#really nervous about posting this cause i'm basically putting a piece of myself out there

[aubbys-arts-n-crafts]

Here's some early concept art of my Digital Circus sona/self insert Enigma. They're a pangender aroace who uses she/he/they pronouns! This isn't the final product of their design as I'm still tweaking and polishing it.

Bonus fact: Enigma's mask is fused to their face, it doesn't hurt them at all. It's kinda a nod to the VR headset the players/humans put on before entering the digital realm!

[pod95]

Pairing: Finn Balor X OFC (Ciara)

Word Count: 1310

Warnings: Mature to explicit as the story goes on.

Description: After moving to the USA from England to start her career as an NXT superstar, Ciara gets to meet her long time crush, NXT champion Finn Balor. It's clear the pair have chemistry, but when tensions start to rise, will they find they want more than a no strings attached relationship?

So this is the first piece of fanfic I have written literally ever. I will be posting them here periodically, but I already have 6 chapters out on my Wattpad, AO3 and FanFiction pages.

This series will involve romance, drama and (although it will take a little while) some smutt too. Hope you enjoy it! 😊

Chapter 4: Up Close and Personal

I awoke startled to the sound of my roommate banging on my door. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I checked the time on my phone, 9:36. Shit! I'd slept through both of my alarms and needed to be at the Performance Center by 10 for my first day. I opened my bedroom door and a panicked Alex was standing on the other side.

"You're gonna be late! Quick, take a shower and I'll drop you off on my way to work." She handed me some towels as I gave her a thankful look before rushing into the bathroom to get ready.

I don't normally sleep in but I didn't get back from the party until late and I definitely went overboard with the alcohol. Fergal and I talked way into the night before sharing a taxi back to our respective homes. Nothing happened obviously, despite my drunken attempts to flirt with him. I cringed at the thought of my clumsy pickup lines and awkward attempts at being alluring. I would have to be very careful around Fergal from now on, after all this was the second time in as many days I was trying to wash away my shame with water and shampoo.

I was washed, dressed and in the car in record time, arriving at the Performance Center a little after 10. Not too bad considering how late I woke up.

"Ciara! Follow me," Paul greeted me as I entered the lobby, "so like I said before, you debut in 3 weeks. You'll be entering into a feud between Tegan and Dakota as Tegans tag partner. Obviously you're very experienced in the ring but here in NXT we have our own rules, own way of doing things so you'll be working with some of our trainers today just to help you adapt."

He led me to a ring, where I was taught the basics of wrestling for the WWE.  There were so many rules, some of which didn't even make sense. Obviously certain moves were banned, no blading, no head shots, all the usuals. But then there was a lot of differences too. Matches often have "agents" that help to set up a match, if you wanted to use certain weapons you need written approval, and don't even get me started on the list of banned words. I was starting to become worried that I was out of my depth here.

After going through the rules and doing some initial training, I was introduced to Steffanie (Tegan Nox), Cheree (Dakota Kai) and Victoria (Raquel Gonzalez)

"Oh hey you're working with us right?" Steffanie asked, extending a friendly hand.

"Yeah! I'm Ciara! Looking forward to working with you all." I introduced myself to the girls and got to know them a little better before getting to work on our tag match

We'd been working for a couple of hours and had some good spots perfected. It was just the finish left to go, where I would hit my finishing move ( a Canadian Destroyer I called the "Natural 20") on Dakota and make the pin.

After practicing it a couple of times, I began to feel like someone was watching me. Glancing around the room, I spotted Fergal, leaning casually against a wall and observing our practicing.

Thankfully for my heart he wasn't shirtless today, in fact he wore a baggy hoodie which concealed his physique like a well hidden secret. I gave him a small smile and turned back to the girls.

"If I might offer some advice..." Fergal interrupted.

"Please." I gestured for him to join us in the ring.

He climbed up onto the apron and jumped over the top rope, clearly showing off.

