Rain Trueax's Blog, page 40
June 11, 2013
Solitude and the Writer
Lately my creative life appears to be revolving around the camera in one way or another. I have put off starting the next book. This was not so much because I don't know where it's going-- as it's evolving in my head quite nicely. It's more because I am not sure I have a big enough block of time to do more than get the first chapter laid out. Sometimes that works and sometimes it creates a mixed energy that can be avoided by just waiting until the time is here.
Long time friends were here on Sunday. Diane Widler Wenzel was beginning the largest plein air painting she's done in ten years. She took on even more of a challenge when she chose to videotape the process to share how such a painting evolves. She set herself up down by the creek.
The reflections in a summer creek are fantastic with so many colorful places where you can hardly tell the reflection from reality. A polarizing lens helps to capture it with the camera. I am thinking sometime I will put together a slideshow of the reflections I've taken through the years and seasons.
As Diane got her painting laid out. I relaxed out in the new yard area and contemplated life and art. No, I didn't. I petted the cats and more or less took a day off-- other than fixing everyone a lunch-- as the guys worked on a (broken-- don't ask how that happened) ATV, cleaned out a barn, and stuffed a wool bag. Me, I just enjoyed listening to the birds and staring up at a beautiful blue sky as some clouds floated past. That cats approved my choice.
On the week-end, I bought a new Logitech webcam. It has wide angle as an option. They all take adjusting the color, contrast, gain, exposure, etc. as light changes. I am hopeful with it I will get less obvious pixilation and sharper images as I continue to learn to talk about my books, the writing process, or whatever comes to mind. It's still a challenge but rewarding too.
Besides discussing each of my books, I also have recorded a few on topics like sexuality in the novel, techniques in doing a video, video potential as another communication medium, etc etc.
My weeks ahead will grow increasing chaotic which may break my posting rhythm here and on Rainy Day Thoughts. We are loading the first of our winter supply of hay. Farm Boss does that work as when bales weigh 800 lbs., I sure am not going to be out helping stack them. It is purely a job for a tractor.
The busy times over the next few weeks will all be enjoyable with more grandkid time as well as Farm Boss's 70th birthday. I am enjoying the season, the family activities that are sandwiched into the ranch jobs, and the wonders of living on a creek during the summer. It's wonderful right now as a deer wandered through and Farm Boss scared the fox as he surprised him hunting by the old harness shed.
I made this video to play with the webcam and discuss something I think does matter to the writer. Thinking more on those kinds of topics is on my mind--
June 9, 2013
It is or is not of value?
Instead of working on the new book, weeding the garden, going for another walk, what am I doing??? Working on the business of creating videos that might sell ideas. Like what the .....! It's funny in a way as at one time I thought of such videos as a waste of people's time-- to watch or make. Never say never fits today.
When I saw the first book trailers where writers discussed their work, I liked them a lot. Especially this was true if they were sharing their working environment or the energy of a place that inspired their work. Along with that I have watched TED talks where various topics were discussed by experts from a podium, and I began to think more about the possible value of learning to do discussion videos for my ideas and work.
As I started, I had no idea where I would be taking it. I've been learning as I go and sharing that process here. Just as I think I have one angle figured out, another crops up.
What I still do not know is if this media, for ordinary people, is a way to interest or inspire others. I do know one thing. When you are almost 70, it's kind of neat to find a new challenge, a new direction that challenges you. I like it that something I didn't see as mattering begins to tweak my mind with the question-- does it?
Of course, in the meantime the weeds are taking over the garden which is not going to get any photographs or video time-- unless it gets a whole lot more photogenic. I think I need a fairy godmother who has an interest in gardening ;)
When I saw the first book trailers where writers discussed their work, I liked them a lot. Especially this was true if they were sharing their working environment or the energy of a place that inspired their work. Along with that I have watched TED talks where various topics were discussed by experts from a podium, and I began to think more about the possible value of learning to do discussion videos for my ideas and work.
As I started, I had no idea where I would be taking it. I've been learning as I go and sharing that process here. Just as I think I have one angle figured out, another crops up.
What I still do not know is if this media, for ordinary people, is a way to interest or inspire others. I do know one thing. When you are almost 70, it's kind of neat to find a new challenge, a new direction that challenges you. I like it that something I didn't see as mattering begins to tweak my mind with the question-- does it?
Of course, in the meantime the weeds are taking over the garden which is not going to get any photographs or video time-- unless it gets a whole lot more photogenic. I think I need a fairy godmother who has an interest in gardening ;)
June 6, 2013
the video discussion downside
Creating discussion videos has been teaching me a lot.-- some of which I have not much liked. For instance one side of my face looks like a whole different woman than the other side. When I talk, it changes everything for the dimensions of my features. Watching myself talk is something I have always disliked-- so that's not new. I don't mind the sound of my voice on the video as much as expected. If I could just pose and have an audio say the words, that'd be the ticket.
