Showing posts with label #video. Show all posts

Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone


Kevin and I created a video today about what minimalism means to us.

As you know we’re total newbies, but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

I’m totally out of my comfort zone when it comes to pictures of me and now being in a video, especially close-up shots.

Why?

Honestly, it's because how I was treated during my childhood. I had a huge overbite and was teased a lot.

. . . But I’m working on overcoming my issues with my looks and what better way to do that than put myself out there on YouTube.

I’m stepping out of my comfort zone.

I have to say, though, Kevin is pushing me to just do it.

He said today, “Fuck it. Let’s just do it. I have two missing bottom teeth that I need to get fixed and will. So what? We’re newbies, and this is how we learn. One day we’ll look back on it and see how far we progressed from our earlier videos."

He’s totally right.

We’ll know what shots work and what doesn’t.

-So, we made a video today on what minimalism means to us, and I mentioned a totally weird thing we’ve been doing that is totally out of our comfort zone.

It’s live on our Dare To Live Youtube Channel. Here’s the link . . .

If you like it, please click the thumbs up and subscribe. Also, if you click on the bell, you’ll get notified every time a new video goes live.

. . . Anyway, as I said before, this is totally out of my comfort, but that’s good because growth and opportunity will breed from it. Also, life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

I’m daring to live. 😜


RV Renovation: Video Fail And Good News



Last month I bought a video editing program so I could edit my videos and share them on our YouTube channel—when we get our channel—but I’m having problems figuring out how to edit part of the video without editing out the whole section.

It’s a pain in the ass, but I’m not giving up.

I will master this.

Every expert was once a beginner.

So, I will continue to practice with this program, because it’s not the program. It’s me.

I’m not a techy by any means. Therefore, I ask for help when I need it.

There’s no shame in asking for help.

Anyway, this morning, I wrote a blog post and tried to upload the video I was talking about to share it with you, but for some reason it wouldn’t load. I think the file is too big.

I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out later.

. . . So enough about the video upload fail. Let’s move on to the good news.

Remember what I told you last week about the disaster we had while working on our RV? If not, you can read the post here. http://themusingwriter.blogspot.com/2018/07/rv-renovation-huge-bleeping-mess.html

We had to buy another battery, which cost us $130.00. Kevin did that last Monday.

Yesterday, we decided it was too hot and humid—not to mention the mosquitoes were out—to work on the RV. Kevin also needed help to rewire everything again.

Around three in the afternoon, the dude (I’ll call him Sam) Kevin had hired last weekend, who accidentally drilled the hole in our battery which created a disaster, and they had to undo all of the work they’d done that day, showed up at our doorstep.

Yeah, we were totally surprised.

Long story short, Sam came through for us. He rewired everything.

We have SOLAR POWER!!!




Last night around 11:00 o’clock, Kevin and I had a nightcap in our RV. 

We had tunes and light without being hooked up to the power grid.

It was all solar, baby!

All-natural energy from the sun. 

That rocks!!!

We’re making progress.

Next is figuring out our furnace problem, the water heater, recharging the a/c, and getting a three-way refrigerator.

If anyone knows where we can get a three-way refrigerator for a good price, let me know.

Have a good week.








Our RV Made Our Jaws Drop In Disbelief

Last weekend was the first nice day we’ve had in six months. The snow was just about gone from our yard, the sun was shining, and the temp was perfect. With excitement in our hearts to finally be able to work on Aesop (RV) and start filming for our future YouTube channel, we set out to accomplish what we’d been longing to do during the six months of grueling winter.



But first a little backstory.

Last August when we decided to get an RV (I’ll tell ya more about that story another time), and eventually explore the U.S. as digital nomads, we went hunting for one on the internet. Kevin found a class A motorhome and showed it to me. I wasn’t too sure about it. In fact, I wanted to keep looking. I’m an indecisive person to the point of sometimes being a pain in the ass. So I kept searching and came across one and showed Kevin. Well, it was the same one he showed me earlier which was weird.

