My daughter is starting to ask questions…
My daughter is beginning to take an interest in what I do for a living.
“What do you do all day, Mummy?” she asked this morning.
“I work, darling,“ I said. “I work all day.”
“But you never leave the house!” she exclaimed. “And all you do is TALK. How hard can that be?”
This is the perception of most people. Generally, people assume voiceovers live the life of Riley, chatting happily down a microphone all day, reading exciting scripts to fascinated producers. Many of the school mums are loath to admit that what I do all day can actually be classed as work and seem to regard being a voiceover as a joke job, a bit like being a professional lookalike or a fluffer. When I’ve told them what I do for a living, a couple of them have given a tinkly laugh and then said, “yes but what do you really do?” My daughter’s teachers were alarmed to learn that ‘Mummy uses her mouth for money.’ Reader, I couldn’t deny it…
But actually, it can be quite exhausting. You try saying ‘Today’s Hot Hits!’ in seven different ways for a full half hour and you’ll see what I mean.
Go on, try it.
And what did I tell my daughter? I said, “Actually, my job is VERY hard. I TOIL in that studio, I do. There have been days when I’ve talked so much I’ve coughed up bits of LUNG, dear.”
“Yeah, yeah,“ she said. “Whatever.”
