Daily Archives: December 11, 2008

How Saint Nick helped me put together my “Holiday Poem” Video Podcast

by Jina Bacarr

I feel the holiday spirit in the air. Cold, windy days here at the beach. The smell of pine and cinnamon wafting in the supermarket. The sparkle of red and blue and green holiday lights evoking a warm, cheery feeling inside me down to my toes.

“Saint Nick, Cleopatra and me”

I also have a lot of writing to do. A lot. I just finished my author edits for my next Spice, Cleopatra’s Perfume (“One whiff and every man was her slave…”) and I’m working on a new Spice as well as another project, both that require an immense amount of research. I’m not complaining. I’ve worked years to get to this point in my writing and every day when I sit down at my computer, I give thanks for all I have.

Yet this holiday season I won’t be able to make the OCC/RWA December meeting and see everyone and share holiday cheer. My deadlines are just too close and there’s so much writing to be done.

What does this have to do with podcasting?

When I was in the midst of recording my audio podcast for the December 13th meeting, I was also in the middle of doing author edits for my 460 page manuscript. I began to think “What if Saint Nick could do these edits for me…”

I was so inspired by that idea that in minutes I’d written my holiday poem and decided to record it. I posted the audio recording here on our blog page and I also put together a video podcast using pictures from previous podcasts I’ve done on various subjects.

The result is my Holiday Poem video about Saint Nick, Cleopatra and me. I hope you enjoy it. And you never know, Saint Nick might log in on your computer and help you with your writing…

Best,
Jina

Jina’s Podcast Tip:

You can use video editing software to make a fun, creative video with photos you’ve taken yourself or purchased from sites like istockphoto.com. Then add a voiceover, sweeten it with podsafe music, transitions, special effects, etc.

I used Power Director 7 from Cyberlink.com to make this video and had fun adding interesting holiday effects. This latest version from Cyberlink is a 2008 PC Magazine Editors’ Choice.

Jina Bacarr is the author of The Blonde Geisha , Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs, featuring a female Indiana Jones.

Coming in April 2009:

Cleopatra’s Perfume