Y is for Yes

WOW - buggy computers + too much to do = grumpy Ishta! How is it that Google Chrome can't find my blog when I type in the URL, but if I log into my gmail and click on the "Blogger" button, it works? Can someone explain that to me?

ANYWAY, it's made me change my blog post. It was going to be "Y is for Yurtle", but now it's "Y is for Yes". Because life throws all kinds of crap at you. And so will your manuscripts. And if you fight it because it doesn't fit in with your original plan, then you might just end up tired and worse off than before. So give the new directions some space.

Say yes.


What have you said "yes" to today?

Monday Musings on Focus

So, I've had this weird feeling that the Universe has been trying to speak to me lately.

First, there was the weekend where even though I thought I was going to be talking about book projects, I ended up talking to people about their previous film projects.

Then there was the plane ride home where I happened to meet a talent agent - we had a great conversation, about books and movies and how much we hate reality TV (sorry, reality TV-lovers; it's not my bag) and pets, and that ended with him asking how we could keep in touch.

Then there's the fact that I have more ideas for books and scripts than I know what to do with, and I saw Hugo and it reminded me why I wanted to be an actor in the first place.

And basically, if I'm honest, the publishing industry is so wonky right now with e-this and print-that and Amazon becoming a publisher and Apple launching self-publishing apps (iAuthor? Really? REALLY? I want an annulment, Apple. You've been messing around behind my back, and I won't stand for it.) and all the people who work for publishing houses getting nervous that it makes the performing arts look like a stable career choice, and that's really saying something.

And then today, as I looked at my ever-growing To-Do list and wondered if it was too late to use stem cells to generate a few extra arms, I had a moment of clarity.

You can do everything - just not all at once. And it doesn't matter which one you choose to do first. You just have to choose something.


Choose something. One manuscript. One idea. And see it through to the end. Finish it. Stay focused, and don't get distracted. Keep your eye on the ball.

Then when that one thing is done, you can choose again.

My one thing is a chapter book that I've had on hold while I worked on and submitted picture books. What is your one thing for today?


And remember to come back on WEDNESDAY for a query critiquing extravaganza, and a VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Wisdom on Wednesday: From the Mouths of Babes

My kids made this the other day, and my 8 year-old son said about it:

"If you wear these then whenever you fall down, you'll always land on your feet."

The writing business and the acting business have a lot in common:

• They're both about storytelling.
• They're both about finding the emotional truth of each moment.
• They both involve a lot of rejection.

And you'll be a lot better off if you can always land on your feet.

How my kids picked up on that is anybody's guess. But I'm so glad they did. Theirs are words to live by.

What have you learned from the kids in your life lately?

Best O' Fluck

I'm not the greatest typist. I've never taken a class, and I just kind of get faster and better the more often I do it, which these days is pretty often. I'm still no speed demon, but I'm well past the one-finger-typist stage. However, I'm not immune to typos.

One typo that I seem to make over and over again happens at the end of my critique emails, when, instead of typing "Best of Luck," I keep accidentally typing "Best o fluck." And the more I do it, the MORE I DO IT. It's like the typo that won't die.

So, I finally decided to look up "fluck." And you know what?

It's a new word!* How awesome is that?


In light of this discovery, I am going to embrace my persistently typo-ridden signature. I'm going to define "fluck" as that wonderful type of luck that is part fluke, part luck, and part hard work. It is the awesome of luck: freaking luck. Freaking lucky people will be called "flucky."

Fluck: it's like luck, but better. And Irish sounding.

And to all you writers and actors and creative people out there,

I wish you the best o' fluck.

*At least, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, dictionary.com, and babelfish.com, it is. And that's good enough for me.


P.S. Hey! Have you read Jay Asher's THIRTEEN REASONS WHY yet? GO HERE to win a copy!


P.P.S. DUDE! It's WriteOnCon week! So I'm going to be busy being not-here, okay? Come find me at WOC! See you there!

Wisdom on Wednesdays: Being Generous

In the acting world, I used to hear this phrase all the time: "He/she's such a generous actor."

And I'd think a lot about what that means.

It means not hogging the spotlight.

It means thinking about the scene first, and putting aside your ideas about how things should go to find what works.

It means saying "yes" to your colleagues' ideas, and giving them ideas that they can say "yes" to.

It means being a team player.

It's the same in writing:

There are lots of books in the sea; yours is just one of them. This is a good thing.

Sometimes, we have to kill our darlings to make the story work.

Sometimes, we have to let the characters take us where they want to go.

