Hello friends,

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret.

It’s something I don’t share very often. To be honest, it’s not something I like to talk about.

Last week, someone asked me for advice on something. She had every reason to expect that I would have an answer. After all, the thing that she was asking would be laughably easy for any other person with my skills to discuss.

And I realized, I’m really good at sharing my strengths. But my weaknesses?

I like to keep those hidden.

So, in the spirit of honesty and self awareness, I’m just gonna say something I probably should have said a loooong time ago.

I am not good at everything.

In fact, there are many things that I am absolutely horrendous at! Like, really, really, really bad.

Embarrassingly bad.

One of those things is remembering how to spell the word “embarrass." I miss that double R. Every. Single. Time. Luckily, autocorrect has my back on that one.

So I thought I’d run through the things that I am truly terrible at – and share some of the ways that I compensate for my natural lack of talent.

And, because this is a newsletter that’s supposed to be about audio and storytelling, I’ll try to stick to items related to those topics. But believe you me, I have some relatively obvious deficiencies in other areas, too.

Pitching

The Problem: I have ideas. Sooo many ideas. But when it comes time to pitch them, I suddenly run cold. My brain goes blank. I start to think of allllll the reasons why the pitch might get rejected.

Most of the time, I talk myself out of pitching altogether. Sometimes, I’ll send a half hearted pitch that lists ALL the reasons why the outlet might be inclined to say no.

I know what I need to do. I need to write a succinct, confident pitch that highlights the potential of my idea.

But somehow I devolve into a simpering mess.

My Workaround: Have you ever watched the movie, We Bought A Zoo?

Longtime readers of this newsletter have heard this story before, so bear with me.

There’s this movie called We Bought A Zoo. It stars Matt Damon and Scarlet Johannsen. And if I’m being honest, it’s not very good.

You really don’t need to know the particulars of this movie. Trust me on this.

But what you do need to know is that the dad (Matt Damon) is giving advice to his teenage son ( teen heartthrob circa 2011 whose name I have forgotten.)

And the brilliant piece of advice is this:

"Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."

I really hate to admit it, but almost everything good that has happened to me since 2011 (and there are many examples) has come to me as a result of this advice. All you need is that one brief moment of courage, and something good WILL happen.

So when it comes to pitching, here’s my trick. I open up a google doc – or an email with a blank “To” field – and I tell myself that this is just an exercise. I’m gonna write the pitch, but I’m not going to send it. I’m just going to prove to myself that my idea is solid.

And then, once I’m satisfied with what I’ve written, I copy it into an email – or fill out that “To” field – and I hit send. That’s the part that takes courage.

Copying something into an email and hitting send takes less than 20 seconds.

And 20 seconds of courage is all that I need.


Big Picture Questions

The Problem: I am really, really good at getting all the details of a story.

Scenes?

Check!

Rising Action?

Check!

Dialog?

Check!

Emotions?

Check!

A Satisfying Ending?

You better believe it's a check!

But sometimes, I forget to ask the person I’m interviewing to tell me what it all means.

In the midst of an interview, once someone has told me their story from beginning to end, I feel like I’ve got it. I know what it all means. Isn’t it obvious? I mean, it’s obvious to ME!

But here's the problem. The listener does not need to hear what I think it all means. That's not the point of this whole thing.

They need to hear what it all means from the person who actually lived it.

And for that, we need BPQs.

Big. Picture. Questions.

(Yes, I just made up that three-letter acronym. But it has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?)

Of all the types of interview questions, these are my least favorite. If I’m being honest, they sound like 5th grade writing prompts to me. And I ALWAYS cringe when I ask them.

But ask them I must!

My Workaround: This is a bit of a two pronged approach. First, I wrote a list of potential Big Picture Questions.

Sure, I’d rather come up with something unique for every interview.

But this is something I suck at, so there’s no sense in making it harder than it needs to be. And the fact is, there are a few questions that can be adapted to almost any story.

And, because I like you, I’m going to share my “secret” list:

• “Where would you be now if not for (that big turning point in your story)?”
• “If the new you could give advice to the old you, what would you say?”
• “If you could go back and do X again, would you do it differently?”
• “What do you hope people (or your kids, your friends, your teammates) take from your story?”

I’m gonna be honest, often I find these particular questions to be soooo cringey, it actually inspires me to come up with something better.

Sometimes…

But sometimes I put my head in the sand and pretend this problem doesn’t exist. And that’s where Step 2 of my two pronged approach comes in handy.

I get real honest with the people I work with. I tell them that this is a blind spot for me. I ask them to have my back and help me out with it.

