#dearest update

“Dearest” mainly consists of me (Clare, the voice you’ve heard a few times now) and Sarah, my incredible co-producer. It started with, quite literally, a shower thought. I wanted to collect your writing, your stories, and give them some voice. And you all answered the call in spades. I received hundreds of letters, and I promise you: I’ve read every single one. They gave me goosebumps and tears and laughter and I’m so grateful to you for sharing yours with me. I then had to narrow down our options to the letters I thought would make the best recording material. I chose letters for a number of reasons: the uniqueness of the author’s perspective, the resonance it had to my loved ones’ experiences, or the sheer poetry of the writing. I then reached out to my actor friends to set up time to record. And that part was fantastic: getting to hear your words aloud for the first time, watching a performer decide how to give each story life. I loved that part.

The editing process became the most challenging and exciting chapter of the process. We meticulously listened to every minute of recorded content, choosing the most authentic take from each letter and taking out breaths, pauses, and bloopers. It look a long time, but we ended up with what would make up “Dearest.” Finally, we had to organize all of this content into episodes. We tried to balance tone, mixing sad and happy, brief and lengthy, to give our listeners an exciting path to follow every episode. Then Chris, our wonderful composer, wrote music hand-tailored to each letter. Add to this the customized art for each episode by Manami, our logo and web design by Dom, and our marketing by Sarah, and we had created something complete, beautiful, and truly special. The first time I heard the final product, I cried. 

All of this is to say that “Dearest” became much bigger than I ever anticipated. It took a whole group’s creative attention for a number of months, and resulted in one of my favorite projects I’ve ever made. I did learn, however, that it required much more production labor than I’d anticipated. 

Long story short: We’re not going anywhere. Sarah and I are committed to making audio content together for a looong time coming. We’re excited to explore producing audio projects in larger series and releasing all episodes at once so that we can hold ourselves to our high production standards. 

Mostly, I want to thank you. You’ve supported this idea from its conception and have been *incredibly* generous in your admiration since our launch. I can’t express how amazing it’s been to interact with you all through this project. As a thank you for sticking with us, here’s Episode Four of “Dearest.” Truly: thank you. Keep reaching out, and you’ll hear from us again soon.

Love,