Sometimes, writers need to lean on each other. We ask for support when we need it, and we support others when they need it.

It's a happy coincidence that my friend Matthew is doing a critique of a picture book query today on his blog, and he asked me to go over there and see if I could lend a few ideas. Without even knowing it, he was giving me an opportunity to be generous. If any of you write picture books, I invite you to go over there and do the same.

And when you write today, write with generosity in your hearts and at your fingertips.

It's a Balancing Act

First, if you haven't had a chance to check out the Write Hope auction to benefit Save the Children in Japan, hurry up! You only have a few days left to bid! My offering, a picture book manuscript critique and query critique, is at http://write-hope.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-10-item-1.html, but there are lots and lots of great things to bid on.

Second, Blogger's hyperlinks widgety-thing is acting up this morning, so sorry about that html up there.

And third: I've been feeling a little out-of-balance lately. The writing life, the mothering life, the wife-ing life (Hey, how come "mother" turns into "mothering" but "wife" doesn't really turn into anything? 'Cause "wifing" just looks wrong.), the being "me" life... They all just seem to be taking up too much time, and I'm running out of time to sleep.

As you may know from some of my previous posts, I usually turn to scheduling to fix this: I plan each day, in terms of when I'll do housework, when I'll do my workout, when I'll write, etc. I've fallen out of my scheduling ways lately, which is probably why I've been so off-kilter, and I'm getting back to it to try to get the life/sleep scales balanced again. But I'm curious about what you do.

How do you maintain balance in your life?

Wisdom on Wednesdays: A Note on Professionalism

A lot of you have probably heard by now about the author who went ballistic on a reviewer who posted a mixed review on their blog. I'm not going to name the author, or the reviewer, or the blog - it isn't really that important, and I don't want any flaming in here. The point of this post isn't to ridicule, or make the author feel worse than she probably already does now that she's had a couple of days to look back at her very bad, very public behavior.

I just want to reiterate this point: we are professionals. We might sleep in, gorge ourselves on chocolate and coffee, refuse to change our socks, and bathe sporadically, but when it comes down to dealing with other writers, editors, agents, and anyone else in the publishing or book business, we are professionals, and we have to act like it.

Please, please, please, for the sake of your future in this or any other industry (and this goes for actors too - and YOU KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT): don't respond unkindly when you see someone saying something about your work that you don't like. Don't insult people. Don't argue with people over whether your work has merit. Just don't do it. If you can't be professional and polite, then be invisible and silent. Lock yourself in your bedroom or call your best friend and rant away. Scream at your mirror till your throat is sore, write in your private journal until your pen runs out of ink and your anger runs out of steam, and then move on to the next book or the next movie or the next whatever and put the bad review behind you. Instead of trying to get even or convince them they're wrong, spend that energy making your next project ten times better than the last one.

But whatever you do, don't get into a public confrontation. It will only do you harm.

New Posting Schedule, and GOLDEN GLOBES!

First, I'm shifting to a new Monday-Wednesday-Friday blogging schedule. It's not that I don't like hanging out with you guys every day - I love it! In fact, I love it so much that my writing time is suffering. So, a little less blogging, a little more writing. It's what this whole thing is all about, after all.


Second: the Golden Globes were handed out last night! And what a night! Congratulations to the cast of Glee, who walked away with not only the best TV series in the comedy category, but BOTH the Best Supporting Actor (surprise!) AND Best Supporting Actress (okay, not so much of a surprise, but still a pleasing result) trophies for TV comedy or musical. Also congratulations to Colin Firth, who took the Best Actor in a Film Drama trophy, and to the many, many other people who won awards last night.


Watching the ceremony, I was struck by two things. First, not many projects (if any) were shut out. It wasn't like other years, where a film might get 6 nominations and not win anything. Pretty much everyone who got more than two nominations won something. I like that.


And second, the clear all-out winner of the evening was "The Social Network," a movie about e-networking and "social media." I think this says something about the word we live in, guys. If you were ever in doubt that blogging and FaceBook and Twitter were the way forward, this should clear it up for you. And I am a little embarrassed to say that I haven't actually seen that movie yet, even though I wanted to.


How about you? Were you pleased or horrified by the winners announced last night? Do you think this is a sign of the Oscar wins to come, or will the Oscars go another way?

Wisdom on Wednesdays: Rolling With It

I've been feeling lately like life just keeps handing me setback after setback. I think that's true for a lot of writers, and it's also true for a lot of actors. We all go through periods when it feels like you take a step forward, only to be pushed back again.

