It has been such an exciting time for me, not only to be part of a fabulous box collection of Christmas romances but also because, during the process, I taught myself how to do a video. But I will say, it wasn’t easy. Oh no. In the first instance, I had great expectations, which like little Pip, met with disaster after disaster. I have done three now during my time with this wonderful group of writers. I was just so delighted and proud to be with leading best sellers, NYTimes and USAToday.
The first time I attempted to do the video, I realized it was far more intricate than I imagined. I so wanted to do it on my own. My son is a brilliant IT expert and so willing to help out, but I really wanted to say this was all my own work. I really thought MovieMakers Live for Windows was a doddle, but the nasty little programme proved me wrong. I am not alone in that, as a gentleman who is renowned in this field said the same. He didn’t want to go near it. But after hours of mind-numbing attempts, I was forced to swallow my pride and ask my son to help me. He came over immediately, as he only lives a fifteen-minute walk from us. Trouble is, once he’s on the PC, he’s like a dynamo; he works so fast, his fingers flying over the keys, so fast I don’t have time to write it all down.
He brightly said, ‘It’s okay mum; it’s all intuitive; it will just come to you.’
I looked at him balefully. Again my pride got in the way, and I nodded cheerfully, thinking well maybe it would be okay. I got the gist of what he was doing, and I could have another go on my own. He still doesn’t know that I don’t know how to work a cell phone, well not the new ones, which are computers in micro. I bought one the other month and nearly threw it through the window, but instead, calmed down and took it back to the shop. Good thing I did, as some of that range have now exploded, actually caught fire. So to return to the video, a week later, I was tearing my hair out, and busy searching the Web for those hair topknots. But then the miracle happened; on his next visit, my son decided to slow down on taking me through the painful steps of making a movie.
I watched his fingers flying over the PC and managed to write much of what he did in shorthand. I haven’t used shorthand for years but it came back to me. When I sat on my own at three am in the morning, watching a finished video of Love Christmas, actually work on YouTube I jumped from my chair and danced around the conservatory. I expect I did look rather manic punching the air and dancing.
But, even in this delirium of delight, I knew I was kidding myself; I really still didn’t have much of a clue, as to how to do the darn video without Ben. I needed some solid, structured knowledge on how to proceed. I yearned to be able to sit down in front of PC and just do it all calmly and perfectly. I decided, for my own sanity that I would put two days aside and watch all the tutorials I could on YouTube – ‘How to make a movie on Windows Live.’ That was where I found my hero and his channel ‘Meejah.’ What an incredible man, besides giving a clear, kind and concise tutorial, he went even further and explained everything, as if he was talking to an alien, or a child who’d never seen a programme before. He goes further and directs his virtual pupils to channels for free downloads of music and video blocks. Ha ha, that is a word I have just learnt. It means a video starter slip, a header of sorts, that starts the video’; one of those dramatic introductions with floating balloons, flying stars, or exploding planets. The music was out of this world, Beaster, what an incredible musician. Honestly on seeing the video up on the PC screen, I had such a great feeling, delicious actually, even better than eating chocolate, ice cream, or lemon meringue pie.
Much to my joy, I managed to actually put a movie together without picking up the phone and blubbering or swearing to Ben. But then came the dead Zone followed by unprintable words and jaw bunching, I couldn’t upload the darn thing to YouTube. I tried everything; time was ticking by, and the promotion had only so many days left. So … I had to pick up the phone. ‘Hello Ben. It’s mum, I … err … can’t upload the bl…..dy thing.’
‘Mum, no-one can; you have to upload it manually. Hardly anyone can upload onto YouTube from Movie maker.’
‘Oh, ‘ I sat back feeling mollified. My pride knitting back together.
Ben then gave instructions over the phone as I tried to upload the video. It didn’t work. But bless the child – man, he came straight over to the house and uploaded it. In half an hour, I was seeing it on YouTube. It was perfect. Love Christmas was on the Tube. He stood back embarrassed whilst his mum again danced around in a circle.
Some weeks later, I managed to do not one, but three videos, all on my little own. Hurrah, success at last.
So, I’ve put it on here for you and I desperately hope you will enjoy It.
Well, I’ve just gone to upload it for you, but would you believe it? After all this, I can’t put it on here unless I upgrade the website. So I can’t show the third video to you either. What is it with the universe? Is it trying to tell me something? Should I go back to painting? But, I’m not tearing my hair out – really, I’m not gritting my teeth. It’s 1.21 am and I can’t upload it here. I’ll just put up a poster. I was thinking of upgrading, so now I’ll have to, as my new hobby is ‘The video!!!’
It’s always fun to learn something new. And in this career, there sure is a lot to learn 🙂