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+1 for Audacity.
If you're trying to ensure consistent volume levels, there are two tools that you should familiarize yourself with.
The first is a plugin called a "compressor" that should come included with Audicity. It reduces dynamic range by a fixed ratio. For example, if you set the ratio at 6:1, then if the volume of your voice goes up by 6 dB, the output volume from the compressor would only go up 1dB. The end result is a more consistent dynamic range, without big spikes from loud syllables. You'll have to adjust the settings based on your particular recording, but a good starting place for speech is a threshold of -20 dB, a ratio of 9:1, and the fastest attack and release time possible, if the plugin has those settings.
The second tool is something called "normalize". This takes a digital audio file, scans it for the loudest point in the file, then raises the overall level to that the loudest point is at the maximum volume for digital audio. In other words, after you've recorded and compressed the audio, if the loudest point in your file is at -9 dB, normalizing will raise the volume of the entire audio file by 9 dB.
Most of all, trust your ears. What you hear is what it actually sounds like, and we can all tell the difference between something sounding good and bad.
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