But the more published authors I talk to, the more I learn that this happens to everybody. I don't know a single published author who hasn't had a book deal fall through at the last minute, or had their editor quit midway through a contract, or had to leave their agent for one reason or another, or faced a bazillion rejections. Not a single one.

Success in this industry is as much about perseverance and rolling with the punches as it is about anything else. A talented writer who lays down and quits after the first handful of rejections is never going to get anywhere. And an actor who quits after only a month of auditioning isn't going to get anywhere, either. And focusing on the negatives? Definitely not going to help.

I could wallow in self-pity after learning that my husband's job means I have to miss a meeting I was excited about, or I could take the time I would have spent at that meeting to focus on writing a new proposal. I think I know what I'm going to do.

Writers and actors take a lot of hits. If you want to succeed as either, you've got to learn to roll with it.

Friday Favorites: People's Choice Awards!

Did anyone else watch the People's Choice Awards Wednesday night?  Did you? Did you? Did you?


Can you tell I like Awards Season? And I know, the PCAs aren't exactly on the same level as the Oscars or the Golden Globes or the Emmys, but they're still worth watching, especially for creators of things like books and TV shows and movies.


You know why?


The People choose them. And, you know, the People also choose to buy things that are important to writers.


Like our books. Yup. So, I watch the People's Choice Awards. I want to know what the People want these days, and what they like. And I want to know how my own personal picks do, of course!


I was thrilled (and not really surprised) that Johnny Depp won for favorite male film star, and I was even more thrilled to see Jane Lynch win for favorite female TV comedy star, along with Glee's win for favorite TV comedy. Because Jane Lynch is awesome. And her speech proved it.


How about you guys? How did your favorites do?

Wisdom on Wednesdays...On Thursday?

I looked at the calendar this morning, and DOH! I had a brain fart yesterday and missed my Wisdom on Wednesday post! Sorry if I let my faithful Wednesday followers down.

I'm not even going to try to pretend I did that on purpose; the first week back from Christmas vacation is always nutso. But I'm making up for it today with this wisdom post, right?

Right. I thought so.

And it's good that you agree, because today's wisdom post is about Honesty, and how it really is the best policy.

I know when we mess up and miss a deadline, or an appointment, or screw up and send the wrong version of a manuscript, or forget ourselves and say something hurtful about an agent or editor or fellow writer in public, it's really tempting to cover it up, blame someone else, or just try to act like it never happened. But that doesn't really work in our favor, does it? All it does is show us up for the insecure little people that we are when we do that. (And we have all done that, haven't we?)

A much better road is the high road: own up, apologize, and ask if you can have a chance to make it right. It's mature, it's professional, and it's responsible. That's the kind of person I want others to recognize me as; it's the kind of person I want to be.

So, I'll start. I'm sorry I messed up and posted the wrong thing yesterday. And I'm sorry if it takes me a few weeks to mail out books people win on my blog. I'll try to do better next time.


How about you? What have you got on your mind that you need to be honest about?

Resistance

Paul Greci posted on his blog yesterday about pushing through resistance in his writing, and it got me thinking: I've been facing some internal resistance of my own lately. But it's nothing to do with my writing - at least, not directly.

It's to do with Facebook. And Twitter. Which, frankly, I loathe. (Nothing against all you guys who love them; they're just not for me.) I'm not good at sifting through noise to find the sound bites that I'm interested in, and as much as I love knowing what my very best friends' kids are up to, I just don't have time to read about everybody else's kids/dentist appointments/shopping finds. I'd rather be writing. Or reading. Or hanging out with my own kids, without the distraction of constant tweets and postings popping up every few seconds.

Plus, you know: I like the phone for keeping in touch. And email. Letters. What happened to those?

I know what you're thinking: we only need to choose what we like to do, and do it well, right? That's what everybody says, right? Well. That is what everybody says, and to a certain extent, it's true. There are many, many writers and actors and artists who manage to be successful and attract a broad audience without Facebook or Twitter or any of those social media vehicles, simply because they are that good.


But I'm not talking about attracting an audience. I'm talking about connecting: with writers, with editors, with agents. I'm talking about maintaining contact with people I meet at conferences and seminars, because I liked them and I liked what they had to say, and because building relationships is what being human is all about. And those wonderful people whom I want to maintain contact with?

They use Facebook and Twitter for that.

So you see my dilemma. Now I'm going to ask for your advice.

If you were me, what would you do?


