A Multi-Tasking Writer’s Best Friend

By Morgan Tarpley

I think you will agree with me that - while I’m very grateful for the 24 hours that God gives me each day - there are just too many things that are left undone. There are always more things to do around the house, for work, with friends and family and with my writing to have much leisurely time to do much anything else.

So I’ve been faced with quite the conundrum for some time now. As an amateur novelist, how do I follow the advice of countless other authors to read, read and read some more… If my days were already crammed full with other responsibilities, how in the world will I read?  

Then, I made a discovery that I feel like I should have realized years ago. And since that recent breakthrough I’ve enjoyed about 15 books in the past two months with my prior average being about one to two a month. And I know I’m quite behind on the bandwagon but the answer is what I think is a multi-tasking writer’s best friend! Audiobooks!

Some of my audiobook purchases downloaded into iTunes

In the past, I have listened to audiobook CDs in my car but I don’t drive as much anymore for my job so I stopped being able to listen to them and when I played them on my home CD player I always missed important scenes when I had to zip from room to room with my tasks and couldn’t hear it. I ended up just being frustrated during my tasks.

I didn’t know about Audible until I saw an ad for it on Amazon.com and checked it out. I signed up for a free one month trial membership, got hooked and now I’m a proud and very happy member! It’s quite the bargain in my opinion at $14.95 US per month (which includes one audiobook) and the rest are heavily discounted.

Plus the added bonus is that since it’s an Amazon company if I ordered a paperback or Kindle edition of certain qualifying books then I can get that book as an audiobook for under $5. There is also an email update you can sign up for through the site that sends you a notice to what the Audible Daily Deal is for that day and recently they did a spring sale with everything in my wishlist being 50% off so I bought up quite a few books then.

My iPod with Audible app

For optimum use of Audible, I downloaded the Audible app to my iPod and iPhone as well as downloaded the audiobooks straight to my iTunes account. It really couldn’t be easier. And once I’ve downloaded my audiobooks to the app I use my iPod to listen to the books without any need for WiFi connectivity. I plug up my headphones, slide the device into my pocket and get cleaning or organizing. It turns tedious tasks into dually productive ones and I can’t imagine how I’d get by with reading more books per month without using this service.

Of course, there are many other options for listening to audiobooks besides Audible.com and CDs, so here are a few to investigate:

http://websearch.about.com/od/booksandprintedmaterials/tp/Free-Audio-Books-The-Best-Ten-Websites.htm

https://www.scribd.com/audiobooks-join?source=google&medium=cpc&campaign=Audiobooks+-+US&adgroup=General&keyword=Audio%20books

http://www.audiobooks.com/learn_more

http://www.loyalbooks.com/

http://www.audiobooks.org/

https://www.youtube.com/user/audiobooksfree

If you enjoy audiobooks, do you listen to CDs or do you use another audiobook source like Audible? Do you use audiobooks to multi-task?

Morgan Tarpley 

Morgan Tarpley is an award-winning newspaper reporter and photographer in Louisiana. She is also a historical novelist currently seeking representation. Besides writing and traveling to over a dozen countries, her interests include acting in her local theater, genealogy, photography, and singing. She resides in Louisiana with her husband.

For more information about Morgan, visit her website (www.morgantarpley.com) and blog (www.pensonaworldmap.com). You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Goodreads.