Series: How to Begin Recording Your Life Story, Part 4: Using Writing, Video, and Audio

“Too many people overvalue what they are not, and undervalue what they are.”

                                                                                                             --Malcom S. Forbes

Welcome to Part 4 in the series, How to Begin Recording Your Life Story. After last week's post my friend and fellow author, Helena Fairfax, left this comment--

Hi JQ,
I subscribe to a British magazine for women writers called Mslexia. You might be interested to know they're holding free workshops to help you write your own memoirs They also have a competition on at the moment for memoir writers. I thought it would be of interest. 

Thank you, Helena, for introducing this magazine for women writers to the readers and me and for the heads-up on the memoir writing workshop.  The post on writing memoirs was very informative and made good points for memoirists to keep in mind as they begin their writing. Lots of inspiring blog posts and writerly information to be found here.

I love being connected on the Internet where readers and writers help each other just like this.

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Using a headset

Image courtesy of Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The title of this series is How to Begin Recording Your Life Story. Recorded is intentionally used in the title because there are many ways to tell your story and keep it as a record for your family and friends. Usually we talk about writing, and I must admit, I am more inclined to give folks tips on writing out their life experiences because I am a writer. 

Instead of blocking your path by insisting on writing, I want you to be aware there are other ways to share your stories. And I must point out that you are the only one who can tell your story. You are the keeper of your life story. You are the only one who can tell the truth about your life choices or not having choices and the experiences that colored your life. 

You may want to have a writer interview you and let her put together your story on paper for you or record your accounts on video or audio.

Dealing with the technology may be too difficult for you and overwhelming. If you wish to do it  yourself, ask someone in your life like the kids, yeah those young whipper-snappers, who know all about the programs available. 

Deciding to take the DIY approach, I've been exploring methods to accomplish this. There definitely is a learning curve on all this technology, so if you want to try learning about making a video or audio file, Youtube is your best friend. You can find out about everything on Youtube!! Your next place to discover how-to information is to "google" the information. Go to google.com or your favorite search engine. In the search bar, place "audio file" or "make a movie" or similar key search words. Don't use the quotation marks around your search words.

I have listed the places I explored:

• Windows Live Movie Maker--to find out if you have this program, click the colorful round circle (start button) at the bottom left side of your computer screen. Then type in movie maker and it will come up. Click on it, but when you see the screen don't run. Just hop over to Youtube and learn how to use it!! I would love to see a video filled with old photos of your family. Perhaps you have a photo of your grandmother you could use, her house, her wedding photo, add some photos from freedigitalphotos.net of things she was interested in like horses, sewing, playing the piano, etc. You can type your story on each slide and select free music from Kevin McLeod's infotech.com to play in the background. You may prefer to record an audio to accompany each slide. Remember to talk about your grandmother, how she is related to you, share some anecdotes about her, and your feelings about her. Then you can upload the finished movie to Youtube to share with everyone or just family members.
• Microsoft Power Point--I am ashamed to admit I don't know how to use Power Point very well. This program uses slides and audio can be added to them to make a wonderful presentation. I vow to learn more about it. I'll post it on my blog once I get a decent video made.
• Video camera--You can have someone video you or set up the video camera so you can talk about your family. You could make a dish your mother was famous for preparing for a family dinner or teach viewers how to crochet a favorite item she used to give as gifts. And again, don't get caught up in the activity only, talk about your mother, your feelings about her, and your relationship to her.
• Audacity.com--is a powerful program to record audio files. I played around with this to make an audio file which can be exported as an mp3 file and used as a podcast. I really, really wanted to have the file here on my blog to share with you, but, even after googling and watching Youtube videos on how to embed the file into Blogger accounts, I wasn't successful.

I was able to add it to my J.Q. Rose author website. If you recall, I suggested in an earlier post to write a letter to your ten year old self, so I recorded my letter to Janet Lee at Ten. If you're curious and wish to listen to it, scroll down the page and you will see the player right next to the badge for How to Begin Recording Your Life Story. 

Big thank you to my daughter, Lee Ann, for helping me figure out the microphone and answering a lot of questions about the program. (She did voice overs and was a DJ so she had experience with microphones and making audio files.) Let me know if the player worked for you and if volume and clarity are good too. Watch out! If you like the recording, there may be more along the way!!Next week, we'll wrap up the series. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have for adding more information or clearing up any questions about life story writing. Thanks so much for stopping in.

“You must have control of the authorship of your own destiny. The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand.” ---Irene C. Kassorla

                                                                                                  

Seeds of Inspiration Event: Romance Author Helena Fairfax and Giveaway

On this lovely May Day, please welcome my friend and romance author Helena Fairfax to the Seeds of Inspiration Event. Helena is graciously giving away her sweet romance, The Silk Romance, to a lucky commenter this week. Thank you, Helena.