By the way, I know I'm usually much better than I have been this week about responding to all the lovely people who leave me comments here on the blog. Both my kids have croup, and we're not really getting much sleep around here. And we would probably buy stock in tissues, if buying stock were my thing. But as soon as I can get enough time at the computer, I will respond to each and every one of you, I promise.

Friday Favorites: Musicals!

I love going to musicals - they always make me feel like dancing and singing. Which might be why the Hubster doesn't take me to them anymore. He's great, but there's only so much bleeding-ear-syndrome a guy can take.

ANYWAY, let's talk favorite musicals, shall we? Some of my favorites are, in no particular order:

Fiddler on the Roof, written by Joseph Stein, music by the genius Jerry Brock, lyrics by the brilliant Sheldon Harnick. It's about ordinary people, who manage to find beauty and love even in the midst of oppression and heartbreak. When I was a teenager, I loved it because the daughters showed their papa that when it comes to marriage, love conquers all. As an adult, I love it because it shows how we can keep going even when life insists on smacking us down. It's wonderful.

Guys and Dolls, written by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, music and lyrics by the incredible Frank Loesser. This musical is pure fun. The permeation of the musical numbers "A Bushel and a Peck", "Luck Be a Lady", and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" through popular culture in the '50s is evidence of just how powerful they were, and in many ways, still are. And who can turn down a Tony Award Winning musical? Not me.

The Phantom of the Opera, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the book Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, lyrics by Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, and Alan Jay Lerner. This is a classic, guys. It's dark and twisty and dark and mournful and passionate and just perfect. And did I mention dark? And did you know that it's possibly one of the most, if not THE most, successful pieces of entertainment ever? It is with shame that I admit that despite my Phantom love, I have yet to see the movie. What can I say - I identified with the Phantom, and I wanted to be Christine. This bright shiny blog is just a cover-up for my secret pain.


As always, there are more musicals out there that I love, but I think I should stop at three. Now it's your turn. What musicals do you love? Are there any great ones out there I might not have heard of?

How To Write Compelling Characters

We break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this post, which is one of many in The Great Blogging and Writing Experiment conceived of and hosted by super-blogger and author Elana Johnson.  This is in no way a blogfest.  (But go ahead and click that link and check out all the other great posts on this topic, which is just like a blogfest, but we won't tell Elana, okay?  Shhh.)


So, how TO write compelling characters, anyway?  The honest answer?

I haven't got a clue.

Seriously.  I write, but I have no idea as I write if my characters are compelling.  So I thought that today I'd talk about what I find compelling in other people's characters, since studying others' work is a great way to learn.

When I read a book and find myself drawn to the characters, it's usually because they have certain qualities that I find endearing or admirable or attractive somehow, and those qualities usually contrast with some other aspect of that person in an unexpected way.  For example, I've read a lot of YA recently where the female protagonist is petite and physically unassuming, but has a fiery personality.  Or maybe a character is very physically attractive, but also very bookish and a little bit nerdy.  In the case of TWILIGHT, Carlisle and Edward Cullen both crave human blood, but they have a moral code that forbids it.  In theatre, we call this "playing opposites", where things look one way and then you twist it a little; I think it's important that we do this with our characters in literature, as well.

Backstory also plays a big role in whether I find a character compelling, and this is also a trick I learned first in the theatre.  We used to spend hours creating entire life stories for every single character that we were going to play - even the minor ones who only had one scene and maybe one or two lines of dialogue.  As soon as I had read through the script for the first time, I would sit down and figure out who this person was: where did she grow up?  Who raised her?  What does she like to eat for breakfast?  Is she a coffee drinker, or does she prefer tea or juice?  Is she a night-owl, or an early riser?  How many friends does she have, and what does she talk to them about?  What are her fears?  Dreams?  Once I'd worked all of this out, I knew who my character was, and I'd know how she would react in certain situations.  I'd know how to play her scenes.  When we write our characters, even our minor ones, we need to know their whole story.  When an author knows her characters' stories, it comes through in the writing, and I end up wanting to know more about those characters, even the minor ones.  Diana Gabaldon has developed a whole spinoff series about Lord John Grey, one of the minor characters in her OUTLANDER series, because people wanted to know more about him.  They found him compelling.

I don't want to write any more - this is a long post as it is - but there's something to go on.  Make them contradict themselves a little, and outline their backstories ahead of time.  So far, I think it's working for me.

What do you think?  Have you tried either of these things?  Did it work for you?

Friday Favorites: PREMIERE SEASON!

