Volume 4, Issue 64: Gary Gaetti

"It took him a long time to find his place, but he certainly found it."

Pre-order The Time Has Come, my novel that comes out May 16. I think you will like it. All pre-orders with proof of purchase enter the contest we unveiled last month. Hi.

I have always known what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how much of a gift this was. I knew, really since I was a little kid (as I wrote here the week that Deadspin died), that I wanted to write, and thus I was able to pour all my energy into that from the get-go. The primary advantage in knowing what you are going to do—being absolutely certain that it is what you must do—is that you never give yourself any off ramps. If you kinda-sorta want to do something, but you’re also up for trying something else out if it looks like it might not work out, you’ll quite understandably take the escape hatch when it gets too hard (and it always gets too hard). Whenever I talk to students, I always tell them I know a lot more people who regret giving up on what they wanted to do than people who regret muddling through a career they committed to but now hate. But on the whole: I feel deeply lucky to have had a passion to follow in the first place. That was the most valuable gift at all, and it’s not something I did anything to earn: It was just always there. Having a passion gives you a form and structure to your life, and even a form of control—it allows you to have a firmer hand on the tiller. It gives you something even when you have nothing. (And there were many years when it was a constant struggle just to my your rent when I desperately needed to hang onto it.)

But most people—the vast majority of people—aren’t so lucky. Life is, for most, something to be navigated rather than steered, particularly when there isn’t a North Star out there to always drift toward. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a passion out there for everybody. It just means that most people don’t know it when they’re 12. But that doesn’t mean it’s not potentially still out there. It can show up when you least expect it. Life’s always got twists for you. And sometimes it locks right into place.

This week, for this weekly book countdown portion of this newsletter (four weeks to go now!), I interviewed Jane Oppenheimer and Anna Caputo. They are the two voice actors who are narrating The Time Has Come. The character Tina Lamm, who spurs all the action in the book, tells her story in the first person; Anna reads Tina’s sections. The rest of the book is told in the third person; Jane does all of that. I’ve had people ask me how audiobooks work, and while I’m sure it’s more complicated for Stephen King or Colleen Hoover, for me, the Harper producers give me a list of available names, I listen to their samples and I choose which ones sound the most like the voices I heard in my head when writing the book. Jane was so obviously talented that I knew she’d be able to do all the heavy lifting with a light, almost bemused touch while still hitting all the high emotional notes, and Anna had a searching vulnerability, along with a quiet intensity, that I knew was perfect for Tina. I can’t wait to hear what they came up with.

After listening to how dead-on Graham Halstead was as Daniel in How Lucky, I became fascinated by the world of audiobooks, which have exploded in popularity over the last few years. How does one get into them? Is is a lifelong dream? Is it just another actor’s gig? And what I learned from Jane and Anna is that it’s a dream job that neither ever, ever could have seen coming. They were doing other things in their lives, lives that were going just fine, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, their dream appeared right in front of them.

Anna had worked in hospitals her entire life. “It takes a certain kind of person to work in hospitals, and I loved it when I was there,” she said. “But I feel like hospitals were great for my 20s, kind of like how I feel about living in cities. It seemed so chaotic and romantic when I was young. Now it just feels exhausting.” Early on in the pandemic, with a six-month-old child, she was listening to an audiobook and thought, “hey, the person I’m listening to actually does this for their job.” Out of pure curiosity, she began researching the field and decided, in the midst of isolation, to “put moving blankets in my coat closet for a booth and buy a mic.” She went on Clubhouse and “soaked up information and tips around the clock,” worked on honing her craft and then, within a year, “it was like a whirlwind dream that I’ve been able to make it my full time career.” Anna was a former hospital worker tending to a newborn and thought, “Hey, this might be what I want to do.” And now it is.

Jane’s story is just as compelling. She was a drama major at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and had worked in theater in New York and Chicago before moving back to Los Angeles (where she was raised) and taking a job (“just to make money for a while”) as a television publicist. Then her plan got messed up because “I kept getting promoted; 14 years later I was director of media relations at Columbia/Tri-Star television, being like, ‘how the hell did this happen?’” She ultimately left that job and worked in real estate before, eight years ago, “having a bit of a health scare.” As she came out of that, she asked herself: What do I actually want to do? “You kind of see that your mortality is looming and want to focus on what really matters to you,” she said. “I had to find something I wanted to forever say ‘yes’ to.”

And she, like Anna, loved audiobooks. Voice acting was in her genes, after all: Jane’s father, Alan Oppenheimer, is a famed voice actor for television: He was, in fact, Skeletor on the old "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” series, which means, it occurred to me while talking to her, than I’ve probably heard his voice more than I’ve heard the voice of some of my closest friends.

(He’s also Old Timer in Toy Story 4.)

So she took some voice actor classes from experts in the field and began working with Audible’s ACX program, which connects beginning narrators with independent publishers. It happened incredibly quickly from there: “The first day I put up a demo, a woman contracted me to do three books for her. I thought, ‘OK, I guess I’m doing this.’ Though I have learned so much in the last six years. I cringe to think how bad I was on those early ones. You’ll never get the titles out of me.” She’s now one of the stars of the field, working with major publishers on literary fiction and thriller titles; she says she has almost more work that she can handle.