Helena Fairfax was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She’s grown used to the cold now and that’s just as well, because nowadays she lives in an old Victorian mill town in Yorkshire, right next door to windswept Brontë country. She has an affectionate, if half-crazed, rescue dog and together they tramp the moors every day—one of them wishing she were Emily Brontë, the other vainly chasing pheasants. When she’s not out on the moors you’ll find Helena either creating romantic heroes and heroines of her own or else with her nose firmly buried in a book, enjoying someone else’s stories. Her patient husband and her brilliant children support her in her daydreams and are the loves of her life.

Find Helena online--

Helena's blog 

Goodreads

Facebook    

Twitter @helenafairfax

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My inspiration: Kaye Webb and Puffin Books for Children

by Helena Fairfax

I’ve chosen as my inspiration a lady called Kaye Webb, who was editor of Puffin Books – a British imprint for children’s books – during my childhood in the sixties and seventies.

Helena's Puffin Books Collection

When Kaye Webb took over at Puffin Books, the imprint had only 151 titles. By the end of Kaye Webb’s tenure she had brought out over a thousand more titles, including picture books and a range aimed at teenagers. She also founded the Puffin Book Club for children – of which I was a proud member, with my own badge :) – and the club is still going today.

I can’t tell you how much Puffin Books meant to me as a child growing up. I still have my favourite, battered copies in a bookcase in my study. You only have to look at the covers to know that these books were filled with magical worlds that transported me far from the cares of home and school. Kaye Webb was one of the first ever editors to realise the importance of writing for children, and she made the authors she published, and their stories, into household names.

There are so many Puffin Books that still stick in my mind today, it’s hard to pick out just a few. The classic Stig of the Dump, by Clive King; Watership Down, by Richard Adams; all the books by Leon Garfield and Joan Aiken, which I loved. Noel Streatfield, Laura Ingalls Wilder - the list goes on and on.

Puffin books are filled with adventure. They are positive stories in which compassionate people triumph, and good always overcomes evil. The stories resonate with children, because they present a world so unlike the world many of us grow up in – that is, a world in which all ends as it should. Kaye Webb was a firm believer that if more children read books, the world would be a better place. Her Puffin books were certainly the mainstay of my childhood, and reading them inspired me to become a writer.

Thanks so much for having me today, JQ. It’s been so much fun going through my old Puffin books!

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Contemporary sweet romance

My first novel, The Silk Romance, is a contender for the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers. The award will be presented at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Summer Party in London on 22nd May.

Back Cover

Jean-Luc Olivier is a devastatingly handsome racing-driver with the world before him. Sophie Challoner is a penniless student, whose face is unknown beyond her own rundown estate in London. The night they spend together in Paris seems to Sophie like a fairytale—a Cinderella story without the happy ending. She knows she has no part in Jean-Luc’s future. She made her dying mother a promise to take care of her father and brother in London. One night of happiness is all Sophie allows herself. She runs away from Jean-Luc and returns to England to keep her promise.

Safely back home with her father and brother, and immersed in her college work, Sophie tries her best to forget their encounter, but she reckons without Jean-Luc. He is determined to find out why she left him, and intrigued to discover the real Sophie. He engineers a student placement Sophie can’t refuse, and so, unwillingly, she finds herself back in France, working for Jean-Luc in the silk mill he now owns.

Thrown together for a few short weeks in Lyon, the romantic city of silk, their mutual love begins to grow. But it seems the fates are conspiring against Sophie’s happiness. Jean-Luc has secrets of his own. Then, when disaster strikes at home in London, Sophie is faced with a choice—stay in this glamorous world with the man she loves or return to her family to keep the sacred promise she made her mother.

The Silk Romance is available from all major e-book retailers, and also from the MuseItUp Publishing bookstore

Please leave a comment for a chance to win the e-book. Were you inspired by books you read as a child? What is your favorite book from your childhood?

Spring Gardening with a Greenhouse, This Week, Giveaway

Still waiting on spring? Yes, I can't wait till we see beautiful tulips in our yard. No color yet!
The sunny daffodils are welcome bursts of color in northern landscapes now.

If you are a gardener (or married to one like I am), you are chomping at the bit to get the garden going. My DH, Gardener Ted, is busy planting seeds in flats and pots hoping to get ahead of Mother Nature. No waiting for a seed to pop up in the garden, he'll be able to transplant the healthy seedlings as soon as heavy frosts are over...whenever that may be. He and the grandsons put up a greenhouse as soon as we returned from Florida in April.

The next day, it looked like this--

I must admit I'd never seen snow on the greenhouse, but then again, I had never seen snow on our deck furniture either!

