For two days, I read Sugar Birds into the studio microphone. Guided by a seasoned producer of many audiobooks, I dug deep, tried hard. But by the end of the second day, I had to face facts: some of my characters’ voices simply sounded like . . . well, like me, pretending. Amateurish.

“I know a reader . . . ,” producer Bob said. He’s a kind man, who had been honoring my aspirations to read it myself.

But he’d heard enough. So had I.

“Who?” I asked. “She good?”

He smiled. “You decide.” He pulled up a segment from a recent recording.

Within fifteen seconds, my eyes widened in recognition and awe. “I know that voice,” I said, hanging on her every word.

“Jayne Entwistle,” he said. “Just moved to the area from L.A. Easy for her to work remotely from here.”

By that evening, she had the manuscript in hand, and I waited, restless, to hear if she would accept the project.

Within the week she contacted me. “I sobbed through the last twenty pages!” she wrote. “What a beautiful, gripping, fascinating book you have written. It is SO, SO GOOD! I couldn’t put it down.”

Though the fog of my shock, I realized she was saying “yes.”

Fast forward: she’s now sent me a couple of concept clips, and I’m delighted with her work. Not surprising. Take a look at her official bio:

Jayne Entwistle is an award-winning audiobook narrator known most notably for her narration of the Flavia De Luce series, by Alan Bradley. She received the prestigious Odyssey Award for The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, and the Odyssey Honour Award for The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, by Julie Berry. In addition to receiving several Earphones Awards, her narration has landed on Audiofile Magazine‘s list of Best Audiobooks of the Year.

When not immersed in fabulous books, Jayne can be found on-screen in television shows such as The Good Place; Feud: Bette & Joan; You’re the Worst; and Maron. Originally from the North of England, Jayne currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.

She’ll begin recording in early March.

Enough said. I feel another happy dance coming on. (You can preorder Sugar Birds: A Novel at your favorite bookstore, Amazon, or HERE.)

Thank you, Lord. Your doing, all of it. ❤️

And, gathered below, more posts from earlier this week:

Detox..

“Create in me a clean heart, O God . . .”

—Psalm 51:10

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Fir seed tadpole, snow pond.

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The Waiting Season.

“You care for the land and water it . . .You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.”

—Psalm 65:9-10

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Lacy boudoire.

“The king has brought me into his chambers.”

—Song of Solomon 1:4

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Welcome friends. So glad you’re here!

Watching Nature, Seeing Life: Through His Creation, God Speaks