NLP.org...

I feel good.  I've been working for the past 13 days and still have five more to go before I'm off for Thanksgiving weekend.  The whole weekend. Something that hasn't happened in years.  But despite the long stretch with no real rest, things are going exceptionally well.  And not just that, but I actually feel really good.  Sometimes in the middle of it all you can get a little, not overwhelmed, but just so busy that you forget to stop and look at the fact that "hey you live in the most amazing city in the world and you're still alive and kickin' it after five years!"  So, it can be nice to acknowledge it and really let it sink in.  Pausing to admire the view, as it were.

It probably helps that, even though I'm getting up to work at my freelance job tomorrow, I'm sitting here having the last gluten free beer in my fridge and chowing on homemade popcorn (midnight snack guilty pleasure routine, you know how it is).  Overall, I have to say though, that this has been an exceptionally good year.  And while I have been driving myself pretty hard and trying to take as many opportunities as come across my path and trying to make as many more happen as I can, I had a momentary realization on the train tonight.  That, perhaps I should be thinking more about just being prepared for the next opportunity instead of frantically trying to make things happen.

Let's face it, I have a lot of things on my plate right now. I'm working three jobs to pay off my debt and do fun things like go to Nicaragua on a yoga retreat, and also eat healthy and do yoga all the time.  I'm also trying to make the voice over thing a more consistent source of revenue and trying, of course, to advance the ever important music career, taking advantage of a diverse array of projects this year and trying to court several other potential clients to hire me to score their work.  Occasionally I breathe.  Like I'm doing now. As I type. 

So, it's not like I'm neglecting any one part of my career all that much.  Climbing a mountain takes time and while you can make significant strides and look down and see how far you've come to put things in perspective, sometimes you gotta move ahead one ridge at a time and stay focused on where the next foothold is.  (Climbing metaphor...nailed it!)

And I'm really not, when I think about it, neglecting anything.  I got that into my head somehow the other week.  "I'm not pushing far enough ahead in my voice over career."  Yes, I do need to audition more.  But today, I went to another VO practice session with my coach and about five other VO talents.  What fun that was, too!  And I was nailing all the reads for the scripts she gave me.  I actually can't wait to hear the finished mp3 she's going to send me. This stuff was sounding so good and she was liking it so much (my coach) that I think I'm going to use it to buff up my demos a little bit.

And then, who knows.  I'm definitely doing better at the auditioning but I'm really being reminded why I got frustrated before and started to look for agents.  The online auditioning world is unpredictable.  I literally had nothing earlier in the week, just a few weird religious things that I couldn't pull off if I tried.  And just yesterday, when I usually work from 10am to 1130pm, I shit you not, I had no fewer than 7 auditions come through my inbox that were for jobs with budgets up in the $500 range.  What?!

Seriously, guys, it's frustrating.  I may be able to do one or two of them this weekend but I don't have high hopes.  It's like I have to take this freelance work while I can because that's money I know I can make, while the VO stuff is a huge maybe.  Maybe I can pull of an awesome read and send it in time, and maybe they'll like it.  But in all likelihood, I won't hit the mark and they'll be looking for a totally different style of read or voice type than me.

That's the trick and that's why an agent is important.  They can get to know your voice, and already knowing something about the industry can help you find the jobs you're most suited for.

But I digress.  This blog is about savoring the moment.  I may not be at the summit but at least I can pause and look down at how far I've come and center myself, refocus my approach and just look for the next foothold.

On a side note, the reason I titled this blog NLP.org is because I realized while I was typing this that The News Literacy Project has started to post videos with my bumper on them.  Go here to listen.  There's a milestone for you.