And they do! They almost always come up with better Big Picture Questions than I would. And at the very least, they make sure I actually ask my awkwardly phrased BPQs.

It’s amazing how much help you can get…when you actually ask for it.


Physical Descriptions

The Problem: I don’t know what my hang up is here. Maybe a lifetime in audio has just blinded me to physical details? I mean, I see them. But when it comes time to write my story, I very rarely actually remember to include them in my narration.

And when I do…they always sound awkward.

Like, why are you saying this?!? What’s the point? Why do you sound so weird?

I usually end up editing them out of my story before my editor even sees my rough draft.

But other people manage to include physical descriptions in their audio stories all the time. They tell us what people and places actually look like, and it almost never sounds awkward when I’m listening.

So why doesn’t it work for me?

My Workaround: A few years ago, I gave up on actually writing physical descriptions. It's just not my gift! And that's okay.

Instead, I ask my subjects to describe things – on tape.

I love getting tape. And I loooove using tape. It’s a win-win!

The ask is pretty simple. If you’re interviewing someone who’s wearing a fabulous outfit, you can simply say, “This is for audio and no one can see you. So can you describe your outfit?”

Or…”Our audience can’t see this beautiful view we’re looking at right now, can you describe it for them?”

Sometimes, I’ll interject with details of my own. We’ll get a nice little exchange out of it. Maybe a few laughs.

Physical details actually make for great tape. And they’re also a really fabulous way to warm up your guest and get them to stop taking everything so seriously.

Win, win, win!

Post-processing

The Problem: Okay, so this is the question that my friend asked that I should have been able to answer. We both mix in ProTools, and she wanted to know what plug-ins I use for post-processing.

So here’s the really embarrassing part.

(Thank goodness for autocorrect.)

I had to tell her that I didn’t use plug-ins. Not a single one.

Plug-ins frighten me. I’m convinced they’re going to make my system unstable.

Plus, I’ve learned everything I know about post-processing from my BFF, and she works in Audition.

So I literally mix in ProTools, bounce stems to Audition, process them and import them back into ProTools.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand what I'm doing or why. The honest truth is, it doesn’t make any sense, even if you understood every word.

My process is insanely inefficient. It has gotten to the point where I do this on my own time – I do not actually bill my clients for it – because it would be unethical to bill them for my gross incompetence.

My Workaround: Let’s be real here. The whole "bounce to Audition thing" was already a workaround. A painfully ugly and incredibly inefficient workaround.

Workarounds don't always work. Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and fix the problem.

So here’s what I’ve done.

Step 1: Research. I started with an AIR “Ask the Engineer” session with Rob Byers, which is a really great way to build some confidence. Then I watched a few tutorials on YouTube, which is a fantastic way to lose that confidence, bit by bit. (Seriously, if anyone knows any audio engineer YouTubers who actually make sense, please let me know!)

Step 2: Set aside a couple of hours when I’m not actually on the clock. This was always the problem, I think. I was trying to learn how to do this on a deadline and just got completely overwhelmed. But, last weekend I spent a few hours playing around. And I discovered that plug-ins aren’t mysterious after all! (Fun fact: They were already installed. So all my worries about plug-ins making my system unstable were completely unfounded!)

Step 3: Ask a friend for help. Remember that friend who asked me what plug-ins I use? Well, later this week, we’re gonna hop on Zoom and she’s gonna show me all the plug-ins SHE uses. It’s supposed to be a “skill share,” and I’m not actually sure I have any skills to share. But some day, she will have a question and I will be able to answer it. That’s just how these things work!

Because again, it’s amazing how much help you can get…when you actually ask for it.

If you noticed an unusual number of typos in today's newsletter, it's becasue I rushed it out the door because I wanted to get the word out about our next Narrative Beat Monthly-ish Chat on Wednesday, June 4 at 1pm Eastern.

Basically, these are just an informal gathering for members of the Narrative Beat community. You can ask me questions. Maybe I'll ask you some of my own.

The last one was a big hit. Not too big, not too small -- with about a dozen people attending. This one already has eight people RSVPed, which is amazing because I haven't even announced it in the newsletter yet!

It's totally free...but I do ask that you RSVP.

And remember you have three options if you'd like to show your support of the Narrative Beat community.

1. Share this newsletter with a friend. You can simply forward this email, or send them to my full archive and subscribe link!

2. Join our Patreon! You can join for free, but you'll get extra benefits for being a paid member.

3. Drop a few bucks in the Narrative Beat tip jar. I set this up for folks who aren't interested in committing to a monthly membership, but they still want to help me cover my email fees and help sponsor even more scholarships to my Narrative Beat workshops.

Karen