And it turns out this is what she wanted all along. “It encompasses all the things that I love: Reading, acting and being alone for five hours at a time with nobody bothering me,” she says. “It’s my perfect job.”

To listen to Jane and Anna talk about their work is to hear artists deeply in love with their craft. Jane told me she sets up a different audiofile for each character where, using the descriptions from the book, she improvises in the character’s voice until she finds the exact right personality and tone, to the point where she can speak as the character and can understand the world of the character before she even starts reading the character’s dialogue. She did the voice of the character Dorothy for me and sort of blew me away; she sounded exactly how I’d imagined Dorothy. Anna explained how she felt deeply connected to Tina, how she felt Tina’s need to make sense of the tragedies of her own life and salvage something meaningful from them; she discovered parts of Tina that I hadn’t even realized were there.

Jane and Anna are great at their jobs, and more to the point: They have found their passions in the world. This is their place. This is what they do. It is not what they ever expected to do. It is not something they even considered doing. But they kept themselves, their minds and their hearts, open to the world and open to new possibilities. They were still searching, even if they didn’t realize it. Then they found it. And now here they are.

“I am living my dream getting to be a part of it all,” Anna said. Three years ago, she was alone in a dark room with a six-month-old during one of the scariest times of all our lives. Now she is living a dream she didn’t even know she had. She didn’t plan for it. She didn’t wait her whole life for it. She just was ready for it when it came. It’s all out there for any of us. We just have to be ready, when it arrives, to say yes.

FOUR WEEKS TO BOOK LAUNCH

Every week here at The Will Leitch Newsletter, we countdown the weeks until the release of The Time Has Come, my novel that comes out May 16. This is the spot for weekly news, updates and pre-order reminders.

I know that last week, I said I had big news coming this week, but that big news is delayed for a week. (Spoiler Alert: It’s about a book tour. We’re finalizing all the dates. It’s not too late for your town!) So instead I’m going to let Jane and Anna take this over this week, since they, unlike you, have read the book. They’ve probably read it more intensely than I have.

I asked them what they would want someone who has not read the book to know about the book. Here’s what they said:

ANNA CAPUTO

The Time Has Come is a story about people moving through and overcoming the circumstances of their messy lives, and coming out of it OJK. That life is not perfect and things in the world are certainly not perfect, but that you can still find humanity and joy among the rubble. I think this is something everyone can relate to—especially now.  

JANE OPPENHEIMER

The theme of the book seems to me to be about identity. You meet these different characters, and they talk about their past, how they’ve developed, who they are, where they’re going. Characters discover things about themselves, they have that identity questioned by unprecedented situations, they question who they are and what they want out of life. And then they all find themselves unexpectedly coming together and realizing … they can help. To me that’s what the book is about: Identity, and how you can find parts of yourself that can help other people, and help yourself. It’s a truly wonderful book, and I can’t wait for everyone to get to discover it.

Also, I’d like to note that Jane and Anna already knew each other before they worked together on this book, which has me wondering if there’s like a John Wick-esque hotel for voice actors that none of the rest of us know about.

Anyway, thank you to Jane and Anna for their time, and their talent. It is a true honor to get to work with them. Check out all their stuff at Jane’s site and at Anna’s.

And of course pre-order the book, and enjoy the obsessive playlist.

Here is a numerical breakdown of all the things I wrote this week, in order of what I believe to be their quality.

1. I Have Knicks Fever and I Had to Write About It, New York. Guess what I’m doing at 6 p.m. ET tonight.

2. Which Slow-Starting Team Should We Be Most Worried About? MLB.com. The Cardinals are high on this list.

3. The Thirty: The Biggest Surprise For Every Team So Far, MLB.com. Light week, as you can see.

PODCASTS

Grierson & Leitch, we discussed “Air,” “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

Seeing Red, Bernie and I are very concerned.

Waitin' Since Last Saturday, Tony and I previewed G-Day this weekend (which I will not be attending).

Also, I was on the legendary Extra Hot Great podcast this week, talking about the (excellent) Netflix show “Beef.”

LONG STORY YOU SHOULD READ THIS MORNING … OF THE WEEK

“The Case of the Fake Sherlock,” David Gauvey Herbert, New York. A killer read about a forensic “expert.”

ONGOING LETTER-WRITING PROJECT!

This is your reminder that if you write me a letter and put it in the mail, I will respond to it with a letter of my own, and send that letter right to you! It really happens! Hundreds of satisfied customers!

Write me at:

Will Leitch
P.O. Box 48
Athens GA 30603

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO

“Jamie,” Weezer. Someone asked me the other day what I thought of Weezer. It’s pretty simple: I love the first two albums and think, with the exception of a couple good riffs here or there, the rest of it is pretty junky. But this is without question my favorite Weezer song. Anybody else remember the DGC Rarities, Vol. 1 disc? Played the crap out of that thing.

Remember to listen to The Official Will Leitch Newsletter Spotify Playlist, featuring every song ever mentioned in this section.

Also, now there is an Official The Time Has Come Spotify Playlist.

Happy Tax Day, everyone. I hope this was not a shocking reminder. Have a great weekend, all, go Knicks. In honor of the Knicks in the playoffs, here I am on the Jumbotron at Madison Square Garden trying to rebound a missed A.J. Daulerio jump shot against Charles Oakley and Charles Smith.

We were the Joes, obviously.

Have a great weekend, all.

Best,
Will