Well as 2010 leaves us let’s do a quick year in review.
ACTING FRONT
-Booked 2 SAG commercials and got my first taste of residual income. Whoever created residuals needs to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom!
-Continued working at the Mouse and being thankful for that good theme park money during these strenuous financial times for our country.
-Attended workshops with the top casting directors in the Southeast and learned more and more about auditioning.
WRITING FRONT
-Continued writing and networking with children’s poets and editors from across the country.
-Was asked by children’s poets Georgia Heard and Lee Bennett Hopkins to contribute to their upcoming anthologies. I sent my poems to Georgia and am still working on the one for Lee.
-Applied for the HIGHLIGHTS FOUNDATION retreat with Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It’s a weeklong retreat where writers get one-on-one interaction with Rebecca as they work on their latest manuscript. Also applied for their scholarship to help defray the costs of lodging and round trip airfare.
-Sent in my manuscript for the NEW VOICES AWARD for minority writers sponsored by the NYC publishing house Lee and Low.
-Attended the NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) conference held at Walt Disney World. Made MANY new friends and set up a dinner at CAFÉ D’ANTONIO in downtown Celebration, FL for the top children’s poets and bloggers in the country, among them Lee Bennett Hopkins, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Janet Wong, Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Elaine Magliaro and Sylvia Verdell. The next few days I then met other children’s poets such as David L. Harrison, Carole Boston Weatherford, Arnold Adoff and Joyce Sidman and in the evening dined with Heidi Mordhorst. For a person like me to finally meet the poets whose work I performed with POETRY ALIVE for 3 years was very humbling. To have a chance converse with them was even more so.
PERSONAL FRONT
-Lost over 25 inches in my body (so far) thanks to a personal training/nutrition curriculum designed by Jeremy Brassard with additional nutrition information courtesy of Isabel Garcia.
-Signed up for the RUGGED MANIAC 5K event in late February. It’s a Navy Seal designed obstacle course and is going to be a good barometer to how in shape I am.
What’s most exciting about 2011 is I have a slew of projects that I can’t wait to get too such as an acting reel, performing/recording my poems, manuscript ideas, a revamped website and better health among them. So thank you 2010 for everything and let’s get keep the forward momentum in 2011. Carpe diem!
