posted on April 26, 2019 by Lori Ann Bailey

Raising a Glass to Books and the Past

Learning a new skill can be intimidating. Change is hard. And diving into a new technical project can be daunting, especially when you know only a nominal amount about the medium. I also happen to be less than tech savvy. I once tried to update my website and crashed my email account. It was not a fun time. Anything regarding technology usually involves a call to my husband or one of my children for help.

Recently, I started on a new venture and decided to learn something I typically wouldn’t have ever tried. Why? Because two friends came to me and asked if I was interested in starting a podcast? I was nervous at first, thinking, oh no, you must not know about me… but they mentioned history, books and wine. Add those three things with two of my favorite people and I couldn’t resist. I jumped on the chance to be a part of the History, Books and Wine Podcast.

Essentially, our podcast is three author friends, Eliza Knight, Madeline Martin, and myself, talking about books and fun historical tibits while we raise a glass of vino to celebrate the things we love. Each month we have a Happy Hour where all three of us host, then we take weekly turns hosting a thirty-minute episode about a person from the past or facts in history.  During our show, we tell what we are drinking, share our fun historical facts, chat about what we’ve been reading that week, and finally, we share one of our own books which sometimes relates back to our weekly topic.

The hardest part of the whole process seems to be doing the research and writing out a script. At first I wrote out everything I was going to say because I was afraid of getting something wrong. While my first attempts aren’t bad, they sound too much like I’m reading and while I say everything I’ve intended, it comes across as a little wooden. I’ve recently moved to making bullet points or discussion topics so that I say everything I want, but also have room for a little bit of improvisation.

This newer process leaves room for more errors, which leads into the editing process. I’m coming to enjoy this part, not only because it means I’m more than halfway done, but because I have the power of what stays and what goes. Once the audio file is uploaded into the editing program, you have the ability to cut out the parts of the recording that don’t work.

I tend to smack my lips right before I speak, so I’m becoming more aware of this. Also, when going on the bullet point format, I start to include “ums” that need to be deleted. So while using this form of scripting sounds better in the long run, it requires more editing on the back end.

I’ve also discovered, if you mess up, take a deep breath and repeat what you were trying to say the first time. The mistake can always be cut out.

This new venture helped me grow and taught me, I can do this. I enjoy pulling it all together. And now that we’re a few episodes in, the process is becoming much easier. A task that was scary and daunting before has now become fun and rewarding.

With each episode, we discuss a new topic, which means I’m constantly doing research and learning new things about the past and that brings me a lot of pleasure. As a result, I think the knowledge I am gaining will not only improve my writing about all things historical, and better prepare me to speak in public.

As with any new journey, breaking this process up into manageable parts has given me a better understanding of where I’m going and how to get there. While there is so much to enjoy about pulling our new podcast together, the best is still at its core, and it’s all in the title, History, Books and Wine Podcast.

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HIGHLAND SALVATION
Highland Pride Book 4

Finlay Cameron, the bastard son of an English earl and a Scottish mother, weds stunning, outgoing Blair Macnab to ensure her clan’s loyalty to King Charles. She’s everything he’s ever wanted in a wife, but he suspects she may be plotting his murder.

Always considered to be nothing more than a pretty face, Blair Macnab yearns to prove her worth. She refuses to be used as a pawn for political gain, but when confronted by a blackmailer, her only option is to marry the brawny Finlay Cameron.

In Finlay’s arms, she feels safe for the first time ever. Until she learns that her blackmailer is hot on her trail and her secrets could soon be exposed…

 

Lori Ann Bailey

Lori Ann Bailey

Lori Ann Bailey is a winner of the National Readers' Choice Award and Holt Medallion for Best First Book and Best Historical. She has a romantic soul and believes the best in everyone. Sappy commercials and proud mommy moments make her cry. She sobs uncontrollably and feels emotionally drained when reading sad books, so she started reading romance for the Happily Ever Afters. She was hooked. Then, the characters and scenes running around in her head as she attempted to sleep at night begged to be let out. Looking back now, her favorite class in high school was the one where a professor pulled a desk to the center of the room and told her to write two paragraphs about it and the college English class taught by a red-headed Birkenstock wearing girl, not much older than she, who introduced her to Jack Kerouac. After working in business and years spent as a stay-at-home mom she has found something in addition to her family to be passionate about, her books. When not writing, Lori enjoys time with her real-life hero and four kids or spending time walking or drinking wine with her friends.

http://www.loriannbailey.com

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