Wednesday, 1
Last night I got a ‘brilliant’ idea about a video to do and get published asap. Indonesians generally expected a gas price increase on April 1 even though the government had kept gas prices stable during the US war with Iran. Gas is subsidized here in Indonesia and the government had promised to maintain the subsidy level so that gas prices wouldn’t rise. Well, April 1 came and no price increase. So I did a video about that and included the American April Fool’s Day as a point for slight humor. The video is doing pretty well – not viral like the first oil video, but at least good.
Then today, I got another ‘brilliant’ idea – to do a very sensitive video about the Indonesian peacekeeper who was killed in Southern Lebanon. The Indonesian government asked for a deep investigation and put their membership in Board of Peace on hold. I’ve done the video and think I need to publish it pretty soon.
Thursday, 2
The technician came yesterday and upgraded my internet package. The faster package costs only about $4 more per month and so far, seems well worth it. Now it’s 9:30am and I think today will be a rest day. I had trouble going to sleep last night because the audio of the Supreme Court case about birthright citizenship was playing, and I found it really interesting to listen to the Q&A.
So I took a lot of breaks today, but I did edit and schedule the video about Indonesia’s decision to put their membership on the Board of Peace on hold.
Friday, 3
Talked with Peggy a couple of hours. Wrote and revised a new video script about Indonesia’s recent diplomacy with Japan and Korea where they secured $33 billion in investment commitments.
Saturday, 4
Slept in pretty late this morning. Woke up around 7:20 but then lazed in bed until 8. Just didn’t feel like getting up. Thank goodness I didn’t get up and start recording – because the gypsum ceiling in the area where I record collapsed – without warning. All of a sudden, I heard a huge noise, ran to the place the noise was coming from, and saw that the ceiling (approximately 10 feet x 3 feet) had collapsed. Thank goodness no human or doggies were there because it happened without warning. A doggie could have been killed. My favorite tripod was destroyed, but that’s not important. I then spent the rest of the day working on video scripts.
Sunday, 5
Monday, 6
Talked with Peggy two hours. She got her second channel monetized. I congratulated her even though I’m so jealous!!!
Somehow it’s 4pm, and I’m not sure what I accomplished today. I was kind of tired, so I just did tasks that didn’t take a lot of brain power. I transferred all my music to iTunes. I had already downloaded all the cd’s way back when dinosaurs roamed to my hard drive, but I’m happy to have them all now on iTunes just in case that hard drive ever fails – not likely, but you never know. I also made an Amazon order that had been waiting for my Social Security to arrive. Transferred money to my Indonesian bank account. Went to the ATM to get some cash. And now I’m waiting for the vet and her assistant to arrive to cut the doggie nails.
Tuesday, 7
To town today to run errands and do monthly shopping.
Wednesday, 8
My iPhone storage has been a problem, but as usual, there’s a silver lining. I decided to use my iPad for recording, and it’s actually much easier to use the teleprompter because more text is on the screen as it scrolls – makes it much easier to keep my mind on the topic and speak off the cuff when it’s called for.
But yesterday, I stopped at the Apple store to ask a few questions and found out that what was taking up space were Dropbox and Teleprompter. I googled how to use Dropbox but not have it sync to iPhone, but it doesn’t store any files on the iPhone – the app itself just takes a lot of space. So then I looked at Teleprompter. I always delete stuff once I’ve recorded, but then I found a hidden place where all my recording were stored. Deleted them all and storage updated immediately.
I won’t go back to recording with my iPhone though. Using the iPad is much better. So I’m a happy girl.
Thursday, 9
I recorded 3 videos in the morning. And then edited and published one of them later in the day.
Friday, 10
Watched some long YT tutorials. Edited and scheduled a video for tomorrow.
Saturday, 11
Talked with Peggy for 2+ hours. Responded to all comments on my Indonesian channel.
Watched several YT tutorials.
Sunday, 12
I spent hours working on scripts for the coming week. I’m always finding current event items about Indonesia that I feel need to be written, recorded, and published fast. And of course I found one of those items today. Sometimes, I take something timely and get it done and published right away, but I’ll get this one published in a couple of days.
Monday, 13
I edited and scheduled a video for tomorrow and then spent the rest of the day learning a new technique for making YT videos.
Tuesday, 14
I tried one of the YT videos of boring sleep stories for sleeping. And wow! It worked so well. It was only one night, but I slept so well. I think you know that I usually have CNN on all night to keep my brain from going off on its own track of thinking, thinking, thinking. That’s for when I’m trying to fall asleep and also when I get up during the night to empty my bladder – usually 3 times. If I don’t have something to pay attention to, my brain starts making up all kinds of things to keep me awake. When I used to travel a lot, I usually put an audio book on once I was settled in the seat on the flight and was asleep quickly. I had thought about doing that but then heard about these YT channels that have all kinds of boring stories to listen to. And it worked – at least on the first night.
