Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-ratorâ„¢

Narrators

The 60-second elevator speech contest

I frequently state in my blog that voice-over is a business, yet people write things to me that indicate that they either are ignoring or don’t know about the business aspects of being a voice-over talent. Just last week, someone sent me an e-mail stating that

I believe I have a talent and I would love the freedom and independence that your job provides.
You could do lots of things if you wanted to be free and independent. However, most of those things require some actual work to make them happen. Becoming a voice-over talent is no different. It requires you to continuously work at improving your abilities and gaining publicity for your business.

Speaking of independence, yesterday (4 July) was our Independence Day here in the United States. Since the day is one of the major US holidays, many people decided to declare their independence from work all week. As a business owner, though, I always feel the need to do something each day to further my goals, even when those days fall on weekends, holidays and vacation.

I’m not saying I spend hours working on those off-days, but I usually do something, however small and insignificant it might be. Sometimes I may read a chapter in a marketing book. I might write down people to contact on the next business day. I often will do a quick audition or send an e-mail response to someone. I write entries for my blog. I may write or record a podcast script. (I’m perfecting ideas for 2 different types of shows and am deciding how to present them.)

Yesterday was no different. While it was a holiday, I took an action that wasn’t even on my mind at the beginning of the day. I wrote a 60-second pitch.

What is a 60-second pitch? Why did I write mine yesterday? The answer to both questions is at the Voices.com web site. As usual, Stephanie Ciccarelli has done a brilliant job of explaining the concept of the 60-second pitch — also known as your “elevator speech” — and why it’s needed by every voice talent.

Furthermore, starting tomorrow, Voices.com is sponsoring a contest for the best 60-second pitch among voice talent! The contest is open to all voice talent. After reading about the prizes, I am eager to win! I wrote my pitch yesterday and will record it today or tomorrow after refining it.

By the way, to further emphasize the point about voice-over being a business, I also encourage you to read Stephanie’s excellent and detailed blog entries relating to the business, especially about a business plan and business cards.

So you see, even in a slow week you can do something that will pay big dividends in your voice-over career later on. Even if you don’t win the contest, you will have a succinct speech ready to describe your voice-over business when you are next in a networking situation.


 

Words and pictures from APAC and BookExpo

We’re finally replacing the windows in the kitchen so that all the windows in the house will be triple-pane. With the installer banging on the side of my house right now, it seems like a good time to post my pictures and news from my recent trip to New York for the Audio Publishers Association conference and BookExpo.

The Doubletree Guest Suites Time Square is my favorite hotel in New York. I was pleased to get a BookExpo rate and thrilled with my incredible view of Times Square from the 16th floor.

My view of Times Square

On my free day in the Big Apple (Wed., 30 May), I walked around and boosted the local economy as much as possible. Since Drew was unable to make the trip with me, I bought some presents for him. I first stopped at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue.

The big APPLE in the Big Apple

I bought a Remote Radio for Drew to use with his iPod. He is delighted that he now can listen to FM radio while riding his motorcycle. I’m sure that Apple Store will be packed tomorrow with the first sale date of the iPhone. I’m going to get one….but not tomorrow!

Love was in the air in New York, but it was also on the ground. Somewhere on my walk, I came upon a sculpture of the Love logo associated with the 1970 film Love Story. In a web search, I learned that the sculpture was created by Robert Indiana and located on the corner of 6th Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan. Just like I give a different read when voicing scripts, I look for the unusual shot when taking pictures.

Love in New York

The Audio Publishers Association conference was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on Thursday, 31 May. I like to attend sessions aimed at both audiobook publishers and their narrators, especially since I am planning to start my own audiobook production company. This year, I went to the sessions on alternatives to CDs, technology and a narrators’ panel.

I appreciated hearing from Audio Publishers Association, a literary agent at Inkwell Management. Alexis said it has become increasingly important for agents to retain the rights due to the proliferation of digital downloads. She also said it “makes sense” for authors to have sound bites prepared for podcasts, YouTube, etc. (If any authors or publishers need professional voice talent to assist with these types of endeavors, call me!) Alexis was also kind to speak with me personally following the session and answer some questions about the rights process.

