Nocturnal Journal–Mandy M. Roth

I woke up extra early today to wrap presents for the middle kid’s b-day today. I got everything out of the bag and realized I bought gift bags with pink butterflies on them. He’s a he and doesn’t find that nearly as cute as most would.

I decide to make the bags cooler so I get the scissors out and go to town, clipping wings and gluing extra stuff to them so they’re no longer pink winged butterflies, they’re goth-flies….That’s what I told him and dammit, we’re all sticking to this theory.

I get the cake (that I bought yesterday) out and shove the candles in. It then hits me that I don’t have any matches so I have to go get the lighter for the grill… you know, the 12 in long one that shoots a flame as long as a finger. Grin After “torching” his cake candles we launch into Happy Birthday and he’d thinking its the coolest day evvvvaaa.

Lucky me.

It’s not even 8 am here yet and already they’ve cracked open some of the Wii games and are currently doing some other Pirates of the Caribbean thing. I asked the DH to run the treat for school up on his way to work so I don’t have to run out later (I’m uber behind on deadlines and wanted to spend day writing and catching up)…he gave me a song and dance on the reasons why he could not carry out a simple task. I just smiled Grin and waved as he left.

He’ll pay with a pound of flesh dammit.

See…this is me without coffee. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

My goal is to get a few hours of writing in this morning since the weekend will be a bust. Looks like I’ll be running the treat up early afternoon and I promised to take the boys to a movie tonight.

So, that’s my day so far. Kind of boring. I know.

Michelle M. Pillow. She’ll be talking with us about how to make a book video!

7. Adding Title and Credit Text– Under option ‘2. Edit Video’ select ‘Make Titles or Credits’. You can easily add a title page by selecting ‘Add title at the beginning of the movie’, or add scrolling end credits by selection ‘Add credits at the end of the movie’. Write your text in the box(es) provided. Then under ‘More Options’ you can choose different title animation, font and colors. A preview will show up in the movie screen on the right so you can see the changes you’re making. When you’re satisfied, click ‘Done, add title to movie’.

8. Adding Text onto or in-between the images—You will need to select/highlight the image you wish to add text to and go back to option ‘2. Edit Video’, ‘Make Titles or Credits’. To add titles before or after that images so they show up on their own screen, click the appropriate options. (Note: You might have to redo some of your video transitions if you do this, as you’ll be adding scenes to your storyboard) To put text directly onto an image, choose ‘Add Title on the selected clip on the storyboard’. Fill in the information, choose your title animation, font and color then click ‘Done, add title to movie’. Your video now has movie. (Note: When you do this, you’ll be automatically taken to the timeline view. The text you added will show up in the timeline beneath the photo.)

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Michelle M. Pillow. She’ll be talking with us about how to make a book video!

How to Make a very Basic Movie:

1.Gather the stock photography/graphic images you want to use to illustrate your story. Since you’re advertising a book, these need to be copyright free, stock photos/graphics or photos/graphics that you have permission to use. It might help to read over your blurb and get a basic idea of what you want your movie to say, including the overall feel and tone the images should portray. Make sure the graphics are cropped, edited and ready to use in your movie. You don’t need to worry about putting text directly on these pictures unless you want the wording integrated into the picture itself.

Here are just a few of the places you can buy royalty free stock photos:
Big Stock Photo

Free Stock Photo

Shutter Stock
Fotolia
photos.com

2. As you work in Movie Maker, make sure you choose ‘File’, ‘Save Project’ (or save after the first time) to back up your movie after or during each step.

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Michelle M. Pillow She’ll be talking with us about how to make a book video!

Book Videos, Part One – The Very Basics

Book Videos (AKA Book Trailers) have been sweeping across the internet. For those of you just starting out with this new medium of marketing, it can be a little daunting as to where to start. The good news is there are a couple free basic programs out there to make the transition from author to movie maker easier.

FOR AUTHORS: this can be a great way to market at little cost, reaching new readers.

FOR READERS: don’t feel left out. You can still make fan videos for your fave authors using these simple steps. Interested? Check out the Express Yourself Contest
Photo Story from Microsoft, a free download

Microsoft Movie Maker, another Microsoft freebie

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Contest 1: Michelle M. Pillow and I have teamed up for a contest. How
to enter? Sign up on our forums. How do you win? We’ll be picking a
winner from those who join all 3 forums. What will you win? A signed
print book from Michelle and a signed print book from me. ALSO–the
FIRST person to reach 100posts in each forum will win a PDF download
from me and one from Michelle. (be sure to use the same username on
the three boards so we know to enter you into the drawing)

http://mandyroth.com/forum/
http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/ravenforum
http://www.michellepillow.com/authorforum/

Contest 2:

Express Yourself Contest

Since not everyone is “in love” with yahoo groups, we set up a web Forum for The Raven. We’re hoping it turns into a fun hang out!

If you get a chance, stop on by.

http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/ravenforum/

I think when Angie was in here helping out, she gave me her cold. Bad Angie. *snicker* Yes, I went to bed early last night. Anyone who knows me knows I run on about three or four hours of sleep per night. But last night I was out by ten and slept until five this morning. Dead to the world.

So, what does everyone have planned for the day/week? I need motivated.

Hey lady… you told us to make our jpegs and gifs 72dpi (resolution for web) but did you tell us what to make them in? No.

*big sigh* Yes, this information would have helped greatly.

If you’re like most everyday non-design folk, you don’t have an array of graphics programs at your fingertips. My fav is Photoshop. I’ve been working with the program way back when it was just about brand new. The downfalls to it are the price and the fact it can be a bit much to try to learn to use especially if you only need to do a few things on it. Don’t fret. There are alternatives to Photoshop and I’m here to tell you about them.

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Since my education and background are in the art/marketing end of things I thought I’d start a little something extra on my blog. I’ll call it Marketing with Mandy mostly because it lets me talk about myself in third person and feel really important. *grin*. These will pop up on my blog as I have time to get them out and will deal with topics/questions I see popping up on the net from other authors. I hope you find them helpful. (more…