Now he has the plants tucked in the warm greenhouse even if the overnight temps are 30 degrees. So keep your fingers crossed that warm temperatures will arrive soon, before the greenhouse has a ton of overgrown plants inside. I'll keep ya' posted. 

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This Week:

Thursday, May 1

Sweet romance author Helena Fairfax reveals her inspiration to be a writer. Helena is offering her award-nominated romance, The Silk Romance, as a prize to the winning commenter. Be sure to come back Thursday and leave a comment!

The Month of May:

Seeds of Inspiration Event guest authors:

May 1  Helena Fairfax
         8  Katie Carroll
       15 Susan Bernhardt

May 22--J. Q. Rose Birthday Giveaway!!

Veteran's Day, Blog Tour, This Week

Veteran's Day today in the USA. God bless veterans! 

My husband served in the US Air Force. What is it about a uniform that makes you fall in love with a guy? 

On Veteran's Day we honor those who gave their lives in service to our country and say a huge thank you to veterans especially those who served during the VietNam War. During that never-declared war, the military servicemen and women never received the recognition they were due. We will never forget you.

Today I am also thinking of the thousands of people devastated by the history making storm in the Philippines. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

My author friend, Heather Fraser Brainerd invited me to take part in a huge BLOG TOUR this week. You can link back to her page and discover other authors who are participating today. At the end of my interview, I have listed three authors who will be blogging next week. Have fun on the tour!

This BLOG TOUR is where authors answer a series of questions about their writing, sharing their journey with other authors and interested folks.

1. What are you working on right now?
I am working on another mystery novel and having a blast with it. My main character is Lauren Staab. Her family is in the funeral business, the Staab and Blood Funeral Home. They discover a dead body in the garage of the funeral home. Well, I know you are thinking a body in a funeral home, that's not unusual, Janet. But this is the body of a murder victim sprawled on the floor of the garage. Why was he dumped at their funeral home? Well, for sure they do better work than Schultz Funeral Home across town, but doubtful that is the reason. At this point I have so many men in the story, I don't really know which one Lauren is going to choose for romance, but it will be fun watching her make up her mind in the midst of a murder investigation. Stay tuned!

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre?
My family was in the funeral home business. I'm the daughter of a funeral director just like Lauren. Needless to say, I am an insider and I reveal what it's really like living in such a stressful, but fulfilling business. Helping families through such a difficult time is an honor and a privilege.

3. Why do you write what you do?
I enjoy reading mysteries because they are like solving puzzles. When writing I giggle when I leave little hints, whether a red herring or valuable information for readers, for solving the "whodunit" puzzle. Developing well-rounded characters with all their foibles and strengths keeps it interesting. 

4. How does your writing process work?
Before I start the story, I know who my strong heroine will be. The story develops around her. I usually make notes as to what will transpire from the beginning to the end. These notes are not set in stone. As I write, I scratch out some and add others in order to produce the best story line.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. What genres do you like to read and why? Your comments, questions, and waves are always appreciated!

Look for these authors to answer the four questions next week on their blogs.

• Romance writer Helena Fairfax, http://www.helenafairfax.com
• The "official unofficial" reporter of Gum Drop Island, I.B. Nosey, http://feelingnosey.blogspot.com
• Romantic Suspense/Second Chances/Experience Required author Marsha R. West http://www.marsharwest.com/category/blog

This Week:
Sunday, November 10--Yesterday I kicked off the first post in MuseItUp Publishing's Mystery and Suspense Week on the MIU blog. I discussed Conflict in Stories. Check in all week to discover great writers and books. You can catch my blog post on the Sunday, Nov. 10 MuseItUp Publishing blog.

Thursday, November 14-- Yee-haw, ya'all. You're invited to visit author Margaret Mendel as she shares her pastime, photography. Beautiful photos indeed! 

Thank you for stopping by. You have a fantastic week!

Hobby Hoedown: Knitting with Author Helena Fairfax and Giveaway

Welcome author Helena Fairfax. I'm thrilled to have Helena here today since she is a busy gal hopping around cyberspace letting everyone know about her new release last month, a very romantic story, The Silk Romance from MuseItUp Publishing. Watch for more information about it at the end of her article.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter the drawing for a copy of The Silk Romance.

Helena's adorable knitting is spotlighted today at the Hobby Hoedown. Adorable, you ask? Yes, indeed! Take a peek at her pastime.

Helena Fairfax:  All About Knitting, Biscuits, and the Royal Family

Hi Jan, and thanks so much for having me on your blog.  Am loving the idea of a group of hobbyists getting

together!

In case your readers don’t know me, my name’s Helena Fairfax.  I’m a British romance author, and I live in Yorkshire in the north of England.

