Day 1 – The Why of this Blog and Video

by Gewleigh1 Aug 2021Julies Memoirs, Memoir

Welcome to-Day One of my self-imposed blog / memoir challenge to record the daily activities of a business owner and entrepreneur. The trials and tribulations that I go through. I will be honest, frank and to the point. Running a business is fun, annoying, stressful and the best job I have ever had.

I thought I would put some personality into my first blog post of this challenge and record a video of me speaking to camera, to introduce myself. Thinking it would only take a few minutes as I didn’t want the video to be over 3 minutes long. It took forever, OK not that long but to get the video recorded took an hour and a half, to do a minor edit to two hours and then posting and writing this blog post took an hour. So four and a half hours for a few words and a three-minute video.

Why does a video recording take so long?

Putting on make before a video recording

First, I needed to put some colour in my cheeks. I had just woken up and looked as if I was at death’s door. So on with the slap (or make up if you prefer). You would think this would be a straightforward task. Being a woman, we should all know how to apply makeup and look a million dollars in 60 seconds. I rarely wear make-up so had to turn the bathroom upside down to find the little makeup I had. My bathroom is now a complete and utter tip. My make up is so old I had to put it in hot water to loosen it so I can use the foundation and mascara. Before anybody tells me, yes I know you should change your make up every three months. But the reality is we don’t.

Looking good on camera?

After experimenting with how to apply the said makeup, I haven’t done it for many years. I finally settled on brown eyeshadow a bit of lipstick and foundation. I forgot to put blusher, which was why I started the entire process. Claudia Schiffer: I am not, but looking human and able to face a camera, yes.

Location, Location, Location

I then had to find a location to record my video. I tried my spare room, the kitchen, the living room, even the bathroom, all to no avail. In the end I went into my office and spent half an hour moving furniture around trying to find a backdrop that would look suitable for a video.

I know the video to the side of this narrative doesn’t look like a superb background. But it was the best I could do with the location I have. I will not go out and buy a green screen and it took long enough. As you can see from the photographs, my office is now a complete and utter tip. Once the video was recorded, or I should say during the recording of the video, my dog was barking, so this version is version two.

If you could see my stance while recording the video you think I was going to cause physical damage to myself. I was half bending and doing a sideward squat to get in shot. How these bloggers do it daily I just don’t know. It must take them hours to set up before they can actually publish a video. I’m not sure I’m going to spend over an hour every time I record one. I need to get on and actually do some billable work.

The reason behind writing this memoir

The idea behind this blog is that I want to show people everybody has a story to tell, no matter what you do and how you do it. There are different reasons people want to write memoirs.