GUGG?!
Yes, In choosing the catchy, slightly tongue-in-cheek business name of The Get Up And Go Guru back in 2012, I didn’t think it completely through when it came to what the acronym would be.
(This is not the first time this has happened. Read the P.S for more info!)
But despite the slightly weird-sounding acronym, I am VERY excited to announce the launch of The Get Up And Go Guru Audio Blog!!
Yes, way back in October 2013 I wrote a blog COMING SOON: My CFS Blog In Audio To Download.
And a long time before that, on August 1st 2013, I had started to record the first audio recording of my blog posts.
Why An Audio Blog?
As I explain in the audio that’s attached to this post (scroll to the bottom and you’ll find the player), I had decided that I really wanted to make my blog posts available in audio as well as the written blog, because I know how much I love being able to listen to podcasts, audiobooks and radio when I’m really unwell in bed.
I love audio when I’m just too tired to keep my eyes open to read, but too “CFS-fatigue” wired to go to sleep (I think you know what I mean. That totally wiped-out, exhausted CFS / ME fatigue, where you can barely move a muscle, desperately want to sleep, but just CAN’T get to sleep!).
So I bought myself a microphone and learned how to upload audio to a blog, and started recording.
THEN I got really sick (or sicker!) and could barely talk with the fatigue, so it has taken me this long to record my first 49 blogs, do what I need to do to tag them for iTunes/Stitcher etc, and upload them to the blog.
Why iTunes and Stitcher?
Because in the process of learning about it all, I was also learning about it because I plan to start a podcast (getting closer by the minute. I’m hoping to start interviews in the next month!).
This audio blog originally wasn’t planned to be a podcast, just a downloadable link on each blog post.
But I’ve decided to make it an iTunes/Stitcher podcast as well, so that more people will have access to my blogs.
And ironically, I recorded the intro to the blog BEFORE I wrote this, so this blog post isn’t recorded and uploaded (yet). There IS an audio attached to this, but I recorded that without a script, so it’s NOT what is written here!
Not sure how I’ll work that out, considering they are in number order and this is number 1 (and I have 49 others that come after it that are already up!)
Maybe you’ll just have to read THIS post, then listen to the audio intro. Maybe I’ll work out a way to put a link on this page of this audio eventually as well as the audio blog that accompanies it.
Wow, so many things to think about when doing an audio blog. I’ve certainly learned a lot along the way!
Regardless, you now have 50 audio blogs to listen to, and more to come!
[It’s official! I now have an iTunes podcast!! Woohoo!! :-). Go to this link to subscribe on iTunes. Yes, iTunes! Am I excited?! Just a little! Oh, and I’ve also added a new tab for my podcast where you can listen and download – and share – all the audio blogs from one page – but don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes as well cos that will give me some cred over there. Gotta have cred ;-)]
Stepping Through My Perfectionism
Hopefully you’ll enjoy all my audios.
They are far from perfect.
The audio quality varies, depending on where and when I recorded them (as I didn’t always do them in order).
I have chosen not to edit, unless there was a major bit of editing required, because otherwise I’d have taken another year to get these first 50 audios up.
So perfectionism has taken a back seat in favour of practicality and providing a service to my CFS / ME / Fibro / Spoonie community.
Hopefully you’ll forgive the lack of perfect audio and still enjoy the ability to listen to my blog posts in bed or while you’re doing housework, driving or otherwise out and about.
I need to actually publish this post before I can officially apply to iTunes or Stitcher to make it an official podcast, so that’s what I’m doing here.
I’ll come back and edit it to let you know when it’s officially a podcast. π
Meanwhile, to get to my audios, search “Audio Blog” in Categories or just in the search bar.
That should bring up every post that has an audio blog recorded.
Scroll to the bottom and either play it here on the page, off the page, or download it to your device.
Naturally, during this whole process I’ve managed to write another 50 blog posts!
So stay tuned over the coming weeks and months for each new installment of The GUGG Audio Blog :-).
Sign up to my newsletter to be notified of each new audio blog OR subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher when it’s all official (I get very excited writing those words!) π
I’d love to know what you think of it.
When it gets up on iTunes and Stitcher, please write a review, especially if you love it, but either way, just put an honest review up there.
And also, please comment on this blog post or comment over on Facebook or Twitter. I’m a regular on both platforms.
With those words, I officially declare The Get Up And Go Guru (GUGG) Audio Blog launched!
Happy listening!
Louise π
P.S As I said above, the unfortunate GUGG acronym is not my first experience of not fully thinking a name through. After thinking we’d covered all bases to NOT accidentally give our child a weird or embarrassing name (you know, like the people who call their kid Richard Head?!), we thought we’d done a pretty good job. Until our daughter went to school and they started writing her name as her first initial followed by her surname. Her name is Sophie. Her surname is Hocking. Normal enough huh? But when written as her first initial, followed by her surname, what do we get? S.Hocking. Yes, unbeknown to us, our daughter is Shocking!) π
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SiobhΓ‘n says
It was perfect and lovely to put a voice to the face and smile! your voice is so upbeat and positive and from one recovering perfectionist to another you did a fantastic job Louise. S x
Louise Bibby says
Thanks so much S. Sorry about the delayed response. I somehow missed seeing your comment. Your encouragement is so nice to get, especially today as I’m having a tough CFS/ME day. Obviously that’s WHY I didn’t see the comment till now. It was being saved up to put a smile on my face when I most needed it! π
I hope you enjoy listening to some of my other blogs. I’m just organising a graphic to go with my iTunes submission, and then it will be an official iTunes & Stitcher podcast. Hopefully the start of big things to come π
Keep Smiling (& thanks again for all your support)
Louise π