When we’re getting ready to do something, we hope it goes well. From going on a audition to preparing for a presentation at work, we hope for the best. These days we hope the economy will improve and our 401(k)s will return to normal. Most people recall the role hope played when Pandora opened her box.

How much hope do you have?

I remember a game I played as a kid called the last Straw. A brown plastic camel with wheels on its feet wore two yellow baskets. Players took turns placing colored plastic sticks in the baskets. You hoped yours wasn’t the one to break the camel’s back.

Just like that camel, most of us have our breaking point. Some people might quit after a single failure. Others persist until they succeed, no matter how long or how hard the journey.

How do you know if you should press on toward a goal in the face of rejection or failure? Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re beating your head against the wall or are about to become an example of that quote, “Winners never quit…” Are you that auditionee on American Idol who clearly has no talent whatsoever, except in his own ears? Or are you the next J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter got rejected a dozen times), Margaret Mitchell (GWTW got rejected 38 times) or Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance, over 120 rejections)?

Imagine for a minute sending out 100 submissions, following each agent’s or editor’s guidelines…some would be queries, some would include sample chapters and/or a synopsis. See the reams of paper printed and tidily stacked, the 100 envelopes ready to be mailed. (Yes, some agents/editors accept e-submissions today but many don’t.) Imagine the hope you’d feel.

As each rejection rolled in, you’d think, “One NO closer to YES.” (I give a workshop called that.) You’d hope, “Maybe the next one.” What if all of that effort yielded nothing but a pile of letterhead? Would you keep going?

Persistence is a lot like gambling. What separates the person who sends out just one more submission and the one who bets on just one more race…that the goal of being a published author is more laudable than trying to make money via luck? The person putting a bet down on a horse with even 20-1 odds has a better chance of winning than the person sending out queries does of snagging an agent or selling a book.

Just because the odds are high doesn’t mean we should give up. Let’s hope that hope isn’t quantifiable. That it regenerates and grows stronger while we persist until we achieve our dreams.

I’ve been judging a few writing contests lately and have been unpleasantly surprised by the number of typos and misused words in the entries. One or two don’t bother me as much. But many not only pull me out of the story, they come across as unprofessional and show me the author lacks attention to detail. And I’ve heard many agents and editors say that they’ll reject or are more likely to reject submissions with too many errors.

Don’t believe me? Here are a few examples:

Knight Agency Do’s & Don’ts
Four Agents in current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine
Shepard Agency

So why don’t authors take greater care before sending their work out to be judged? There are so many other reasons a submission might be rejected, why not control the things you can?

On the other hand, how picky is too picky?

I’m revising my commercial voiceover demo, and have been analyzing every word I’ve said in the recordings I’m considering, listening over and over for flaws. In this commercial, the third word sounds too scratchy. In this, the first word doesn’t have the right inflection. There’s too much mouth noise in this phrase that can’t be edited out. Or maybe this product isn’t one that best reflects me as a voiceover talent. Every time I listen, though I hear many things I like, I also hear something new I might want to change. Am I being over-critical? Is there such a thing when the demo will go on my agent’s Web site?

Manuscripts, query and cover letters, resumes, Web sites, headshots and VO demos are our marketing materials. We need to present the best products we can. When are they ready to go? I suggest getting a second opinion, a fresh set of eyes or ears. Have experienced fellow authors review your submissions. Ask my agent(s) to listen to my demo before completing the final version. If your products improve, the additional time and effort will be worth it.

So please, aspiring authors, don’t enter a contest, and definitely don’t submit to an editor or agent, until your work is as clean of errors as it can be.

Hard to believe it’s been three years since I fled corporate America to pursue acting and writing full time.

Am I glad I did? Yes: I’d wanted to devote more time to these creative careers and make them my day job for years. No: I still miss the daily camaraderie and paid vacation.

As they say, time does fly when you’re having fun. I’ve really enjoyed building my voiceover and on camera career. Several industry sources said it takes three years to gather momentum. Which has proven true: last year I worked far more than ever before, and had more returning clients. I’m getting auditions for bigger projects with bigger clients.

All this doesn’t mean my work is done. Especially in this economy, I can’t sit back and relax if I want to keep that momentum growing. So I’m updating my materials and will embark on a marketing campaign.

There have been challenges and setbacks. I need to not stress out as much if I don’t have any auditions or bookings on the horizon. Not to get into the whole The Secret thing, but I have to believe if I lay the ground work opportunities will follow.

Writing-wise, though I’ve completed two more manuscripts and a non-fiction proposal and added more writing contest finals and wins, I still haven’t sold. It’s hard to keep believing each new manuscript will be “the one.” But thanks to many supportive friends, and knowing there are authors who wrote even more books and accumulated more rejections than I have before they sold, I won’t give up. And think what a great story about persistence and handling rejection I’ll have when I do sell.

