Holidays, birthdays, vacation season, and other special occasions sometimes give me an excuse to “take it down a thousand” and slack off my auditions. Yes, we should allow time for friends, family and fun; after all, that’s one of the reasons we work for; to live a happy, comfortable life. But this time of year, a day or so can easily turn into 3 or 4 days or so. Then, when I finally do begrudgingly get back on the mic, I find myself reading copy and saying “I don’t feel that one right now, I’ll come back to it” (I’ll confess: I’ve actually missed a couple of submission deadlines on a P2P because of this), or even worse, “this doesn’t fit me”, when it really does. Procrastination, or “obstruction of progress”, can fill my mind with all kinds of….excuses. If I don’t audition for 3 or more days, I can actually hear the difference in my read when I finally do. So in the meantime, I practice, either reading spots out of a magazine or paper, or mostly while watching TV, my media drug of choice. There are certain promos, tags, station IDs and commercials I like to practice to (“Only By Bravo”, a personal favorite!). I don’t mimic the VO, but I try it in different tones and styles. It may not seem like much, but it motivates and inspires me to what I might want to do down the road, and I’ve even managed to get off the couch and get on the mic after hearing some of them! How do you get to Carnegie Hall, or in VO-Land, win the job? Practice, Practice, Practice!