When doing these videos, I have been surprised how easily I can goof up the words. I don't work from a script. I have several ideas that I decide are the crux, but it's amazing how many ways I can goof that up. Do one. Goof it up. Delete. Do another. Watch it for a bit and decide it's not working. Delete. That means I am looking at me a LOT of times before I finally get it right. I can begin to understand why people decide a goof doesn't matter and just keep on talking.
The big deals for me have turned out to be dialogue and lighting. Lighting matters more at almost 70 than it might've ten or twenty years ago. But you work with what you have and ten years ago I wasn't even thinking of publishing my books or doing a blog of any sort.
Why would I do videos if basically I don't like how it makes me feel about me?
I think it's one more way to communicate particularly to a culture that has gone very visual with television and computers. People learn many different ways and not all will get something through reading. For those who are visual and verbal, these kind of videos could be better ways to communicate a truth of any sort.
For me it's a truth about my writing and creativity but for others it could be the environment, love of animals or even politics. Whether this will really work to sell books or anything else, I have no idea. I am though going to give it a try... if I can stand myself long enough.
When doing these videos, I have been surprised how easily I can goof up the words. I don't work from a script. I have several ideas that I decide are the crux, but it's amazing how many ways I can goof that up. Do one. Goof it up. Delete. Do another. Watch it for a bit and decide it's not working. Delete. That means I am looking at me a LOT of times before I finally get it right. I can begin to understand why people decide a goof doesn't matter and just keep on talking.
The big deals for me have turned out to be dialogue and lighting. Lighting matters more at almost 70 than it might've ten or twenty years ago. But you work with what you have and ten years ago I wasn't even thinking of publishing my books or doing a blog of any sort.
Why would I do videos if basically I don't like how it makes me feel about me?
I think it's one more way to communicate particularly to a culture that has gone very visual with television and computers. People learn many different ways and not all will get something through reading. For those who are visual and verbal, these kind of videos could be better ways to communicate a truth of any sort.
For me it's a truth about my writing and creativity but for others it could be the environment, love of animals or even politics. Whether this will really work to sell books or anything else, I have no idea. I am though going to give it a try... if I can stand myself long enough.
June 4, 2013
finding and loving someone
Sometimes I think romance, two people ever finding each other in this big world, is an almost mystical thing. How do we explain something like this:
Chloe Mayo paints man, finds man, marries man
Some say reality is different than fantasy-- sure it is-- until you listen to people talk about how they met and then you see the hand of fate so often.
Of course, romance isn't the end of the game. We fall in love and then life happens, we get busy, involved with the business of surviving in the world.
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships.That's the essence to find that romance which goes beyond. Romance novels aren't all that unrealistic. They end though before the real work begins :)
Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
The creek is lush with green. The wood ducks have raised their ducklings, whether the raccoons and beaver have done likewise, we don't know-- can't have a wildlife cam everywhere. It is a wonderful time though these weeks before the Solstice.
June 2, 2013
Chronicles of the fox
With a busy week-end, I am just going to share here the blog I posted in my other blog. It's the ongoing story of us and the foxes, without the happy ending as of yet that I like to see in romance books I write and read. We have to work hard to give ourselves happy endings where it comes to wildlife-- and of course, no such story is ever really over.
*******************
When our story begins, the humans are clueless as to what is going on-- not unusual for humans. The story will take place on two levels with two families.
April 2012 and I saw a fox in our deck garden. It's a fenced yard and I thought how wondrous as it sat and sunned itself, almost seeming to take a nap. I felt both thrilled and amazed that the wild had invaded our groomed space. It acted almost as though it was its own backyard... Keep that thought in mind.
We left the farm here not long after the sighting as we had work to do in Tucson on our house there. We were gone a month or so. When we came back, we began to be concerned that something had died in our solarium which is a small room off the house that was a porch we had enclosed. When the smell went away, we forgot about the problem... for awhile.
We pick our story back up in spring of 2013 when we finally had what we felt was a secure outside enclosure for our cats. It was with the goal of keeping them in the deck yard with enough space for them to feel they were having a wilds experience but not so much that they could get out to the gravel road while pursuing a frog, bird, mouse, etc. and end up killed by a passing vehicle.
With spring I began to think I wanted another space enclosed-- what most would call the front yard as it is toward the road but we have a rather confusing home arrangement where what is the front door never gets used by anybody-- people come in through the backdoor to the utility room or through the french door leading to our deck. It's a farm though where driveways relate more to farm use than people.
Farm Boss set out to make that yard secure and about the time he was finishing it, when we set up a picnic table there, a cat door and encouraged our cats to use it, we had also begun to see a pair of foxes. They weren't frightened. They watched us as though we were the intruders. Keep that thought in mind.
