Blog Posts
For Narrators
You've already decided on a career in voice-over, but do you know how your voice fits in the industry? Many voice talent try to be all things to all people and end up frustrated by endlessly attending classes, creating new demos, and marketing to potential clients without first thinking of how every action should tie together and lead one closer to one's goals.
You see, I know something about such frustration. Oh, sure, I'm radiating inner peace now (well, most days, anyway!), but I have a journal entry from 1 June 2003 in which I wrote:
Today's word is frustrated. I looked in the dictionary and found the word describes ME.
I even modified the dictionary entry to include my picture and my name in the description. If you can't read the highlighted portion, it says:
1 a: to balk or defeat in an endeavor b: to induce feelings of discouragement in Karen Commins
My voice-over career was the number 1 reason for my frustration that day. I wrote:
I could do so many things to further my voice-over career...I have so many good ideas for marketing and promotion -- so many things I want/need to do, should/could do -- but not enough time. I know I could book more gigs if I could....
You get the drift.
So what changed?
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know...?
Do you get
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know...?
-- Diana Ross when singing the theme from "Mahogany"
Those song lyrics have been floating in my mind after reading another voice-over blog in which the author wrote, "I have no idea where this is going." While I have taken the writer's words out of context, the face-value of that thought inspires today's post.
Do you know where you're going to in your voice-over career? When planning either a trip or a career in voice-over, it's important to know your desired destination. You don't need to know HOW or WHEN you will get there, but you do have to decide where you want to go. When you make that decision, you might as well decide to have the very best outcome you can possibly imagine.
In addition to reading, interpreting and performing others' scripts for pay, I am convinced that the most passionate and successful voice talent seem to have an inherent love of reading. For instance, my friend Bob Souer finds and reads all sorts of interesting things on-line, which he shares with us on his blog. I recently had a discussion with another friend Dave Courvoisier about the merits and pleasures of the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device.
I plan to buy a Kindle for pleasure reading, but I may also use it in the recording booth to perform some auditions and possibly longer material. Since I have remote control of Pro Tools through my handy TranzPort, I'm really thinking of setting up a second computer monitor in the booth.....but I digress.
Any reader of my blog would know that I love words and language. I frequently refer to books that I am reading or have read since they help shape my perspective as a person and voice talent.
"Whatever you want to do or be in life,
you will find the blueprint for success
by carefully reading..."
you will find the blueprint for success
by carefully reading..."
I have loved books since childhood. I can remember my mother taking me to the library so I could check out armfuls of books. At that time, I could read 50 books in the summer. I still frequently utilize my library card although my time for reading is more limited. These days, I might read 50 books in a year, and I am in the midst of several books at any given time.
Cruiser Karen Commins contemplates the Caribbean colors
A negative mindset can be picked up so easily,even over the internet airwaves.
seeps through yr fingers into the keys of yr keyboard&beyond
What exactly is a negative mindset? According to Esther and Jerry Hicks, authors of numerous books on the Law of Attraction, you will have a negative mindset any time that you feel a negative emotion. They say that a negative emotion indicates you are feeling a lack of harmony with what you really WANT.