"Your finisher is a Canadian Destroyer right? It's a good move-"

"Thanks!"

"-But, it's a little overplayed. In WWE alone there's Sin Cara, Adam Cole, Rey Mysterio and Chelsea Green who use it. If you wanna stand out, I'd switch it up a little."

I didn't know how to respond. He was right of course, but I'd always had the same finisher. I didn't want to change it.

"I've always had the same finisher, it means a lot to me. I don't wanna do a different one."

"I'm not saying to do a different one. I'm saying to tweak it a little."

After thinking it over for a few moments, I still didn't have any idea what Fergal was getting at.

"How?" I yielded, knowing that it would result in a cocky smile.

"Have you ever seen anyone do a springboard Canadian destroyer," he smirked.

"I haven't.."

"There's a reason for that. Its not done that often."

He took his hoodie off and threw it into the corner of the ring, revealing a tight vest which hugged his torso.

"Jump at me," Fergal instructed, taking me by surprise slightly. Physical contact with people who are practically strangers wasn't unusual in our line of work, but I still felt nervous at the thought of being that close to him. I did as he told me.

Taking a slight running start, I jumped at Fergal, his strong arms catching me beneath my thighs. As he held me there, explaining the next part of the move to me, two things crossed my mind. The first was that this man was even stronger than I realised. He was holding my full body weight with only his forearms and not even breaking a sweat. The second thought was how close his face was to my chest.

"Right, now I'm gonna bounce your back off the top rope, kinda like a rope assisted powerbomb, only on the rebound, jump over my shoulder into the Canadian Destroyer. OK?"

He spun me around and bounced me off the top rope, but I didn't quite have enough momentum and ended up bashing my chin on his shoulder blade.

"Ahh!" Fergal put me down gently before inspecting my chin.

"Are you OK? Can you move your jaw?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine, don't think it's injured at all, just hurt a bit."

Relieved, he backed off a little, seeming a little guilty that his suggestion had hurt me.

"Shall we try again?" I smiled at him, hoping to reassure him that I was fine and he had nothing to feel bad about.

"OK, but this time you need to really just dive over my shoulder OK? It'll be easier with the girls cause they're smaller."

We went again, and this time I used my full body weight to push myself back off the top rope, Diving elegantly over his shoulder and completing the move. It was a little clunky due to never having done it before, but after a few more attempts, I was able to do it perfectly.

After we'd finished practicing, I collapsed in the ring exhausted. Fergal handed me a bottle of water before sitting cross-legged next to me.

"Good job today. You worked really hard."

"Things are a lot different here in the big leagues huh?" I commented, sitting up and taking a much needed sip of the water. Fergal chuckled.

"You'll get used to it. I can see why Paul likes you."

It was only upon hearing this that something occurred to me.

"Wait, you were here to train too right? Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to talk up all your ti-"

"Dont even worry about it. I came here today to keep an eye on the newbies, " he smiled, reassuringly.

"I know but you could have been helping the others and instead you were stuck with m-"

"Are you hungry?" Fergal interrupted "I'm starving. Come on, I'll treat us to dinner," he stood up, helping me to my feet and leading me out of the training room before I had a chance to refuse, not that I would have done.

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

1. Hello, I was hoping you could type to help me find my MBTI and Enneagram type. Some basic info; I'm 32, and female. I also have OCD, I'm quiet and rarely talk in public unless spoken to. Mostly because I'm afraid I'll accidentally upset someone, or be misunderstood, unless a topic is hit I feel the need to to challenge/call out (striking a nerve with something I know/believe to be true, or messing with someone I care about. I can lose it fast if I let myself). I'm more me at home/online. ~M

2. I care about harmony with people I'm close to, or care for/respect. I'll still try to maintain harmony generally, but don't care if it disrupts if I don't care about the person/people. I do find it harder to put my foot down, at least online anyway (Not sure about real life, since this type of situation hasn't really come up) if someone is nice to me, but then starts to behave annoyingly or inappropriately. I will reach a breaking point, and ether abruptly be honest, or let them have it. ~M