When the pair appeared again in the supposedly 'safe' cat yard, Farm Boss set about making the fence higher and more secure. Didn't work. Foxes were still there and we were glad we had the new frontyard that we thought of as a backyard for the cats as although foxes don't choose fights with grown cats, these were obviously trained killers and one of our cats, Blackie, feels a responsibility to guard the property seeming to know no fear.
It was when Farm Boss watched one of the foxes, outside the fenced enclosure climb into a magnolia, get a bird out of it,take it to the orchard to kill and then... leap over our secure fence to bring it into the enclosed front/backyard, now to be known as deck yard. Why would a fox take its prey into a people enclosed yard to eat it?
The fox showed up one day right outside the new fenced garden and both the cat and it stared at each other. Pepper was wise enough to slam through the cat door at a fast run which is why I knew what was going on. I yelled at the fox. It looked at me with curiosity. I then picked up a rock and loosely tossed it over the fence hoping it would scare it off. It ran to it to see what it was. Clearly some humans had been feeding it. Finally I used the hose and when it got sprayed, it left but didn't run far.
Those two experiences pretty much told us something was going on here that we didn't want. Shortly after we found out what it was when Farm Boss put a live trap near where we now believed they were living in the narrow crawlspace under our solarium. The next morning a fox was in it. Farm Boss poked a stick back in the space he had thought too small for any fox to get into and heard a growl.
So here we were with the illusion we were building a higher fence to keep the foxes out and protect our cats... except the foxes were determined to get in because this was their home. That garden was theirs too. The safety of our cats had been an illusion.
We knew foxes mate in winter or early spring. The odds now were that this pair had pups in the crawlspace under our solarium. We did some online research and found from the time the pups were born, it takes two months to become grown enough to be on their own. It's not hard to understand why the parents chose where they did. It's dry, secure and last year with us gone, it was quiet. Foxes are wonderful hunters and predators but also prey for the bigger predators. We have a safe area-- especially when we weren't there.
It's kind of neat to think you share your living space with a family of foxes, and there was a momentary thought, fleeting, that if we could fence our cats securely away from them they could stay. No, that's crazy. Not only do foxes potentially carry rabies, but they are wild things. They need to be afraid of humans who can endanger them.
New plan. Let the trapped fox go out by the old, downed barn with the admonition that it'd be a great spot for a den. Since they have been here, the rodent population has been way down. Yes, they kill birds but only to eat, not for fun. We would love them to stay but not under the solarium with putrifying smells in that room as they don't eat every bite of what they kill.
When Farm Boss got ready to release the trapped fox, which he thinks was the male, he had a careless moment and got bit through the wire and his leather gloves. Fortunately a graze more than a deep bite, and it healed fine. It is a reminder that they will attack when feeling threatened.
Trying to find out exactly what was going on, we set up our wildlife camera with a view to their exit door from the crawlspace. Got some great pictures and the possibility that the mother took her babies elsewhere-- to a securer life or so she hopes. Wildlife cams that flash at night are obviously not regarded as friendly and since the trapping in the cage, the foxes have been more wary of us.
I feel sorry for predators as their life is not an easy one. These little foxes are awesome predators as you can see if you look at the slideshow below. They are also so cute, but my priority is my cats. The foxes have to stop denning up under our home, but whether they already have, we will give them a reprieve of two months to raise those pups if they are still here-- darling pups and I so relate to the struggle these animals face.
In the meantime-- are we deluding ourselves that we can make this less attractive near our home where they have been dry, warm and felt safe from bobcats, coyotes, cougar and bears? Keeping out an animal that can jump and climb as well as they can is not easy. Having been fed by other humans makes it even harder.
The story might be over... or maybe not.
*******************
When our story begins, the humans are clueless as to what is going on-- not unusual for humans. The story will take place on two levels with two families.
April 2012 and I saw a fox in our deck garden. It's a fenced yard and I thought how wondrous as it sat and sunned itself, almost seeming to take a nap. I felt both thrilled and amazed that the wild had invaded our groomed space. It acted almost as though it was its own backyard... Keep that thought in mind.
We left the farm here not long after the sighting as we had work to do in Tucson on our house there. We were gone a month or so. When we came back, we began to be concerned that something had died in our solarium which is a small room off the house that was a porch we had enclosed. When the smell went away, we forgot about the problem... for awhile.
We pick our story back up in spring of 2013 when we finally had what we felt was a secure outside enclosure for our cats. It was with the goal of keeping them in the deck yard with enough space for them to feel they were having a wilds experience but not so much that they could get out to the gravel road while pursuing a frog, bird, mouse, etc. and end up killed by a passing vehicle.
With spring I began to think I wanted another space enclosed-- what most would call the front yard as it is toward the road but we have a rather confusing home arrangement where what is the front door never gets used by anybody-- people come in through the backdoor to the utility room or through the french door leading to our deck. It's a farm though where driveways relate more to farm use than people.