I usually hate September.  School starts again, it gets cold, everyone with kids has to impose a schedule of getting up before dawn and packing lunches and doing homework, it gets cold, it gets windy and rainy, it gets cold...


But about 2/3 of the way through, my favorite thing happens.  All the good TV shows come back!  Woo-Hoo!

Can you tell I like TV a little bit?  (Okay, a lot!)

I am so psyched for the return of Glee and Grey's Anatomy.  Glee is upbeat and fun and has great choreography and I'm a sucker for worlds where people break out spontaneously into song, and man, can Lea Michelle sing!  Plus, Jane Lynch. 

Need I say more?

And Grey's Anatomy is just compelling.  And well-cast.  And well-written.  And the actors are very, very talented.  It is one of my dreams to be cast in Grey's.  And also:

Seriously.

How about you?  What shows are you looking forward to this season, and what do you like about them?

In Defense of Multitasking

I have a private peeve. I hate it when writers sneer at authors who are famous for doing something else. Hate. It. Yes, I understand the resentment when "celebrity" authors get a free pass while the rest of us struggle to get our work seen; I share that resentment. And I have read books by "celebrities" that I thought were complete dreck, and I'll admit to allowing myself the thought that if the authors of those books hadn't been famous, their books would never have been published.

But by the same token, I've read some books by celebrities that I thought were really good. And I hate the assumption by struggling writers that any good book written by a celebrity must have been basically rewritten by the editor in order to make it publishable. Is there some rule that says a person can only be good at one thing in their lives? Who says that there aren't a few celebrities who have worked hard, gotten feedback on their work, made revisions, and made the grade on their own?

I was an actor before I was a writer. After I took ten years off from acting to be a stay-at-home-mom, I started taking acting classes again. I plan to take more, and to have to work my way up. When I decided I wanted to be a writer too, I joined SCBWI, and went to conferences and workshops, and I plan to attend more, and to have to work my way up. I have joined critique groups to better my writing craft; I have performed in plays for free to get the experience and better my acting craft.

I am an actor and a writer. I hope one day to be very good at both.

How about you? What's your opinion on professional multitasking? Can a person be really great at more than one thing?

Tony Awards! Tony Awards!

Did you actors out there watch the Tony Awards?

I'm embarrassed to admit that this is actually the first time that I have ever watched the Tonys. Every actor should watch them; theatre is an important element of our field, and we should watch them because it's important to know what's being done out there, and also because it's important to recognize and honor excellence in our craft. On the other hand, I don't live anywhere near New York and I never have, so I've never actually seen any of the individual performances/musicals/plays being nominated in any given year. (Unlike the Oscars, which I've often seen because they're movies and are therefore available pretty much in any given place at any given time as long as you can get to a Blockbuster.) I had no idea that the Tonys were even televised before this year. So, I feel that my lapse, while shameful, is excusable. But no more!

Watching the Tonys was, for me, by turns entertaining (Matthew Morrison singing and dancing live? Yes, please.), awe-inspiring, and demoralizing. Awe-inspiring because I was truly shocked by the percentage of huge Broadway stars who are also huge film stars, and also because I got to see clips from musicals and plays being performed right now on Broadway and I LOVE LIVE THEATRE. I wish I could go to the theatre every day. Just watching it had me itching to get back out there and DO some live theatre.

And then came the demoralizing part, as I realized that all of those people can sing. And I mean, really sing. They can bring the house down. And I can't. And by that I mean, even my kids and my own mother beg me to stop when I try to sing, and we're just talking about lullabies and things like that. I mouth "Happy Birthday" as I carry my kids' cakes to them at their birthday parties. I sound that bad. I can dance a groove in the floor, and I think I've probably got some acting chops hidden away somewhere (although sometimes I doubt myself - I think we all do), but I sure can't sing. And I wonder: does this mean that live theatre is out for me? Will I ever be able to "make it" on acting and dancing alone?

I sure hope so, because that's all I've got.

Thanks for stopping by.

Knowing the Market: Part 1

I've been thinking a lot about what I read and why, and what I watch and why, and while a lot of it is for pleasure, it also comes down to this: it is important to know your market. I want to dedicate my next two posts to exploring this topic, first from the perspective of an actor, and second from the perspective of a writer.

So here we go: Knowing the Market for Actors.

