There’s no doubt that I have a lot on my plate. And although I am doing well in terms of keeping up with writing 1 million words this year, some of the other things are starting to suffer. Namely, trying to get videos out in a timely fashion.

Take today, for example. I’ve been working on a simple, 8+ minute video for WriterSanctuary for almost three hours now. I am way behind in work and I’m not sure if the video is going to be uploaded and shared before 6:30 pm tonight.

It probably doesn’t help that I am running on 4 hours of sleep.

What I need to do is get some of these things scheduled ahead of time. That way, I don’t have to stress too much about rushing to get something published.

Right now, I figured I would blog a bit while waiting for my computer to render the video in Premier.

Do I Have Time to Pre-Schedule Videos?

Part of what’s taking so long today is that I had to record the raw footage twice. Apparently, Premier doesn’t like handling MKV files anymore, which I had no problem using last month.

I switched to MKVs because OBS kept corrupting MP4 files. So far, OBS hasn’t botched an MKV.

Then, I spent an hour trying to get VLC to convert the file. It did, but the audio was incredibly messed up. So, I figured I would just record the video as an MP4 and cross my fingers that OBS didn’t butcher it.

At any rate, what I’m running into is a lack of time in my day to produce videos. I spend so much time blogging that I can’t seem to get in time to record.

I fear that taking on so many blogs at once is going to hurt the YouTube channel.

But, what if I recorded, edited, and uploaded videos on a Saturday? I normally write for myself and clients during the weekdays, so the weekends should give me ample time to get content up on YouTube.

The tentative plan right now is to have new videos up on Wednesday and Friday with Mondays being the live stream. If I upload on Saturday and Sunday, then I don’t have to worry about trying to make them in the middle of the week.

And since I have no social life or girlfriend, I can easily chew up 2 hours on Saturday to publish a video on Wednesday.

The Main Issue of Doing Videos for Me Is…

It takes about an hour and a half to edit down an 8-minute video. The raw footage is roughly 20-minutes. This is because I make A LOT of mistakes while filming. Even when talking about something simple, I still stumble and slur words.

I think part of my problem is that I speak too fast while on camera. If I were to slow down and think while I spoke, I’d probably have fewer errors.

I’m just not sure how to do that without it seeming like I am in slow motion. Perhaps I need to speak like I do when trying to explain something to Dad.

At any rate, I need to figure out an easier way for me to make these videos. Then again, there are days when it takes about two hours total. Perhaps today was just a mixture of a failed file, spending too much time trying to recover the MKV, and having to record in a noisy house for the second time.

And running on a handful of hours of sleep.

Perhaps if I get at least one scheduled video up in advance, I could spend more than one day creating the next. As it stands, I try to do everything the day I want to get it out.

In fact, I might just do that. Then, I wouldn’t have to stress about getting something up on the channel and would have plenty of time to fine-tune it and make it fancy.

Pff…as if I put that much effort to make a video flashy. I’m as basic of a creator as you can get.

On that note, I do like the idea of being able to spend some quality time working on the video instead of it feeling rushed. So, starting Saturday, I’ll start trying to produce videos ahead of time.

Making the Most Out of My Week

I’m still trying to balance all of the projects I’m doing. Five blogs, three YouTube channels, and a Twitch stream is quite a bit. And that’s not including client work and finishing my novel.

So far, 2021 has been a good year for me. I just need to keep the momentum going. And ironing out all the wrinkles in my schedule is part of that.