Honest to goodness, I considered the project several times and told myself outright, “I can’t do that.” I was aware of telling myself, “I can’t do that,” which I don’t like to do. It’s such a self-defeating thing to say. And yet, I did it anyway. I told myself I couldn’t narrate an audiobook.

To be fair, there was some nuance to telling myself I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have any training and hadn’t too much experience in voice over work, certainly none in the recent past. I also knew I’d have a huge learning curve in the realm of audio file editing, which I’d never done. So, my “I can’t do that” was very specific to my current level of expertise and likely amount of available time. Still, the fact remains: I told myself I couldn’t do it.

And yet, the idea fascinated me. I’m a big audiobook listener, and I admire how many different things a skilled voice actor can do with her voice, switching among not only accents but genders, ages, and personalities so as to narrate different characters in a story. Character dialogue (I kept telling myself) had to be a bear! I felt strongly aware of how good the voice actors that I admired were, and my inner perfectionist told me quite plainly, “You wouldn’t sound like that.”  

And yet, my curiosity was hooked.

Add to that mix some practical considerations that I won’t go into here, and after the publication of my novel Kohelette back in April, I once again found myself considering whether or not it was even possible for me to narrate and produce an audiobook on my own. Bringing Kohelette to publication was a labor of love all along, so I had no doubt I’d find it deeply meaningful to do my own narration for an audiobook edition.

Then one thing led to another.

Fast forward to today. I’m actually announcing the upcoming August 15, 2026, release of my author-narrated audiobook edition of Kohelette: A Novel. It feels thrilling to write those words!

I won’t claim that anybody can do anything they put their mind to. I think life isn’t always that simple. (As a middle-aged woman, I’ve been grappling with that thing called “finitude” for a while now.) Still, as I look back over the experience of narrating and producing my first audiobook, I will say I had some insights that I want to carry with me:

At least TRY new things. I come up against this challenge again and again. My perfectionism holds that doing things well is very, very important, and so I hesitate to begin on a new thing that I don’t know how to do well. I’m taking this audiobook project as a reminder that it absolutely cannot hurt to try something anyway and see how it goes.

Admire good work without holding myself to that standard. Sometimes I find it hard to strike a balance between sitting in wonder at the feet of the masters and giving myself permission to do my own DIY version of the work. So many areas of effort have been professionalized that it takes extra umph for me to put my own uncredentialed foot in the waters. I’m taking this audiobook project as a reminder that I can totally admire the masters and professionals without letting that admiration shut down my own efforts. Gotta start somewhere.

Ask myself which of my failures could also (or perhaps even more accurately) be called “experiments.” Some things are failures. Period. But as I look back at things in my life that I’ve called “failures,” age is showing me that many of those things could also be called “experiments.” And experiments don’t always turn out the way I expect or hope. That really is okay. How else would I learn if I weren’t experimenting?

Not that I’m considering Kohelette‘s audiobook edition a failure. Far from it. It passed publication muster.

What about you? Had any insights lately on the things that you do and don’t try? I’d love to hear in the comment section below–wisdom is best when shared!

Milestones are also best when shared. So, thanks for reading this far and for celebrating this audiobook announcement with me. If you’d like more of a glimpse into this project, head on over to my Substack newsletter for (1) an audio sample from chapter 1, (2) a chance to win a free review copy of Kohelette’s audiobook edition, and (3) a few more reflections on the experience. Also, you can listen below to my Kohelette-world short story “Wicherek Way” (text version with reflections published on this blog earlier in the year), for which I’ve also now done the author-narrated audio. 

Enjoy!