Let’s Talk About What It Takes

This is a story about a journey.  It’s a story many of you will know.

It’s the one about how we learn to stay the distance when we know we want something.

But there are times in busy lives life when disruptions and distractions take our focus away from what we want, and our goal just seems to slip down the priority list.

This of course, is about your journey into voiceover

And it’s about how you rescue that desire and place it back on top of that list.

Let’s begin at the inception of the idea.  Remember when you first thought of voiceover being for you.  When that was.  Think about why that was.  What drove the desire?  Think about the steps you’ve taken to make it a reality.  What worked?  What didn’t?  How much closer are to the prize?

Write those things down 

To make advances towards a goal, and reach it, you need to check on how we’re doing.

You need to re-evaluate how committed you are.  Do you really want this?  How much?   What will change in your life if you get it?  And what fears, doubts and anxieties are you facing?

In my experience as a voice coach, I’ve worked many who began with a strong desire for where they wanted to be.  They also began with the reality that they ‘didn’t know’ about voiceover.  Oh, they knew what it was.  They heard others doing it brilliantly and thought.  ‘I want to do that’.  Or.  ‘I could do that’.

And what they  ‘didn’t really know’, was how those voice artists made it sound so simple.

And what they discovered was this.

There’s a lot to know about how to create brilliant, believable performances, when you’re converting someone else’s ‘written word’ into captivating ‘spoken word’, and making it sound like you just made it up

For that, it takes a willingness to learn, first how the industry works, then the techniques and skills.  And next, and importantly, what skills do you have that mean you’re suited to this work?

But ‘more’ importantly, do you understanding how to mine your life and the lives of others for material.

What…I hear you say?  What does that mean?

Well, it means this.

When we’re faced with a script for a commercial, an animation or an audiobook, we need to ask, who am I?  And then, who am I talking to?  And then, what am I saying…and why am I saying it.

Once you’ve answered these, you can proceed with thinking this.  How does this person or character in my script feel?  Then, how do they sound?

To do this well, you research you own life, your own interactions with people 

Think of this.  You sound very different when you talk to you four-year-old niece, or your boss, your partner, your best friend, someone you’re in love with, your butcher, or someone you’re not sure of.

Life is the best place to draw inspiration from in voiceover, because what we’re trying to do with each read, is capture a believable persona that absolutely matches the tone of the script.

And key to your voiceover success is learning to ‘listen to yourself’ when you’re in any of these interactions in your world,

Why?  Because strong listening abilities are needed when you read a script.  You need to know how you sound.  You need to try things out and be able to think about what else might work better.  After all, there are many ways we ‘can’ sound and ‘do’ sound every day.

I know this is important, because it’s what I do.

Sometimes those I’m coaching will have one read style, and strong reading patterns, that don’t necessarily align with the scripts’ message…and they find it hard to jump into performance.

I get it.  It’s not easy.  It takes time. It takes research, study and practice to discover your unique way of voiceovering.

And you need to to undertand the skills of ‘speaking’ the words, rather than ‘reading’ them

Sounding you like you’re reading, rather than ‘speaking’ is death to a beginner voiceover artist.

Even if you have a really beautiful, clear, unique or interesting voice, you must perfect the art of converting ‘written word’ into ‘spoken word’.

Now I’ll talk about how to keep your eye on the end goal, how to remain connected, and focused on the idea of voiceover work.  And if you’re just starting out, how you can successfully make that leap to change or add something to your creative life?

It takes a mindset of what I call stick-with-it-ness and a willingness to keep on the path

But now I want to add to that another perspective.  And that is, how do you stay the distance when life gets in the way.

I’ve been a voiceover artist for a long time and a coach for over 20 years.  It’s my main game.

But there’s been something I’ve always wanted to do.  Write.  I know, I’m writing right now.  But I mean a big work.  A novel.  Even saying the word, used to fill me with fear and some anxiety.  Could I really do that?   That feeling may strike a chord with you.

This part of the blog is about tenacity!

Tenacity.  Great word.  One of my favourites.  Because tenacity is what it takes to get what you want.  Just wanting it to happen and crossing your fingers will never enough.

You need to know what it is.  And in my case, if you’ll indulge me, this is how I discovered what it was.

A little story.  When Covid hit in 2020 and I began doing my voiceover work from home…and staying home, I realised that I was off the adrenalin fuelled wheel I’d been on for decades.

It felt incredibly liberating actually!

I’d completed a Diploma of Arts (Professional Writing and Editing) in 2000, and with that little bit of Covid-driven space and freedom, I decided that an idea I’d been baking since the late 1990’s, for a Crime Fiction novel, was about to have its time.

I said to my partner with such confidence ‘I’ll have a 1^st draft by the end of the year’.

Thing is, there was something that I didn’t know…I didn’t know.  And that was… ‘how to write a novel’.

Okay!  When I realised that, I knew this project was going to take patience, persistence, study and tenacity.  I got it.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a finished draft by the end of the year.  Then in 2021, I found a sublime coach Sarah Sentilles, who’s also an amazing writer,   We were still in Covid, so it was four days-long Online Writers retreats.  I did three in a year.

