My mother likes to tell the story of how, when I was very little in the late seventies, she recorded herself reading me stories. I must have been relentless in asking her to read to me because when she just didn’t have time to tell me stories, she would plop me in front of the speakers of our stereo and play those cassettes instead. I think there were even some stories she made up herself.
Books are my comfort, my escape, my favorite form of entertainment. Reading is like living a hundred different lives in one. But reading has always been just that, words on the page of a book. I’ve always been on the fence regarding audiobooks. Which is wild because that’s basically what I was listening to as a child.
Recently, though, I’ve been wanting to get into audiobooks. Since I’ve started working as an editor, I’ve been reading less than I’d like to. After editing a book for most of the day, I just don’t have the energy to also read for fun. And audiobooks seemed like the perfect solution, for me to still enjoy the magic of reading stories without having to actually read them.
But I soon encountered a problem. I couldn’t seem to concentrate on the book if it was being read to me. My mind would wander and minutes would pass before I realized that I had stopped paying attention and had no clue what was happening in the book. I tried a few times and just dropped it, thinking that I just wasn’t suited to audiobooks. My brain clearly didn’t work that way. Until someone commented on a TikTok I made, complaining about this, and said that they’d had the same problem, and it takes practice. Who would have thought? It never occurred to me that listening to an audiobook would require practice. Which is absurd because most things require practice, it takes practice to get good at anything we do. And that shifted my mindset.
Right now, I’m listening to the audiobook of one of the books I edited, Curious Physiologies, by Jay Neill. The book came out in print, ebook and audiobook on February 16th, it’s an urban fantasy about the Linefolk of London. An urban fantasy set in London, blending mystery and the uncanny as a magical, hidden world begins to surface from the depths of the London Underground.
It was narrated by Sarah Edwards, a lovely British voice actor.
And yes, it’s still a bit of a challenge, but it helps that I know the book so well (having read it approximately a million times at this point) that even when I get distracted, I don’t get lost.
It’s great practice for me to get used to listening to audiobooks, and, frankly, Sarah does a great job keeping my attention with her cadence and the different voices and general pacing.
So, if you’ve struggled with audiobooks, or aren’t convinced they “count” as reading, maybe give them a chance. Like anything else, listening takes practice… and who knows, you might just discover one more avenue to enjoy stories when you can’t sit down with a book in hand.
And if you’re curious about the kind of editing I offer, you can learn more about my services here.
Ellipsis Languages 
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