If you’re wondering whether digital downloads have killed the interest in CDs, know that books on CD are still viable. Theresa Thompson is a buyer for Barnes & Noble, who stated that her audiobook business in the stores is still strong. Her expectation is turn inventory, so she doesn’t want to create proprietary titles.

The technology panel was extremely interesting and informative. Where the iPod connector is proprietary to Apple, David McLaughlin at Microsoft told us that his group is working to define a standard, universal connector that would connect a variety of devices, including MP3 players, to cars.
Some of the discussion also centered around getting younger people interested in audiobooks. Dave Carnoy, an executive editor at C/Net and all-around gadget guy, said he thinks that the market for audiobooks is with an older crowd. He commented that young people don’t read any more and wouldn’t listen to a book. Carnoy said that the price of audiobooks seemed too high to him. He pointed out that the consumer thinks someone is just reading the thing and that audiobook creation wouldn’t be difficult or costly, especially since so many people create podcasts. Carnoy said that an audiobook is potentially a single-use application, where music is used many times.
After networking with publishers at lunch, I exchanged a few words and a hug with my friend, narrator Barbara Rosenblat. I somehow missed connecting with my friend and teacher Hillary Huber at both APAC and at BookExpo. My friend and teacher Alan Sklar was signing audiobooks at BookExpo, but I didn’t get to see him, either.

In the afternoon, I attended the narrators’ panel moderated by Grammy-award winning audiobook producer Paul Ruben. The topic under discussion was Maximizing Your Search for Employment. Panel members were (left to right in picture below):

Eric Conger, Narrator
Jacob Bronstein, Executive Producer, Audio and Digital Media, Random House Audio
Dennis Kao, Producer, Hachette Audio
Sue Mackewich, Executive Producer, Audio Publishers Association.

Richard Ferrone

APA Narrator Panel: Audiobook 202

The casting process varied with each person. Ruben does read reviews and remembers them when casting audiobooks. Bronstein said he typically contacts talent agents or has a relationship with narrators. He emphasized that he wants someone who can take direction. Kao said it’s helpful to know the producers and mentioned that opportunities exist to perform wrap-arounds (intro/outro), podcasts and in digital downloads.

Some other observations from this panel included:
  • Bronstein said self-help/self-development titles continue to be strong. His best sellers are fiction, self-help and business.
  • Conger noted that publishers are reading you when you shake their hand. He also stressed that narrators often go too fast in the performance. Allow yourself to be surprised by the words.
  • Ruben echoed the point about speed, saying that you miss the interpretation by going too fast.
  • Mackewich reminded the audience that people who aren’t even born yet will listen to the recording.
  • While Bronstein has never worked with a talent from the talent’s home studio, Kao said he might employ a talent with a home studio. Conger said he wouldn’t do a book longer than 3 hours from his studio. However, narrator Simon Vance was in the audience and stated that he had performed long books from his home studio.
  • Conger said that the narrator is not the star in non-fiction; the material is the star. Ruben added that you need to be emotionally connected to the author’s point of view in non-fiction as the author is the enthusiastic star. Narrator and audience member Richard Ferrone commented that the narrator is still the storyteller in non-fiction. Finally, Ruben said that if a narrator is reading to him, the narrator is emotionally disconnected to the work.
  • Mackewich suggested that narrators gently follow up in order to approach her. She said you could send postcards and e-mails about your work, as well as get an audiobook agent in New York.

The place to be on Friday, 1 June

Friday, 1 June, was spent at BookExpo, which is the biggest convention for the publishing world. I was told that over 30,000 people were in attendance this year. I walked in the building behind Elvis, and I later saw Captain Jack Sparrow heading toward the exhibit hall. I wished I could have taken their pictures, but you’ll have to be happy with this view of the concourse

Nowhere to sit at BookExpo

I only had the one day at BookExpo due to a somewhat inflexible airline schedule on a Skymiles ticket. Audio publishers exhibited at BookExpo, but I also talked to targeted print publishers about creating audiobooks, commercials and podcasts for them. I researched my prospects as much as possible ahead of time so that I could go straight to the booths I wanted to visit.