Farm Boss set out to make that yard secure and about the time he was finishing it, when we set up a picnic table there, a cat door and encouraged our cats to use it, we had also begun to see a pair of foxes. They weren't frightened. They watched us as though we were the intruders. Keep that thought in mind.
When the pair appeared again in the supposedly 'safe' cat yard, Farm Boss set about making the fence higher and more secure. Didn't work. Foxes were still there and we were glad we had the new frontyard that we thought of as a backyard for the cats as although foxes don't choose fights with grown cats, these were obviously trained killers and one of our cats, Blackie, feels a responsibility to guard the property seeming to know no fear.
It was when Farm Boss watched one of the foxes, outside the fenced enclosure climb into a magnolia, get a bird out of it,take it to the orchard to kill and then... leap over our secure fence to bring it into the enclosed front/backyard, now to be known as deck yard. Why would a fox take its prey into a people enclosed yard to eat it?
The fox showed up one day right outside the new fenced garden and both the cat and it stared at each other. Pepper was wise enough to slam through the cat door at a fast run which is why I knew what was going on. I yelled at the fox. It looked at me with curiosity. I then picked up a rock and loosely tossed it over the fence hoping it would scare it off. It ran to it to see what it was. Clearly some humans had been feeding it. Finally I used the hose and when it got sprayed, it left but didn't run far.
Those two experiences pretty much told us something was going on here that we didn't want. Shortly after we found out what it was when Farm Boss put a live trap near where we now believed they were living in the narrow crawlspace under our solarium. The next morning a fox was in it. Farm Boss poked a stick back in the space he had thought too small for any fox to get into and heard a growl.
So here we were with the illusion we were building a higher fence to keep the foxes out and protect our cats... except the foxes were determined to get in because this was their home. That garden was theirs too. The safety of our cats had been an illusion.
We knew foxes mate in winter or early spring. The odds now were that this pair had pups in the crawlspace under our solarium. We did some online research and found from the time the pups were born, it takes two months to become grown enough to be on their own. It's not hard to understand why the parents chose where they did. It's dry, secure and last year with us gone, it was quiet. Foxes are wonderful hunters and predators but also prey for the bigger predators. We have a safe area-- especially when we weren't there.
It's kind of neat to think you share your living space with a family of foxes, and there was a momentary thought, fleeting, that if we could fence our cats securely away from them they could stay. No, that's crazy. Not only do foxes potentially carry rabies, but they are wild things. They need to be afraid of humans who can endanger them.
New plan. Let the trapped fox go out by the old, downed barn with the admonition that it'd be a great spot for a den. Since they have been here, the rodent population has been way down. Yes, they kill birds but only to eat, not for fun. We would love them to stay but not under the solarium with putrifying smells in that room as they don't eat every bite of what they kill.
When Farm Boss got ready to release the trapped fox, which he thinks was the male, he had a careless moment and got bit through the wire and his leather gloves. Fortunately a graze more than a deep bite, and it healed fine. It is a reminder that they will attack when feeling threatened.
Trying to find out exactly what was going on, we set up our wildlife camera with a view to their exit door from the crawlspace. Got some great pictures and the possibility that the mother took her babies elsewhere-- to a securer life or so she hopes. Wildlife cams that flash at night are obviously not regarded as friendly and since the trapping in the cage, the foxes have been more wary of us.
I feel sorry for predators as their life is not an easy one. These little foxes are awesome predators as you can see if you look at the slideshow below. They are also so cute, but my priority is my cats. The foxes have to stop denning up under our home, but whether they already have, we will give them a reprieve of two months to raise those pups if they are still here-- darling pups and I so relate to the struggle these animals face.
In the meantime-- are we deluding ourselves that we can make this less attractive near our home where they have been dry, warm and felt safe from bobcats, coyotes, cougar and bears? Keeping out an animal that can jump and climb as well as they can is not easy. Having been fed by other humans makes it even harder.
The story might be over... or maybe not.