I’m an indecisive person to the point of sometimes being a pain in the ass.

I decided to go run some errands. While I was out I had this gut feeling to go to the convenience store and pick up an Auto Trader. I did, thinking there might be motorhomes in there for sale. When I got home, I thumbed through it and found a class A. I showed Kevin, and we discovered it was the same one he showed me earlier

I had this gut feeling to go to the convenience store and pick up an Auto Trader.

The same class A motorhome kept showing up, so Kevin went online and learned that it was now up for auction. He placed a bid. The amount he entered was too low. He placed another bid, and it stuck. He ended up winning so we drove to Detroit Lakes, MN and picked it up. To our delight, the RV was in great shape, except we did have to replace a solenoid and put a new battery in it before trekking back home. Kevin said driving it was a dream.

The same class A motorhome kept showing up.

My friend Ronnie offered for us to park our RV in his huge shop for the winter. It was a generous and kind offer. Knowing that North Dakota’s winters could be brutal, we were going to take him up on his offer.

Were.

One day Kevin went to go start our RV so we could take it to Ronnie’s shop, and the ignition switch didn’t work. At all. When Kevin turned the key, it went all the way around.

What the hell?

The weather was already getting chilly and nipping at us, so instead of fixing the ignition switch, Kevin decided to leave our RV in our backyard. Besides, we loved looking out our kitchen window and seeing our motorhome. It was an affirmation to us that we had a plan instead of being part of someone else's plan and this was what we were working our butts off to accomplish—a nomadic lifestyle, to live instead of just exist.

We had a plan instead of being part of someone else’s plan.

Fast forward to February.

Ronnie’s shop burned down. If our RV was in there, it would have been ashes or close to it.



He lost everything.

No one was hurt, though. What he lost was just stuff. He got lucky.

Now rewind back to the beginning of this post when last Saturday we were pumped up to work on our RV and get it started. Our mechanic friend Curt came over to help Kevin. We had just come back from Carquest, where Kevin bought two batteries—even though the one in the RV was the one we bought in Minnesota—and hooked them up. We told Curt we had to go back to Carquest, but we wouldn’t be too long.

When we came back home this is what happened:

Curt: “She’s running.”

Kevin and I: “What?”

Curt: “She’s running.”

Kevin: “How can she be running? The ignition switch wasn’t working. I tried it several times and the key went all the way around.”

Curt: “I don’t know, man, but she’s running.”

Our jaws dropped.

No kidding.

Kevin and I: “Turn it on! Turn it on! Turn it on!”

He turned it on, and the sound was music to our ears. She was running beautifully, and we couldn’t help but laugh and smile because the realization had hit us at the same time that if she would have run back in October when we were going to store her in Ronnie’s shop for the winter, she would have burned down.

Wow.

Obviously, this is the RV we’re supposed to have because #1 at the beginning when we decided to be digital nomads, she kept showing up. #2 she was meant not to burn down.

Was this the hand of Fate?

I don’t know, but it sure seems like it.

Since we've been together, Kevin and I have always followed signs, and they've never failed us. I could write more blog posts on the subject, but this one will suffice for now. If everything flows together, it’s meant to be. Don’t force anything, just go with it. So we’re surfing this wave to see where it takes us.

If everything flows together, it’s meant to be.

We have no worries.

It’s all good.

Right now, Aesop is at Kevin’s work, waiting to get serviced and gone through by mechanics. Like I said early, I started filming clips of the beginning of our awesome journey, however, I wish I could have captured our jaws dropping when Curt told us our RV was running. 

Oh, well.

No biggie.


I’m going to go with the flow and see where Fate takes us.


Videos A Non-Techie Gal Created.

Hey, Everyone. I’m not going to lie. I suck at technology.

I do.

Seriously.

