Welcome back!
And thanks for reading! Moving sucks. There I said it! We are presently in a transition period, moving from Virginia to South Carolina. And while I look forward to our new home (someday) the transition period is pretty chaotic. And it definitely impacts an acting career! This week let’s talk about chaotic life events!
REMEMBER:
Just a reminder here that when I use the term “actor” I mean it to encompass all forms of acting including voice, stage, and screen. Yeah, I know I say this every week, but it falls under the heading of “The things that go without saying are the things that most need to be said”. What follows applies relatively equally to all of these forms of acting.
It’s a LOT
Have you ever changed houses? Locations? Doing both certainly adds a level of complexity to life. We are doing that right now and there are a LOT of moving pieces. As I sit typing this at 6:15AM on Monday March 11, 2024 I am working with four realtors. Well, actually, today it’s three since we actually completed one transaction, but I am talking to yet another so it will likely be four again soon. Just keeping their names and what each is doing for me straight is chaos enough!
Here’s what is happening
First, I am attempting to sell my home. That’s one realtor (and she is fantastic – if you are in Northern Virginia and need a realtor, reach out and I’ll recommend). We own a very nice, large, home. Some might call it a McMansion, although it was originally built way back in the 1950’s. I don’t mention this to brag, but it bears on preparation to sell. This type of home requires a particular type of executive buyer, so it has to be marketed just right. Enter the realtors staging expert. She’s really a nice lady, but I hate her. If you’re not familiar with staging I envy you. This is where someone goes through your house and tells you what to get rid of and how to arrange everything.
You kind of have to pre-pack
In order to properly stage a house, you kind of have to pre-pack most of it and store the extra stuff…what I call the things you use every day and the stager calls “clutter”. As you can see by the picture our garage is filling up with the stuff we packed. To be fair, Karen has packed most of it but I have moved it all down to the garage. I won’t show you a picture, but the house is a wreck with moving boxes and packing paper everywhere. Chaos.
Second
Next, we are having a house built in South Carolina. If you didn’t know, South Carolina is a 7-hour drive from Northern Virginia, and in the last two months we have been down there for one thing or another seven or eight times. I’m actually sitting in South Carolina right NOW, as my son moved down here yesterday and we had a truck and car load of stuff to bring down. Enter realtor number 5 (well, 4 now I suppose) to help him find a new place so he doesn’t live with his sister too long. Anyway, having a house built means a bajillion design decisions and tracking progress, hence realtor number two. She’s ALSO fantastic so if you are looking to have a house built (or buy one) in the Charleston area, I can recommend her too.
Then
We are also selling a piece of land we thought we might build on here in South Carolina (realtor number 3). This one is pretty easy, since it is bare land and nothing to get ready…but also not a lot of offers rolling in. This one hardly adds to the chaos, although it does to some extent, and if we don’t sell quickly it’s not a tragedy.
And of course…
Since we are moving away from one grandson (but closer to a soon-to-be granddaughter though) we purchased an acre in West Virginia (near that grandson) where we can park our RV for extended visits. We closed on that land last week, which is why that realtor dropped off the list, but added a General Contractor to coordinate a well, septic system, and electric service installation there. We’re barely started there so finishing the purchase will just ADD to the chaos.
My life is all over the place
Between getting our Virginia home ready, tracking and making decisions on the South Carolina home, preparing the West Virginia land for the RV and fielding offers (not as many as I’d like) on the South Carolina property – we are all over the place. Literally. We spend a LOT of time traveling back and forth between all these places. Sometimes I feel like I need an extra 12 hours for each day in order to be ready for everything. Oh, yeah, and my daughter is having a baby next month so I also have all the stuff associated with that to contend with (baby showers and the birth too!). And did I mention I am also producing a podcast? I’ll let you know when it releases. And, of course, regular life as well…that hasn’t gone away.
And then…work
I’m fortunate to be retired from my day job, and don’t require income from my acting career to be able to live. I still want to (and do) work though. I’ve had to make some adjustments. Those adjustments are really kind of the point of this post, sorry you had to wade through all of the above first, but I felt it was important to provide context in describing the adjustments. The real message here is that if you love what you do, you can do it even in the midst of chaos.
Acting class
Sadly, when you have a lot on your plate some things just have to fall off. For me, that meant pausing acting classes/coaching. It’s temporary and I am already researching acting classes in South Carolina, but we won’t be here full time until late this year (the builder is telling us November). Since we put our house on the market next month and expect to be out by June, that means several nomadic months in the RV which is not conducive to attending a weekly class. So, pause to acting classes. I’ve got two more paid up guitar lessons and then that pauses too.
The booth
One of the things the staging lady called “clutter” is my VO booth. It’s not down yet, but will have to be in the next couple weeks. If you know anyone looking for a broadcast quality booth, let me know I’ve got one at a good price since it won’t fit in the new house. Anyway, the adjustment is figuring out a temporary portable solution. I’m ready there, but don’t need to implement it till the booth comes down.
The Studio
My audition filming studio is, apparently, also clutter. That has to also come down in the next couple weeks. As a result, I’ve had to not only figure out a temporary solution for at home, but come up with a way to audition from the RV. I’ve locked down the RV solution (even booked a job with an RV audition!) even though it is not optimal. I suspect my home solution (which is on my to-do list) won’t be optimal either.
Scheduling
I’ve had to cut back on the number of roles I submit for. With my present schedule, I simply can’t submit for everything I am a fit for like I was doing. So, I’ve had to really pay close attention to not only production dates, but locations as well and then be very selective. It means I’m not able to work as much as I’d like to. The timing on this is actually pretty good, since there is a bit of a contraction in the industry right now and I am not missing out on too many jobs anyway, because they are not there.
The message
My point in all of this is not to complain. Far from it. This is a very exciting time in our lives and I am looking forward to making the move, even though things are a bit hectic at the moment. The real message here is that if you love what you do you can keep doing it even in the face of this much chaos. It would be very easy to simply “pause” my acting career till all of this is done, but that would likely lead to stagnation and maybe never un-pausing it. So, if your life looks chaotic right now like mine does, don’t stop! Make whatever adjustments you need and keep moving forward, even if it is slowly. I think you’ll be glad you did. I’ll let you know when my chaos dies down.