In a creative career, doors don’t always open on their own. Sometimes you have to build the frame, craft the hinges, and carve out the key. True Voice Shorts began that way—not just as a project, but as a practice in possibility.

It started with a question I kept asking myself:
How can I, as an independent narrator find meaningful, regular work that builds both skill and audience?
And a second, more personal question that guided the whole vision:
How can I integrate all that I am (actor, artist, author, businessman—or woman), all that I do (project manager, programmer, geek), and all that I want (time to read, explore, grow, and create) across genre and interests?

As a narrator, I knew the gaps in the audiobook world: the long wait for projects, the challenge of marketing voiceover work beyond a résumé, the disconnect between creation and promotion. I also knew the inefficiencies—repetitive prep work, inconsistent collaboration, scattered tools. So I streamlined my audiobook process—preparing template materials up front, automating prep, tagging emotion and tone, creating tools that made production faster, cleaner, and more sustainable.

But efficiency alone wasn’t the point.True Voice Shorts was born from the belief that voice matters. That we need more stories told aloud. More styles, more perspectives. And more ways to practice the craft of voice—not in the abstract, but on living, breathing texts.

With True Voice Shorts, I found a way to:

• Narrate diverse, dynamic pieces regularly, across genres and tones.
• Blend performance with passion—bringing in public domain texts, modern meditations, original writing, and adapted classics.
• Build an audience slowly but intentionally, offering free, high-quality audio with thoughtful themes that invite reflection.
• And perhaps most surprisingly, to reconnect with my love of research, writing, and history—because many of these shorts ask to be reimagined, not just read.

What started as an efficiency tool became an act of creative expansion.

The series also gave rise to something larger: Lemery House Press, my indie publishing imprint that now includes not just audio, but print and eBook editions, original plays, children’s stories, and historical adaptations. It’s all connected. One seed grows into a system. One voice becomes a library.

Creating opportunities isn’t just about hustle. It’s about alignment.

When your systems support your creativity—and your creativity serves your audience—you’re no longer waiting for someone else to grant permission.

You’re already telling the story.