3. I do tend to be emotional, but don't really present it in public, unless something major is going on, not so much because I don't feel it, but I just tend to be so nervous, that I become rather stoic, even when I'm have a good time. I don't know how to bring everything I feel inside out, though I'm much better at this one on one with someone I trust, then in public. I tend to base my decisions on my values. Like in online games, if I wouldn't do it in real life, I won't do it in the game. ~M

4. I can spend hours fantasizing about characters, creating my own adventures/characters. I love to cosplay as characters in virtual world games, and would do so in real life too if I had the money/drive to actually do it. I can spend a long time running through imaginary conversations in my head, like what might happen if I say this to this person/character, imaging how they might respond, next thing I know I've spent 10 min- 1 hour going though a conversation that will likely never happen. ~M

5. When I get motivation to cook, I love trying out versions of recipes I've modified or created. I can look at a recipe, and think, "I don't like that ingredient, let's leave that out, or replace it with this one". I can keep going, till the recipe barely resembles what it was originally. I do this with things like crafting, video game theories, how the future might go, if I won the lottery, or if I took up this career. Not hard set things, but what ifs, imagining how might my life look. ~M

6. I tend to notice movement, or unusual sounds. But don't know if this is me, or due to my Father, who use to work in law enforcement, always tells me to be aware of surroundings. I notice a lot, but never as much as he does. But I can only do this from afar, in person I don't make eye contact well, and don't watch people as much, cause I worry they'll think I'm weird for watching them, or watch me. I have underlying anxiety especially at night, don't know if that's my OCD, or a me thing. ~M

7. I can judge things hastily, an example that happened just the other day. A distant family member on FB posted 52 horses would be sent to slaughterer the next day, if not taken in, so I rushed to all the sites I could think of, news media, rescue sites, etc. Asking for help. A few hours later, I was informed by my sister, that this was old news still going around, and the actual event happened in 2011! (The horses were saved by the way ^_^) I felt stupid, especially since I didn't think to ~

8. check for validity. I assumed getting it from someone I knew, and the post from the story linked making it look like they were the person trying to save them, made me feel dumb I didn't think to check it. Since I a try to have sources when posting my own topics. I did go through and let everyone know that I contacted, that it was an old story, and apologized. And no harm came of it, thank goodness. I think I've gone on enough, this was even cut in half. Let me know If you need more. ~M-----------

Hi anon,

I started to go by this piece by piece but I think a short answer to it all is more effective which is: I’ll admit to not being an expert in OCD by any means and if this is an effect of it or if there are comorbid factors then please let me know but...I’m a little bit younger than you and I was mostly struck by how thoroughly almost all of this was about things that are entirely online and a little bit about cooking. And for typing, you really need to talk about your real life experience - work, relationships (not necessarily romantic ones - just face-to-face interpersonal relationships), and the decisions you have made around them. If that’s the half that got cut out, that would be the one to consider, not this, and feel free to send it. If that other half is also about online stuff, think about what you do in real life. And if you don’t do much there, that will make it really hard to type you and in general for you to know much about yourself.

[distant-rose-archive-blog]

I loved your fic rec posts and reviews for captain swan. I'm just wondering if you have a top writer list or something (like you automatically feel the need to read them if you see them post) and if you do, who is on it...

Hi! Thank you for the kind words. I do spend a lot of time and effort when I do get asked to rec things mainly because if I’m rec’ing someone or something, it’s because I love them and want to give them the praise and attention they deserve. With that being said, I’m always surprised how many notes my rec posts do get because I am virtually no one in this fandom. Literally a nobody. So when people ask for my opinion on things, I’m always flattered, surprised and very confused. Like now.

