Living and learning through a new hobby

Happy Friday!

One thing on my task list is doing a book trailer. A major feat since I technologically challenged. That’s why I’m so excited to have Carolyn Ridder Aspenson on my blog today talking about her own experience with creating a book trailer.

Patience.

This is what doing book trailers has taught me.

Patience.

I’m not talking about patience with the author or the book. Sure, author’s can be high maintenance. I’m an author and I’m high maintenance. Just don’t tell my husband I said that. Why wouldn’t authors be, especially about something directly impacting their own work? They want what they want, which is their version of perfection, and I get that. They’ve spent days, months, years even, on perfecting their book so anything to represent it that isn’t up to par in their eyes is unacceptable. Been there, done that. So no, it’s not the authors that required my patience (mostly). It’s not the software program I’ve had to learn, though I admit that was quite a royal pain the behind.

The patience I’ve learned is with me, myself and I.

I’m an anal-retentive, type A personality, perfectionist. For me, there is a sweet taste that comes doing something right and having it exactly how I’ve intended. Probably I’m going to end up on high blood pressure medicine because the world doesn’t always play to my perfectionistic personality. I know this is true but it doesn’t seem to matter, or at least I don’t think about it that way, while in the thick of whatever I’m attempting to find perfection in, for, about or because of, that is. Instead I find myself breathing heavily, scrunching up my face and making frown lines appear.

I’m forty-six and one half years old. I can’t afford to create more frown lines. I need smile lines! Smile lines, however, require patience.

I spent many long, frustrating hours on my own trailer and did what I think was a fine job. Because of that, I thought, “hey, I can totally do this for other authors. It’s a piece of cake.” So I asked for a few volunteers on which to practice and got to work.

Not having read their books, not knowing what compelled them to write what they did, how they did, or about what they did, I was seriously flying by the seat of my pants. I asked a few questions, got their book blurbs and started finding photos and then BAM! The brick landed hard and fast and I realized I was in way over my head.

I might have panicked a little, thinking I’d made all of these practice promises and wouldn’t be able to keep them. I’d tried to figure out what these books were about and got nothing. Well, that’s not true. I got a lot from the authors but nothing that made me feel like I could describe the book in a way that would help it sell…a way that would make people want to read it. So incredibly over my head.

Desperate to figure out how to finish, because while I had toyed with the idea of telling the (for lack of a better term) guinea pigs, “Sorry, I can’t do this,” I’m not a quitter and I would be forever frustrated with myself if I didn’t follow through. I started looking the books up online and there, found a wealth of information about the book. I found what the author intended the book to be and what the best parts to highlight were for each trailer.

The process to create the actual trailers was painstakingly slow at times. I had to stop and start and delete just as I’d done on my own trailer. I seriously thought I could whip these babies out in no time at all. Boy was I wrong.

Days.

It took me days to get them how I wanted them and then more days to get them how the author wanted them.

And that’s what I learned about book trailers. For me, it’s not the program, or the book, or the photos or the music. It’s the patience required to do it right. It’s not a quick creation. It’s much like writing. Put a few things together. Walk away. Come back. Delete and start over. In the end though, it’s worth it. When I saw my final project completed and saw how happy my guinea pigs (okay, that makes me giggle and I am going to have to refer to them by this forever now) were, I felt an amazing sense of satisfaction and it make it all worth it.

Nothing like a little life lesson thrown at me from out of nowhere. And a few new smile lines, too.

Carolyn Ridder Aspenson is a freelance writer in Atlanta, GA. Her debut novel, Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Novel, is available on Amazon, iTunes and Barnes and Noble.

Check out Carolyn’s book trailers at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=carolyn+ridder+aspenson&oq=carolyn+ridder+aspenson&gs_l=youtube.3..35i39.35.1367.0.1597.14.12.0.0.0.0.168.1427.4j8.12.0…0.0…1ac.1.11.youtube.wnFirz0UaIw
Follow Carolyn at: @awritingwoman
Learn more about Carolyn at www.carolynridderaspenson.com and www.facebook.com/unfinishedbusiness