#VideoChallenge: Moving On

May9

Day #8 of the 30-Day Video Challenge.

I don’t quit many things, and I’m resistant to admitting to quitting this 30-Day Challenge. Perhaps this list of excuses reasons will give me a little cover:

  • It takes forever to upload the video to my computer, and then to my blog. There are already too few hours in the day.
  • Frankly, I don’t think there’s enough about my life that is interesting enough to “vlog” about for 30-days–at least nothing that I’m willing to share with the world. :)
  • I’m a writer, and my time should be spent writing.

That’s not to say I haven’t already gotten some value out of this last week of video-blogging. Through self-critique, I’ve seen the following ways I can improve my presentation:

  • Sit up/stand up straight.
  • Talk slowly.
  • Speak from my abdomen and not through my nose.
  • Never look down as I speak.
  • Use proper lighting.
  • Smile.
  • Edit, edit, edit.

So, though this will be my last entry in this video challenge, it will not be my last video, and I’m glad I participated for the first week. I’m absolutely sure that because of it, I’ll “vlog” more often.

My last video is rather long. It contains a couple of excerpts from the 50-minute presentation that was taped last night as I spoke about The Red Kimono at the Fayetteville Public Library. As I prepared these clips for uploading to my blog, I learned to edit — trim, paste, add photos and text. Without this challenge, I might never have taken the time to learn how to do this.

So, though I’m dropping out, I look forward to following some of the vloggers who are forging on with this challenge, and I say, “Bravo for you!”

 

 

 

#VideoChallenge: Home, Sweet Home

May6

Day #6 of the 30-Day Video Challenge.

Good grief. You’re probably wondering if this is going to be an every other day commitment, since I’ve missed two days already. Hopefully not. Like I say in my video, I’m going to blame missing those two days on being the Conference Chairperson at OWFI. But, that conference is over as of yesterday, and I’ll do my best not to come up with another excuse. (It’s not recording the video that takes so long, it’s uploading it.)

Though it was a fantastic conference, made possible by dozens of volunteers for which I’m so, so grateful (I love our OWFI members!), it always, always feels good to get home. To sleep in my own bed, take a shower in my own bathroom, drink my own coffee, write in my own office. True, this apartment is a temporary home as I make it through this life transition, but it still feels like my sanctuary.

And I have another “good grief” to express. I sure don’t like having to watch myself on video before posting it. I don’t know if the rest of you feel the same way, but this is what goes through my head:

  • Do I really look that old?
  • Does my voice really sound like that?
  • Talk louder.
  • Speak slower.
  • Smile, you grouch. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
  • Why am I doing this?

Oh well. It is what it is. Here goes . . .

#VideoChallenge: Our Differences

May4

Day #4 of the 30-Day Video Challenge. Sorry I missed Day #3. It’s not that I couldn’t squeeze in shooting the short video during the busy conference day, it’s that I couldn’t squeeze in the 30-60 minutes it takes to upload it to WordPress.

So, though I’ve blown the challenge, I’m going to push on and hopefully improve my vlogging skills.

Last night, as I sat in my friend (and OWFI President,) Patty Stith’s room, chatting and laughing with other friends after the “official” conference was over, I found myself, as usual, wishing I could be as funny as my other friends are. My humor comes like sprinkles of rain after a long drought. It made me deeply miss my dear, funny friends, Ruth Weeks and Pamela Foster — I knew I’d miss them when they told us that previous commitments would keep them from attending the conference.

So, after last night, I decided to focus today’s video on how sometimes we all wish we were different. What have you wished was different about you?

#VideoChallenge: Jan Before Coffee

May2

Day #2 of the 30-Day Video Challenge, and Day #1 of the OWFI Revive! Strive! Thrive! Conference. So, I’m getting an early start. In fact, I decided to get in front of the camera before I even had my first cup of coffee. Mistake? You decide. :)

In today’s video, in addition to reading a short excerpt from Chapter 2, I talk about bento boxes. The following is from Wikipedia:

Bento (弁当 bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.

 

 

#VideoChallenge: Stepping Outside of My Comfort Zone

May1

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Thank you to my friend, Nita Beshear, for “challenging” me to participate in the 30-Day Video Challenge. This is WAY outside of my comfort zone, but for that very reason, I MUST take on this challenge.

Each day, I’ll read a short excerpt from The Red Kimono, and will add other little impromptu commentary about the story behind the story, or my writing life, or how my day is going . . . whatever comes up. That’s the scary part.

Each video is unscripted, other than the excerpt. Now, if that’s not a cliffhanger, I don’t know what is.

Feel free to give me critique on how I can improve — that’s the whole purpose of this challenge, to get comfortable with video blogging (vlogging?) and improve over time.

Stay tuned . . .

#AtoZChallenge: Z is for Zippety-Do-Dah

May1

Day 26 of the A to Z Challenge is the letter “Z”:

Z is for Zippety-Do-Dah

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I have to say, April flew by! I can’t believe we’re already at Day 26. I’ve enjoyed trying to find something to relate to each letter of the alphabet for The Red Kimono, and as I’m sure is the case with most of the A to Z Challenge participants, I found the letter “Z” to be a tough one.

I’m going to go with zippety-do-dah. It doesn’t have much to do with The Red Kimono, except that I sang it to myself many times along the path to publication:

  • When an agent first asked for the full manuscript
  • When I received my first offer of representation by an agent
  • When I found a publisher
  • When I held the printed copy in my hands
  • When I received my first 5-star review
  • And now, when I’ve completed this challenge.

There are so many joys in being a writer, and I very much appreciate all of you sharing them with me!

#AtoZChallenge: Y is for Yesterday

Apr29

Day 25 (only one day to go?!?) of the A to Z Challenge is the letter “Y”:

Y is for Yesterday

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I’m sure you’ve read the following saying:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~~George Santayana

This is why I think it’s important to remember our history — even the parts that are not so comfortable to remember, such as the internment of Japanese Americans. As I’ve discussed in many of my presentations, I doubt there is a single one of us who would say that a group of Americans should ever be interned behind barbed wire again. But how often have we seen signs of the slippery slope that could lead to such an abuse of civil liberties?

During a question and answer session at a recent reading of The Red Kimono, an audience member asked me if I harbor any anger or resentment over what happened. Though I understood why she would ask the question, I was kind of surprised by it. Perhaps it’s because it didn’t happen to me directly. And though I’ve seen my mother’s tears at her recollection of those years, she didn’t ever speak of it in an angry or resentful way, so that wasn’t passed down to me.

I didn’t write The Red Kimono as a “scolding” for what happened, but as a reminder of what could happen if we hold prejudices against people, fear them because we don’t understand them.

I understand that kind of fear. I’ve felt it myself, and will even admit to feeling some security when certain civil liberties are limited for the sake of protection. That’s the very reason it’s important to remember where the slippery slope can take us . . . if we don’t remember yesterday.

Forget the times of your distress, but never forget what they taught you.~~Herbert Gesser