Tag Archives: creative

Continuing To Find Ways To Be Creative (or Podcasts and Online Shows)

Posted on July 10, 2020 | Comments Off on Continuing To Find Ways To Be Creative (or Podcasts and Online Shows)

Even though I wasn’t working a lot of acting jobs before quarantine, there is no question that things feel different for me right now. I feel a lack of opportunity to be creative or to advance my career. In reality, I’m not living that different than before as far as my acting career goes. But it’s just not the same. I don’t know if I can explain it. It’s just how I feel and it’s not fun for me.

I know there are things I can do at home alone to work on my acting career. I haven’t felt that motivated to do online readings or record myself doing random audition sides for practice. I might start doing it, but I don’t want to force myself to do them just to get a sense of being able to act.

But recently, I’ve had a few chances to be creative, even if it’s not necessarily acting. A friend of mine is somewhat new into the dating world after a divorce and she’s already seen how crazy things are. Plus, she has heard a lot of my stories about my adventures in dating. So she asked me if I’d be interested in doing a show with her on Twitch where we are just being ourselves and talking about dating. We would be sharing stories, playing games while swiping, and maybe doing profile critiques.

We had a quick test of our show because the systems we were using were new to us. Plus, neither of us were that familiar with Twitch. So we wanted to have time to try things out before we publicize doing this show and having a real audience. The test was only about 10 minutes, but we had fun and I think we both feel comfortable with how to make things work. I’m not sure when we will officially start or how often we will do the show, but I’m excited about it. It’s not exactly acting, but it’s fun and I get to be creative with what we do on the show.

And then this week, I had another non-actor creative moment. I was a guest on Brianne Davis’s upcoming podcast Secret Life. This podcast is all about the secrets people keep and what it has meant for their life. I had an opportunity to be anonymous on it, but I decided not to. Being open and honest about secrets I’ve kept in my life is one of the better things I have done. I don’t want to hide or keep them a secret anymore. I’m not sure if I should say what I talked about because I actually am going to be a guest on the podcast again to discuss another secret!

I’m excited to go back because I had so much fun in the first interview! Brianne and I hadn’t met before the interview (I know her husband through a few different groups I’m in), but she instantly made me feel comfortable and supported. Even though I wasn’t scared to share what I had to say, it was still nice to feel like I was talking to someone who wasn’t going to judge me or make me feel ashamed. I can’t wait until her podcast premieres next month because I know all the guests she will have will feel the same way I did and it should lead to some incredible interviews! I promise to share the information when I know more about when it premieres and when my episode (or episodes) will be going live.

There is no way to know when the entertainment industry will be back to full production. I know my union along with many others are working on procedures and policies to be able to work and keep everyone safe. We will come back, it’s just an unknown timeline for now. I do hope it’s soon, but I also hope that we can feel comfortable that if we are on set that we are safe. But in the meantime, I’m glad I have had a few chances to be a bit more creative than I normally get to be. It’s not a replacement for being able to act, but it’s been a big help to make me feel like myself again.

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Default ThumbnailFinding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting) Default ThumbnailLearning From Listening (or Another Great Podcast) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Be Inspired By Podcasts (or Turning A Passion Into A Paycheck) Default ThumbnailUsing Podcasts To Better Myself (or Continuing To Be A Podcast Addict) Default ThumbnailFinding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things) Default ThumbnailPodcasts and Twitter (or An Evening Out With Some Actors)

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Finding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

Posted on June 6, 2019 | Comments Off on Finding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

One of the biggest downsides to pursuing an acting career is that I am not in that much control. I know that I could create my own work, but that still requires things to happen that I don’t control completely. And with bigger auditions and jobs, it depends on me being called in by the casting director to audition and up to multiple people if they want to hire me. Even with all that uncertainty, I love acting more than anything and could not imagine not pursing it.

But I do crave having creativity in my life and I can’t get that always from acting. It’s tough because I’m not creative in other traditional ways. I can’t draw and actually get frustrated because of my lack of drawing abilities. I’m not really a writer even though I write on here and I’m working on a book. Or maybe I am a writer but I don’t find it a creative outlet? Either way, writing doesn’t fill what I am looking for. I’ve tried so many other things that could fill the creative need in my life and I never have found something that fills me like acting does.

I’ve come to the realization that nothing will be as good as acting is for me. I kind of knew that going into trying to find more creativity in my life. If something made me feel as great as acting does, I would go do that instead. But I still hoped I would find something even though I didn’t think it was possible. So I had to change my mindset so I wasn’t looking for a replacement for the creativity of acting. I was looking for something to supplement acting.

