little disappointed in myself that it, uh, that it came to that. Um, but it is done and hopefully I will know what they think of it sooner rather than later.
And if they liked it, I will let you know. And if they didn't, I won't be here. Uh, so, yeah. So there you go, so you'll know soon enough, you'll know soon enough, but again, regardless of what the project is, right, regardless whether it's a lengthy audio book, whether it's a, you know, a, it is, but whatever it is, you know, make sure that you're taking it seriously, make sure that you are planning accordingly and make sure that, you know, you, you are not, uh, waiting until the last minute to do it like I did, because either a, something will come up and you won't be able to get it in on time, which is.
just a death knell, so make sure that doesn't happen, or B, you will get it in on time and you will feel like poo. Like me. Like me. You'll be okay. So, shame on me. Shame on me. Do as I say, not as I do. And if I do end up getting this sequel or whatever, um... And we'll have to see if I learn my lesson. Odds are, no.
But we'll see. But we'll see. Um, so yeah. So, uh, and yours is due this weekend? Mine is due on Monday. So, I'm, you know, I'm, like I said, I'm in that, that editing stage. Uh, I did figure out, I believe, how to correct that audio so it's good for Audible through the program I'm using and I didn't have to go through anything else.
I just watched a YouTube video and taught myself. I've figured out most of what I know about this, well actually in most things. So yeah, like my big thing is I just want to get all the breaths done and then I'm going to go and uh, over the weekend I'm going to take a listen back to all of it before I, you know, get it separated into different chapters and whatnot.
It's a lot easier to do when it's not 15 hours long. Yeah, no, but it was 250 pages, so it was still quite a bit. Thankfully, like, the book that I'm doing is like a networking kind of situation, so it has some workbook pages, so, you know, here, what I thought was going to be, like, forever long, um, you know, I just had to read a page of questions, so I was like, oh, sweet.
I can do that. Easy. Well, bully for you. Yeah. Um, well, cool. You'll have to let us know how it goes, what they think, and, um, yeah. When you are a published audiobook, uh, narrator. Yeah, it'll be soon. Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, thanks for all of you for tuning in and listening, uh, listening to us gripe. For a while.
That's kind of what this has turned into. Uh, and that's okay. And, uh, but, uh, if you want to reach out to the show... Go ahead and do it. All right, uh, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com is probably the easiest way to get in touch. Uh, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com, get in touch with me, get in touch with Marissa. Um, we are, uh, uh, next week we will be introducing you to another new member of our team.
Uh, this past week you, you met, uh, Janelle and, uh, you'll be meeting Katie. We're meeting Katie next week, uh, one of the newest members. In fact, I believe the newest member, uh, of the, unless we've hired other people I'm not aware of, which is possible because. These people were hired, um, without me knowing
Not that they, not that they have to let me know. Okay. Lemme put it that way. Not that they, no one had, no one has to ask my approval, but I just had no idea. Like one day we were having a, uh, a birthday party, I think it was for your birthday, is that it might've been. And I was standing outside the kitchen.
'cause we have birthdays seemingly every week. And, uh, we were singing Happy Birthday. And that's all fine and good and great and happy birthday by the way. Thanks, belated. And uh, and then everyone started walking out and I was like, I don't know that person. I don't know that person. I don't know that person.
Um, who are these people? And that's when I was introduced to Katie, and you will be introduced to Katie next week. Uh, so tune in for that. But, uh, reach out if you want, questions, comments, concerns, anything you'd like, Josh at VoiceCoaches. com. Best way to do that. Marissa, thanks so much. Great to talk with you.
Of your audio book. Thank you. Can't wait to hear about it. Alright, and until next time, so long everyone.
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This week, Josh and Marissa discuss the importance of sticking to a schedule when approaching a large project. Otherwise known as, Josh’s cautionary tale of waiting to the last minute to finish an audiobook!
