Catherine Friend
Catherine Friend

Can You Say “Iron?”

 As a memoir writer, I’m used to sharing my mistakes, especially when they’re farm-related. But today I’m sharing an audio-related mistake. A blooper. The audio file is a blooper from when I recorded the audiobook of Hit by a Farm. 


In this blooper, I’ve forgotten how to say the word, ‘iron.’ Remember I’d been closed up in a little sound booth for days, with no contact with the ‘outside’ world but a 12×12 inch window so I could see the sound engineers, etc. I’d been talking for days. My mouth muscles had started to lock up. I began hating every word I’d written. And normal words began to look like alien things I’d never seen before… like ‘iron.’ Look at that word. Of course it’s i-ron.

Quick note: The clicks you hear between ‘takes’ are made with a dog training clicker. When I wanted to redo a sentence, I’d click, and this created a spike in the file so it would be easy to find and make those repairs later.

The audiobook, which DOESN’T have any bloopers, is now available from Dog Ear Audio. Yea!


http://www.dogearaudio.com/hitbyafarm.htm


12 Responses

  1. I may stumble on “iron,” but I can say some things perfectly. Congratulations on “Sheepish” being a Minnesota Book Award finalist!

  2. Thanks so much for sharing this – seriously! I can’t say the word “iron” to save my life and it was so much fun to listen to your blooper track. Except I was drinking tea when you said “hot flash” and almost spit it out onto my laptop (computer, that is). I think books on CD should actually contain a blooper track – it would be so much fun to listen to them!

    You have a great reading voice, by the way.

  3. I thought this was very funny. And I agree with Myrna that audio books should have blooper tracks. Mabye you should bring it up to the company you work with and it could be added to future recordings. Who knows, you might get some sales from a new demographic 🙂

  4. That was hilarious! I love your reactions after you said it wrong. Thank you for providing my morning laugh. I’ve already read the book but I think I will also need to listen to the recorded version (even if it doesn’t have any bloopers in it) also. Congratulations!

  5. Listening to you stumble with the word ‘iron,’ something that has happened to us all at one time or another, I giggled and started shouting “stainless steel!” at the player. Who cares what it is REALLY made of!

  6. Catherine! I just finished listening to the erotic section of the disk where you allow Melissa to practice ‘sheering’ you. Very provocative! I am giggling up a storm!

  7. I love that people spit out their tea…that’s a good laugh.

    And I love people shouting a solution to the recording. You people are muy funny.

    Country wife—Yeah, I don’t sound as I expect either!In my head my voice is firm and commanding, but it’s more girly than I think is should be. People expect me to be 35, tall, muscular, tough…. Well, I’m tall. That’s it. 🙂

  8. What fun to listen to! My reaction to mis-speaking is usually to say “Let me try that again in english”. You have a lovely reading voice.

  9. OMG, that was too funny! And you sound just like I imagined. 🙂 Love your books! “Sheepish” is our latest bedtime book, (hubby and I take turns reading to each other in bed). We laugh so hard at times we bounce the cats off the bed…

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The Big Pivot

About Me

After twenty-five years on the farm, I’m adjusting to the adventures of city life. Part of that adjustment is figuring out what I want to write about now, since sheep are no longer part of my daily life. I’m challenging myself creatively by painting with pastels and playing the ukelele as I seek my new writing path.

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Catherine Friend is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.