"The label you give yourself cannot impact external forces that are not motivated by your own psychology or influenced by a third party's pre-existing consciousness of you. We are all presented with reasons to struggle which come from completely external forces; to pretend that one is not struggling is either arrogance or an admission of defeat. To admit that one is struggling is a sign and a source of strength." - Evan A. Baker

Monday, January 3, 2011

Ready

January 3rd 2011 is a very busy day for agents. @SecretAgent  even Tweeted "The first Monday in January should be National Do Not Call, Drop By or Email Your Agent Day." Breakdowns have been coming in non-stop and man, am I ready to audition again!

It's been two weeks - my first Winter Vacation where I stayed in LA for the holidays, and I know that's been a major factor in my NEEDING SOMETHING TO DO NOW impatience, but man, what a LONG two weeks!

Hopefully the cds are sifting through their submissions, finding my picture from my amazing agents and clicking their mice to bring me in.

In my downtime, I've been playing Talent Manager. I've updated 2 different friends' resumes, scheduled 2 meetings for a friend and have noticed something - I'm much better at planning and figuring out how to help others than I am at helping myself.

Or, if I think of something to do for myself, I don't seem to make it a priority.

What's wrong with me?

So I'm going to start an Acting Meeting Group to keep myself accountable - getting people I like, people I admire, into my group and seeing if we can't keep ourselves going twice a month to just check in and brainstorm, hold ourselves accountable and help each other out.

I've also been reading Art and Fear. If you are a struggling artist (photog, film maker, makeup artist, artist, actor) I HIGHLY recommend this book. We're all in a group of people who NEED to create art as part of our human experience. See if your library has it. The LA library does. (and if you're a card carrying member, you can request any book from any branch and they'll call or email you when it's at the branch near you! gotta love it!) One of my favorite things from it so far is that back in the day, a lot of artists worked for the churches, or painted religious themes, as being an artist was considered a calling from God.

It still is.

Be ready.

2 comments:

  1. Please let me know if you ever decide to extend your meetings online. As a Bay Area actress who commutes to LA as needed, I really would love to network with LA actors, too.

    Thanks for being there for your fellow artists, Lira.
    Lisa Carlson

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  2. I think one of the most important things we can do as artists...aside from fending for ourselves, is helping out our friends/admired fellow artists. Sure sure, what goes around comes around and all that, but I like the idea that you get back what you put in. So helping someone else will double back on you.

    Not to mention, by helping someone else, it allows us to look at what we're doing with that same critical eye.

    Happy 2011!

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Play nice.