Some people are optimists by nature, some pessimists. I am a worrier; ruminating is easy for me. But I’m working on not worrying about the things I can’t control so I have more mental energy to focus on the things I can.

Here’s to happy anniversaries, living in the moment and taking things one day at a time.

Our society sets us up to demarcate our lives by years…just because the calendar turns from December 31st to January 1. You can try to avoid the hooplah, but it isn’t easy.

Newspapers and websites spend the last days of December recapping highlights of the year. Everyone wants to know what you’re doing New Year’s Eve (I enjoyed a delicious home cooked dinner and watched film noir classics with a friend, thank you very much). Parties abound, restaurants have special seatings, theatres/concert venues provide toasts. We’re supposed to watch the countdown and celebrate precisely at midnight with champagne and/or noisemakers and shiny hats, and probably by kissing whoever happens to be nearby. By singing “Auld Lang Syne.”

But it’s what we do with the new year that matters. Certainly there are things we can’t control, like the state of the economy or the price of gas, but there are many ways we can take charge of our own lives…if we have the self-discipline and motivation. A lot of people make resolutions, but don’t follow through.

January is a good time to assess our accomplishments–or lack thereof–and make meaningful changes. I like to start the year out fresh by cleaning out and organizing file cabinets and closets. I make a list of projects to complete in the coming year, major and minor (checking off completed items is very satisfying!).

Did I do everything on last year’s list? No. But compiling and referring to the list helps me assess priorities and helps me have a road map to my goals. By jotting down everything I want to do, I clear my head for creative thinking. If I’m working on something but run out of steam, I can check the list and move on to another task without wasting time.

If you haven’t been a “list person” or goal setter, or have trouble sticking to your resolutions, here are a few sites to try:

Author and friend Gerri Russell has a timely post HERE.

Make a life list

Make your goals happen

Will 2009 be a Happy New Year? It’s up to you.

Every year, most of us get asked, “What do you want for Christmas (or Hanukkah)?” This is to insure that the gift is appreciated and not reviled, like a fruitcake would probably be by most recipients. It’s also to save the giver time and energy trying to figure out what you’d like. That’s why Amazon and other sites let people create wishlists.

But sometimes the annual question can be a challenge to answer. Especially this year, when we keep reading about layoffs, foreclosures and how many people can’t even afford to put food on the table. Saying, “I’d like some fleece pajamas,” when I already have several pair or, “How about a sweater,” when I have a shelf full, seems greedy. I am fortunate not to need stuff, yet I still enjoy giving and receiving gifts. Who doesn’t like the anticipation of holding a wrapped package someone chose for you? Tearing off the paper (or carefully pulling off tape so you can reuse and be green)?

However, most of the things I truly want can’t be bought. The main thing I want right now is to stop worrying. To not wake up in the middle of the night ruminating about the economy and when and if it will improve. Wondering what impact the downturn will have on my condo, my voiceover business, whether or not I’ll sell a book(s). I try to turn off those nagging thoughts and go back to sleep, but it seems that once I get started down the worry path, my concerns feed upon themselves.

I keep reading about living mindfully, which means focusing on what you are doing in this moment…noticing details about each action you take, the sounds you hear, and things you touch. Doing this is supposed to not only help reduce stress but make you healthier.

That is the gift I am going to give myself this year. I’m going to devote time and energy to this pursuit, and hope I can incorporate some strategies and revel in the benefits.

Here are just a few sites on the topic:

http://www.mindfullivingtv.com/index.asp
http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/
http://www.mindfulness.com/

What are you giving yourself?

Happy Holidays!

What can you do that others can’t? My special skill is fast talking. Some people open their mouths and beautiful singing comes out. I open mine and words pour out at an amazing, yet understandable, speed.

How do you make the most of your special skill? Is it just for fun, or can you make some money with it?

More than 15 years ago, I was on America’s Funniest People. They were at Planter’s ‘Americas Funniest Nut’ auditions. I’d put together a high speed history of the peanut. While many auditionees couldn’t take the peanuts out of their auditions (they were dressed as peanuts, etc), I could talk fast about anything. So they videotaped me. The head writer of an original musical revue I’d been in for several years happened to see the program, and started having me do a short fast talking skit in the show. Over the years I did a high speed traffic report, voice messaging system, summation of the millenium, in the Gore-Bush election a review of hanging chad developments (challenging, because my lines changed every day) and in 2007 asked presidential candidates how they could help the US (including a line about what they’d do if the country plunged into a depression. Hmmm.)

