100 days of being an actress: Day One Bookkeeper!

What did you do today for your creative career? Did you spend time on the creation side: writing, drawing, singing, dreaming or perhaps on the marketing or shipping side and  getting your next project out there? Did you spend time on self-care; eating well, go for a walk, see friends who inspire you or make you laugh?

I ask these questions as I have decided to blog about 100 days of being a working actor and I am hoping some of you may join me in tracking how you spend your days and if you have managed to forward your creative career a small step each day. Whatever kind of creative pursuits make you high, the truth is we all need to take action in doing the actual work, improving our technique and also on the ‘sales’ side which is why I like the ‘Shipping’ metaphor that Seth Godin uses. As actors or artists we are freelance and we need to work on our business and brand as much as our techniques.

Talking about our dreams of what we want to make or do as a career is a very different thing from the daily discipline of actually doing. I know when I track anything from exercise, to money spent to creative hours I always do more and see more results.

In my recent  interview with very successful actor Paul Clayton he told me that at drama school nearly 40 years ago, he was told to do one thing for his career every day then go out and live his life. Such a process leads interviewto a calmer artist as once you have done your daily task the rest of the day seems brighter. Get your one hour writing in, or practise of your instrument, sending a CV letter query out or going to a gallery for inspiration – all of these lead to your inner creative mind feeling fed and exercised. They also create forward movement which is so vital, see my post How to be a creative rolling stone

I do NaNoWriMo each November and that writing 50,000 words over the 30 days of November, getting my 16667 words per day in makes me even walk with a spring in my step despite the November rain. My heart seems to whisper

‘yes I have created today’

From that I come from a far better place of self-love than

‘Damn I procrastinated all day, it is too late to practise so I will go out with some of my crazy maker friends and try again tomorrow’

Of course tomorrow comes round, you stagger home with a hangover and great memories, eat junk and actually don’t get any creative work done let alone that query letter you were meaning to write as you spend the day recovering. Night time rolls around, you feel better and the phone starts ringing from your friends again. Yes I spent a good while in this mode!

Part of the reason why I am choosing to do this 100 days of being a working actress is friends keep asking me where I am getting my casting as they note how busy I have been. This year so far, so 4 months in, I have done a commercial, two corporate acting jobs and ten films, most of them short films. I have also sang twice broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and sang two shows as part of the harmony at the Royal Festival Hall including the world premiere of Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy’s amazing new work  To Our Fathers In Distress with the BBC String Orchestra. I also workshopped the first 8 minutes of my new solo show and am on the television next Friday in an episode of ’50 Ways To Kill Your Lover’ . This is not to brag, this is to point out that I see myself as a freelancer, I have to get my own work, I have to market myself. Every day I work at it. I recently took on an agent but so far all that work has come from me.

Friday May 9th @9pm my episode ‘Farmyard Murder’ in ’50 Ways To Kill Your Lover’ is screening on Crime & Investigation Channel (SKY 553/ Virgin 237)

I am also aware I used the term ‘brag’ as I heard the fantastic John Legend song ‘Tonight (Best You Ever Had) coming from a car this morning. I always think of the movie ‘Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man’, that great creative tie-in from comedian Steve Harvey having written the dating guide and then having a movie using his book and even his Oprah appearance 😉

What you could chose to track

I refuse to get into perfectionist mode nor any kind of critical judgement of myself. I am planning to notice any of the following and celebrate what I did do, not tell myself off for what I didn’t do!

So you could notice

• Did you make art? Did you create, draw, edit, sing?
• Did you contact possible work colleagues?
• Did you reconnect with your network?
• Did you learn about your business?
• Did you brainstorm on your next project?
• Did you look at social media from a marketing or a network broadening perspective (not cat videos on Facebook)
• Did you call a venue about a show you could take there?
• Did you book or do a workshop on an area you feel you want to improve?
• Did you learn the tools of your trade, from photoshop to make flyers to editing equipment to do mini promo Youtube videos, you need to be in charge of your career.
• Did you send out invoices, chase up referrals or outstanding showreels?
• Did you go the gym or take a walk?
• Did you eat nutritious food?

I will be using the hashtag #100days so feel free to do the same 😉

How one choses to track can be very different.

You can

• Do a daily blog post (WordPress.com is a great free blog site!)
• Post an image, a reference or inspiration photo a day on Instagram
• Tweet daily on what you have managed to get done #100days
• Keep a private journal
• Pop daily notes on your smartphone
• Have a wall calendar and write on it each day
• Pop a comment in the comments section below.
• Send me an email and let me know! I may well mention you on the next day’s post.

Hopefully I have got you thinking on possibilities so let me know how it goes! I can promise you that if you follow me on this noticing what you are doing every day for your career you will see results. In 100 days, and you can start wherever you choose, you will definitely see progress and an uphill trajectory in your career.

My Day 1 of 100: Filing my acting receipts, opening post and clearing my desk

As it is the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend I saw friends this morning and will be popping out this evening for a friend’s birthday party. However a friend cancelled for late lunch so I really impressed myself by sorting through all my receipts and filing the 2013/2014 tax year receipts away this afternoon so I can start afresh with my receipt folder. I have been meaning to do it for ages as I now have late April receipts from coffee shops to workshops littering my desk. I chose to use my spare couple hours to sit on my tiny balcony and sort the receipts out. Sitting in a tiny patch of sunshine made it less like work (see the main photo!) I have got myself in such a mess before not dealing with paperwork ad bills etc so to get the desk cleared, bills filed etc takes a huge weight off my mind.

Sitting at my desk the last few weeks has been hell as there has been too much paperwork on it and I see it and my energy has just been dipping.

So Day I of being a working actress proves again how not glamourous this job can be! Being my own book-keeper and PA can be draining but the more organised I am the freer I am to create work for myself and keep up all the plates I have to spin in the air to be a working creative!

I have two video auditions to do tomorrow but I am hoping to make myself go to the gym shortly before then popping out for a bit this evening 😉 This could be a step too far but I am feeling good!

So please do one thing for your creative career today and I’d love to hear comments and feedback. Hashtag #100days