But anyway, I’m guessing that you’re asking who my favorite authors for Captain Swan are, and yes, I do have favorites. Please note that there are a wealth of amazing authors out there who put out brilliant fics and might deserve to be on this list, but those are the ten who come to mind. This is just the personal favorites of a fandom nobody. So without further ado, Rose’s favorite Captain Swan authors are as follows:

@welllpthisishappening​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: You Play Ball Like a Girl

She only has a few things posted right now, but so much coming in the works - all of it is just fantastic. She enjoys sending me on emotional rollercoasters and messing with my feels. As mentioned before, she’s one of my many true loves and writes epic sports fic that is both knowledgeable and realistic. (I will never get over her referring to Derek Jeter’s walkup in You Play Ball Like a Girl because that was the moment I realized she was my soulmate.) Regardless of whether it’s Captain Swan fanfiction, a story involving two idiots and a broken down amusement park or a huge epic fantasy romance involving time manipulation, I will fucking read her work and you should too.

@technicallysizzlingcloud​ | Favorite Story: Mawaige

Words cannot describe the quality of her work. The English language simply doesn’t have any word to truly convey the sheer amount of talent she has. The only way I can describe it is absolutely fantastic and that isn’t good enough. Honestly, the genre of her work varies, she doesn’t have a niche genre, but fuck me, she’s good at it all – pregnancy fic, angst, hurt and comfort, missing scenes, etc., etc. You name it and she can write a fucking masterpiece. There’s just so emotion that she conveys her fics and they also feel grounded in a way the show isn’t. A lot of her stories have become my personal headcanons. Her work is just a joy to read.

@unfolded73​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Scent

Do you know how hard it was for me to pick out a favorite story for her? Pretty fucking hard. Like it’s basically a multiway tie between Scent, What Comes Next, New Babies Smell Amazing, Sex Ed and Another New York City Serenade. It’s just wonderful to read her interpretation of Killian and Emma because even when there’s conflict and/or angst, they’re still so loving and understanding of one another. It just slays me. Also, her smut is fantastic and she does write a lot of it. (I am not complaining in the slightest.) Furthermore, I love the way she writes the relationship between Killian and Henry. There are authors who add him as a footnote to their CS fics and she incorporates him well.

@sambethe​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Casual Fridays

There’s no other way to put this, so I’m just going to say it plainly but sambethe is without a doubt one of my favorite smut authors. Not that all of her work is smut, because it isn’t but she’s just so excellent at it that it needs to be said. Anyway, on top at being epic at writing sex scenes, she writes one of the best interpretations of Emma Swan I’ve ever seen. Her Emma is closed off and on-guard but not unfeeling. While this seems like such a minor thing, it’s a huge deal because I’ve read a lot of really cold and basically unfeeling Emma’s in my fanfiction days. Hers is perfect; Emma still has her walls, but they always, realistically, come crumbling down. So yeah, come to her for smut and realistically done Emma.

@peglegsjones​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: I belong to you, you belong to me

Hands down probably one of the best kid fic authors out there. I don’t even know why I try to make a niche in the genre, because she perfectly meets the quota. I try to stay away from fully realized child original characters because I’m a horrible cunt and I’m like “yeah, but my babies” but her children are delightful and I’m content to live with the idea that her universe lives beside mine in a Jimmy Neutron/Timmy Turner kinda way if that makes any sense at all. Might be dating myself there. Anyway, her universe is delightful and creative, and I always look forward to reading more about Ian. If you haven’t read her work and enjoy child fic, then I don’t know where you’ve been hiding and you need to rectify it immediately. (Also I’m pretty sure if Ian and Wes officially met, they would destroy the world and Harrison would have an aneurysm.)

@acrobat-elle​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Breathless

This is another author who I struggled with finding a favorite story for because she has a lot of amazing work. Make a Wish, Possession and Touch could have easily been in that favorite story spot instead of Breathless. Elle’s a triple threat. Like a lot of people on this list, she writes ridiculously good smut, but she’s also fantastic at writing angst and fluff. There isn’t a single story in her archive that wouldn’t recommend and I’m eagerly waiting to see how Harbor in the Tempest is going to end. (No pressure or anything. Take your time.) I don’t know what else to say other than she’s fantastic and you should stop just taking my word for it and just got read her fics.