I remember in the first session, how frazzled and slightly intimidated I was by the others in the sessions.  Many were published writers.  Suddenly, I became fearful I was of what I was doing.  I doubted myself.  And my abilities.  I was a fraud.  I didn’t belong.

How cruel we can be to ourselves when we let our critic run things.

I noticed all these feelings though, because first up, being a writer (or a voiceover artist) means you need to notice things.  A lot!!!  And second, I’ve worked in the Arts for 50 years, so I recognised all those feelings.  Feelings, that I believed had conquered.

And here they were.  Back again.  Giving me grief.

Does this sound familiar to you?  You’re human.  It’s bound to.

But I reasoned with all those feelings.  I told the critic who lives in me to take a back seat.

I harnessed some tenacity.

And I was on my way.  Ideas on the page.  Writing from wherever I was.  Characters coming to life.  Landscapes becoming clearer.  The story deepening.

And then I’m into 2023 – and we’re still in Covid 🥴

I’m doing quite well, but now I’m overwhelmed by how big the project is getting.

I needed to find ways to be more organised.  I need to find the right time for me to write.  I had thought that I’d be able to just write whenever I wanted to.  But I soon discovered that by the time the day wore on, and my own voiceover work happened, or emails needed answering, phone calls taken, courses shaped, shopping, housework and gardening done…that when I sat down to write, I didn’t have the brain for it.

I pushed on.  But I kept dropping the ball.  And when I’d get back to the work I had to re-connect to it all the time.  It was slow going.  I had to find a solution, or I’d never get it done.  That alone created anxiety that I noticed, but couldn’t calm.

Then by 2024, I began to hit my stride.  I made some decisions.

First one.  Remembering how much work I’d created in those Writers Retreats with Sarah, I realised I needed to create my own writers retreat.  I’d go away on my own with the work, stay somewhere in nature, no alcohol, food already prepared, and just be with the writing.  5 days minimum.

It worked.  I was amazed that focused time could do so much.  My confidence with writing a novel grew, my belief in my own ideas cemented, and I was so grateful to my partner and daughter for championing my decision to make a space for the work to happen.

Then there was something else I’d been thinking of doing.  Getting up very early in the morning to write.  I’d been listening to many writers speak about their practice and many would write early in the morning.  I thought I’d give it a shot, although I had some doubts that it would work for me.  I had other routines in the morning.  I’d have to change them.  So?

However!  At 6.30 that first morning, after setting up my computer the night before in a different location of the house and making sure everything was ready for me to just jump in, I struck out.  Well.  It was amazing.  Thing was…my mind was so clear. 

What was that?

It was after my session of 90minutes, having a cup of tea and breakfast, I began to realise that it was because my mind was doing just one thing.  Writing.  It had not yet become cluttered with the demands of the day, breakfast and happy conversation with daughter.  And all those thoughts of what I needed to do during the day.  What a revelation!

So now I know why writers write in the morning.  I also understood that if there was time during the busy-mind-time of the day when I couldn’t write creatively, I could do research.  And my book needs a lot of that.  Time well spent.

And the best thing is, that since that journey towards my goal that began in 2020, I now know so much more about writing, because I’ve been making a study of it.  I think about it every day.  And every day I do something that furthers it.

Now I know I will complete my novel.  When?  Who knows.  Because sometimes, just when you’ve created balance in your work, family, and social life, with plenty of time to smell the flowers, life throws a curve ball.

This year, with plans to have a final draft by end of 2025, something did.

For me, it began first travelling to Perth in June to help my sister with things that were overwhelming her, then in July, when we lost a very special loved-one.  It’s upturned my world.

Grief and sadness are upon me and those I love.  But I’m older now.  I know there’s loss in life.  And grief.  And I also know that we can live with those two things riding in tandem, side by side.

And, because of my practice, my commitment to the work, I’ve kept writing.  I’ve honoured my feelings of sadness by finding sections in my book where grief and pain were.  And I sat with it.  And added to it.  It was good therapy.  No doubt about that.  And perhaps some good writing has come from it as well.

So, back to you.

There are, and always will be, many times when the realities of life get in our way

And even with the best of intentions, we can lose the impetus to stay focused on our desire and keep our commitments to getting things done, to stay connected to the idea of how we want to work, how we want to add to our income, do something creative, exciting, something to challenge us.

This is when you need to notice that your impetus is waning and then, find your way back to it.

Give yourself space to rest and meditate on what you need to do.  Notice things.  Feelings.  Emotional responses and how they sound.  You’ll learn that the skill of noticing, and how you apply that in your voiceover work, will become the best part of your work.   It’s actually essential!

I’m still doing those Writers Retreats with Sarah by the way.  I can see now that this connection with others and their work has been such a great teacher.  My own life has also expanded through this experience.  I’m happier, more fulfilled, more deeply satisfied.

It takes commitment and stick-with-in-ness to achieve what you want.  So away you go!

By the way, I wrote this first thing in the morning.  Edit came later.  Well chuffed with myself.

And if you’ve been thinking that you’d like to be more connected to the realities of voiceover, to understand more about script and skills techniques, I’ve created something new.  It’s called ‘Virtual Studio’.  Regular affordable 90 minute Livestreams.

Have a look to see if this could help you connect or reconnect with that desire.

And happy voiceovering!!!