I still probably have some searching to do but at least for now I have found a few things that are adding that creativity I crave in my life. First, the work that I’ve been doing for my union slate has been creative when I wasn’t expecting it to be. The direct work that I’m doing isn’t necessarily creative because I am posting on social media. There is a bit of planning that I guess is a creative thing, but I’m not sure. But the unexpected creativity that I have found with that is that I have been working with our graphic designer (who is a close friend of mine) directly to come up with ideas for what we want to post. While I am not the person doing the creation of the graphics, I do get to have some input with what we are doing. And that’s been awesome.

I’ve also done a little bit of work behind the camera. Working behind the camera is not something that I love or want to pursue. But I guess when it’s for something that I am passionate about and want to be a part of no matter what, I do enjoy it. I can’t share too much about what I worked on, but it was with many of my friends. I was in charge of helping with teleprompter work which really has no creativity involved. But I was sitting right below the camera to run it and was very close to what was being filmed. Getting to watch someone work through different takes was something I normally don’t get to experience. While I’m used to different takes when I’m filming something, I usually am a part of that scene too so I can’t just sit back and watch the process. It was almost like getting to watch an acting class with someone who is such a talented actor. The day I was behind the camera was actually a tough day for me before I got there. And while I was there and after I left, I was in a much better mood.

I still want to find other ways I can be creative that I have the ability to control. I don’t know if that means finding things that I haven’t tried that I can do or to find a way to make writing feel more creative. I would love any suggestions you all have because I know that being creative does make me happy and I want to have as much of that as possible.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing To Find Ways To Be Creative (or Podcasts and Online Shows) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time) Default ThumbnailFiguring Out The Next Step (or I Need To Keep Acting) Default ThumbnailBeing Proactive (or Bringing Acting To Me) Default ThumbnailYou Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members) Default ThumbnailFinding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)

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Figuring Out The Next Step (or I Need To Keep Acting)

Posted on August 4, 2016 | Comments Off on Figuring Out The Next Step (or I Need To Keep Acting)

As soon as I finished the shoot for “Single Parent Date Night”, I got the feeling that I had been missing out on acting for far too long. I’ve had auditions from time to time (I wish I had more but I understand that sometimes that’s out of my control) and I was in my improv class last year. And of course I have my meetings with my WIF mentoring group which is one of the most inspiring things for me.

But since my shoot, what I’ve been doing doesn’t feel like enough. I know I’m limited in some situations like I cannot force myself to get more auditions or don’t have the financial ability to do a short film like that one all the time, but that’s no excuse for me anymore. I need to keep going and I feel like I have no other choice.

I’m looking again into acting classes. I’m still torn if I should do the next level of improv classes, but I’m leaning more toward not doing it now. I’ve got a few more months to sign up for the next level before I have to start back at the beginning, so I can still change my mind if I want. But there are so many other types of acting classes outside of improv so I’m exploring those.

There are some acting classes that I’d love to take, but they are just too far beyond my price range. I can’t afford classes that cost more than my rent, and there are some like that out there that I know would be worth it if I had the money. And while the cheap ones are a good deal for me financially, I have to make sure that they are the right choice for my career as well.

I’ve got things narrowed down to a couple of classes that meet both the financial and career requirements that I have. I’m going to take a bit more time to look into all the options and I’m going to try to figure out what order I want to take them in. I will have to save money for each class I take, so it may take me a few years to get to all the classes that look interesting to me right now (and by then I’m sure there will be even more classes I want to take).

I’m also looking at doing more work on my own. They won’t be as professional as “Single Parent Date Night” all the time, but there are some beautiful projects I’ve seen that were shot on an iPhone. So I figured why couldn’t I do the same thing? I would need to keep the script and locations simple, but it is possible to work on my own stuff instead of always just waiting for someone to create one for me.

I took the first step to self-producing by becoming a SAG-AFTRA Signatory Producer. It was a very simple process online for me that allows me to produce union projects (which I have to do since I am union). Since I’m still not really a writer, I need to find friends who do write that I can collaborate with, but this is a start.

And I’ve already started working on another project. This one would actually not have me in it, but it’s an idea that I’ve been wanting to do for a little bit. I’m working with a writer friend and the script is done now. We are working on finding what actors want to be in it and once that is done we can submit all the paperwork to the union to get everything approved and ready to shoot.

Hopefully through the collaborations I’ve been a part of lately, I can find more people to work with and who can help me create my own work or will create work for me to be in. And yes, I still want to get more auditions so that I can book something that is on network tv so that I can feel like my career has taken a big step. For but now, I need to focus on what I can do where I am right now and hopefully that will be enough until whatever big thing I will book comes my way.