@lenfaz​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Separate Lives

Without a doubt one of my favorite alternate reality writers with multiple great works. Separate Lives is a masterpiece without question, but Private Dancer, The Pirate Chef, Old Habits Die Hard and The Rembrandt Files definitely deserve honorable mentions because I also adore those stories. The worlds she creates for her stories are clever, creative and honestly, just to a joy to immerse yourself in. She knows how to carry a story, which as more than I can say for some published authors who will start a story than it putters out and dies. Her stories are incredible consistent and my brain thanks her for it. Anyway, I am forever in love with her work and I’m currently following Time upon Once and you should to.

@justanotherwannabeclassic​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Roses in December

Another queen of fluff and angst that I love. If you haven’t read Roses in December or Bloom, then you need to get the fuck off my page and go read them. Legit. They’re some of my favorite stories and as I mentioned before (I think?) I’m super picky about child fic and stuff. She has a lot of wonderful domestic focused stories that are so sweet that your teeth will rot out. I also have a great fondness for Lobbying, which I read right after the American Election to feel better about the bullshit happening in my home country. She’s definitely someone whose writing you want to read after having a shit day.

@this-too-too-sullied-flesh​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Theoretically

Another author who writes some pretty amazing and wonderfully dirty filth. (I feel like I’ve been too honest about how much smut I read and now everyone is going to think it’s all I read. It isn’t, I promise.) Once again, that’s not all she writes and she does some amazing fluff pieces but she has blown my mind and caused many an evil grin to spread across my face in public spaces and make the fiancé nervous. While Theoretically is definitely at the top of my list, I feel compelled to also point out The Next Wounded Soul, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Miles to Go Before I Sleep and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOSER (I debated whether or not to put that in caplocks but the original title is in caps so why not.)

@killians-dimples​ | AO3 | Favorite Story: Put Me in Coach, I’m Ready to Play

Okay, if Laura made me fall in love with baseball!Killian, this chick with “put me in coach, I’m ready to play” made me want more of it. It’s literally one of my favorite stories of all time and is on my other rec list. With that being said, her brilliance goes beyond this one story and she has a very versatile selection of genres for you to read. I have a particular fondness for Sin Bin, and not just because it’s Jessica Jones inspired. Anyway, she got a super rude anon the other day about her writing taking the backseat and her “used to be so prolific and now [she’s] not,” which pissed me off because 1) she’s allowed to live her goddamn life and 2) she’s still in my top ten so that anon can rightly fuck off. 

[sonicmega]

Hm... I'm enthralled now. How did you come to do voice acting? Was it a sort of, spur of the moment? Or was it more so like a passion you wanted to pursue after highschool/college? I've also begun to wonder. What do you specifically do to change the timbre of your voice? I assume its different for every voice actor out there and, given your experience, you've most likely developed a method no? Lastly, how do you land jobs? Do you need a specific talent or is it more so fitting the voice color?

January 2007 

I discover that voice acting is a thing. My time spent on Neopets noticeably dwindles for the moment.

(Also none of these are specific moments that I think made or broke my career, I am just offering all relevant moments in time)

Feb/Mar 2007 

A man by the name of Deven “Mac” notices my frequent postings on Newgrounds - my fervent spamming, more like - and informs me about Voice Acting Club. Kira Buckland, 10 years younger, is finishing up school soon and has begun plans for moving out of Alaska to pursue life in Cali

March 2007 - 2008

Amateur Voice Acting AHOY! I audition for a shitload of projects, mostly fandubs. Mostly Newgrounds. my voice is terrible but my enthusiasm and energy is unyielding. Mac helps me with basic tenets of voiceover techniques and I also exhibit some pretty shitty behaviors (delaying submitting lines for weeks because I’m nervous about ‘doing them wrong’).

