Al Gore typifies my motto of "things happen for a reason."

I like Al Gore, and I voted for him in the hotly-contested 2000 Presidential election. While millions of Americans were immensely disappointed and even angered that he didn't win the election, we can see that it was better for him personally that he didn't become the 43rd President of the United States.

If Gore had become President, he would not have had the time or energy to lead the crusade for the environment. In 2007, Gore has achieved rock star status. First, he won an Academy Award for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and now, Gore is the co-recipient of the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. You don't have to agree with his assessments about the environment or his politics to be impressed by his monumental achievements.

So what do Al Gore and his push to save the environment have to do with you as a voice-over talent?

After another summer of sweltering heat and daily smog alerts, I especially enjoyed the weather today here in Atlanta. It's one of those glorious pre-fall days with postcard-blue skies. I say "pre-fall" because the temperatures are still in the 80s, but the late date on the calendar gives me hope that the crisp air of fall is soon on the way.

I was in the car earlier this afternoon when I heard a radio spot that sounded very familiar. I admit that I always feel a flush of pleasure when I unexpectedly hear my voice on the airwaves. Today, though, it was someone else's voice presenting copy that I also had prepared in a recent audition. Since I obviously was not selected for that job, I listened closely to discern what the producer might have been thinking during the casting process.

A voice-over actor will audition far more than she will be hired. I don't think about auditions unless I am selected for the job or have one of those lucky times like today when I hear the voice talent in the produced spot. In those cases, I like to analyze the coloration and stress on words and compare the broadcast spot with the audition that I submitted. One time, I heard a man's voice on TV reading copy the same copy I had used. It's easy to understand the differences between my read and a man's version! It's not so easy to distinguish between my performance and that of another female.

Today, I thought the reads between my audition and the produced spot were very similar. We were closely matched with our phrasing. She stressed one word that I didn't stress in my audition. Maybe that stress was her idea, or maybe she did it due to direction. The last line was changed, so I don't know whether the writer modified it or the talent perhaps ad-libbed it in her audition. In either case, I did think it was a better ending line.

The biggest difference I noticed was one I heard with her very first word -- the difference of tonal quality. Her voice was a higher pitch than mine. C'est la vie. Another talent being chosen for that job or any job doesn't take anything away from me or cause me any negative feelings.

Henry Aaron is a class act.

I don't make that comment because he is one of the most beloved sports figures of all time or because he is a fellow Atlantan. I just saw the news replay of his speech last night as he congratulated Barry Bonds for surpassing him as the all-time baseball homerun champion. I'm reprinting it below in case you haven't seen or heard it.

You might think that Barry Bonds's tremendous accomplishment or Hank Aaron's scoreboard address would have nothing to do with voice-over. However, I see a parallel between these sports heroes and my voice-over career.

Over the past several years, I have checked with several local colleges -- especially those with pro audio curriculums -- to see if I could take a course in audio engineering as a non-degree student. I have a Masters degree in computer information systems, so I'm really don't want to spend a lot of time and money to pursue another degree! I therefore was quite excited to discover a 4-week course in Pro Tools offered this month by the Art Institute of Atlanta.

This class couldn't occur at a better time for me. I recently switched my voice-over studio configuration from a PC with Cool Edit software to a Macbook Pro with Pro Tools LE. Earlier this year, I hired a recording engineer to help me streamline my processes. After I bought this computer, he gave me a crash course in using Pro Tools, but I have much to learn about the program.

The first class was held this past Saturday. I am the only voice talent in the group. Most of the students are singer/songwriters, which is understandable when you consider that Atlanta is a thriving music city and home to a Grammy chapter and numerous Grammy winners.

One of my fellow students said he was in a band that had been signed by a minor label. He was wearing the t-shirt for a very famous band. I asked him why he wasn't wearing a shirt to promote his own band. His answer surprised me.

When I hear the same thing in quick succession from 2 or more people who aren't related to each other and have no vested interest in the comments, I feel the Universe is giving me a sign to pay attention! 

Such was the case this week with the classic motivational book As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, originally published in 1902. I don't remember, but I think this work was referenced in The Secret. Since I am vitally interested in the power of our thoughts and words to create our reality, I recently downloaded the free audiobook of this work available from LearnOutLoud.com. 

I began listening to it on 13 July. Ten minutes after I started listening, I decided I had heard enough. The audiobook narrator included at least 3 stumbled words, several lipsmacks and an uninteresting method of delivery. With the availability of low-cost and free audio editing software, I am incredulous that someone would choose to leave the stumbles and extraneous noises in an audiobook, even one offered for free. An audiobook is a thing of permanence. I would like to think that people would seek out my audiobooks 100 years from now, just as I was seeking out Allen's book. 

I was showing my new business cards to a friend of mine this afternoon. She said she had a book that she wanted me to see. She and I have had many great discussions about the extreme power of our thoughts, and the book was on that subject. Which book do you think she recommended? Yep, that's right -- As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. Although I had abandoned the free audiobook, the Universe was telling me to give the book another try! I told my friend that I would get the book tonight. 

However, I wasn't the only person who made a special trip to the book store. The store was crowded with people waiting for midnight, when the last Harry Potter book goes on sale. Someone who has been living under a rock or totally new to the country might think that tonight was Halloween, given the number of young people dressed in costume at the mall. Of course, they were flocking to the book store. They were not looking for a title associated with the Law of Attraction to help them live their lives to the best potential. No, all of those young people and their parents were at the book store to buy the final installment about the boy who lived! 

I am not still at the store, waiting to get my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I will, however, buy the audiobook version consisting of 17 CDs sometime over the weekend. (I doubt that I will be wearing a costume when I buy it, though!) I encourage anyone interested in performing audiobooks to listen to Jim Dale's masterful narration of any book in this series. You can download the previous 6 books and thousands of other audiobooks on iTunes. I would imagine that this final book will be loaded on ITunes in the near future. 

Also note the high level of production quality in one of these books. The series is so popular that the audiobook is published simultaneously with the hardback edition. Jim Dale didn't even have the opportunity to read the entire book before entering the recording studio. He read the book in segments of 100 pages. For a fascinating article about Jim Dale and his role as narrator of the Harry Potter series, you will want to read this feature story published 17 July in the New York Times.

Success leaves tracks,