Am I Crazy?

 Hi Everyone*! 

*eve·ry·one /ˈevrēˌwən/

   Meaning: My mom or dad. Possibly my cousin if she's bored enough.

Welcome to my brand new blog, where I will be chronicling my journey to becoming a professional Voice Over artist. I'll try to update every month, give or take, or possibly never, depending on if I forget that I've started this blog when I wake up tomorrow morning. Follow to find out!

I started this adventure about a week ago. I've been living way up north in Maine this past year, away from my friends and family in Boston, working as a caretake for an older relative with dementia, I'll call her Joanne. Since moving here in October, I've only lost Joanne about 4 times, but I always got her back so I think I'm doing a pretty okay job. 

During my solitary confinement with Joanne, I've mostly been painting. After graduating in 2015 from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration, I have worked as a:

• Receptionist (boring)
• Facilities Coordinator (boring-er)
• Graphic Designer (the closest to my degree, but lasted only 5 months)
• Au Pair (le boring en francaise)
• Unemployed (least boring but only because I had 3 seasons of Outlander to catch up on)

my representation of fashion during unemployment

I love to paint. I love to draw. I love to sketch. But always in the back of my mind I would think, "When your first grade teacher asked what you wanted to be as an adult, you said 'actress', not painter, you idiot! Why don't you act anymore!? You worthless potato!" The back of my mind is a little rude. But I never had the time or money or confidence it takes to audition and market and organize. Well not anymore! Now I've got time and money, thanks to moving in with family and those sweet, sweet unemployment checks. The confidence thing has also improved. Apparently living with family and avoiding interaction from the outside world for many months can be quite the confidence booster. My aunt and uncle have nothing but nice things to say to me always. Mostly because I suspect they think I have been letting Joanne loose in the woods sans supervision on purpose and they fear my power, but I digress.

About a month back I made the decision to become an art teacher. The benefits were good, I had the right degree, there were plenty of teaching jobs in Boston. It felt like I was giving up. And that's not to say that art teachers have are giving up in life and that I don't appreciate the merit of being a teacher. But my art teacher in high school and I did not get along. I liked drawing sexy anime girls in short skirts. She was a hippie in her 60s that burned all her bras. She did not appreciate the empowering feminism of my anime schoolgirls.

Still drawing short skirt anime girls to this day

Then, a week ago as I was scrolling through facebook, a friend of mine, Miranda Ellis, posted her official Voice Acting page. I knew Miranda from an acting class she and I shared at Boston Casting a few years ago and I have to admit, at first my stomach soured. How dare this person steal my dream! It wasn't fair! Especially because from what I could remember from our acting class, she was talented and a genuinely lovely person to be around. How dare she try to have it all. I was green with envy. This feeling only lasted a minute before the back of my mind once again shouted, "So why don't you do it too? You don't have to be a worthless potato! You can be a potato who follows her dreams." The back of my mind had a point. 

I reached out to Miranda, feeling a little foolish at first. I thought she might judge my sudden bout of Voice Acting fever, or be annoyed with my tedious questions after only knowing her a short while. But nothing could have been further from the truth! She responded to me right away, sending me resource after resource, offering amazing advice and making me feel like I really had spot waiting for me in the community. 

The first resource I followed was a website called Gravy for the Brain. It was a voiceover career platform with an affordable subscription fee. After tuning into one of the free workshops, I signed up immediately. 

Next, I called my parents and told them to forget about that stupid art teacher thing I told them about. That was so two weeks ago. I asked (demanded) if I could move in with them, convert my sister's old bedroom into a sound treated studio, and also am I crazy? They were both incredibly supportive, my dad was practically frothing at the mouth with excitement because he'd always been trying to get me to learn how to use the camera and microphone equipment he keeps buying on craigslist from a guy named Mark. Well dad and Mark, my time has come! 

My next steps are going to be more focused on learning as much as I can about the craft. What kind of equipment I'll need, what kind of coaching and where to find it, how to make a demo reel etc. 

I'm still newer than new at this, but who knows! Maybe by this time next decade, I'll be the one voicing those anime girls in short skirts. So take that, hippie art teacher!!