I left both APAC and BookExpo with a stack of contacts and great potential to work with a number of new clients. I have mailed postcards and notecards as follow-ups, and I’m already looking forward to both events next year in Los Angeles!

I was unable to attend BookExpo last year and was delighted to discover that many of the educational sessions were recorded and provided to listeners as podcasts. Through listening to those podcasts, I learned valuable information that I could apply in my voice-over business. Podcasts from this year’s BookExpo are now available.

Now that I’ve given you a look at my trip to New York, I think I’ll go take a look at my new kitchen windows.

 

A plan to break into voice-over

Earlier this week, as often occurs, I received more e-mails from people wishing to break into voice-over. I endeavor to respond personally to everyone who writes to me, but I rarely get an acknowledgement. I don’t know whether the information I provided was helpful. I don’t know if they received my reply since I send it from a different e-mail address than is shown on my web site. Sometimes I think people can’t be bothered to say thank you to people who help them along the way. I’m honest and sometimes blunt; I tell people what they need to know, which may not be what they wanted to hear.

One of the e-mails this week was from a person who wrote lines typical of so many messages that I receive:

my entire life I’ve been told that I should do something with my voice….I can also emulate just about any language, dialect, or style in a very short amount of time. I’m getting more and more curious about doing voice over work.

The person wondered if I would be interested in working with him. While I’m flattered when people ask me this question, I don’t teach or hire others to work with me. I’m a voice talent who is actvely marketing myself. Occasionally, I need to recommend a fellow voice artist for a role to work with me or as a contact for a job that I need to pass on. However, I have a short list of talent in that category.

At this time, I do not mentor anyone

outside of any help they may receive from my blog entries and my advice page. Since voice-over is a business, you need to have a business plan consisting of education, demo, marketing, MORE marketing, gigs, on-going education and maybe an agent….in that order. I hope that people are using this blog as part of their education, so I refer newcomers to these particular posts:

Voice-over books on my bookshelf

A Voice Actor’s Business Address Won’t Be on Easy Street

No such thing as a free lunch or demo critique

Before you do anything else, I recommend that you pay the $49 to download the teleclass titled Your Voice Over Business at braintracksaudio.com. Nancy Wolfson is an incredible LA instructor and casting agent; Anna Vocino is an established v-o talent. They thoroughly know the industry and give you a business plan, which starts with the right education.

If you decide to study privately with Nancy, please tell her that I referred you. I have chosen her as my new coach, and I would get a free session with her for the referral. I also highly recommend my former coach Susan Berkley, who has terrific teleclasses and boot camps. I wrote about her inner circle program in this post:

Susan Berkley’s inner circle and upcoming masterclass

She also sponsors masterclass opportunities in New York for such wonderful teachers as the amazing and delightful Pat Fraley.

Another person wrote to me this week about a particular company’s workshop “package”. This company offered package price for a workshop on DVD, production of a :60 demo and hosting of the demo on their site for 6 months.

If I were spending my money for training, I would look elsewhere. For any company offering to host your demo, my answer to them would be “so what?” Are they also involved with casting? What kind of stats can they provide to you about searches made on their site and traffic patterns to it? In other words, what benefit does the talent receive from hosting a demo there?

If you don’t have your own web site — which is yet another necessity of doing business — I would want to have my demo on-line where it might actually be heard by someone casting a project. Of course, having it hosted by this company would be better than nothing. I am only pointing out that you need to research your options, any other providers and actual service/benefit received before investing any money.

I thought that that the aspiring talent in this instance was really paying for a DVD of undetermined length that doesn’t provide you with individualized instruction and practice. A DVD might be a good start, but you really need both individual direction and practice before creating a demo.

This company advertised that they will send music and scripts for your demo. However, you don’t know whether that same copy and music is used for other talent. You want your demo to reflect what is UNIQUE about YOU. You can’t get that sound from what appears to be the voice-over industry equivalent to a diploma mill, where they don’t know your individual strengths and vocal characteristics and tailor a demo to match them.

