The AudioBoo Bug (How I Was Bitten)

In this hot, sticky summer of mosquitoes and other flying nasties, I have been bitten. Oh yes. By the AudioBoo bug. Ha! Bet you thought I was going to say something else. Well, it’s true. And it’s all the fault of two very lovely ladies (and very talented writers), Annie Evett and Jodi Cleghorn. I kept seeing their tweets about this AudioBoo thing, and when Jodi suggested I check it out, I duly do so. After all, I like to keep up with what’s going on in that vast, and often bewildering landscape we call the Internet.

For those of you who are as yet unaware what this whole thing is about, AudioBoo is basically a website (and iPhone application) which allows you to post short audio files. You can either do as I do, and record them on your computer using a microphone setup, or you can record and post a Boo direct from your iPhone (or Android phone). It’s an extremely accessible and simple process, requiring little hardware, and none of the fancy set up required by decent podcasts (though if you want to do a podcast, I suggest you go and follow Emma Newman’s blog – she’s no stranger to the whole business since she’s podcasting her debut novel, Twenty Years Later).

People use AudioBoo to discuss all kinds of things, but as a writer, it’s a boon as it allows you to ‘discuss’ ongoing projects, read snippets of fiction, or simply connect with other writers in a new way. Blogs are all very well and good but there’s something almost sterile about them. Sure, they take the format of the written word, our weapon of choice, but so often writers end up missing out on that spoken, vocal spark that comes from talking about projects. Now you can chat about your work to people other than your friends and family!

I also think AudioBoo is also beneficial in that it forces you to use a different part of your brain to articulate your point. Vocalising thoughts is a very different process to articulating them using the written word, and as such it can help you to have all kinds of insights into your own work that you might never have had if you hadn’t chosen to actually talk about them out loud. So far, I’ve done an initial introductory Boo, a second Boo in which I discuss my plans for my Tales from Vertigo City serial, and newest Boo in which I discuss my current projects. None of the Boos are longer than four minutes, so you’ll probably be able to listen to them and digest the contents faster than you’d be able to process one of my blog entries!

I certainly won’t be abandoning my blog any time soon, but I’m hoping to post Boos fairly regularly from now on…come and have a listen to my odd accent over on my AudioBoo!