May 31, 2013
Blog Hop
And something new came up. I am participating in what they call a blog hop which means a group of writing blogs agree to promote a new book by the sponsoring author, who in this case is Charlene Raddon. They then promote her book on their day while she puts up what they wrote regarding their book. Sounds like fun, doesn't it. I guess I'll find out as I have had zero experience in this area but have heard of these online events. The following is the promotion for it on Charlene's blog--
ANNOUNCING THE CELEBRATION OF THE RELEASE OF THE SCENT OF ROSES ON MAY 30, 2013
Join the party
The Promote Your Book/Promote Mine Blog Hop will run from May 31 to June 23. Visit every blog, leave a comment at each one, and you will qualify for the drawing at the end of the Hop for a $45 gift card from B&N or Amazon, your choice, and a free copy of the eBook, The Scent of Roses. Watch for giveaways at individual blogs as well. You can keep track of the event at our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PromoteYourBookPromoteMineBlogHop?fref=tsHere is a list of participating blogs:
May 31, http://www.heartoffiction.blogspot.com/ giveaway
May 31 http://www.hurricanereads.blogspot.com June 1 http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com - Official blog tour for Kat Flannery (not part of PUB/PM blog hop)June 2, http://authortammieclarkegibbs.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 3 http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 4 http://writingdreams.net/ giveaway
June 5 http://ciaragold.blogspot.com/ giveawayJune 7, http://peggylhenderson.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 8, http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com / giveaway
June 9, http://www.pamelaforeman.com/ giveaway
June 10 http://annettedrake.com/annettes-blog/
June 11, http://elizabethdelisi.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 12, http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 14 http://www.wittyonlineeditor.com giveaway
June 15 http://blog.cathymansell.com/ giveaway
June 16, www.katerobbinsauthor.com/ giveaway
June 17 http://tinafosterspageturner.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 18 http://ccrawley210.wordpress.com/ giveaway
June 19, http://lynhorner.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 21 http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 22, http://www.raintrueax.blogspot.com giveaway
June 23, http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/
ANNOUNCING THE CELEBRATION OF THE RELEASE OF THE SCENT OF ROSES ON MAY 30, 2013
Join the party
The Promote Your Book/Promote Mine Blog Hop will run from May 31 to June 23. Visit every blog, leave a comment at each one, and you will qualify for the drawing at the end of the Hop for a $45 gift card from B&N or Amazon, your choice, and a free copy of the eBook, The Scent of Roses. Watch for giveaways at individual blogs as well. You can keep track of the event at our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PromoteYourBookPromoteMineBlogHop?fref=tsHere is a list of participating blogs:
May 31, http://www.heartoffiction.blogspot.com/ giveaway
May 31 http://www.hurricanereads.blogspot.com June 1 http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com - Official blog tour for Kat Flannery (not part of PUB/PM blog hop)June 2, http://authortammieclarkegibbs.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 3 http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 4 http://writingdreams.net/ giveaway
June 5 http://ciaragold.blogspot.com/ giveawayJune 7, http://peggylhenderson.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 8, http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com / giveaway
June 9, http://www.pamelaforeman.com/ giveaway
June 10 http://annettedrake.com/annettes-blog/
June 11, http://elizabethdelisi.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 12, http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 14 http://www.wittyonlineeditor.com giveaway
June 15 http://blog.cathymansell.com/ giveaway
June 16, www.katerobbinsauthor.com/ giveaway
June 17 http://tinafosterspageturner.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 18 http://ccrawley210.wordpress.com/ giveaway
June 19, http://lynhorner.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 21 http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com/ giveaway
June 22, http://www.raintrueax.blogspot.com giveaway
June 23, http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/
May 30, 2013
sorting, sorting and more sorting
It's been stormy in the Pacific Northwest with squalls coming through combined with breaks with a bit of sunshine. Nothing that inspires a person to be outside for more than quick walks. I got into sorting 'stuff' and that's pretty well been encompassing my week. This is a little late for spring cleaning and it's not that. It's trying to discard and organize. Some of this came because I found a cool deal online for four sundresses, which I love when it's warm enough, and when they came, that led to organizing my closet, putting out summery clothes (if warm weather gets here)... and somewhere in there I decided I also needed to go through our old VHS tapes.In the cleaning out the anteroom to the garage, Farm boss came across two boxes of romance novels which I hadn't seen for years, barely remembered I had ever bought, have no idea why they were there or for how many years. That led to sorting them. These are books from late 1980s into 1990s when I was reading a lot of this to try and get a feel for what the romance genre required.
Which means, I've been scanning through a LOT of books all at once, all from authors who were popular then but some don't still have books out there while a few do. I am keeping a few and more will be set up to hopefully sell as boxes maybe on eBay. That was what I was going to do with others I'd gone through over a year ago and have yet to try to sell. It takes photographing their covers and offering them in groups of say 20. No bookstore will take books from that far back unless they are by authors who are still publishing (learned that years ago when I thought I could read the books and resell them when done).
Anyway it's been interesting to see an affirmation of what I had written before-- the plots get circulated and recirculated. Yes, readers of romances today do want fresh approaches (but not too fresh). The plots are used again and again by new writers. I do not think original plots are particularly desired which is a bit of a bummer if you like to write original stories.
What I have wondered, as I've been skimming through them, is do my plots fit any of these categories? I do feel they are hybrids between a true romance and say a Mary Alice Monroe. Is there a market for that?
It was interesting to see some of the names of writers that don't appear to still be selling books and yet had published over 40. They were doing something right in terms of drawing readers. Can I fit any of that while still telling my own story? That's my issue to think about for now.
Between fence problems involving the sheep, the fox wars (more on that continuing saga for my Saturday blog on Rainy Day Thoughts), trying to learn how to do discussion videos, watching our granddaughter run in an end of the season meet, I've been sorting, sorting and re-sorting and my house is a mess-- full of boxes of this or that. The farmhouse doesn't have enough storage space or maybe it has too much!
