One of the best things about publishing stuff online is that you get feedback. It can also be one of the worst things, but let’s focus on the positive for the moment.

A particularly resonant piece of feedback that I have received more than once is that I write the way I talk. I’m never sure if this is a backhanded compliment, to be honest, but I do like to think that I have a strong tone of voice on here. Certainly, when reviewing some old articles recently, it’s clear that my older articles sound very much like a younger me.

Anyway, on the train back from London last week, it occurred to me that I could add something new to the site: audio versions of the articles. Not some crazy AI generated voice version, but actually me, speaking into a mic. Having tried this out on a few articles on the site over the weekend, I can see that while my writing might sound like me, there’s definitely some nuance in how I want to say things that doesn’t quite make it from the voice in my head to the words on the screen.

Maybe speaking things out loud will help to bridge that gap.

So I’ve bought a fancy mic, and all things going according to plan, you should see a simple “play” button at the top of this page. I intend to go back and add audio to a bunch of recent articles, and once there’s a few there, will perhaps push the audio feed into some of the podcast platforms.

Yes, maybe this means I can say “I have a podcast”, but please don’t hold it against me.

And if you want to provide feedback of your own, (on this, or anything else, really), please see the about page for ways to get in touch.