A couple of the producers listed on this site have only been voice talents for the last 2-3 years. They have had great career success and developed extensive client lists due to their own talents and marketing. However, I’m not sure about their experience on the production and casting side. I would wonder if they could provide enough guidance to make a competitive demo that showcases my individuality and strengths.

My first voice-over teacher was Paul Armbruster. He had about 20 years of experience at the time I studied with him. He made it clear in the first session of his 4-week intense workshop (24 hours of instruction and practice) that he would make recommendations at the end whether a person was ready to produce a demo. Only 25% of the participants in my workshop group earned his recommendation for demo production. In addition, he was selective about whether he would produce a demo for someone. After all, his name and reputation were being attached to the newcomer’s demo.

Know that you will always need training, and you will always need to make new demos if you want to have a thriving voice-over career. In the end, you must take responsibility and make all decisions about your path, including your training, as it is your money, your business, your goals and your life at stake.

 

How well do you follow instructions?

I have been traveling recently and have been unable to update my blog for several weeks. One of my trips was to New York to attend the Audio Publishers Association conference and BookExpo. Since audiobooks and narrations are the main focus of my voice-over work, going to New York was mission-critical! I really enjoyed seeing many colleagues again, as well as meeting new audio and print publishers with whom I might develop a working relationship. I already am planning to attend the same events next year in Los Angeles.

It’s a law of nature that things happen in threes. That law was proven again on

Wednesday 30 May as I prepared to leave for New York.

Drew and I have decided to switch our Internet service provider. We had been customers of Earthlink for over a decade, but we have become dis-satisfied with their service. We agreed that we would keep some existing e-mail addresses, especially since one of them is my primary address. As I was packing to leave, Drew sent an e-mail to Earthlink outlining the addresses to be deleted and retained.

The person at Earthlink didn’t follow the instructions and deleted my primary address. Drew had to make a second call to Earthlink in order to get my address restored, along with all of my associated mail still on the server.

Meanwhile, I received a call on our home phone from Taylor Construction. When we replaced most of the windows in our house 2 years ago with triple-pane windows, Taylor Construction performed the work. We were told at the time we purchased the windows that a triple-pane window wouldn’t shatter if a baseball hit it. We therefore were shocked a few months ago to notice that one of the small bathroom windows had cracked.

I won’t bore you with the tedious details of our many efforts to get the broken window replaced. The important element from this part of the story is that, in the last 4 months, we have given explicit instructions to a half dozen people at Taylor on at least a dozen occasions that they should never call our home phone. They should always call Drew’s cell phone. We don’t have an answering machine on the home number.

Has Taylor followed our directions about communicating with us? Much to my annoyance, they continue to call us on our home phone. I have found their name on the caller ID log numerous times when Drew never received the first phone call. The person who called on 30 May thought that he would come out to our house that day to finish the window repair.

Wrong. I was about to leave for the airport, and Drew wasn’t home. Repair work should have been scheduled in advance, and they should have called Drew on his cell number. I also told him, as we have told so many before him, STOP CALLING MY HOME PHONE!

I went back to packing and realized that I didn’t have a spare set of contact lenses to take on the trip. I had recently ordered a supply from my eye doctor. Since I knew I would be traveling, I had asked the office manager to mail the lenses to me.

Unfortunately, I received a voice mail message from the doctor’s office on Friday 25 May. The person stated my lenses were there, and I could go to the office and get them. If I had time to go to the office and get them, I wouldn’t have asked and paid for them to be mailed!

Are voice-over artists the only people who are taught the necessity of taking direction in their business?

If you read any book on voice-over or take a class, you learn that a voice talent’s success is directly contingent upon that talent’s ability to take direction. In an excellent newspaper article last week profiling fellow Atlanta voice talent Robin Bittman, my former agent Richard Hutchison was quoted, saying

that you need to be able to take direction well.
“Producers don’t have the time to dillydally,” he said.

Voice actors are taught in our training to give our best interpretation of the copy of the first take. When working in studio environment, the director will tell you some things to change. The voice talent must listen intently to the instructions given and incorporate the nuances in the second read.

