Thursday, March 14, 2013

Simply Horrifying



You know what the opposite of writing is?

Making a video.

Yet I must do this shortly for my YA debut group, The 2014Valentines.*

And it’s not going to be some informational “Hi, I’m Kristen, and my book is called blah, blah, blah….” 

My hair is not unlike this most days.
I have to make a silly video. 

Silly is most definitely in my wheelhouse but the video part … NO. Well outside my comfort zone. 

But I must do it. Because humiliation disguised as marketing? It’s a thing now.

So I just did a test run and watched it and let me tell you, it was simply horrifying.

HORRIFYING. Horror show horrifying.

You know how you hate the sound of your own voice when you hear it on a recording?  Yeah, well, I watched this video clip and it was so bad, I wanted to punch myself in the face for ever being born. 

But OK, I HAVE to do it. So I watched a bunch of “good” author videos. Good in the sense that they seem to have a lot of views on YouTube and I’m trying to learn from them. Then I'll do a few more test runs. I’m hoping that repetition will help me get over my knee-jerk mortification at the sight of my own talking face on a screen. 

This vlogging thing is extremely painful, but I know it won’t be the last time I'll have to do something that makes me want to retreat into my kangaroo pouch and breathe into a paper bag. So I reminded myself that writing used to be outside my comfort zone, too. Then I ate some Cheetos. Because that's how I calm myself down when I'm inside my kangaroo pouch.

And just what have you done to stretch YOUR comfort zone this week? 

*Yes, I’ll let you know when the video goes live over at the YA Valentines site. And you will go there and say reassuring things about it. Because you’re nice like that.


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