The Annual New Year Navel Gaze

Like I’ve said before, I don’t do New Years resolutions.  This is the time of year, when I do set some goals for myself. So here they are:

• I am going to lose some weight.
• I am going to write something every day, whether a story, a blog post, or work on a play.
• I am going to see more theatre. There’s really no excuse for not seeing a ton of theatre in this city, so I’m going to stop making excuses, and go to see as much as I can.
• I am going to stay a non-smoker.

Those are the goals for 2012.

Why don’t we look at how I did on the goals for 2011, shall we?

Get paid to act. When I wrote this, I was feeling a little taken advantage of. I felt like I had taken a few acting gigs for the wrong reasons. So, the upshot is, that I didn’t really get paid to act this past year.  But the truth is that getting paid wasn’t what it was about (though, lets face it, that would have been nice). Really, it was bout being a little more choosy about where I put my acting energy.  I didn’t want to act in just anything, I wanted to act in things I believed in.  So, if that’s the case, I accomplished this goal.

Do more directing. I did a little more directing in 2011, as in, I did some.

Write more. I wrote some, but not as much as I should have.  In fact, I wrote little enough that I feel like the writing muscles in my brain need to be worked out a little to get them in shape.

Become a better theatre marketer. Nope.  Honestly, I feel like to be a better marketer, I have to learn how to be more comfortable in talking up the things I am working on.  Its like, over the years, I have taught myself (or been taught, I’m not sure which) not to toot my own horn.  In marketing, its necessary that you not only toot your horn, but find creative ways to do so.  This is an area where I need work.

Become a better shmoozer. I put this in here, because I’m not good at the shmooze.  Put me in a room full of people, and I’ll become more awkward than I am normally (and since I’m a pretty huge nerd, that’s pretty awkward). I am not good at the small talk, and not good at striking up conversations with people I don’t know. So this still needs work.

Get an agent. Mission not accomplished.  And to be honest, I didn’t really pursue this all that much.

Maybe next year, I’ll be able to round up this list with some more “wins”.