The Adventure Continues

It's been 12 days since I returned home from LA, and I can only think of 2 words to describe those days...

Whirl. Wind.

OK, technically that would be one word, but it feels more appropriate to give each syllable it's due attention.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, my husband and I have made the decision to relocate from Charlotte, NC to Tampa, FL. Things have moved at a lightning fast pace, and we are well on our way to making the transition!

After having our house repainted, and making a few upgrades here and there- we put the house on the market this past Tuesday. It had its first showing Wednesday, and its first offer Wednesday night. Seriously. We always knew it was a great house, and had a feeling it might go quickly- but...WOW! Of course, we've heard all the warnings and horror stories of 'today's market' so we are prepared for whatever may happen next. We are hopeful everything goes smoothly, and we will be able to take the next step- looking for our new home in Tampa!

Since this is a blog about all things voice over, I want to be sure I write about my experiences of trying to relocate a home studio while maintaining the same quality of service I've always provided.

Let me tell ya, it ain't easy. (Sorry, but this was a moment for a little west Texas lingo)

Throughout the past week, I have tried to call as many of my regular clients as possible to let them know about the move and what they can expect from me in the coming months. The wonderful thing about having a home studio, is that my work can truly go anywhere- so none of my clients had any concerns.

I did discover that it is impossible to work with a house full of painters, so that did put me 2 days behind. Not only are they noisy, but the paint fumes get into your throat and literally make it impossible to properly use your voice. Once the fumes cleared out, it was back to work. Only, the next step was staging and getting the house ready to go on the market. I managed to complete a couple of smaller jobs between packing keepsakes and pictures and moving furniture around- but it would be a lie to say I wasn't relieved that a larger project had been put on hold because the client took a vacation! I don't know how I would have completed it otherwise.

On Thursday I received a big audition from one of my agents, and was thankful for a few quiet hours that morning to record it. Now, keep in mind...I pride myself on always giving 100% to everything I do...but this time I really fell flat. After sending in the audition, I received an e-mail from the agent. The e-mail asked me if I could record it again, because I sounded sleepy! Oh no! That has never happened to me before, and after listening back to my audition- I completely agreed. Embarrassed, I re-did the audition and sent a thank you note for allowing me a second shot. It was a wake-up call that I can't let what is happening around me affect my work. Period.

On Friday, between taking calls from my realtor and waiting for an estimate from a moving company- I received a call asking if I could record some tags for a TV spot. Fortunately, I had a quiet house at that moment, and just enough time to make it happen. The client was happy with the finished product, which let me know I had officially beaten the 'sleepies'!

Now that the initial craziness of putting the house on the market is behind us, I finally have a week ahead of me devoted completely to getting lots of work done. I plan to spend today catching up on paperwork and uploading files to my ftp, and getting a solid night's rest tonight.

I'm also in the process of memorizing a script for an on-camera job I have Tuesday night (my call time is 9:30pm and we plan to finish around 6am- yikes!). It should be a blast to film. The next 2 weeks will be interesting as things progress with the move, as we are hoping to make the big transition sometime in the first week of October. I guess we'll see!

I'll be sure to keep you posted as things progress :)