Musings – Page 3 – Connie Terwilliger

Alphabet Soup

When a normal person hears the words “alphabet soup” they probably think of the kind you eat with the little noodles shaped like letters. When a voiceover person hear the words “alphabet soup” it means that their mouth is going to be filled with lots of acronyms.

One of the things that endears a voice talent to clients is a talent’s ability to see past the noodles in this word soup and find the broth. This doesn’t necessarily mean understanding every word that is spoken, but it does mean understanding the context and how the words relate to each other.

It helps to have a little bit of understanding about a LOT of stuff. For voice talent who do marketing pieces, informational and corporate communications work – we see scripts for IT, healthcare, the financial business, the military or the government and many other […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 10th, 2015|Categories: Business, Musings, Techniques|

Getting Your House In Order

I am a bad homeowner. About 10 years ago, I had a major remodel done that included replacing all of my windows with new wood dual pane windows. Of course I was told that wood windows needed to be maintained. A coat of paint every few years was part of my responsibility as the homeowner.

Did I do it? No, so the result is going to about $1000 worth of repair and then new paint everywhere – which I will probably hire out because the idea of painting 14 windows and all the trim around the top of front of the house seems like a daunting time suck – plus I don’t have a ladder tall enough to get up to the roof line.

The list of things to do around the house after living here nearly 30 years is starting […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:06+00:00June 8th, 2015|Categories: Business, Musings|

Doing it for a live audience

After a two-year absence from the stage, I was cast in a show at one of my favorite theaters here in San Diego. Scripps Ranch Theatre. I played Rose, the aging neighbor in a Brooklyn apartment near Sunset Park (also the name of the show).

Marley Sims, one of the writers was able to come to the Preview and Opening Night. She hadn’t seen the show in 10 years since it premiered in Los Angeles and seemed to be pleased with our interpretation. And for me as an actor, it was fun to have her in the audience.

It wasn’t a huge part, so I was able to enjoy the process without the stress of being in every scene. A perfect way to get back on the boards.

That meant a lot of time backstage with the three other actors with minor roles and the stage manager. The interaction has […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00May 16th, 2015|Categories: Musings|

Time for a Kick Start

I am a working voice talent. I make my living doing this. And as with most voice talent outside the major markets I find that I rely more and more on my own abilities to self-direct. Especially at the audition phase.

As someone who has been doing this a long time, I have lots of repeat clients, referrals and direct leads from my website – most of which don’t ask for an audition because they know me, or they simply like what they hear on my demos and don’t ask for an audition.

But, oh those auditions…

It is true that the booking to audition ratio is getting worse. More agents receive the same copy – which means many more people end up auditioning for the same spot – where in the past one or two agents would submit just a few of their talent. This is ancient history. And if you are […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00July 9th, 2014|Categories: Auditioning, Musings|Tags: Auditioning, voice acting, voiceover coaching|

June Came and June Went…

What the heck just happened? The month of June just sort of disappeared in a vortex of VO work. Which is a good thing, but makes it hard to find the time to compose something interesting, relevant or amusing as a blog post.

And that is the goal of keeping a blog – at least as I understand it.

My class blog is easier to keep up to date, but can become a tad boring and even repetitive for people who are not active students in the class. If there was a way to filter OUT the homework assignments, and only keep the interesting videos and articles that would be different, but I haven’t figured out a way to do that yet.

One of the things I talk to my introduction to voice acting students is that just because you are hired to record […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00July 7th, 2014|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: Connie Terwilliger, narration, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover business, white board narrator, YouTube|

Success is all in your head – and maybe in the ear of the listener

I have had a bunch of cool things happen in the past year or so. It hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine, but that is what makes life interesting.

Business has been good. I found that balance of marketing, work and another word that starts with “f” – Facebook. No, fun! (OK, maybe both Facebook and fun.) And I think my work has improved too.

A Free-lance Life for Me
For someone who is and always has been risk averse, you might wonder why I chose to be an independent business person where there is no steady paycheck.

Actually, because most of the people who read this blog are voiceover people too – or independent business people – you probably know the answer.

I don’t think I chose it, actually. My first real job was at a TV station in Iowa. I was a part-time graphic artist in the days just before computers and character […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00April 11th, 2014|Categories: Musings|Tags: free-lancing, General Dynamics, Michael Breeding, Northern Light Productions, voiceover business, what is success?|

Is a monthly blog enough?

Just squeaking in under the wire to get a post completed before the end of March…

I don’t know about you, but this has been a very busy month – filled with many highs and a few lows. Moments of self-doubt. Moments of reaffirmation. Moments of utter confusion. And moments of crystal clarity. Invoicing for large $$. Writing checks for large $$ for taxes.

Pretty much a normal month, I guess…but I did find myself starting a post more than once and simply abandoning it to something else, promising myself that I would return to the keyboard and write something brilliant.

Best laid plans!

So, to return to the question at hand. Is it worth keeping a blog alive if you only post once a month or so? Or will that actually be detrimental to social media standings. I don’t know the answer to that and frankly, my blog isn’t all that popular, so […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00March 30th, 2014|Categories: Musings, Technology|

Brain freeze

So, how is 2014 shaping up for you?

The rugged winter is certainly presenting challenges for my friends who live in the Arctic blast zone. I really haven’t heard a lot of whining though, so they must be a heartier stock of human than I. When I lived in Iowa and Indiana, I KNOW I was a whiner. Especially when I was in grad school trying to be stylish, because I was doing some on-camera work for WTIU. I wore thin leather coats and un-insulated boots with slick leather soles. Scraping the ice off the windows in that get-up was a numbing experience.

When I was in college in Cedar Rapids Iowa, there was not even the slightest attempt to be stylish – dark blue parkas with bright orange fuzzy lining in the hoods. Heavy boots. While I wasn’t much of an outdoor winter sports enthusiast, I don’t remember being cold walking […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00February 22nd, 2014|Categories: Musings|

Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions?

That planning thing I mentioned in my last post – that’s still a plan, but after Kara Edwards posted that she was going to take a photo every day, I decided that I would draw a little picture every day. I’m up to day 5 and so far so good. Last night I was having dinner after a hike and decided to draw day 4’s picture on the napkin at the restaurant. (Day 3 is hidden under Day 5.)

It has been a heck of a year for a lot of people and the past few months have seen loss after loss. Some losses come with a sense of relief – that suffering is over. Some losses come with outrage and disbelief. Some come with pain and terrible sorrow. If someone you know has […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:08+00:00January 5th, 2014|Categories: Musings|

A Plan for the Future

I think I have mentioned it before, but I have never really planned anything significant in my life. It has been one foot in front of the other with common sense, curiosity and initiative forging a steady yet unexpected path.

Last year, my new year’s resolution was to start to plan. By that I didn’t mean a business plan or a marketing plan, though I am constantly reminded by my compadres, blogs, experts that I should probably do that – especially a marketing plan.

No, it meant planning to meet people for dinner, or the movies, or a dinner party. Yes, that basic people kind of planning. My usual MOO (method of operation) is to be hard a work doing whatever I do all day and suddenly look up at the clock and realize that it is about 4 PM and wouldn’t it be nice to go out to dinner with someone? […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:08+00:00December 29th, 2013|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|