The channels that have these long videos of boring stories to help people fall asleep are making a lot of $$$. I wish I’d found out about this sooner because now I might be too late, but I’ve started a new channel of that type – @SleepyHistoryStories – and published my first video today. We’ll see.
Wednesday, 15
I published my a video on my new channel (the long boring videos to put viewers to sleep) at what I knew was the wrong time. I should schedule these videos for the evening in the US, but I just couldn’t wait. I got a few views which actually surprised me. I know I have to get a lot of them published before I can expect real views. So today I worked on the next one. It’s a long boring story about traveling on the Silk Road and while I’m doing this video, I’m listening to one of my albums called ‘As the Night Falls on the Silk Road.’ Talk about being in sync!!
I also watched some tutorials on the YT course I’m working on.
Friday, 17
I edited two videos – published one right away because it was very timely one about the effect on Indonesia of the US blockade on Hormuz. I scheduled the second one for tomorrow. I also did more work on my YT channels.
Sunday, 19
Watched several tutorials – is there no end to what I should learn???!!! Took and nap and then decided to work on the next video for my sleepy history channel. I need to get several videos published soon so that I get some serious downloads. I’ve got two videos live now and got some views, but in this particular niche, I need to have a lot.
Monday, 20
Strategized with Peggy for a couple of hours. Then spent more time looking for a program to make videos from my transcript. I’m currently using Seedance 2.0 on Capcut, but I keep hoping I can find a cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, everything I find is more expensive. So maybe I should quit wasting my time and just give up on the endless search. I got the next video on my sleepy channel done and scheduled to go live at 6pm ET. I was really shocked to get 50 views on my 2nd video since it’s a new channel and usually only friends who are helping out watch the first several videos on a new channel. I hope that’s a good sign because some of the channels that make sleepy videos are making good $$$. I hope I’ll join that club. My Indonesian channel does well, but the ad rate that companies pay is low when the viewers are not Westerners. My friends makes around U$60 for 4.4k views whereas I make U$11 for the same number of views.
Tuesday, 21
No rest for the wicked. And I guess I’ve been very wicked because I’ve been working a lot. Still trying to figure out the best way to have the video scripts on my new channel turned into videos. I’ve just found that the program I’ve been using doesn’t adhere to the text I submit. I gave enough text for a 2.5-hour video but got a 2-hour video because they cut stuff out – make it shorter. It’s not their business to decide what text I want to include. So I’ll be looking for a new program tomorrow. In any case, I edited and scheduled a 1-hour video for my sleepy channel and then edited a video for my Indonesian channel. So I accomplished a lot despite the problems.
Wednesday, 22
Talked to Jeanne about half an hour.
I spent the day in online research to find a better way to make the sleepy videos, and I think I’ve found it. It took me a long time to go through the tutorial and get the steps all laid out in a Word doc. But if it works as well I expect, then it will have been worth my time. And yes, Teresa, I recognize and agree that my time is more valuable than money. So tomorrow, I hope to use the new system on a script that I already have. Wish me luck!
Thursday, 23
I revised two videos for Saturday and recorded both. Then I worked on responding to comments. And finally, I used the new process to make a 2+ hour video and it’s all put together and rendering right now. Unfortunately, I don’t like the guys voice nearly as much as the calm, relaxing voice I used on the other program. But I’ve listened to a lot of these sleepy videos now and they’re not all using a meditative type voice. Some of them actually sound like lectures. And that’s on channels that are doing really well. So I’ll just keep trying different voices to see if I can find one that I like better.
Friday, 24
I edited the two videos I recorded yesterday and published them to be live tomorrow. Then to lunch with Susi.
Saturday, 25
Stumbled across some good videos about YouTube changes. Worked on two videos that I’ll record tomorrow or Monday for Tuesday publishing.
Sunday, 26
I started the day thinking that it would be a rest day, but then I got started doing some work and decided that I’d record two videos for Tuesday. And then I decided to work on two scripts for Saturday. And I even watched a fer YT tutorials. A very productive day in the end.
Monday, 27
I edited and scheduled two videos. Then I worked on two new video scripts. They’ll need more revision, but they’re looking good so far. Didn’t work on my sleepy channel, but plan to get back to that tomorrow.
Tuesday, 28
Strategized with Peggy. Then I worked all day on two videos for my sleepy channel. I think it’s going to do better than my introvert channel, so I’m going to give it a lot of attention. I had to learn a bunch of stuff again since these videos are so very different from what I’ve been doing. But I think it will have been worth it.
Wednesday, 29
Edited one video for the sleepy channel. And then I had ElevenLabs do the audio narration on the next video. Getting the narration done takes a long time because the video itself is 3.5 hours long. I get the images to use from MidJourney – thanks to Sue for recommending it a long time ago. I had a subscription to MJ when I was doing things for an Etsy shop and then gave up the subscription, but I subscribed again because it’s really the best program I’ve found for images. If any of you have another recommendation, please let me know.
Thursday, 30
Worked all day on two videos for my sleepy channel. I made some big mistakes yesterday, so I had to spend a lot of time correcting them. Live and learn.
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