ROW80 check-in: Goals and goals

Had a lovely sidetrip this week, working on book trailers. Unfortunately, the greatest lesson learned has been a new appreciation for that gap between my test videos created with Vimeo and YouTube and those professionally produced, including one by a writing friend, Sandy Brown Jensen. You can see all three on my writing blog HERE. 

But in comparing my draft efforts to what's out there, I still have much to do. 
--Need more compelling text. Especially in a short (under 50 second) video, every word must connect with the viewer. Emotionally.

Mermaid, detail from fountain in Edinborough (Camp 2009)

--Need images that resonate and add depth/intensity to the video. These can be related to the theme, the hero's journey (heroine, in my case) or the story conflict.

--Music also needs to be high energy, related to the story.

--Work on the fade-in/fly-in, with 3-6 seconds per frame, depending on how much text is on the frame. Images without text can fade faster. The more text, the slower the fade.

Otherwise, the week has been a slammer of a balancing act, with commitments to family and friends keeping me far too busy. 

Here's my update for ROW80:

WRITING. Finish Section 05 for Rivers of Stone by May 28 and get it out to two of my beta readers by June 1. Progress: I might actually make this goal as the last chapter is finally falling into place. Wrote 7/7 days.

MARKETING. Worked a healthy slug on those book trailers (6 hours). Proposing a WRITING CLINIC umbrella for local workshops, presentations, short blips for newsletter/blogs this Thursday for local writers' association. Prepping medley of topics for presentation next Thurs as well to possible hosts. Good progress on assembling my own library of hashtags related to writing, historical fiction, editing, reviewing, marketing, and reading. Sent a query to an Australian reviewer re Years of Stone. And tweeting a little more.

3. BLOGGING: Posted twice for ROW80 (including today) and twice on the writing blog ("Monday Morning Musings: Why Write a Review?" and "Friday Fooling Around: Book Trailers"). Having two days set aside for blogging seems to help me stay connected. Read ROW80 x6. Done. Would have liked to do more.

4. Reading/Book Reviews: Very slow progress here. Goals: Read 2 articles on writing craft. Still found a super article on M.K. Tod's A Writer of History by Mark Beaulieu on researching historical fiction, "Time Travel -- a 12th Century View." Not yet: Write at least one review by the end of May on an indie writer. Working on a beta read. May not get a review in this month.

5. Declutter: Keep e-mails under 150. The marketing surge of e-mails is over, but those e-mails keep coming in. Up to 300 this morning, but I did read & delete 140 this week. I think the marketing spillover to FaceBook resulted in me getting blocked. Still having problems accessing FaceBook through Chrome, so I'm using Mozilla Firefox. Anyone have similar problems?

And here's a pretty neat reminder for writing scenes: My characters tend to get into trouble more than they face down conflict. Hmmm.

Found via Google on Writing Romance