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Default ThumbnailHelping Out A Friend (or Getting To Act) Default ThumbnailMaking My Acting Bold (or Feeling Great From An Audition) Default ThumbnailBack To Basics (or How A Win At My Day Job Can Help My Acting Career) Default ThumbnailBeing Proactive (or Bringing Acting To Me) Default ThumbnailHalfway Through Class (or Not Thinking About The Next Step) Default ThumbnailFinding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

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Trying To Cook (or Eating Something Different From Day To Day)

Posted on July 10, 2013 | 1 comment

I’ve really been trying to be better with my food. I feel so much better when my food is something nutritious (and not just something that stays under my calorie goal for the day).

On the mornings that I go to spin class, I have a specific breakfast plan. I have a chai tea protein shake that I get from the grocery store that I’ll drink before class. I usually drink half of the shake before class and the other half when I get home. This way, I’m not working out on an empty stomach or feeling too full in my workout (both make me feel very nauseous). I usually have a second breakfast closer to when I go to work at noon (since my lunch break isn’t until 4:30pm). It’s been working well for me.

On the non-spin class mornings, I have been in a bit of a breakfast rut. I like to eat eggs because they keep me full and are good for me, but most days I do scrambled eggs (2 egg whites and 2 whole eggs). But I’ve been working on being creative. The other day, I made this awesome breakfast.

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Toast with mashed avocado on it topped with a sunny side up egg (with a drippy yolk). It was so simple, yet so delicious! And it was very very filling!

I’m also getting better with bringing my lunch to work with me. I’ve discovered these really amazing containers that I love to use for my lunches.

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It’s a 3 compartment container, and it fits perfectly in my lunch bag. For this particular lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, sliced strawberries, and a piece of flattened banana. I’ve also brought salads in this container with fruit or protein in the smaller compartments.

It’s funny how the simplest thing can help me on my goal to bringing my lunch with me to work!

And speaking of simple things that help make big changes, I’ve been working on drinking more water at work as well. For some reason, I do fine at home, but not at work. And then it hit me. The straw in my cup at work is significantly bigger than the straw in my cup at home (I always try to drink water with a straw). Once I switched out my cup, my water intake at work got much better. It’s such a stupid little change, but whatever works! Right?

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Default ThumbnailWhat I’ve Been Eating (or Does It Really Matter If I’m Still Under My Calories?) Default ThumbnailFood Plans (or Working From Home Does Have Some Diet Benefits) Default ThumbnailFabulous Lunch Food (or Enjoying Champagne on a Beer Budget) Default ThumbnailWorking On Figuring It Out (or I Wish This Was Easier) Default ThumbnailBack Into The Groove (or Staying On The Right Path While At Work) Default ThumbnailNo More Novelty (or How Do You Stay Interested?)

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No More Novelty (or How Do You Stay Interested?)

Posted on June 25, 2013 | 2 comments

Whenever I start something new in my life, there is a sense of novelty with it. I remember when I moved into the house that I live in now and I realized that I had my own trash can (as opposed to a dumpster that all residents share). I remember telling my dad how now I have to take my trash can to the curb on trash day like a real homeowner. Now, I’m annoyed on trash day if I’m at work and I forgot to take the can to the curb. I’m sure that I was also excited at first to pay bills. Now they are just something else that I have to do (there is no fun in paying bills).

When I started work again this season, I was having fun bringing my lunch to work. I’d make salads, sandwiches, or bring a bunch of snacks to eat. It was fun to know that I was doing something good for me (and not spending money going out to eat at lunch). But I’m getting bored with my lunches. There have been many days where I’ve just forgotten to pack my lunch, and I have to go out to get something.

I’ve looked up a lot of non-sandwich lunch things, but a lot of them involve cooking or using leftovers. Since I don’t make dinner most days (I really don’t want to cook when I get home at 9pm), I don’t have leftovers.

I’m trying to think of new ways to make sure that I don’t have to spend money I don’t have to spend on lunches every day. Maybe I need to cook at 8am on the days that I don’t leave for work until 11am (and just put the freshly cooked food in the fridge immediately). I don’t know if I really want to do that with my mornings (or make my house smell like that as soon as I wake up).

I’ve also thought of letting my slow cooker go overnight, but the idea of sleeping while something is cooking in my house makes me nervous. But you are supposed to be able to use a slow cooker when you aren’t home, so I don’t know if sleeping while one is going is any more dangerous (and I do have smoke detectors in my house that go off pretty easily).

Anyone have any advice to stay interested with food while I’m dealing with my crazy schedule? I’m seriously trying to stay on the healthy (and cheap) path with my meals, but there are only so many PB&J sandwiches that I can eat in a week (I have one for lunch today).

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