A couple of years ago the wedding of HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton took place with great ceremony here in the UK.  Although most of us British have a high regard for the work of our Royal Family, on the other hand, we do like to take the mickey out of them a little as well.  (Translation: make fun, in a light-hearted way.)

Here’s an example.  This is a photo of a biscuit tin my niece gave me at the time of their engagement.  (Translation: biscuits = cookies.)

Did you ever see anything more kitsch?  If you look closely, you will see a royal crest on the tin.  This means that McVitie’s, the biscuit manufacturers, are suppliers to the Queen.  I wonder if Her Majesty has the same tin in her kitchen?  Somehow I doubt it!  But as you can guess, the tin now takes pride of place on my kitchen dresser.

And for Mother’s Day in 2011 I received the most fabulous present from my daughters.  This tremendous book! Knit Your Own Royal Wedding!  

I love knitting, and I was so excited!  The book was printed before the actual wedding, so of course the authors could only try to guess at what everyone would be wearing on the day. For example, Prince William wore his red Irish Guards uniform, and not the grey uniform of the RAF which is seen on the cover of the book.  But all in all the book’s authors made a really good guess at the clothes the family would be wearing.  I was very impressed.

And they also produced the best book trailer ever.

So, I spent a lot of the summer of 2011 knitting my own royal wedding. (I amended the patterns slightly so that the figures wore the correct clothes.)  And here are the photos to prove it.  My figures are even posing beside my friend’s Royal Albert tea service.

The final picture shows the whole balcony scene

I was taught to knit by my mother, who is Irish. My mother was a needlework teacher.  She and my Irish grandmother were both beautiful needlewomen, and highly skilled. 

Although I’m not as clever with the sewing needle, I did inherit my mother’s love of textiles, and this has had an influence on my novel, The Silk Romance, which is set in a silk-weaving mill in Lyon, France.

Here is the blurb:  Jean-Luc Olivier is a devastatingly handsome racing-driver with the world before him.  Sophie Challoner is a penniless student, whose face is unknown beyond her own rundown estate in London.  The night they spend together in Paris seems to Sophie like a fairytale—a Cinderella story without the happy ending. She knows she has no part in Jean-Luc’s future.  She made her dying mother a promise to take care of her father and brother in London.   One night of happiness is all Sophie allows herself. She runs away from Jean-Luc and returns to England to keep her promise.

Safely back home with her father and brother, and immersed in her college work, Sophie tries her best to forget their encounter, but she reckons without Jean-Luc.  He is determined to find out why she left him, and intrigued to discover the real Sophie.  He engineers a student placement Sophie can’t refuse, and so, unwillingly, she finds herself back in France, working for Jean-Luc in the silk mill he now owns.

Thrown together for a few short weeks in Lyon, the romantic city of silk, their mutual love begins to grow.  But it seems the fates are conspiring against Sophie’s happiness.  Jean-Luc has secrets of his own.  Then, when disaster strikes at home in London, Sophie is faced with a choice—stay in this glamorous world with the man she loves, or return to her family to keep the sacred promise she made her mother.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my photos and my knitted royal family.  If you have, please visit me on my blog sometime: www.helenafairfax.com.  Or you can visit me here on my Facebook page.  I love to meet new people!

The Silk Romance is available in the MuseItUp bookstore, or from Amazon and other major e-tailers.

I’d love to give a free copy away - please just leave me a comment for a chance to win!

Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Jan.  I’ve absolutely loved being here, and showing off my eccentric English hobby.

This Week's Events

Welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog! 

Glad you're here. I want to share this event packed week with you. 

I hope you'll join in on the fun!

TONIGHT-

Come and visit at the Writer's Chatroom tonight from 7-9 pm EDST. I am the guest author at the chat moderated by Audrey Shaffer. Please join us for a great discussion, giveaway, and fun!

Click on Enter Chatroom, fill in your name and hit sign in. No registration or password necessary.

I began lurking at the Writers Chatroom many years ago when Audrey Shaffer was known as the Google Queen. I enjoyed the camaraderie and writing tips imparted by Audrey and the gang at TWC. If you are beginning your journey in writing or have several published pieces under your belt, you will enjoy the Sunday night Author Guest Chats and the Wednesday less formal chats from 8-10 pm.

TUESDAY JUNE 4--

Paranormal auithor Sarah Jane Lehoux rolls in on her Sevy Series blog tour. Come back and see why she believes "it’s a writer’s duty to educate themselves in human psychology." Also leave a comment for a big prize giveaway.

THURSDAY JUNE 6--

Author Helena Fairfax is our author hobbyist for the Hobby Hoedown event. She has knitted some adorable figures. Please leave a comment to win her new romance, The Silk Romance.