The Vlogging Vlogger is Vlogging Vlogs in his Vlog.
November 4, 2020
Ever watch NCIS? I'm a fan. I wouldn't go to a convention dressed like McGee or anything, but I have rewatched the episodes on Netflix repeatedly. There is a trope on the show; Gibbs' Rules. Some of them are general wisdom, some are pure Gibbsism. Eventually, other members of the team began coming up with their own lists of rules.
“The Process”, the method by which I am training myself to be a blogger and vlogger, is generating a series of lessons. Those lessons are becoming MY rules. In essence, since The Process is merely me feeling my way forward, guided only by any advice I can pick up from books and the Internet, using my will, brains and grit, these Rules, these Lessons, are The Process.
Since I'm practically starting from scratch, everything I do in pursuit of this goal, my 3rd Career, is teaching me something new. Write a blog, learn something. Record some gravestones, learn something. Edit a vlog - you get the idea. Can't wait for the lessons I'm about to learn at tax time...
What have I learned so far? Let's see:
Produce Quantity. Quality will follow.
A old friend sent me an article when I announced to my Facebook friends I had a new side hustle I hoped to turn into my next career. It's something of a variation on “Allow yourself to suck.” I like it and I'm following it.
Get to the Graveyard early.
Sounds way more morbid than it is. But, it's a lesson I apparently need to bang into my head. I need to get to whatever site I'm going to record early, that way I have enough time to record everything I want to record and maybe a bit more, so I can throw out the stuff that didn't turn out.
Read The Fucking Manual.
This is an old lesson with a new twist. RTFM used to be a way to tell someone to read the documentation that came with their bit of technology before harassing others with questions they could have already answered for themselves. These days, there are Fucking Manuals fucking everywhere! If you can't find out how to do the thing you want to do on Google or YouTube, change your search terms, it's out there! In my case, Adobe has what used to cost tens of thousands of dollars of educational material on how to use their software included in the price of their software subscription. Color me impressed!
Look at a map.
This is another way to say RTFM, and, I need this lesson banged into my head as well. If I am going to speak to camera about a site I'm recording, saying, REPEATEDLY!, it's in St. Louis County when it's in the city - this will just result in wasted editing time when I am cutting six and seven frames, individual words, one at a time! Also, getting to a site and discovering it's six to ten times larger than I thought and I don't know where the good stuff is located will result in not getting enough footage and wasting time with less impressive and interesting subjects.
Read the Wiki.
RTFM! The Wikipedia entry on whatever site I'm going to is the LEAST amount of research I should do before I allow myself out of my apartment. If I'm taking pictures of the Quick Trip down the street, I should have its wiki page and corporate page memorized!
Read Something Besides Wikipedia.
I'm a huge fan of Wikipedia. But, not everything is there and it's not always complete. Look at several sources. Don't throw things together the day of the shoot. At the very least I should show some journalistic curiosity and read several Wikipedia pages.
Bang the Rocks.
“We'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent lifeforms everywhere and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Again, an old lesson. But, for me, I need to learn to be more persistent. This lesson is a bit of Lesson 1 and Lesson 3, but with a learning focus. Am I afraid to proceed because I don't know how something works? Do I want to learn how to do something new? Do it. Proceed. RTFM. Press the buttons. What will I break?
Hit Save NOW!
I've been playing with computers since grade school - haven't I learned this lesson yet? Hit Save now and then! Do it! Make back ups! Jeebus!
Write It Down.
I have a terrible memory. Yet, I am convinced that I can remember every good, bad, weird, goofy and fun idea for a blog that pops into my head. I really can't, but I keep acting like I can. I am never more than five feet from a computing device - write the idea down! Send yourself a text or an email. Call and leave yourself a voicemail. Write it in blood on a food wrapper but get it down!
Turn It Off.
I don't have time to write a blog? I don't have time to edit a vlog? Bullshit! I just watched three hours of other people's vlogs! I just re-re-re-watched four episodes of West Wing and NCIS! Relaxation is important. Regulating my stress is important. But it's almost funny how much writing and editing I get done when I actually get in front of my computer and Bang the Rocks!
I am 100 percent sure this is only the beginning of my learning journey. Because I've been pushing myself, learning these lessons the hard way, I have a blog with ten entries, an Instagram page, a Facebook page and my first vlog is published with the second one complete and scheduled to go up soon! There are going to be dozens if not hundreds more lessons. Who knows? Maybe I'll write a book. Bang the Rocks - what will I break?