The Agony, Angst, and Existential Dread of Letting Go (Audiobook Edition)

April 9, 2025

Hey, friends!

Producing audiobooks for my stories has been a massive rollercoaster over the years. But when you get a winner...it's borderline tear worthy. 🤗🎧

So, let’s talk about the moment you realize your characters aren’t really yours anymore.

It happens when you hear their voices for the first time—actually hear them, in someone else’s tone, someone else’s grit. You sit there, listening to a stranger narrate a love scene or gut-wrenching, ugly-cry moment you wrote at 2 AM, and suddenly, it’s not just your story. It’s theirs. And yours. And your characters are alive.

While this isn’t every author’s experience, audiobooks are a special kind of vulnerability for me. You hand over your battle-born babies to a narrator and pray they don’t turn your gruff, morally gray hero into a cliche or cheese ball with the wrong dialogue cadence and intonations than how it sounded in your head. That the narrator wouldn’t fit their snarky personality or express their scars, grit, and rage.

I’ve been there. Sweating. Anxious. Dread filling me. Convinced I’d chosen wrong. Like the time I hired a narrator who backed out after realizing my characters who survive the apocalypse curse in high-stakes situations. (Fair. Not everyone’s comfortable with “colorful” dialogue. But come on—if the world’s ending, you’re not saying “gosh darn it, there’s a cannibal again. Please, sir, don’t eat me.”)

For a minute, I was salty about it, especially because I’d toned the dialogue down for them—literally changed my prose to meet them in the middle. But it wasn’t enough.

Then came Luis. In all fairness, he was recommended by the narrator above.

Luis, who took my beautifully broken, battle-worn survivors and gave them life. Luis, who readers now email about, demanding, “WHEN is the next book with his voice?!” Luis, who made me realize sometimes the universe does things for a reason. Like helping me find the PERFECT Jackson. Who then became the PERFECT Ross and so on.

When you hear the right narrator, you just KNOW.

It doesn’t always work out. Sometimes the magic fizzles. But when it clicks? That’s the moment you stop being a writer and become a listener.

And maybe, just maybe, you stop holding your breath. And instead of sweaty armpits, you get giddy inside. YOU did that. YOU wrote those words. And you found the perfect voice. But what do you think?

If you’re curious and want to listen to Luis Bermudez narrate my Savage North Chronicles series for free, you can listen on YouTube.

If you decide you’d like to buy forever copies, you can get the entire series (available individually or for a bundle price) in my bookshop, and they come with the ebooks!

So…

Why am I writing about Luis and finding that chef’s kiss narrator?

Because Skies of Fire (my newest Post-Apoc Romance) is coming out soon, and I can’t wait for you to meet Knox. 🔥

Yellowstone meets The Day After Tomorrow (but with Volcanos!)

April’s Audiobook Survival Kit:

40% off all audiobooks in my bookshop this month. USE CODE: AUDIO40 at checkout. Because if you’re willing to support me directly, I want you to have something special in return!
Luis’s Greatest Hits: Dive into the Savage North Chronicles and get to know Jackson Mitchell: YouTube Savage North Playlist
Free The Darkest Winter Alternative Jackson POV chapter (PDF): https://BookHip.com/DMRPBSQ