skills

Metaphor Between Afghan and VO

Last summer when I was on my voice over retreat with my accountability group, Kim Handysides taught us how to crochet granny squares. I learned to crochet as a little girl and have always loved all needle crafts, but there was something about sitting around

with a group of women I was already close with and stiching and talking. It reinvigorated my love of crochet and somehow now linked it to my passion for voice over, so thank you Kim.

Anyway, as a little girl, when I was in second grade, my beloved Mommom Harriet taught me to crochet and knit. We started with crocheting. Her approach to both was the same. She wanted me to get it right. She encouraged me just enough so that I would not give up, and showed me what I was going to make, telling me that I would finish, but as I went along, for any mistake I made, Mommom pulled it out and had me re-do it. When something was nicely done she would say “beautiful work, Laura.” But, if a stitch needed correcting, she would look at it and sho me exactly where the last good stitch was. Then Mommom would pull the stitches out to that last good one, set the needles or hook back, and again I would re-start. Perhaps this is what got me so used to doing multiple takes in VO without flinching?

Well, since last summer, Kim really got me hooked on the granny squares. I decided to do an afghan club where the subscription sends me a kit each month. It is extremely exciting and fulfilling. Every month in the mail I get a package with beautiful yarns and

directions for the squares. At some point it will turn into a blanket. I chose a project called the “Happy Days Afghan.”

The more I work on this project, the more I realize that my approach to it is a rather solid metaphor to my approach to my voice over business. Like crocheting an afghan, our voice over career is a journey giving us multiple opportunities to try, do, and re-do until things look right for us.

How Long We sit With Things

Last month one of my squares turned into a pentagon. I felt fairly confident I had followed the directions flawlessly. I read them over and over. I counted stitches. I looked at the photo. Yet in my hands I held a pentagon, and what I needed was a square. I was not sure what to do. I thought perhaps I would hem it? Clearly any stitcher would no that would really not be okay. After about six weeks, I was looking at it again in dismay and a little bit of disgust. As time went on, my inability to get it right bothered me.

If this were voice over, and I weren’t booking, I would hire a coach or take online classes. I would talk to the gals in my accountability group. I would post on Facebook chats. So why, with the pentagon, was I just sitting there, stumped, paralyzed? When I did seek online help, I knew my stitches were correct, so the flaw was in my perspective, my analysis of the pattern.

Time to Reshape Things

Wanting to fix the pentagon was not about being a perfectionist, I began to realize just like in voiceover, it was about making my blanket what I wanted it to be. I kept hearing my Mommom’s voice in my head, and I got to a point where I just couldn’t leave it as it was. I think what was bothering me was that I had a pattern- a path- a roadmap as it were, and it still went wrong. I did my best and it was not right. So now It was time to re-do it. In VoiceOver, there is no road map for our career- we can build it and change paths, and we can talk to coaches but no one has a crystal ball and much like with my afghan, things can and will go sideways.

So two nights ago feeling the very strong presence of my grandmother I began pulling out stitches. I pulled out until the last good

row, just as she showed me as a little girl. The tricky thing in the square is that the early part of the pattern is round and I had to build corners. Since what I did was very wrong, I had to try something else to make mine look like the photo in the pattern guide. I didn’t rush and I concentrated, and low and behold my pentagon took on a new life as an adorable square.

I had a lot of feelings about this. Much like in my voice over journey, I learned not to rush, its a marathon, not a sprint. I learned to enjoy the journey, because it’s in the doing that a sort of evolution occurs. I could also see that even when someone very specifically tells you how they got to a certain point, that does not mean that you will get to that point using those steps. I think that as both a professional voice actor and a voice over coach, this mattered a lot. Simply, there just is not one right way, or one size that fits all, and you can help people and guide them, but much like my afghan pattern, there are variables.  Lastly, there is great joy in discovery. Much like finishing these beautiful squares, learning new genres, working on one’s VO craft, and booking work with new clients or repeat work with cherished ones is quite joyful, and all should be savored.