Sometimes the directions following the second read seem in direct conflict with those in the first read. Perhaps the director wants to have several variations from which the client makes a selection. Maybe your read gave her an idea of another way to do it. Possibly the director wants to combine different elements from different takes into the final product.

It’s not my job to question the reason behind the directions. It IS my job to follow the directions given to me and perform them to the best of my ability. In fact, I always endeavor to exceed expectations, not just meet them.

This process continues until the director has the recording she wants. At that point, I always want to try one more read if I can think of something different to do. Much of my work is self-directed, and I follow the same high standard in my own recordings.

Understanding and implementing directions is certainly a critical skill in the voice-over industry. A talent who does not take direction well may find himself without clients. Agents, directors and producers may become frustrated and/or irritated if a talent cannot assimilate instructions and integrate them into the read. Those involved in the recording process may talk with each other about the talent’s lack of preparation to work in the industry.

I think anyone in business should consider it part of their job to take direction from their client. Obviously, I know of 3 companies in Atlanta which have annoyed me because they chose to do just the opposite.

By the way, as further evidence of the inability or refusal to follow instructions, someone from Taylor Construction called us last night, 14 June, on you guessed it — our home phone. If Taylor Construction was providing voice-over services, that company would be out of business.

 

How to lose friends and irritate people

I was talking with a friend today. This friend Don has advanced degrees in multiple disciplines, yet he continues to attend grad school to earn more degrees. Barbara Sher, author of the life-changing book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, would say my friend is a scanner because he has varied interests and doesn’t settle on one thing for too long. I also would say that Don doesn’t want to commit to one thing. I’m convinced that he attends grad school so that he can postpone the inevitable time when he must finally make a choice of how he wants his life to proceed.

Today’s conversation got around to my voice-over business. As I talked about recent successes and my plans for the future, Don said, as he has said more than once over the years, “maybe I should look into doing voice-overs.” I tell anyone who asks me that they should explore any serious interest in voice-over work, sheep herding, Italian cooking or whatever. You don’t want to get to the end of your life and wonder “how would my life have been if I had done that?”.

As I have done in previous conversations, I recommended that Don start by reading books on my recommended list of voice-over books and taking some classes.

He asked how I would feel if he took a voice-over class and hit it big. Don is not someone in the incredible ** 81% ** of the Gen Y crowd (18-25 year-olds) who seems to expect fame and wealth as their birthright. Quite simply, Don is yet another person who thinks that making money in voice-over is an easy thing that can be done by anyone. Since he had a few spare hours in his schedule, Don was ready to sign up for the fortune and glory awaiting him as a voice-over actor.

I don’t think he will actually follow through with any action. After all, he is the same person who could never be bothered to even listen to my demos.

Our discussion today reminded me how Don acted when I created my first demo. When you decide to go after your goals, your friends and family will change their attitudes about you. In many cases, that change won’t be a positive one.

Before I made my first voice-over demo, I read books on voice-over, took voice-over classes covering interpretation and technique, and volunteered for 5 years to read for the blind. I ran eBay auctions to save money to have my demo professionally produced. Getting a finished demo in my hands was a monumental step toward my dream that required a lot of time and effort, and I was shocked and hurt by the reaction of several close friends when I asked them about listening to it. I wrote in my journal:

I appreciated Susie’s reaction in part because other people have hurt my feelings with their apparent lack of interest. Randy had seen the artwork and given me suggestions at my request [and did other things like talk to me about recording CDs]. However, Randy acted very bizarre when I asked him if he wanted to hear it. He suddenly remembered something he had to do at that very minute.

Don was no better. I have always been encouraging and supportive of his dreams. I read his novella recently and was the only person outside of his college instructors who understood it. I even made the same comments regarding character development that his instructor made. When I asked him if he would like to hear my long-awaited demo, he brushed me off and said he was too busy.

Even my best friend Erica disappointed me with her lack of reaction. I guess I expected more. If it were HER dream project, she wouldn’t be content with the sparse [comments] devoted to the subject.