September 2008 

I get accepted into Western Michigan on a scholarship. I decide to major in Film/Video/Media studies because it’s 'the most similar to what I want to do’ (Voiceover) and decide to put more personal interests in as minors (Journalism, Japanese, Psychology).

The actual curriculum itself did jack shit for my career but it’s what I did during my time there that matters more.

2008-2012

Four years of college. I make friends within my interest groups but nearly all of my time is spent either in class or in my dorm room on my PC. OMGPOP is king of my time until Maplestory releases the Evan class.

More importantly, it was also the formative years of my freelance career.

I sign up for Voice123 membership. It goes horribly. Low ratings nearly all the time. I take on an audiobook job and deliver over-estimate by 7 goddamn months. Client is PISSED.A site called VoiceBunny also crops up; more suited for quick one-off jobs that don’t need 'the perfect voice’, just a suitable one. Extremely reliant on being at your computer at a moment’s notice.

I have no social life.

This meshes well.

Within college, I am constantly involved in things related to acting/voiceover.

- On-campus Sexual Health Peer Education group (skits and lectures) all 4 years of attendance. This also gave me opportunities to record voiceover for segments needing 'voice of god’- local radioplay group All Ears Theater (2 productions every 2-3 months, included a formal audition process and live performances in front of audiences for later broadcast via radio/web)- Audio Production class (as part of my Major) quick-learns me basic editing techniques, directly translates to my ability to do quickfire editing and turnaround now as a freelancer.- Continuing to do auditions for stuff for Voice Acting club. This is probably the most similar to many ‘Tumblr phase’ performers on here.Over time, constant exposure + guidance from peers/my mentor helps me to hone my skills. I still tend to 'loud-act’ things, IE using an unnecessarily loud/forceful voice for simple business narration,but I’m beginning to understand the intricacies of different styles (Commercial vs. Promo vs. character, etc)

January 2009

During winter break, on a ski trip with family, I learn about Anime Expo’s AX Idol competition. I tell my dad the one thing I want for my birthday present is funding to help go to this convention and compete. He obliges.

Summer 2009

I go to Anime Expo and compete in AX Idol for voiceover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUQpkyfVYog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PwvyeM1jw

Things go well.

Fall 2009 - sometime 2011

Things DO NOT GO WELL. My victory at AX causes me to feel like I know what I am doing, leads to an almost 2 year stint of godawful delivery choices as I 'phone in’ performances like they’re just going to be good on foundation. My mentor is frustrated with me and at least one peer of mine actively thinks I don’t deserve the kinds of opportunities I’ve had over how hard he himself has worked.

2012

I graduate from college, determine that the only way I’m going to make progress is by forcing myself into the community where the industry exists. If I’m going to get workshops and studio auditions and actual non-online work, I need to be where the work is.

Summer 2012, 2 months after graduation

I move from Michigan to California

I have enough savings to cover about a year of rent if everything goes horribly horribly wrong (including losing every single freelance client I’d slowly built relationships with during college), but it’s obvious I need to find work to continue to stay out here.

I take a Graveyard shift job at Stanley security. It sucks my fucking soul out.

Meanwhile by day, I am still doing my freelance thing. I let BangZoom know I am now local. I work with my mentor on piecing together a demo both from good bits I’d done before and fresh content written for the demo, something I can show off to clients that is good enough to be worth listening to but that I can admit “I am new to the area and aiming to get my foot in the door for more professional work so that I can update my portfolio accordingly”

2012-2014

The Workshop Grind

Workshops with BangZoom, with Crispin Freeman, with VoiceTrax West, etc.

Through character archetype classes, I begin to understand where my inherent strengths lie (I already had an idea from my freelance side, but now I was able to confirm those strengths by having actual professionals go “You made great choices”)

BangZoom, meanwhile, SLOWLY works me up the chain of trust. I get called in for unpaid walla sessions just to see if I can meet appointments on time and follow directions.

