Time and Tide Melts the Snowman (or the submission)

Note to self- tinker with your Actors Access photos only after 7PM. As it could just happen that your beloved manager might just be submitting you for something on Law & Order at the exact moment you take down the photo she wants to use to submit you.

Not that anything like that just happened to me or anything. I am seriously punching myself in the face right now.

New Headshots!

Finally, the new headshots are in hard copy and in my hands. I think the reason actors put off headshots is not just the despair of seeing in 8X10 full color (formerly black-and-white) that you're getting older. I think it's as much that it's such a long process. I've had relationships that took less time than getting new pictures. I've been blessed with terrific headshot artists throughout my career (well, except for my first ones, but the less said about them the better. Nothing like going into an audition and having the casting director say, "Oh. I thought you'd be fat.") but every time I've had to move to an new photographer it's caused great anxiety. Headshots are expensive as all get-out, by the time the session, the makeup, the test prints, the retouching, the printing, the uploading to Actors Access, etc. are all done, and if you're not happy... well, again, it's like a relationship. In this case, one you know isn't working, but you're already living with the person and so you have to accept that to get out, you'll have to give up your half of the security deposit and start all over.

That said, this time was again a lovely experience (my 2nd) with the fantastic Chia Messina, and the very talented Jody Formica did my makeup. And when it all goes well, new headshots are like your birthday come early. Your birthday back when it was still the most awesome, you-centered day EVER and not an occasion for a "what the heck am I doing with my life" panic attack. Right now, I feel just like I did when I turned 10 and got just what I wanted, the Breyer model of Yellow Mount, Famous Paint. Looking forward to the next few years of this relationship.

Audition tomorrow. Take Control off Derby trail

Audition tomorrow for a short film- I always get a pit in my stomach when I first start memorizing lines. It's because my brain starts creaking, objecting that this sort of rote learning really was supposed to end with the high school diploma, and I start thinking, "I'll never memorize all of this!" And then somewhere, somehow, the words get into the brain; the logic of the script makes itself clear and I remember that I'm actually really good at memorizing.

So yeah, I'd better stop procrastinating and get back to it.

Take Control is off the Kentucky Derby trail with minor shin issues. He'll be back in the summer, but, in the meantime, I have to find a new horse to find interesting.

Very First Post

My marvelous husband, Todd Faulkner, has just designed my new website and insists I add a blog section to keep people updated on my acting and writing career, as well as have a place to talk about my favorite obsession, Thoroughbred horse racing.

I suspect the real reason for this is so maybe, if I blog enough about racing, I won't talk his ear off about it so much. I'm on to you, Faulkner...

Latest creative news: My comedic pilot, Living in Captivity, has been taken on by Hayden5 Media.

Latest racing news: Supermare Zenyatta, retired after her history-making victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic has been unretired and will return to racing this year. If you're a racing fan, this is like Christmas in January.

Kentucky Derby 2010 predictions: Way too early to tell yet. But I'm interested to see what Take Control does in his three-year old debut.