Erica had been my best friend for 4-5 years. I felt like she was the sister I never had. We were in constant contact. Unfortunately, everything about our relationship changed in the moment that I created my first voice-over demo and started marketing it. Erica said she felt excluded, and she said I thought that my voice-over career was more important than her. Each time we talked, I felt that she didn’t want to hear about my marketing efforts, equipment purchases and gigs. She even told me that I was spending more time marketing my voice-over demo and playing my harp than I did with her. At one point, in anger that I again was working on marketing when she thought I should be spending time with her, Erica told me that she hoped my voice-over career would keep me company in my old age. Not surprisingly, our friendship disintegrated not too long after that comment.

I didn’t understand until a few years later the reason behind the tremendous negative reactions to my demo and new voice-over career. I always thought that my friends would be true, supportive of my efforts to improve my life and wishing to celebrate my success with me. Barbara Sher alluded to it in I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was. Everything she wrote about a family also holds true about one’s friends:

Almost any stranger would respect our dreams more easily than our family does. If you don’t believe me, try a comparison test. Next time you’re with a group of strangers, tell them the most offbeat idea you can think of. Tell them your dream is to raise dalmatians in the Himalayas, but you have no contacts in Tibet. Watch their interest pick up. They’ll even try to solve your problem.

INTEREST IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF RESPECT.

You don’t love these strangers, and they don’t love you, but we are all captivated by each other’s visions. It’s in our nature as humans to be intrigued with any new idea — unless we have some personal reason for not doing so. Our families have plenty of personal reasons, but a stranger is a pure soul. It’s possible that one stranger in twenty will react negatively to you, for his own reasons, but you’ll find the other nineteen will say something like, “Interesting idea! My cousin raises dogs!”, or “My neighbor’s been to Nepal! Do you want to talk to her?”

Now, to complete the comparison test, go home and tell your family the same kind of fantasy….How did your family like that? Did they drop their forks before or after they scrambled to talk you out of your “folly”?

When I analyzed the reactions of Randy, Don and Erica, I realized that people have a vested interest in keeping you the same.

If you dare to create goals and attempt to reach them, you make other people think about what’s missing in their own lives. They will take out their frustration over their own lives by directing it at you. Like my former friend Erica, they express their irritation with you about your pro-active activities, when, in fact, they are irritated with themselves for sleepwalking through their lives.

Steven Pressfield illuminated the issue perfectly in his amazing book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles (a book that should be on the must-read list for every creative person):

Resistance by definition is self-sabotage. But there’s a parallel peril that must also be guarded against: sabotage by others.

When a writer begins to overcome her Resistance — in other words, when she actually starts to write — she may find that those close to her begin acting strange. They may become moody or sullen, they may get sick; they may accuse the awakening writer of “changing,” of “not being the person she was.” The closer these people are to the awakening writer, the more bizarrely they will act and the more emotion they will put into their actions.

They are trying to sabotage her.

The reason is that they are struggling, consciously or unconsciously, against their own Resistance. The awakening writer’s success becomes a reproach to them. If she can beat these demons, why can’t they?

If you decide to pursue a voice-over career — or take up sheep herding, or Italian cooking, or whatever — I can guarantee you that your relationships with others WILL change. Some relationships will evolve, while others will disappear. You have to ask yourself who you’re living life FOR, and what the good opinion of someone else actually means to you.

Working on your goals fills your life with purpose and makes every moment meaningful. You have to decide whether you are going to live the life you were meant to lead or sit on the sidelines, watching it pass you by. Waiting to get the approval of friends and family about your plans for your dream life is a guaranteed way to ensure that your life will remain exactly as it is today.

Of course, if you can’t decide on a course of action, I have a friend who can recommend several grad schools that will keep you busy!

 

The Secret to getting up the hill

I’ve been working and traveling so much lately that I have neglected to update my blog. Happy anniversary to me! I’ve been writing blog entries for a year and hope that you have found some useful tidbits in them to help you live the life of your dreams, especially your dreams of a thriving voice-over career.

