A – Accountability. Take responsibility for your actions, both on and off the stage.
B – Back-Up Plan. Always have a back-up plan. You never know when you’ll forget a costume or music or tape or whatever. Make it work with what you’ve got.
C – Confidence. Be confident in who you are. Don’t cave in to peer pressure. Your drag persona is YOUR drag persona, take pride in it!
E – Expand. Don’t become stagnant. To be successful, we need to grow, to learn and to expand our minds and our characters.
F – Fun. In the end, it should always be fun. When it stops being fun, when the drama starts to be too much, maybe that’s when you need to step back and reevaluate why you do what you do.
G – Go with the Flow. Shit happens. Things don’t always go as planned. Music stops, dancers fall, costumes don’t turn out the way you wanted. The important thing is not to freak out. Just go with it. Roll with the punches.
H – Humility. It’s not always all about you. Check your ego at the door. This isn’t about how many titles you have, or how good you think you are.
I – Integrity. What you do has an effect on the rest of us, keep that in mind if you ever feel the urge to do something unethical or underhanded.
J – Jackassery. This gets you nowhere! Be mindful of your actions, your words, how you treat others and the way you portray yourself.
K – Knock ‘Em Dead. Remember, the audience is there to be entertained, so be entertaining. Don’t check yourself out in the mirror, don’t focus on one person or group, and keep in mind who your audience will be when picking songs.
L – Love What You Do. If you love it, it will show, and so your audience will love it too.
M – Mentoring. Extend a hand to those who are new or who need guidance. We all needed that help at one point, just remember that you are teaching them what they need to know, so keep in mind the ABCs!
N – Network. Get out there, work with new people, new bars. Ask not what drag can do for you, but what you can do for drag!
O – Originality. Keep it fresh, keep it original. No one “owns” a song, but be respectful of your fellow performers and avoid “borrowing” concepts and costume ideas.
P – Professionalism. Even in situations that you may not enjoy, keep in mind that you are being watched. You don’t have to like everyone, but you do have to be civil. Be mindful of your actions, whether drinking or sober.
Q – Quality Not Quantity. It’s not how often you perform, it’s the quality of your performances. If you find yourself performing every week or even every other week and you find yourself doing the same things over and over again, maybe it’s time to take some time to come up with new material.
R – Respect. Be respectful of the venues you perform in, bar owners, patrons, other performers and their property.
S – Surround Yourself With Good People. Everyone, from the friends you keep to your romantic partners, is viewed as an extension of you. Keep that in mind when you associate with people who make it their hobby to trash-talk, slander, roll their eyes, be constantly drunk in public, and back-stab.
T – Take Chances. Step out of your box, try something new and unexpected. Push your boundries! You never know how something will turn out until you try.
U – Understanding. You and your family both need a lot of this. There will be times when your significant other may not see you for an extended period of time, but at the same token you need to understand that drag should not be the priority and your loved ones need time with you too.
V – Vision. See where you want to go, and how you want to get there.
W – Whispering Campaigns. Avoid them at all cost! Gossip, rumours and trash-talk will ruin you and make you, and those you associate with, look bad.
X – “X”ceed “X”pectations. Everyone expects certain things of you, and you expect certain things of yourself. Strive to be better than those expectations, prove that those who expect great things are not wrong.
Y – Yaw the Other Cheek. Yaw = to turn, deviate, zigzag, etc. Always be the bigger person. There will always be someone out there who doesn’t like you, who will make your business their business, who will gossip, spread false rumours, try to drag your name through the dirt. Be better than those people. Never stoop to their level. Let them do what they will, in the end they’ll end up looking like the idiot.
Z – Zoo. Yes, it’s a zoo out there, but we’re all a part of the same zoo. In the end, we all share a common goal: to help make this community and this art form the best it can be, whether it’s locally, nationally or globally. Always keep that in mind when you do this.
© Freddy Prinze Charming 2011