Commotion in the Pews | Thoughts and tirades that don't fit into any of my books. A collection of items of limited interest to anyone.

So, There I Was Recording An Audio Book…

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Joseph Courtemanche

And all the hard work paid off massively.

As some of you know, I’ve been doing audio books for years. First as a volunteer for the blind, and then commercially.

If you didn’t know that, no fault but my own: I need to talk about it more.

I’m currently working on the audio book of the COVID flash fiction we did over the first three months of the lockdown. I’m doing total production work on it for only the second time, and have put all of my lessons learned to very good use. The sound quality is silky, the acting my best yet, and since the stories are really good, it’s going to be a great audio book to accompany the Kindle and paperback versions. I hope you will strongly consider giving it as a Christmas present to at least five different people.

At any who, while I’ve been working on it, I was contacted by an organization I volunteer with, and the woman who runs the outfit. Mind you, she’s got a great voice and could do her own book, but she asked me to do the audio book version of a series of training manuals they are putting out starting in December. It will be about 7 different books. And the audience is out there for these manuals. I can’t disclose the details, but the audience is likely to want audio versions to listen to while they work.

I’m very proud of being asked to do this series. It not only means a solid income stream for some time to come, but I get to help people by presenting the material in a coherent manner. I get to do what I love, and do it for people I love.

Now, why me would be the question. The answer is that when you put in hundreds of hours in the work of perfecting a craft, and do things the right way, you go from unknown to sought. And having paid the dues, it’s awfully nice to get asked.

More details to come when it’s officially okay to disclose the project. But in the meantime, I have a lot of books to record.

Hope your day is going great. Mine certainly is.

Gotcha Anniversary

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Joseph Courtemanche

This past week marked the anniversary of Chewy coming to live with us. What a blessing he has been.

That we started with a dog nobody could approach (except his fosters) and who was uninterested in anyone who visited him except us is hard to believe. He just didn’t bond with people. Fortunately, for both sides, we had a lot of experience with that kind of thing having been Stormy’s family for six years.

He must have sensed our willingness to accept him on that last foster visit. I had set it in my mind that he had to approach me without being coaxed with food if we were to adopt him. I needed a dog in my life who felt safe with me. Kip needed it as well, but she’d been in a closer relationship with Stormy than I had been. Stormy always seemed to feel safe with her, but not with me.

At any rate, Chewy came to get his nose rubbed on that potentially last visit. My heart swelled, and we had a new dog – once we could get the yard ready.

Weeks went by, and finally the house was ready for him. That first day we ran through 17.5 pounds of dog treats trying to bribe him into the house. Well, it seemed like it. But he was reluctant to come inside.

A year later? He hops on the bed for a morning snuggle before the day starts. He sleeps next to me while I work in my home office – often so close that I can’t move an inch without sitting on his paws or tail.

Last week I had really bad migraines and vertigo. Not a great combination. I felt rotten all week. Chewy realized this, and he spent the nights sleeping next to me, offering me comfort and calm. His heart is huge now that he’s one of our family. He can’t get enough love, nor give more than we can handle. He overflows with joy.

Mind you, he still dislikes strangers, including all creatures great and small. Not an aggressive thing, but he really doesn’t want to deal with anyone but the two of us. He just doesn’t come near them, and we respect his wishes. We tried really hard to overcome this, but he’s right out front about not wishing to expand his social circle.

It’s been a great year. We look forward to many more. God has been good to all three of us.

Peaceful Protest My Rear

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Joseph Courtemanche

Don’t buy the bull the press is feeding about peaceful protest. Don’t let them convince you it was all just a peaceful collection of fine people.

Instead, drive around my home town – or any major city – and count the boarded up windows.

I stood on my lawn two nights in a row and smelled my city burning around me.

Count the flame-scorched walls and collapsed buildings.

Count the graffiti on the front of businesses that will never open again.

Ask yourself if you’d go to a “protest” or would you fear for your life?

Ask the residents of Washington D.C., Portland, and other cities where mobs of rioters with lasers, weapons, and rocks scream through residential neighborhoods at night waking people up, and threatening to kill them and burn their houses down when they come out of their own homes.

Count the senseless beatings of people pulled from their cars and beaten.

Count the people assaulted, beaten, and left for dead because they defended their business or home.

Count the man murdered in Portland for wearing a Prayer for Peace hat.

Count the hundreds of police officers injured by flying bottles of frozen water and concrete, rocks, glass bottles, and Molotov Cocktails. You know, Molotov Cocktails that burn a person alive.

Count the police who have lost their hearing forever because an industrial/commercial firework was fired at them and detonated five feet away.

Don’t believe the press, believe your eyes. Take a look at your city, or mine, and see the thousands of lives destroyed by rioters and looters.

Those were not, and are not, peaceful protests. They are riots and insurrection. The people who honestly protested a perceived injustice were left behind by the looters, arsonists, and sociopaths in the first hours.

And this must not be tolerated.