Many times during an audition, a casting person reads the special skills section of my resume and asks me to do a sample fast talk. It still surprises me that people are so entertained, but they always laugh out loud and ask how I learned to do it, saying, “You should do legal tags,” or something similar. I even auditioned for Joe Sedelmaier, the director of that famous Federal Express spot with the fast-talking guy. He said I was great but he didn’t need any more fast talkers.

I have had other non-paying fast talker roles. When I played one of Will’s six single sisters in The Will Roger Follies, the director asked me to summarize the first act after intermission. I had a small speaking part in a short, sweet film featured on Chicago’s public TV station’s progam Image Union . I’m about 1 min 15 seconds in HERE, and also about 2 minutes and 10seconds in HERE. (Reality TV fans will note that the kissee after me is Ambre Lake, from Rock of Love.)

Despite getting a lot of mileage out of and having a lot of fun with this special skill, impressing many and making audiences of up to a thousand people to
applaud (often a laugh and two rounds of applause in 45 seconds!), I hadn’t earned a penny with my fast talking. Until this week.

One of the voiceover directory sites I’m on had a audition for a speed talker. I read the sample script and included my fast talking voiceover demo. And they hired me! So you never know when continuing to do what you enjoy and are good at will pay off financially.

Freelancers often have to choose between many opportunities…some presented to them, others they’d like to pursue. It’s exciting to have a variety of options, but when none of them are sure things in terms of producing income, what’s the best way to prioritize?

I could work 12 hours a day and still not complete all of the projects on my current list. Examples include: a former co-worker has expressed interest in having me turn a screenplay into a novel. For weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of hours on a huge, paying VO project (yea!), so I haven’t made time to market my voiceover services to production companies or finish final revisions on my latest complete so I can send it out. A friend who has been adding humor to the beginning of another manuscript at the request of an agent will soon return the pages, and I’ll need to review those in a timely manner. (I’ll save the discussion of “what is funny?” for another day.)

Now the flurry of holiday activities has begun. For example, I spent a lot of time last week rehearsing for and singing in at Navy Pier’s Winter Wonderfest, but passed on rehearsing last night and singing again today.

As a person who thrives on productivity, I’m annoyed when I hear that nothing happens in the publishing and acting industries in December. If I submit or contact potential clients, will my efforts fall on uninterested eyes and ears, or will my stuff at least be higher in the pile on their desks when they get around to it in January? Should I push on with my projects or take off like so many other people do? Do I just write off the remaining days of 2008and focus on having fun, or press on and try to accomplish some things amidst the revelry?

I’d feel too guilty doing nothing but holiday activities. So for today, I’ll press on.

For the first time since fleeing corporate America to be Gainfully Unemployed, I went on vacation…to San Juan, Puerto Rico!

Here’s the view from my hotel room in Isla Verde:

The many benefits of taking a vacation include:

1) R&R. Slowing down the pace of everyday living, letting some stress go, by reading under a cabana by a beautifully landscaped pool (and sipping the occasional frozen drink). Walking on the beach through the surf in the morning and at night. Not being on a schedule…no “I shoulds” or “I have tos.” Turning your (carefully sunscreened with a high SPF) face up to the sun in a cloudless blue sky.

2) Expanding your horizons. Learning about our world is fascinating, but most of us don’t make the time. Do YOU know where Puerto Rico is? I am admittedly geographically challenged. Until I decided to go to PR, I only knew it was south of Florida, but not its actual location (south east of Cuba, about a 4 1/2hour flight) or its place in US history. More on that next week.

3) Wining and dining. On vactaiaon, you have time to savor leisurely meals, partake in and learn about local cuisine, research popular and out of the way spots. Both of us really liked mufungo, which is mashed plantains mixed with meat or seafood…two we tried with red snapper were particularly tasty, one at the upscale Aguaviva and the other at Mi Casita, in a small strip mall next to a Baskin Robbins near our hotel, recommended to us by a cab driver.

4) Communing with Nature. Big city residents don’t often get to immerse themselves in natural beauty. So we appreciated a half day tour to El Yunque rainforest in the mountains, with waterfalls and winding, precarious paths.

The minor downsides of vacationing:

1) Missed Opportunities. As discussed in an earlier post, freelancers can lose opportunities for work if they go out of town. Sure enough, I couldn’t go on an audition for a bank commercial that filmed out of town. I was able to reschedule an audition for a play (they asked me to audition, so maybe that helped) and salvage an emergency VO recording by doing it the minute I got home, at 9PM). The friend I went with missed out on the chance to do a fast food VO audition and to participate in a backer’s audition for a new musical.

2) Is there such a thing as too much time? Those of us accustomed to running around saying, “I have to do this, that and the other thing,” may be surprised by how many hours there are in a day when you don’t do any work, chores or errands at all. Settling into vacation mode and accepting that you deserve time off takes a mental adjustment.