On creating my own videos, I updated my YouTube site (actually they said do it now or they'd be doing it soon) as they suggested offering a less than one minute video to explain what my channel there is about-- creating and nature. I also spent more time (when emotionally I had the energy) working on what it will take to do one for a specific book keeping the video to around 2 minutes.
What I am beginning to think is I won't be able to interest people to check these out unless I come up with something more to intrigue which might mean combining scenery (if we ever get dried out up here) or even images from the books. I am not remotely sure how to do any of that and this gets old fast trying to figure it out especially since I am still not sure it'll sell my 'hybrid' romances.
Anyway here's the video I did for my book Desert Inferno. I am thinking the book videos should start with the location, the setting, the motivation behind the story, and have limited about the plots and characters as that's all available at Amazon. The video is really about interesting someone enough to look at the sample and the blurb.
The photo at the top is a teaser regarding the chronicles of us and the fox family-- come back Saturday to Rainy Day Thoughts for more.
May 28, 2013
A video as something more
Now I cannot begin to say that I am going to go all arty on creating videos that promote writing. Although my husband/publisher/Farm Boss might if he finds it a rewarding hobby with the few hours he has available for such. I won't be holding my breath on that.
What I began to see was the potential for videos beyond selling my own books. They can promote an idea or emotional goal which is what I always want from my books but a video can do that apart from them. Too cool.
What began to inspire me for where this can go was watching the following video about Southern artists in particular based around Charleston, South Carolina. They are a mix of poets and writers as they discuss the place they live, how it's different from other places, and how it impacts their work. It was so cool and I hope that readers here will take the time to watch it. It was very inspiring regarding creativity and place.
Writers of Charleston
What I was thinking was about the potential for taking a geographic area like say where I live that does have its unique imprint. Let the land around you, the historic energy, the people who are unique to this place, let it all impact what you create. I think I do this with my books based always in places I know and love, places I have spent a lot of time. I have not, however, sat down and put that process to words as well as I felt that video did for Charleston and that part of the South.
Through the years, particularly when we belonged to Netflix, I really enjoyed documentaries but most were the length of a movie. The link above was more a tidbit, a taste to get people probably to appreciate their area but also to think more about their own and what it contributes to their work.
What I began to see was the potential for videos beyond selling my own books. They can promote an idea or emotional goal which is what I always want from my books but a video can do that apart from them. Too cool.
What began to inspire me for where this can go was watching the following video about Southern artists in particular based around Charleston, South Carolina. They are a mix of poets and writers as they discuss the place they live, how it's different from other places, and how it impacts their work. It was so cool and I hope that readers here will take the time to watch it. It was very inspiring regarding creativity and place.
Writers of Charleston
What I was thinking was about the potential for taking a geographic area like say where I live that does have its unique imprint. Let the land around you, the historic energy, the people who are unique to this place, let it all impact what you create. I think I do this with my books based always in places I know and love, places I have spent a lot of time. I have not, however, sat down and put that process to words as well as I felt that video did for Charleston and that part of the South.
Through the years, particularly when we belonged to Netflix, I really enjoyed documentaries but most were the length of a movie. The link above was more a tidbit, a taste to get people probably to appreciate their area but also to think more about their own and what it contributes to their work.
May 26, 2013
marketing with a video
So as an indie writer, you need word of mouth. How do you get it? One way is to have you, the writer and the books, seen as many places as possible-- hence those contests and reviews. Another is to have the work discussed in places a reader might come across not specifically looking for a book but find one. That's where YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter might come in.
What the experts in promotion say is you have to create a brand. Your brand as an indie artist/writer will not be the publisher/gallery behind your work. It will be you and the work. The work might get attention many ways by being the right work at the right time but how about you?
One possibility is creating a video where you talk about the work or your philosophy behind it. For me, this presents a problem-- I have always hated to see myself talking in any video. I don't like my voice in any recording. Still I believe in my books and in romance writing. I am open to doing what I can to promote that; so...
To get some ideas on how to approach this, I watched videos by authors and other creative people. My favorite is where Mary Alice Monroe fly fishes and discusses her book based on a river being about healing and teaching. I liked how she became part of the environment she was discussing. Although her video was doubtless done by a professional, I think amateurs can learn from seeing perfection-- gotta have a goal, right?
Incidentally I like her book, Time is a River, and had read it before I came across the video.
Finally if I hoped to do this, I had to start somewhere, get my own feet into the stream. The easiest place to instantly see the mistakes was with the webcam. This would be my first time to use it to create a video. Lots of things went wrong like I'd screw up what I was saying as I had no script, wanted this to be like a conversation not a lecture. The phone would ring. I'd hear a sheep needing something. The cat would bang the screen.