Then unnamed 1-time characters in a crowd.

Then unnamed characters you can hear.

Then a recurring unnamed character.

Then at some point I get audition sides for something called Sword Art Online, for Kirito and Diabel. I initially only plan on auditioning for Kirito (dem Protagonist dweams) but have a last-minute Skype Workshop with Crispin about my auditions and get feedback from him.

He recommends I still try out for Diabel because it plays into my strengths and “why the hell not?”

I do.

2013-2014

Pretty much my ONLY studio work is coming from BangZoom, and it’s not frequent. I quit my job at Stanley only because I had some extra savings now and wanted to force myself to 'git gud’ instead of letting a safety net of money keep me from pursuing more.

But slowly, SLOWLY, through BangZoom auditions and the occasional booking, web strings begin to attach.

Out of personal interest, I do a brief stint as a QA tester for NIS America. This also happens around the time BangZoom is casting for DanganRonpa and Fairy Fencer F. My employment didn’t affect my audition chances, but it did solidify NISA’s knowledge of me as a voiceover artist.

I do some work for Ys: Memories of Celceta for a company called XSEED. Nothing comes of it until almost 3 years later, when a new localization lead named Brittany recalls my performance from Ys and says “I think he could be a really good fit for this dude named Rean Schwarzer”.

I land work on Killer Instinct through BangZoom. The director of that LOVES my performance, proceeds to slowly bring me back now and again for recurring roles on stuff like Gundam IBO and other projects.

Back to XSEED.I land my lead role in Trails of Cold Steel. Recording is at PCB Productions, who now knows I exist.

Everyone has a good time, I send my samples/demos to PCB (now updated further), they begin sending me THEIR audition sides as well.

At one point, a director for PCB I know well is collaborating with a studio called Cup of Tea on Akiba’s Beat. Kira has been working with Cup of Tea for YEARS but I had never had an opportunity to get in touch with them before now.

Director puts me in touch with Cup of Tea, who now knows I exist. Session goes decently, I tell them I am very interested in pursuing future work/auditions and would like to share my demos with them. They accept.For sake of time I will leave that thread where it is because I imagine you can understand what the underlying theme is.

Just a sporadic but progressive timeline of preparedness + Opportunity allowing me to expand my options.

Back to Workshop Side:

I continue actively pursuing workshops for other companies, especially VoiceTrax west. I sign up for “meet the pros” evenigns where I have a chance to perform + get feedback.

The workshop actively disclaimers that there is no expectation of getting work + it is intended to be a learning experience, but I go in with the mindset of “I’m going to leave them WANTING to work with me”.

With a much more thorough understanding of my strengths by now, I tend to do a formula of picking 1-2 characters I know I can do well, and one that is within my range but is relatively challenging. Worst case scenario I still leave a good impression, best case I completely surprise myself (and the host) and leave a lasting one.

This works out well. Said method greatly interests a representative from Mattel and one from Disney Parks (not the animation side, just the theme park side). I thank them for their time, ask if I can share demos with them/get their contact email, contact them and express interest in receiving audition opportunities.

Through one of these same workshops, I also meet my future agency, SBV Talent’s lead person Mary Ellen Lord. I do the same thing. Mary proceeds to circumvent SBV’s entire policy of “Referrals Only” representation to ask me to come to their offices to record an official application demo.Note that none of these workshop outcomes, or the workshops themselves, were things pointed to me by studios I was working for. This section was all self-driven/pursued (and also required me to be local).Since then, I’ve been continuing the routine of doing freelance work from home, sending out auditions for studio-hosted projects when the sides are provided to me, and generally working with my mentor when I have questions about approaching a certain character. Either because of personal growth or recent portfolio additions (or both), my success rate with booking new roles has kind of shot up; I’m hoping this trend continues for the foreseeable future.