How Many Writers Does It Take to Make a Book Trailer?

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You would not think making a book trailer would be that hard, but I’m here to tell you that for someone like me—at times technically challenged, a novice as to how to manage microphones, lighting, and recording—it took a bit of time.

I made my first one for my short story collection, A Small Thing to Want, in advance of its release. I took a class through Skillshare with writer Amy Stewart on how to make one.

Since then, I have had it on my to-do list to make one for my memoir, The Going and Goodbye.

Finally in the last two weeks, I got around to attempting it, thinking the second one would be a breeze.

It was not. At all. For a variety of reasons, only one of which was my pandemic hair (see image!).

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But I got the trailer done, uploaded it to Vimeo and YouTube, and felt extremely smart.

Then, the next day, I pulled it up on the internet and what did I see? My forehead. Specifically, my forehead that was so shiny it looked like a flashlight.

So back again to filming.

I ended up having some little secret touches to this second attempt: the pendant I am wearing is featured in the memoir, in chapter 13, “Breath and Stars and Time.”

Also, the jacket I am wearing is from the Antioch Wellness Center, a gym in my hometown of Yellow Springs, OH—a town that also features prominently in the memoir.

If you want to see the video, here it is:

Sometimes second is not so bad after all. What do you think? Did I do okay? Be kind in your answer, please. You can even lie if you hate it.

May all of you be safe and well.

P.S.P.S. I’ve mentioned Skillshare before—I have been taking lots of doodling/drawing classes on there, and it’s where I learned to make a book trailer. They have classes on hundreds of things. If you are interested in checking out Skillshare, you can try it for free for two months—here is the link to sign up for a free two-month trial.

Please join us:

Free but registration required. Click here to register.

My Next Education

Many years ago, when my then-husband and I started truly struggling in our marriage and toward our way to the end (though I did not know it was the end), I saw I had a few things of my own to work on and I started the work. But looking back, I can see that I did not yet know how much work I had to do.

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Finally, when my then-husband said he wanted out of the marriage, I mostly blamed him. And in the months that followed, I blamed him more. I considered myself a good wife, a good partner, a good person. I told myself that I might not have been perfect, but I also reasoned I hadn’t contributed much—if at all—to the problem.

Most of the time, when I think I’m not part of the problem, that’s when I most need to realize I am.

I’ve been thinking about that period of my life lately. I was young then—young when I got married, young when I got divorced. I think about all the things I did not understand before, and after. 

What I could not ignore after my ex left was all the evidence of our breakup: the dresser drawers emptied of his belongings, the rice maker he’d left behind that sat collecting dust on the kitchen shelf (I had no idea how to use it), the whole bed for me where once two people had lain. Around my place—which had been our place—were little reminders that I was alone now, and I didn’t want to be alone forever.

You can do the work, I told myself, or you can pretend you don’t need to. Those are your two options.

What followed is a time I jokingly (but also seriously) called Dating School. Every date I went on, every relationship I got in (and out of) was an opportunity to learn some lessons, get more education, become a better person. I had to work on my flaws—insecurities, blind spots, ways that I hindered relationships. Yeehaw. 

And so I did the work—hard work, sometimes, emotionally grueling in fact. Who wants to look at their own flaws? Who wants to see the not-so-pretty parts of themselves?

But my parents’ faith—rooted in the belief that love is the most important thing of all—taught me that learning life’s lessons was part of life’s pact with God. The goal for me has always been to leave this life a better person than when I entered it, and to leave this Earth a better place for everyone.

There’s a crisis—on race and inequity—going on in our country right now. The crisis has been there for a long time, but it’s only now that there is such a loud cry that enough is enough that I am hearing it with new ears. I’m realizing that—not out of willful malice, but out of being blind to myself—I am part of the problem. But this also means I can be part of the solution.

So I am starting to do the work with the hope that my parents’ beliefs—that love is the most important thing—will continue to guide me as I go through my next education.