You’ll never catch your dreams if you don’t chase them…

So some of you may have read my post from after my trip – the one about being re-inspired to get my singing back into high gear.

Well, I’m taking that as far as I can and doing something that I’ve thought about for YEARS, but just didn’t see it happening – until now.

I’m planning a European audition tour for next year. To the non-singers out there, this essentially means going over to Germany and Austria for several weeks and trying to get as many auditions as you can. There are essentially two times a year to do this – the fall or the spring. Since the fall is out (singing in “Patience” followed by Christmas caroling season), I’ve set my sights on the early spring season – probably February into March/April.

This is not something that is done easily. Not only do I have to fine tune specific rep in my audition package (much of which needs to be brought out from a few years ago), but I have to do an insane amount of research ahead of time. I’ll need to find a place to stay – but first need to determine the best city in which to stay. Gotta figure out which kind of Eurail pass to get. Even though there are some references to consult out there, much of the leg work still needs to be done the old fashioned way – putting together lists of agents, who they represent (so I can gauge whether or not to send them my stuff), how to contact them, getting all the audition stuff translated into German….

Oh yeah, and on that note – working more on my German. Honestly, my German is not bad. But it’s not fabulous. I’d place myself smack dab in the middle as far as my language level. But I’ve been meaning to get fluent for quite some time, so I need to start on that. Gotta pull out the old German textbooks. (I’ve even thought of hunting down my old high school German teacher to set up tutoring. Hmmmm….. perhaps it’s time to google Frau Moore…)

And did I mention that I’ll be doing all of this while singing the lead in a new show for me (Patience), running the caroling business (Olde Towne Carolers) which looks like it will have its busiest season EVER (eek!), doing the travel agent thing, teaching voice lessons, and working my retail job.

Whew! I’m busy. (Seriously, seeing it in print can be a bit sobering.)

But I have to do this and I just can’t wait any longer. The calendar doesn’t run its course backwards and I’m not getting any younger. I have a little post-it above my computer that says, “Failure is never as frightening as regret.” I don’t even remember where I originally read it, but I keep it there as an important reminder. I’ve always said I’m the kind of person who doesn’t want to get to the end of life and say “what if.” What if I had tried that. What if I had gone there. What if I had made that extra effort. And you know what? I never will be that person looking back and saying “what if”. Nothing in life can guarantee success or the fulfillment of our dreams. But not trying is the absolute guaranteed way to ensure that you’ll never see those dreams come to fruition.

Some people want a safe and easy life. Me – I think I prefer a little more excitement and adventure, thank you. Just point me to the cliff, and I’ll take a running leap. 🙂