My 2011 Road Rally experience! (warning: long-winded)
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 1:47 pm
Wow, I can't believe it's already the Friday after the rally. I had to dive right back in at the day job and am just now coming up for air.
This was my third time attending, and while I don't think anything could feel as life-altering as one's first rally, it was pretty amazing. I seem to spend less time in the main ballroom each year, and this year I deliberately focused on forum-member-related classes, and connecting (and re-connecting) with my fellow dots. And still, I scarcely had time to say hello to so many of you! (Even though I live a fifteen minute drive from the Rally hotel, next year I'm going to HAVE to get a room for at least a night or two -- it would be nice to be able to stay up late and have a second beer!)
As I confided to some of you, after a whiz-bang first year with Taxi that included my first library deal, this last year took some of the wind out of my sails. I had a loooong cold streak of returns -- and they felt all the more frustrating due to the plunging number of film and TV instrumentals listings with critiques. (I entirely understand the reason for this trend, but I credit the critiques for much of my first-year success, so I feel their loss acutely.) I haven't made a single submission in the last few months, concentrating instead on trying to improve as a guitarist, just to feel like I'm achieving some forward motion somehow.
So it was with a combination of eagerness and trepidation that I waited for a drive-by mentoring session with Kevin Houlihan, hoping to get some straight talk and constructive criticism on where I've been missing the mark. Imagine my surprise when what I got instead was across-the-board positive comments, with the only constructive criticism being that I should make sure to have 30- and 60-second edits ready to go, because I should really be going for ad agency listings. And then he asked if he could hold onto my CD! I really could not have asked for a better confidence-booster.
tl;dr version: thank you to Michael and the entire staff for another amazing rally, and extra-special thanks to all my Dot friends, both old and new, for making this weekend the highlight of my year.
This was my third time attending, and while I don't think anything could feel as life-altering as one's first rally, it was pretty amazing. I seem to spend less time in the main ballroom each year, and this year I deliberately focused on forum-member-related classes, and connecting (and re-connecting) with my fellow dots. And still, I scarcely had time to say hello to so many of you! (Even though I live a fifteen minute drive from the Rally hotel, next year I'm going to HAVE to get a room for at least a night or two -- it would be nice to be able to stay up late and have a second beer!)
As I confided to some of you, after a whiz-bang first year with Taxi that included my first library deal, this last year took some of the wind out of my sails. I had a loooong cold streak of returns -- and they felt all the more frustrating due to the plunging number of film and TV instrumentals listings with critiques. (I entirely understand the reason for this trend, but I credit the critiques for much of my first-year success, so I feel their loss acutely.) I haven't made a single submission in the last few months, concentrating instead on trying to improve as a guitarist, just to feel like I'm achieving some forward motion somehow.
So it was with a combination of eagerness and trepidation that I waited for a drive-by mentoring session with Kevin Houlihan, hoping to get some straight talk and constructive criticism on where I've been missing the mark. Imagine my surprise when what I got instead was across-the-board positive comments, with the only constructive criticism being that I should make sure to have 30- and 60-second edits ready to go, because I should really be going for ad agency listings. And then he asked if he could hold onto my CD! I really could not have asked for a better confidence-booster.
tl;dr version: thank you to Michael and the entire staff for another amazing rally, and extra-special thanks to all my Dot friends, both old and new, for making this weekend the highlight of my year.
