Working Holidays?

The week after the week away - don't miss the fine print!

Do you consider all holidays - working holidays?

In voiceover, there’s a bit of a divide:Some take recording gear on holiday so they can still respond to auditions or jobs that come in. Others (me included) leave it all behind.

Thankfully my agent will accept telephone auditions in an emergency, and I make sure all my clients know when I’ll be away—because the thought of trying to deliver broadcast-quality audio from a French gîte kitchen while my 12-year-old asks where her missing hairbrush is? That’s not my idea of a holiday.

If I had a steadier stream of high-level, time-sensitive work, I might have to rethink that. I know some VO artists feel they need to be constantly available to keep those relationships alive.

But I hope my approach doesn’t change too much. Downtime matters to me—not just for my own sanity, but so I can give my full attention to my family without the constant ‘split focus’ and background hum of “I should be checking my inbox…”

That said… the week after the holiday?It’s all catching up with household tasks for the week ahead (washing, shopping), checking in with elderly family members, and trying to get the engine running again at work. All at the same time and all under more of a time crunch than usual.

Sometimes the stress of “wondering if work is picking up fast enough” mixes with “it’s too busy at home” until I start wondering why I ever unpacked.

We went to France, by the way.

It was lovely.And as a vegetarian, I ate a lot of cheese.

I have no regrets. 🧀

*Pictures from Freepik