The quest to get better without losing who you used to be…

Connie and Liz de Nesnera Connie and Liz de Nesnera on the way to the workshop – Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner.

I just got home from a weekend workshop in Henderson (just outside Las Vegas) with Marice Tobias. It was an all-woman workshop with 10 working pros held at Melissa Moats new voiceover studio The Voice Actors Studio. Marice does this same thing with all men and also co-ed. The women’s workshop is usually – OK, pretty much always – a lot more emotional therapy along with the voiceover component. It was a wonderful weekend for many reasons and I think it has shown in the auditions and the projects I have done since getting back to my studio on Monday.

Getting coaching is something that a lot of working voice talent does during the course […]

2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 3rd, 2015|Categories: Acting, Auditioning|Tags: , , |

A Crisis of Confidence and Tree Trimming

The past 6 months or so have been great on many fronts. Business and personal. I had a great summer. The weather was wonderful and I became an Artlab groupie. Never ending concerts and art shows. There were parties and events and bike rides and sunsets at the beach.

And business was booming. I switched my invoicing to Freshbooks in May and have been watching the columns grow steadily. Until this month.

It has been a fairly dismal month so far compared to the last 5 months. I have some projects yet to be billed, so they don’t show up on the columns yet, and by the end of the month, it will look better, but still, looking at it now makes me wonder what the heck I am doing.

I’ve been making my living doing only voiceover work for more than 10 years – after many years working as […]

Have you checked off the To Do List on your FaffCon 4 (or should I say 3?) Post Card?

OK, so a few months before FaffCon 4 in Ventura, the post card I filled out in Hershey arrived in the post. It was a complete surprise and I was a bit anxious when I flipped it over. For there on the other side was the list of things I wanted to do – without fail! I’m pretty sure I blogged about this unexpected stress the last time the card came. Well, not really stress stress – hyperbole – sorry.

I’m still not up to a passing grade yet, if you simply are checking off the 5 items on the list. I’m not nearly as upset with myself that I haven’t finished the items from FaffCon 3 as I was over not finishing the list of items from FaffCon 2. If Ventura was your first venture into FaffCon, you will soon understand what I am talking about.

The items on the list […]

2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00May 25th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: , , , |

FaffCon 4 is History, but the Memories Linger On

It has been two weeks now since FaffCon 4 in Ventura. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t have some sort of memory pop into my head. Starting with Thursday night helping Pam and Lauren write questions on blow up soccer balls. We got so good at the task that we actually did more than we needed to. We laughed a lot in the process – which is something that a lot of us did a lot during the weekend.

One of the most amusing memories was the debate over what color walkie-talkies went to whom. The sunglasses decided it.

Pam, Lauren, Eric and Amy pick out just the right color walkie-talkie

Later in the evening, I met up with a few of the early arrivals in the hotel bar – hugs all […]

2018-02-06T06:48:17+00:00April 9th, 2012|Categories: Musings|Tags: , , , |

The Cost of Doing Business

Esteban Valdez Pots for sale
They say you have to spend money to make money. I would agree with that. Unless you dig clay from the earth, use your hands to form a pot, grind rocks to make paint, gather wood to build the fire to bake the pot and then stand by the side of the road to sell the pot, you probably have to spend at least a little money to be in business.

I had a chance to meet Esteban Valdez at his family compound just outside San Miguel de Allende Mexico a few years ago. He does just that. At his age though, other people are helping him gather the materials, so he probably has to pay out a bit in payroll these days in order to make his pots.

Faffterglow Three

Last weekend was another example of the power of Amy Snively’s (rhymes with lively) brainstorm. FaffCon 3 in Hershey PA (it was actually in Harrisburg, but the graphic possibilities were far better with Hershey) was a complete success.

One of the great things about FaffCon is that it is a gift that keeps on giving. It is coming up on a week now since FaffCon 3 and while I have been busy with “life,” my thoughts keep drifting to FaffCon and the information exchanged. I have been using little tidbits all week. And I haven’t even begun to go through my notes!

The welcoming dinner and FaffJam on Friday night was wonderful.  Voiceover folks are pretty darned talented in so many ways! And I have to say that the 14 oz. slab of prime rib was pretty terrific too. And after an afternoon of heavy rain, we were able to walk down and […]

2018-02-06T06:48:20+00:00October 2nd, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: , |

Mmmm – I want S’More! FaffCon 3 – Hershey PA

So, I pull the circulars from the mailbox the other day and there, stuck in between the Vons, Henry’s and Pancho Villa grocery ads and various requests for money was a large flat “chocolate bar.”

My To Do list from FaffCon 2

My postcard to myself from FaffCon 2 in Atlanta had arrived! I had forgotten all about it. Our fearless and extremely brilliant (did I mention funny?) organizer Amy Snively had us write down 5 things we were going to do after our energizing weekend and it would be mailed to us about 3 months after FaffCon.

I was afraid to turn it over to see what I had actually written. So I put it off for a while, taking it to my desk where I prepared myself mentally […]

Thinking about FaffCon 2

Just about 2-weeks now before FaffCon 2 – this time tagged with Electric Boogaloo – so I am trying to find appropriate clothes and platform boots. I do have a pair of macrame earrings from the 70’s so those are going into the suitcase.

The trip to Atlanta will be a double treat because prior to the weekend conference, I will be able to spend some time with a friend who moved there several years ago. Hope that it warms up a bit there over the next week or so!

No doubt, FaffCon 2 will have a completly different vibe* than the groundbreaking first unconference for working voiceover pros, but I am sure that information exchanged will be equally valuable – perhaps even greater in value because of the lessons learned. Prior attendees may be more prepared to lead and/or contribute to the posted sessions – and will be able to jump right into […]

Tooting the FaffCon Horn just a bit more

Whatever happens down the road to the concept of FaffCon, the first ever FaffCon Voiceover Un-conference was a rousing success in so many ways. Dave Courvasier posted a blog this morning with his thoughts on day 2 of FaffCon.

http://www.courvo.biz/2010/09/faffcon-foverer.html

The most appealing part to me about this whole event was the lack of selling and the abundance of sharing. Oh, there were people in attendance with something to sell, but this was not a selling event. In something like 30 separate “sessions” I didn’t hear of any that were a sales pitch for anything. I couldn’t get to all of them of course, but that is the feedback I have heard.

Sponsors were promoted during the event with signs, handouts and thank you’s. And the final session on Sunday afternoon was devoted to reading live “commercials” for our sponsors and then drawing tickets for valuable door prizes.

Here is a link to the FaffCon website for more information.

http://www.faffcon.com/ 

I have […]

2018-02-06T06:48:37+00:00September 13th, 2010|Categories: Marketing|Tags: |

FaffCon FaffCon – Here We Come

The reality of gathering together with many of my real and virtual voiceover peeps this weekend for FaffCon in Portland OR is getting closer and closer. My suitcase is being packed in the back of my mind. My laptop has been prepped for a presentation if called upon and for an audition or two if they happen to fall into my lap.

We have an endless supply of great topics to put on the board to see which floats to the top for discussion. I still need to make note of some website resources for a couple of topics that may end up being tackled. But first I have to button up the home front. Make sure cats and parent are fed and watered.

The trip is more meaningful to me since hearing the news this morning about the passing of one of the VO-BB regulars – 

2018-02-06T06:48:37+00:00September 9th, 2010|Categories: Announcements|Tags: , , |
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