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A few days ago I was party to a lesson on the difference between persistence, a vitally important characteristic of any successful voice actor, and being stubborn. I had been away from our home in Charlotte for several days and was planning to make my way back home on Saturday, December 19th, the day before my birthday, so that I could celebrate my birthday and then Christmas and New Year’s Eve with my family.

However, I didn’t check with AAA before leaving on my drive toward home. As I started out from Western Pennsylvania I could tell that the roads were not in great shape because snow was falling pretty quickly and the plows weren’t able to keep up. Lots of snow on the roads. Slippery. It’s wasn’t going to be a fun day of driving.

When I got to West Virginia on my drive south things got worse. There were sections of the Interstate that weren’t plowed at all and where the plows had been through the snow was piling up again very quickly. In fact the snow was falling much harder in West Virginia that it was in Pennsylvania. I almost lost control of my car twice while I was driving. Thankfully, having grown up in Minnesota, my old snow-driving habits kicked in and I was able to keep my car on the road each time. Needless to say I was praying fervently as I drove.

Eventually, while I never slid off the road, I did lose traction and couldn’t go forward any more. At the same time, the power steering pump on my car failed. So, it didn’t matter how much I wanted to get home, I was stuck. AAA got there to tow me into the little town of Weston, West Virginia in less than 30 minutes even in the blizzard. They were just amazing. The folks at the Holiday Inn Express were as nice as could be and thankfully had a room for me.

I then learned that the turnpike in West Virginia was closed several miles ahead of where I was. They had received 4 feet of snow in less than 24 hours. I wasn’t going to get through no matter how much I wanted to.

Persistence is an irreplaceable characteristic for a voice actor. The finest performer without persistence isn’t likely to have much success, but someone of modest skills and persistence can be very successful. On the other hand, to insist on following a given path that is completely closed isn’t being persistent, it’s being stupidly stubborn. I could have, after being towed out of my spot at the side of the road, tried again to finish my drive home to Charlotte; but the end result would have been the same or worse. I wasn’t getting through. The roads were closed.

After spending the night in Weston, and taking one more day of waiting, I was eventually able to make my way home to Charlotte.

If your burning desire is to be a voice actor you can get there. Persistence is vital to your eventual success. But, pushing forward on a given path when the road is closed may not always be the wisest path. Sometimes you have to retreat and try again either taking a different path or different timing.

My friend Mahmoud Taji has written a blog post about voiceover life in the current economic climate. Well worth a few minutes of your time to read.

Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino have been doing a superb series of teleseminars for nearly 3 years now. I’ve been there for every one of them and each has been worth way more than the price of admission. Now comes an opportunity to dig into the topic of voiceover for animation with not only Nancy and Anna, but also Richard Horvitz. This teleseminar will be held at 6:00 PM Pacific / 9:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. You’ll be able to sign up soon at Nancy and Anna’s site, but right now they need you to email your questions about how to break into animation to Anna ASAP.