Bad bloggerville

I have a confession to make. I am a bad blogger. No, not a bad writer, necessarily (although I have never claimed to be a particularly great one), but it's just that I'm not so good at the maintenance part of a blog. It's sort of the same thing with writing letters. I have a few family members who do much better with letter writing than the technological advancements of the blog, email and the like. When I actually sit down to writing the letters, I enjoy it, as do my family members. But it's the actual getting to it that evades me. It sort of makes me a little sad that I occasional allow myself to engage in losing the art of letter writing, but ah well...time marches on. From here on out, I won't make any promises that I'll be more consistent, but I will try. How's that for non-committal?

Since April, I've been busy with different opera classes, coachings, lessons and more than a few auditions. Things, it seems, are going well in my world. I've even had a few more dates than this former semi-dateless girl is used to. Brava! And I have a new day job that is the first one I've had in a long while where I don't feel as if I'm going to get fired at any moment. Those folks who have had (or have) commissioned sales jobs may understand some of my feelings on this issue. It's not that I've been a bad salesperson, au contraire, it's just that with commissioned sales, one often feels an enormous amount of pressure to sell multitudes of brands because a) your boss is breathing down your neck, and b) you realize that you must pay the rent and eat this month, or else! For years, I struggled with the fact that although I knew I was good at sales, I still HATED the constant uncertainty that I lived with being on commission.
Well, that time has passed. I have finally become a supplier in the wine business! (for you lay people, that basically means working directly for one winery or importer) I still sell to the accounts on the street, but now have even more flexibility with my schedule AND have a distributor's sales reps to help me. Yay!!! I know, boring news to all of you non-wine biz people. But what it means to me and my singing career is even better - a boss who lets me be who I want to be (provided I do my job, of course) and a monthly salary so I can actually eat AND pay my rent. What a concept! Let's hope it continues to work out.

As for singing, life is good, although I always want more. (I need to learn how to be more Zen about that). Donna Elvira is sinking in, as I semi-reluctantly plug the English translation into my head to temporarily replace the Italian I already know. (no offense to our fabulous general director!!!) I go to Baltimore in September and believe it or not, it's the first time I will have done a show this far away from home. With a homestay and everything, and even pay! Again, what a concept! I don't feel completely at home with Elvira as a person yet, but I have an idea that it has something to do with the fact that she has a lot of qualities that I strangely identify with. (except for maybe the slightly batty part). I'm finding that some of my ideas of who she is are a tad unconventional, but they make sense to me, historically anyway. I just desperately want to be able to show her as a woman that people can identify with, rather than just obsessive, or just a bit of comic relief, as she is sometimes played. She is flesh and blood and I can't wait to bring her to life!

In any case, I will end by giving a little plug for my show in September, whether people can make it to Baltimore or not. It's a small company, but a good one, and I'm really looking forward to it! So, check out the dates on my website (which is also new this year): http://www.heathermichelemeyer.com.

See you at the theatre!!