I recently bought the DVD and book of the best-selling work The Secret. I do believe in the Law of Attraction and attempt to live my life according to its principles. I have read many books on the topic and find something meaningful in each one. Since some of my writing on this blog relates to ideas and processes described in The Secret, I decided to add a category for The Secret to make those types of posts more readily identifiable.

My knowledge and application of the Law of Attraction are sort of like learning to use your microphone and editing program. At first, you don’t know how to do it. Once you get comfortable with the principles, you practice and continue to learn. Even when you’re competent or even at authority level, you still want to learn and apply more so that you will always improve.

I was on a cruise recently and had an epiphany. Drew and I were seated around some loud, obnoxious people. We looked at each other and said, as we have said in many similar past circumstances, “We must be magnets for this type of behavior.” I realized at that moment that we were indeed MAGNETS! By constantly saying and reinforcing the idea that we would be seated next to rude, noisy people, it’s like raising our hands to the Universe and saying “bring ’em on!” I now say that I am a magnet for peace and quiet, with respectful people around me. 🙂

Hurricane-ravaged Grenada was one of the islands we visited. While the country has rebuilt much destroyed in hurricanes of recent years, nature’s damage was still very evident. Roofs were missing from the 3 churches that we saw. Some building still looked ramshackle and uninhabitable. Looking around and seeing the people scrambling for every dollar made me once again feel extreme gratitude for the bountiful blessings in my life.

However, my spriritual side was not the only part of me that had a boost in knowledge during the trip. I also noticed something that could apply to my voice-over career. Drew and I were about to cross a street in a narrow intersection at the top of the steep hill near the old fort. He started to walk, but I stopped him. A car was zooming up the hill, and the driver wasn’t going to stop.

Our house sits on a hill. Prior to building my gorgeous, soundproof recording studio, I was constantly interrupted in my voice-over work by the cars that were zooming up the hill. At a certain point — in fact, just as they are at my house — the drivers in my neighborhood hit the gas to give them an extra push to get up the hill.

As we stood on that street corner in Grenada, we commented that the car had too much momentum going up the hill to stop for the wayward tourists in the intersection. If the driver stopped the car, it might roll back to bottom or even past its starting point. It could careen into a building and crash, or, in a worst-case scenario, swerve and hit us.

Momentum can be defined as the tendency of an object to continue to move in its direction of travel.

I immediately thought how this priniciple applies in my voice-over career.

I always intend to move my voice-over career in a forward direction. I know what the top of the hill looks like, and I am eager to see it in all its glory. I constantly think about being where I want to be and gratitude for all the material things that I have and and all that I have accomplished. I take action every day to ensure that I maintain my momentum. Sometimes I step on the gas by doing things like sending mail-outs and attending conferences where my prospects gather.

Even while completely relaxing with a long-awaited vacation, I still am taking action to maintain momentum in my voice-over career. For instance, during my recent cruise, I continued a postcard campaign that I started before I left home. I also loaded my iPod with Pat Fraley’s latest offering 56 Slick Tricks for Voice Over . Pat is one of my favorite teachers, and every product and class from him has proven valuable for my career. I already have made changes to my auditions as a result of tips from his book.

My iPod also contained my copy of Hillary Huber’s outstanding audiobook Field of Darkness, which has been nominated for an Audie Award. As I listen to audiobooks, I listen not only for entertainment but for learning purposes. Hillary’s voice is a perfect match for the main character, and her voices for the other characters are distinct and believable. Like Pat Fraley, Hillary is another favorite and excellent teacher, both in leading workshops and in her own work.

On other trips with more stable — and faster! — Internet connections than those found via satellite on cruise ships, I might take my portable studio so that I could create auditions and recordings. I also always take books that I may want to pitch to an audiobook producer.

The drivers in Grenada and the ones in my neighborhood have taught me how to face a hill in my voice-over career. First, you see the top of the hill in your mind and picture yourself there. You make sure you have the appropriate equipment and are prepared for the journey. You pack whatever you need to help you get to the top. Once you start the climb, your concentrate on reaching the top of the hill. You step on the gas if you need an extra boost. Throughout all of these actions, you achieve a continuous, forward motion.

Looks like a road map to success!