First, of all, what do I mean by that, anyway? When I think about knowing the market, I'm thinking about two things. The first thing I'm thinking about is the broader market in terms of what is generally on TV and showing in the movie theatres. Soaps, evening dramas, sit-coms, commercials, cartoons, romantic comedies, family comedies, historical fims, etc., etc. All of these things, to me, comprise "the market". This is the stuff being made, and so this is the stuff that you're likely to get cast in if you're going to get cast at all. (Granted, there are new pilots and new types of films being made all of the time, but for the most part, what comes in the near-future is probably going to mirror or borrow heavily from some existing show/movie/commercial that is already out there.) You should know what these shows are like! You don't need to watch every soap religiously every day, but you should try to watch each soap at least once, so you have a sense of the style of that soap. Likewise for evening dramas, comedies, procedurals, etc. If you've got a spare hour and a TV handy, flick through a few channels and see if you can catch a bit of something you've never seen before. I recently watched an episode of "Supernatural" and an episode of "Vampire Diaries" and neither of them were really my thing in terms of something I'd reserve a regular weekly time slot for, but if I ever get called for an audition I'll have a sense of the tone of those shows, the style in which they're shot, the pacing, and the like.

The same goes for movies. Watch a variety! Go to the video rental store or see what your cable or satellite provider has on offer, and broaden your horizons a bit. I used to only watch movies that were nominated for major awards like the Golden Globes and the Oscars, and films that had done well at major festivals like Cannes. But I recently decided to try to watch a broader variety because, realistically, most actors don't start at the top, and I'm sure I won't either. Also, a lot of genres - like horror, for example - tend to be underrepresented at the big awards ceremonies, but these movies still need actors. Different genres require a slightly different application of your skill set. Know your market.

And then there's your other "market": the people you audition for. I'm honestly in two minds about this one. The writer in me wants to say that your real audience is the people who are going to watch your show or movie, and that a great director will see in you what the audience will see in you. But the actor in me knows that not all directors are "great directors", and it is also about being someone the director and producers feel they can work with, who has versatility, who is likeable, etc., etc. I'd like to know what you actors think. Do we audition to please the people we audition for, or do we just focus on the truth of the moment and tell the story as we see it? What do you think?

Tune in this weekend for Part Two: Knowing your Market for Writers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oh, Cheez, How I Do Love You

I'm a big movie watcher. I sometimes fool myself into thinking that it's a form of professional research, but really, I just like to watch movies. Two movies I've seen recently have proven to be pretty educational from the standpoint of the struggling actor, however, and when that happens I do a little happy dance and watch them again (and again, and again, and again...).

In this spirit, I am encouraging every actor who hasn't hit the really big time yet to watch What Just Happened with Robert DeNiro, supported by a stellar cast including Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, and Robin Wright Penn, among others. Everyone was great in this hilarious send-up of the film industry, told from the perspective of an over-caffeinated producer during a turbulent two weeks of agonizing, bribing, berating, threatening, begging, acquiescing, painful film-making.

But that's not why I'm recommending it to you. I'm recommending it to you because one of the bonus features on the DVD is a collection of some of the actors' audition tapes, paired with the scenes as they appeared in the film. This is far and away the most educational DVD extra I have ever seen. By turns making me think "WOW, he is so good! Look at his eyelines! He's so ALIVE in this audition!" and "WOW, that audition tape was nothing like the way they played the scene - I wonder what process they went through to get from there to here?" and everything in between, this had my eyes glued to the screen from start to finish. Rent it. Watch it. Learn from it. Know that one day, that could (will!) be you.

I am also encouraging you to go out and rent a really bad movie or two (or ten). I had the pleasure of renting and watching a (blockbuster!) movie recently that was so unexpectedly bad, I laughed out loud. A lot. It was not a comedy, but it was hlarious. And then in the middle of the movie, I realized that despite the cheezy special effects and wooden acting and plastic sets and overdone musical score, I would be lucky to get cast in a movie like this. I would be so lucky to get cast in any movie that hits the mainstream theatres, as this one had. Sure, I can aspire towards better, I can dream about the Oscars and the Emmys and the Golden Globes, but to actually get cast at all? I would be lucky. It was a very humbling moment. I need those moments once in a while; I think we all do. So, next time I find myself smirking at the contrivances in a script or about to complain that I have an audition for this thing that really looks lame, I'm going to rent this movie. And remember that I am LUCKY to even have an audition to go to in the first place.

Actors blog, Too

I was just surfing the net a bit looking for actors' blogs, and came across this gem.

With posts about working in the theatre, in front of the camera, and everywhere in between, this varied blog provides information, inspiration, and some downright hilarity. Check it out!

And thanks for stopping by.