The first thing I learned I already knew-- it's not that easy. I had to quit stopping if I made an error-- it is a conversation, right, which means I can make some mistakes in how I phrase something. Maybe not in a more professional looking one.
After I'd done it for awhile one day, I realized none looked like I was having fun. It has to look like fun, like something I care about because if I don't, why should anyone else? I gave it up for the day.
Here's what I think so far regarding promotional videos. Keep it under four minutes unless an expert in the field. Look for general principles and then talk about them rather than writing out a text that will look boring when read. I talk a lot with my hands which I probably have to watch in the video as that could be distracting.
For me, working with the webcam was best because it allowed for instant feedback. It worked or it didn't. I consider all of this practice for doing a more sophisticated one which I plan to do back along the creek when the weather warms up (rain rain rain which the pastures love but no good for video making outdoors).
To begin I hoped to use music in the background but a webcam mic isn't sophisticated enough to get the voice and the music and it ruined both. The music could be added later or I might see if we have microphones around here that could plug into the webcam or computer and do a better job. For now I am more concerned with learning how to do my end of it and will worry about the techie end later-- if forced.
I like the idea of doing a video along our creek because nature is an important part of my life and books. When I begin to discuss the first historical, I can't use the backdrop from where it's set since it's Arizona and I don't plan to be there again for maybe a year. However, nature is a factor in me; so my home here in Oregon should also work.
As I worked on this, I thought probably I should do one of these for each of my books to discuss why I wrote them and why I think they have value. For now I'll settle for learning how to discuss the philosophy behind them all. I thought it might be interesting though to discuss say sexuality in fiction or why historical or how to create an original story-- although not sure original stories are that popular-- so forewarned on that one.
My husband/publisher got interested in the technical end of this and bought some software that would enable something fancier. I hope he has interest in doing that because I do not. It's enough for me to learn how to talk about both the books and my motivations, possibly various aspects of writing. I do not want to make videos that get more complicated. However, I'd love it if he did.
One thing I do believe-- every place an indie can put mention of their writing, where someone might then go looking for their books, that's a place to put a footprint. Will any of it sell a book, who knows! For now I will settle for just getting comfortable with making videos. I am not there yet.
What the experts in promotion say is you have to create a brand. Your brand as an indie artist/writer will not be the publisher/gallery behind your work. It will be you and the work. The work might get attention many ways by being the right work at the right time but how about you?
One possibility is creating a video where you talk about the work or your philosophy behind it. For me, this presents a problem-- I have always hated to see myself talking in any video. I don't like my voice in any recording. Still I believe in my books and in romance writing. I am open to doing what I can to promote that; so...
To get some ideas on how to approach this, I watched videos by authors and other creative people. My favorite is where Mary Alice Monroe fly fishes and discusses her book based on a river being about healing and teaching. I liked how she became part of the environment she was discussing. Although her video was doubtless done by a professional, I think amateurs can learn from seeing perfection-- gotta have a goal, right?
Incidentally I like her book, Time is a River, and had read it before I came across the video.
Finally if I hoped to do this, I had to start somewhere, get my own feet into the stream. The easiest place to instantly see the mistakes was with the webcam. This would be my first time to use it to create a video. Lots of things went wrong like I'd screw up what I was saying as I had no script, wanted this to be like a conversation not a lecture. The phone would ring. I'd hear a sheep needing something. The cat would bang the screen.
The first thing I learned I already knew-- it's not that easy. I had to quit stopping if I made an error-- it is a conversation, right, which means I can make some mistakes in how I phrase something. Maybe not in a more professional looking one.
After I'd done it for awhile one day, I realized none looked like I was having fun. It has to look like fun, like something I care about because if I don't, why should anyone else? I gave it up for the day.
Here's what I think so far regarding promotional videos. Keep it under four minutes unless an expert in the field. Look for general principles and then talk about them rather than writing out a text that will look boring when read. I talk a lot with my hands which I probably have to watch in the video as that could be distracting.
For me, working with the webcam was best because it allowed for instant feedback. It worked or it didn't. I consider all of this practice for doing a more sophisticated one which I plan to do back along the creek when the weather warms up (rain rain rain which the pastures love but no good for video making outdoors).
To begin I hoped to use music in the background but a webcam mic isn't sophisticated enough to get the voice and the music and it ruined both. The music could be added later or I might see if we have microphones around here that could plug into the webcam or computer and do a better job. For now I am more concerned with learning how to do my end of it and will worry about the techie end later-- if forced.
I like the idea of doing a video along our creek because nature is an important part of my life and books. When I begin to discuss the first historical, I can't use the backdrop from where it's set since it's Arizona and I don't plan to be there again for maybe a year. However, nature is a factor in me; so my home here in Oregon should also work.
