Category: Authors

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Authors Book Marketing Books Editing English Language Grammar Outlining Publishing Writing Advice Writing Opinion Writing Skills

Introducing my YouTube channel

AUTHOR’S NOTE: All of the sound effects that I use in my YouTube videos have been obtained without charge from ZapSplat, whose web address is https://www.zapsplat.com.

I apologize for not writing a new blog post on here in a month and a half, but, since my previous blog post, I have successfully launched my new YouTube channel where, in the coming days, weeks, months, and years, I will be providing my advice and opinion on matters related to writing, editing, outlining, publishing, and other writing-related topics. I’m proud to be part of the AuthorTube community on YouTube!

Here’s the trailer for my YouTube channel:

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Not counting my channel trailer, I’ve uploaded two videos to my YouTube channel so far. The first of these videos is about why I believe that “describe, don’t explain” is better writing advice than “show, don’t tell”. The second of these videos is about my three-step outlining process for novels and novellas.

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

From this point forward, I will begin uploading new videos on Tuesdays, aside from some occasional Thursday uploads. While I won’t necessarily upload new videos every single Tuesday, I’ll do everything possible to avoid going more than a few weeks between uploads. I chose Tuesdays and Thursdays as upload dates as a courtesy to fellow AuthorTube members Sarah Sutton and Meg LaTorre. Sutton, whose YouTube channel can be found here, uploads new videos on Mondays and Fridays, with writing sprints livestreaming on Wednesdays, and LaTorre, who runs the popular iWriterly YouTube channel, uploads or livestreams new videos on Wednesdays.

A helpful feature of my YouTube channel is my Best of #AuthorTube playlist, where I feature videos from fellow AuthorTube members that I find to be helpful, insightful, and interesting. Unlike my other YouTube playlists, which I use to categorize my own videos, my Best of #AuthorTube playlist features YouTube videos from others, not me.

I use the built-in webcam on my HP Stream laptop, which runs Microsoft Windows 10, to record my YouTube videos, and I use a computer program called Shotcut, which includes a YouTube preset for video exporting, to edit and format my YouTube videos. Shotcut is a free-to-download, open-source program for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux, and Shotcut’s website can be found here.

I hope you enjoy my YouTube channel. Feel free to follow this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Categories
Aaron Apollo Camp Projects Administrative Authors Books Publishing Self-Publishing

My writing work will continue through a stay-at-home order in Illinois

Starting at 5 PM CDT today, a stay-at-home order, issued by the Governor of Illinois, will go into effect across the entire state of Illinois due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A list of permitted activities during the stay-at-home order can be found here.

Due to my mother being in poor health and having to spend a considerable amount of time of each day caring for my mother, I have only recently started getting around to doing writing work on several books to be written and published, and this writing work will continue during the stay-at-home order. As a self-published author, I work from home under normal circumstances, and my work as an author is not incorporated as a business in Illinois or any other jurisdiction. However, final publishing of books that I am currently writing will not be done while the stay-at-home order is in effect in Illinois.

While the stay-at-home order is in effect in my home state, anyone with an Amazon account can buy gifts for me from my Amazon wishlist.

Categories
Authors Writing Advice Writing Skills

ShaelinWrites is an invaluable resource for authors

As a relatively new person to the writing community, I have begun to watch YouTube videos about the writing craft in an effort to learn more about the writing craft and improve my own writing skills. A YouTube channel that I have come to regard as an invaluable resource for book authors is ShaelinWrites, which is the YouTube channel of Canadian author Shaelin Bishop.

My favorite feature of ShaelinWrites is Shaelin’s writing advice videos, in which Shaelin offers advice on various aspects of the craft of writing books. These videos are very informative, and can be anywhere from several minutes to nearly one-half hour in length. Shaelin’s style of giving writing advice is very pleasant, and I strongly like how she doesn’t try to bind people into one style of writing and seems to be genuinely interested in helping writers improve their craft. There is a lot more content on ShaelinWrites, including vlogs and other writing-related videos, and I love how she has organized her channel into playlists.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started