Well!
Yeah, it's been a rough couple o' months. A rough year, even. One of these days I'll talk more about how I feel and how I'm working on getting out of my Cave. But not right now.
Right now, I'm writing authors and agents and directors and casting directors, inquiring about submissions. Across the pond, as usual. :) I can't help it--that's where I've always felt was my home, and my sensibilities are much more in line with what's coming out of the entertainment industry over there.
I don't hear back from people very often, but when I do, it's always from someone in the UK or Ireland. If anyone's going to take the time to reply to an unknown actor, it'll be someone from the British Isles. Maybe I'll blog about various theories as to why that is some other day. ;)
Today, I started the Do What Matters Challenge! I came across a tweet mentioning it yesterday--just in time, as they started today. I suppose it doesn't really matter if you start at the same time, but I procrastinate a lot, so if I put it off to start later, who knows when I'd actually begin?!
I didn't get to my emails till late in the day, though, so Day 1 wasn't super-productive. I learned more about the challenge and about each of the three systems, though, which was my #1 goal. (After chiropractor and errands, that is!)
Tuesdays and Thursdays will be tough, since those are the days I nanny for 10-11 hours. I'll set smaller goals for those days (and days where I have a lot of appointments), and do what I can. When I find another Survival Job, I'll re-organize my days and weeks, but I won't worry about that until it happens.
My goals:
1) To be able to write my screenplay WILD GEESE for an hour (to start), 3-5 times a week
2) To catch up with correspondence/organize inbox/implement an email system
3) To catch up on my Creative Pathfinder lessons
4) To notice when I'm distracted, and immediately be able to continue on with what I was meant to be doing
5) To find a system that works for me.
6) To manage my time much better
7) To relieve the guilt & stress that occurs when I don't accomplish my goals and to-do lists
8) To update my blog more regularly
9) To find extra time to devote to genealogy
10) To be able to have a day off--from everything, even emails--WITHOUT feeling guilty or stressed out!
I think those are pretty good goals...and do-able, too. That's on top of all the other things I do, but ehhh, whatever.
Hey! Did you know David Mamet started out as an actor? I didn't, either, until I picked up his book True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. (And damn, I wish I hadn't bought it on impulse at a certain book superstore, and waited till I got home and ordered it cheaper on Amazon! I also picked up Michael Caine's Acting in Film: An Actor's Take on Movie Making. Again, for not that cheap.)
What pulled me in to Mamet's book, though, was the very first sentence in the first chapter: "As actors, we spend most of our time nauseated, confused, guilty." Oh, my GOD, I thought. Is he stalking me and taking notes or something? I read on: "We are lost and ashamed of it; confused because we don't know what to do and have too much information, none of which can be acted upon; and guilty because we feel we are not doing our job."
I shut the book and bought it. Rest assured I will be sharing many, many nuggets of fantastic information from these books!
Oh, I also downloaded Do the Work to the Kindle on my Droid...I haven't even started it yet, and I've had it several weeks already! (Queen of Procratination and Distractions! I will become Princess of Doing Quite a Lot in no time, though!) Download it now--it's free until the 20th!
Okay, peeps...I gots to get to bed. Another loooooong day tomorrow. Someday soon, my looooong days will all be on set, where they never feel long, and I never feel exhausted. Doing what you love is magical, isn't it?
I'm ready for that magic.