As I worked on this, I thought probably I should do one of these for each of my books to discuss why I wrote them and why I think they have value. For now I'll settle for learning how to discuss the philosophy behind them all. I thought it might be interesting though to discuss say sexuality in fiction or why historical or how to create an original story-- although not sure original stories are that popular-- so forewarned on that one.
My husband/publisher got interested in the technical end of this and bought some software that would enable something fancier. I hope he has interest in doing that because I do not. It's enough for me to learn how to talk about both the books and my motivations, possibly various aspects of writing. I do not want to make videos that get more complicated. However, I'd love it if he did.
One thing I do believe-- every place an indie can put mention of their writing, where someone might then go looking for their books, that's a place to put a footprint. Will any of it sell a book, who knows! For now I will settle for just getting comfortable with making videos. I am not there yet.
May 23, 2013
Marketing again... and again and again
Probably I write 1/3 of the posts here on the subject of marketing/promoting. It's much on my mind, especially right now, as I try to decide when/whether to bring out the first of what will be six historical romances. As I more or less map out the sixth (still unwritten) in my head, I am also thinking how the heck do I get any of them seen by readers who are most likely to enjoy them? The truth is you can write a masterpiece (not saying mine are) but if you can't get them seen, they go nowhere. It's like Cinderella sitting at home waiting for a prince if she does nothing to get herself seen.
When I got into ePublishing in December 2011, I knew marketing would be the problem. For awhile I thought I had a solution with Amazon's Select program where you give away books as a way to introduce yourself to new readers. I would say that spectacularly didn't work. While I gave away thousands of books, the sales didn't do enough to keep me visible on Amazon's product lists. I had readers say they'd just wait for the book to be free as that's all they were taking. Free books didn't lead to many reviews; so I got out of Select and won't put the historicals into that system.
If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you've read my whining regarding hating marketing something most creative people do not want to be doing. But, if you do your own work, paint, sculpt, photograph, write, create music, and want your work seen, you know about the problems of marketing/promoting.
To get something seen in the world is a business and has its own skill set. Because of this issue and my own uncertainty on how to resolve it, I've put off releasing the first historical since it was readied last September. I've thought through various options for how to proceed while I have written more books.
One possibility is I could submit the historicals to publishing houses. I never have. At this point, I don't want to go through a publishing house even if I could get the books accepted. There are a couple of reasons. The main one is I don't see how they can do a better job marketing. They could pay for ads. They do for the big writers but would they a first timer? Unlikely. Their reputation might sell books, but the ones most likely for that (Harlequin) wouldn't accept manuscripts to even consider the length of mine. I am not willing to chop the meat out of mine to fit their length requirements.
If I found a publishing house that did accept a book, they would also put it onto eBooks, and I'd get a fraction of what I get by being my own publisher. The books might make it into bookstores for awhile, but they move through there pretty fast from what I've seen. Yes, I'd get the prestige of having a book accepted but what do I care about that?
So I am back to the problem-- how do I put out my first historical and get it seen before it falls into Amazon's black hole?
Some writers (likewise painters, sculptors, etc.) enter contests. That are a few pluses if the contest is by a respected group as you might also get a bit of a critique even if the work didn't win. On the other hand, who follows the results of these contests except those in the groups? A win there is something that would look good on a webpage if the webpage reaches very many people. How much faith a reader puts into buying a book based on having won a contest would probably be proportionate to what they felt about the group putting it on. Was the contest won solely by ability or by popularity, i.e. networking? I have no idea as I've never entered one nor have I ever bought a book based on its having won a contest. If the contest had as a reward a certain amount of free promotion then that might be of value, but I don't think most offer more than the initial release of the results-- and release to whom?
Reviews are another way some indie writers go. They submit the books to various online sites that do reviews. I might give that a try, but the question I have there is similar to the contests-- how many people read or buy books based on those reviews? Who even knows they exist? Are they mostly read by other writers and wantabe writers? Now that is a market but not really large enough to keep a book afloat.
Personally more troublesome is I have read the reviews, looked at the books and don't see my books fitting well into those getting the highest ratings. Clearly I am on a different wavelength-- not better (nor do I think worse), just different.
It might come back to this thing I read earlier-- romance readers and reviewers are looking for new versions of what's already been out there. They want good writing, exciting characters, different settings, but basically similar plots. Although I am writing historical romances, I don't see them as having the plots that fit the existing niches. Still I might give it a try although I am still arguing with myself over it.
There are millions of readers online and buying eBooks, but they more likely to find their books by reading reviews in newspapers or by word of mouth. An indie book is not getting a review by a newspaper; so that leaves word of mouth. There are indie writers who have found ways and gotten seen by the mainstream. I think the main thing is to have the work showing up a lot of places that aren't limited to writers because much as I enjoy talking to other writers, seeing their work, I am not their main market either. I've written about a few ideas I've come across. Another is in the next blog.
It's rhododendron time in the sun in my part of the Pacific Northwest.