I wish I had the techie brain, but I don’t. I know enough to get by. That’s it. However, I must not be a complete computer moron because I was able to create the following videos. The first one I made like five flippin’ years ago. It’s a book trailer for my first book (Beyond the Eyes) which is FREE hereà









Book Trail
(The first one I ever made.)

I didn’t create one for the second book (Dark Spirits) in the trilogy. I don’t know why. I probably will in the future. I did create this one for my third book (The Devil’s Third) in the trilogy. It’s my favorite one. I love it. Check it out hereà

Not too long ago I made this video about my trilogy, its companion, and a spin-off book. Here it isà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMHM3Cf-NOw

I also recently created this book trailer for my new release Legends of Deceit. It came out better than I thought. Check it outà https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwETbva5cG0

So I need to make one for Ameerah, Tangled Roots, and Dark Spirits . . . or would like to. Right now I’m writing the first draft to the second book in my Legends of Deceit series. I hit the halfway mark the other day.

Yay!

I have a lot going on in my life and would like this next book to be published at the beginning of 2018. I’ll see how things go. I’m not going to stress about it. I have an exciting future planned out. I’ll share it with you when things start rolling.

Anyway, if a non-techie gal like myself can create videos, so can you. It’s a fun way to advertise your work or business—to get it out into this world.

Cheers!



Are You #Afraid Of #Offending People With Your #Stories And #Marketing?

I was thinking about what to blog about last night, and then Kevin told me they want to ban the words “pig” and “sausage” because it offends Muslims.

*shakes head*

Are you frickin’ kidding me?

This world is getting more and more ridiculous by the day. No, I don’t want to offend people, and I’m very cautious regarding other people’s feelings. In fact, I’m going to share a video with you that I created over a year ago to promote The Devil’s Third. It’s a cool video, but I decided at the time not to use it. 

Why?

Because I was afraid it would offend Jews. However, those who have read my Beyond the Eyes trilogy will know that the dark spirits inhabited the Nazis, and in no way was I advocating the Nazi party. The video ties into my trilogy. I absolutely love history and everything I write has some sort of historical element in it and is thoroughly researched.

Anyway, I was thinking tonight about how easily people get offended nowadays. It seems to be getting worse. In the future, we might be restricted on what we say and how we run our business. I hope not, but that’s what it seems like. 

I’ve been writing Ameerah’s story. She’s a dark spirit, btw, who wants to crossover and is seeking salvation. Ameerah has made appearances in Dark Spirits and The Devil’s Third and is a great character. She was born in 1907 and was a flapper girl in 1925 in New York. She’s also a lesbian. Her story takes the reader back to that time during prohibition and all the speakeasies in Harlem and Jungle Alley. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve been doing a ton of research to make the story authentic. I’ll be posting pictures of that time and doing a cover reveal any day now. I've been wondering though, if Ameerah being a lesbian will offend other people. There’s a sensual sex scene where she kisses and makes love to a girl for the first time in her life and finally admits to herself she’s gay.

Will it offend straight people?

Will people think I’m gay?

I live in a rural farming community of about 1,800 people. I wonder what they’ll think. It’s not like I purposely made Ameerah gay. Other authors will understand that the character “talks” to you. Ameerah told me she was gay.
I’ve talked to Kevin about this, and he advised me not to worry about it. Write the story (he's been bugging me to write her story for a year now). Don’t be afraid of offending readers. So that’s what I’m doing, and I decided that I’m no longer going to hide, because I love who I am. I’m considerate of others and if someone takes what I write or say the wrong way, so be it.

I remember reading about PETA getting all balled up in a knot over one of Stephen King’s stories where an animal dies. They totally bashed him. You know what Stephen’s response was?

It’s a story.

So do you ever worry about offending someone with your stories or how you market your books?

Here’s the video I mentioned. I might have shared it with you when I created it over a year ago, but I don't think I did. For those of you who know the German language, try to block out what they’re saying and read the script instead. I don’t speak German. I wish I did, but this video is cool, I think.