Ever since I was a young child, cartoons have always fascinated me. Frankly, I think that most people can say that. At least, all the people I know can definitely say that. Aside from writing, one of the things I always wanted to be was a cartoon character. Now, I know that it's impossible to magically animate one's self and live life as a drawing like in that god awful film Cool World.

But I could definitely learn how to become a voice over artist. My time in theatre had taught me how to project, I have taken singing lessons and had a vocal coach for a while. My roles in theatre had leaned towards character parts, and I've played things from a young dying girl to a prepubescent boy. Most of these things involved me changing my voice in some way, and I found that I loved doing that. Fast forward a few years, and I have taken a break from performing. (Having triplets will do that to a person!) And yet, I'm still putting my voice to use. Anyone with kids will understand that story time isn't so much reading a book to young children. It's performing it. And if I don't give each character the attention they deserve... The audience I have at home make Waldorff and Statler look kind.

Lately, I've decided that I'm going to finally follow my dreams, and one of them was to learn how to be a voice over artist. Now, I don't believe in doing anything without at first finding out how to do it properly, so I asked the friends I have in the business how they started. (Always a good place to start.) They sent me to Melissa Altro, a voice coach. I very quickly learned that there is more to this than meets the eye. I did some training with her, and I did one of her workshops where I got to play in a sound booth, and I very quickly learned that this was something I loved doing. I worked on my strengths as a performer- which leans towards younger characters, moms, and quirky sounds. I learned about sound play, and how to do sound effects with my voice (exertions, puking, falls, fights, etc.), and then I started working on the scripts for my demo.

As a writer, I thought that this would be the easy part. I could easily write up a bunch of mini scenes I could play and boom! I'd have a demo. Not so much. I wrote too much. Where I should have done moments to play, I wrote actual scene work, more like mini monologues. Thank god Melissa helped me out so I could fix it all up. We worked it all out, and the end result had me in a sound booth, headphones on, facing the mic, with my three kids in the control booth watching their mom be a troll, puppy, mother, teen space hero, and nervous little girlie. I think watching their reactions helped me see that I was on the right track. If they were laughing and smiling, I had to be doing something right.

Now, I have my demo, (which can be heard here on soundcloud, or through the youtube link below) and just like with writing, it's about getting this recording into the right hands. Whose those will be, I have yet to find out, but I know I've taken my first steps towards something awesome.

Lots happening guys! This is the time of year when I start gearing up for the cons and fairs I do, as well as Passover. So, it's definitely busy season. What do I have coming up? Well, Ad Astra is first, coming next month. There I will be doing panels, and I will also have a table in the dealers' room. This is something I did not have last year. Hopefully I'll be able to be on panels with Sarah WaterRaven and Jen Frankel. It's always a blast to chat with them. Also, read their stuff. It's fantastic! Then, I have Montreal Comic Con, and Niagara Falls Comic Con coming up. This year is the first year that I'm actually traveling to these things, and I am both excited and nervous about it. Maybe I can convince some people to join me and we'll make a road trip out of it... I'll make a play list! (Although, that might send people screaming from my car instead.)

However, next month is Purim, so Passover planning is a bit on the backburner. I asked my kids what they were going to dress as for the holiday, and they told me that they just wanted to dress as someone "cool". What counts as cool to a five year old? I have no idea. That seems to change on a daily basis. Two days ago, cool was Nightcrawler, Chewbacca, and a Pony. The only thing I know for sure is that they want me to be Deadpool in a dress.

We shall see what happens.

In other news, I have two WIPs going on right now. I have written out the plan for Book 6 of the Sitnalta series. If you had asked me when the first book was written if I'd have gone this far with it, I would have laughed. What had initially started as a short story for my baby brother has turned into this world that I adore writing. The other book I'm working on right now is a book that my daughter asked me to write. She wanted a story about a little girl and the old woman in her closet. Now, this sounds a bit creepy, and the origin of the idea is. She and her brothers are convinced that there is an old woman living in their closet. I don't think that this old woman is a bad one, and they seem more amused by the thought than anything. In fact, Phillip says that she's rather like the old woman in the beginning of the Beauty and the Beast movie. And so, I'm writing them a ghost story. Why not?

Now, if you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you would have seen that I was recently interviewed by The Mindsoak Podcast. I have also been alerted that the episode is now available on iTunes. This interview was a blast for me. I love it when these things feel conversational as opposed to being merely a question and answer period. Things flow so much better for me that way. (Which is the total opposite of this disjointed blog post.) Check it out here if you can.

Speaking of disjointed posts, (how's that for a segue!) I'm also hard at work on my television series! I'm telling you, Sibling Revelry is a blast to write. I've recently heard a draft of one of the songs for it, and I am so excited! Now, I saw that Costco (yes, the superstore) stole my title for an article. And since I do love The Property Brothers I will let it slide. :P (why can't I emoji on my blog? Can someone tech support me on this?) I think we should be ready to send out our stuff soon. As someone who hates to wait on submissions, I hope that the tv people move faster than the book people. But somehow, I doubt it. Wish me luck!