Projects Update
Projects Update
Five months later...
When I started writing this newsletter and created this subsection for my current projects, I hoped it would help me keep things sorted out and accountable. I’m going to update it now since I’m thinking about the end of the year and I’m sure not much will change between now and the next two weeks. Here’s what I’ve done since my August 2nd post:
—Book—
August - I’ve been writing the book I’ve always wanted to write about accent modification. I started in March and my goal is to finish a complete draft by the end of the year. I’m halfway there so I’m making good progress.
December - I was on target to meet my goal of a draft by the end of the year but then I realized I hadn’t gone into detail about how to actually produce each of the vowel and consonant sounds. That seems like a really important thing to leave out of a book about accent modification, but really, the books that are out there now are not very comprehensive, so I’m getting very comprehensive. I estimate this will take me an extra three months so now the end of March 2022 is my new goal. I’m really enjoying it! Besides the description of how to produce each sound, I’m listing expected pronunciation differences for as many languages as I can.
—App—
August - I’m working on making an app that will provide practice for the speaking skills I teach. This is based on practicing in small amounts more frequently to help people develop the habit of practicing. I don’t have the tech skill to make it so I’m working with a wonderful person who has the tech skills and I need to supply the language content.
December - I didn’t increase my productivity on this so I’m still not finished with the basic content for practice exercises but very close. Then there’s the assessments and audio files to make.
—Online Courses—
August - I’ve started transferring my teaching materials to an online course format. Since I’ve started writing the book I’ve been updating my teaching materials, so now I need to go back and update that same information on the courses. I also need to make explanation videos to insert into every page.
December - Absolutely no progress on the online courses. Teaching materials are slowly getting updated. I’m okay with that though. I’m putting a lot of energy into the book writing and that will be the basis of everything else so I see it as the first domino to focus on.
—YouTube videos—
August - After each Meetup (Pronunciation & Intonation, I record myself pronouncing the words and sentences that we practiced together in the group so people can go back and listen again. I get asked really good questions and have started a list of videos to make that will go into more detailed answers than I have time to give in the Meetup group.
December - The post-Meetup videos are made immediately after each meeting so those are always up-to-date. The only answer-specific video I’ve made was in connection with the newsletter about the Many Sounds of “S.” That to-do list keeps growing.
—Newsletter/Blog—
August - I’m going to start using the content I’m writing in the book to post as articles/newsletters/blogs, whatever you want to call them. I haven’t been able to keep up a weekly or even a monthly blog so this will be a challenge for me.
December - It took a while to get consistent, but since October, I’ve had a newsletter every Tuesday. I don’t know if this one really counts as a newsletter since it’s just about what I’m working on and not specifically about speech, but I think this side of it is necessary to help fuel the other side.
—Private Speech Coaching—
All of this is at the same time as meeting with my current clients for private speech coaching. I have several clients ending at this time so I’m doing the analyses of their post-evaluations right now. Each one takes me 3-4 hours, so they’re intense work for me but also extremely rewarding to see the progress people have made. It’s my favorite thing to do!
