5 Tips on How to Make Time for YouTube

"I want to make videos, but I don't have time."

"I used to make videos, but they're so time-consuming."

"I haven't made a video in a long time because I don't have time."

I've heard all the aforementioned excuses and have even used them myself. Most of us have full-time jobs or attend college or both and it's hard to make videos. But if making videos is truly your passion, you need to make time!

If you're feeling pressured to make videos because you promised you'd upload once a week, leaving it for the last minute could prove detrimental. Assuming that you're not completely lazy and you actually take pride in the videos you make, you want to upload something of quality. Here's 5 tips that will help you do just that!

1.) Grab a Blank Calendar:
Seriously, get one. This calendar will be dedicated to your videos. You aren't allowed to write anything in it that's not dedicated to YouTube.  

2.) Circle the Day(s) You Plan to Upload:
If you're uploading every Friday, circle all the Fridays. Write the word "UPLOAD" in these boxes as a way to remind yourself that you have a responsibility to this deadline.

3.) Plan for the Week:
You might already have an idea for what kind of video you want to upload. Assuming that it takes more than a day, break up your project into smaller pieces. For example, if you're uploading on Friday, spend Monday through Thursday scripting, shooting and editing. Write down a task each day that will help get the video done and spend as much time doing it as you can. Two hours a day over the course four days is better than one long eight-hour day (unless you have that kind of time).

4.) Plan Ahead:
On the day you upload, start brainstorming your next video idea. Already have it? Break it up into pieces and work on it through the week. 

5.) Don't Feel Bad About Taking a Break:
Seriously, you're not a robot and even machines break down. Sometimes you just don't feel like uploading. We get it. The people who love your videos will stick around even if you don't upload when you said you would. I guess what I'm trying to say is, DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF. If you're busy or you truly just aren't inspired, don't worry, the viewers will be there when you get back. In the meantime, use Twitter to stay connected.

Here's a sample schedule you can modify to your needs:

MONDAY - Work on "Valley Girl" script (1 hour)
TUESDAY - Finish "Valley Girl" script (30 minutes)
WEDNESDAY - Shoot 1st half (2 hours)
THURSDAY - Shoot second half (2 hours)
FRIDAY - Edit/Upload (4 hours)
SATURDAY - Brainstorm New Video Idea (1 hour)
SUNDAY - Take a much deserved break!

TOTAL TIME: 10.5 hours

The moral of the story is: Spread your project out to make it more manageable. Videos are fun but they are work. Treat them like work and schedule them.

I hope this helps!

5 Ways to Make Your Vlogs More Interesting

So I started making YouTube videos on my goodmonica channel back in 2007 on a whim. I was fed up with my job at KFC but wasn't in a position to quit. YouTube became a way for me to relieve my work stress. I had seen a view videos from some of my favorite channels at the time like TheWineKone and CommunityChannel and I thought, hey I can do that too! I mostly made videos with my Cabbage Patch dolls. I called it, The Delilah Show, and it wasn't really catching on, at least not like I wanted it to. A year later I made a new channel, called myself "m0brya" and uploaded my first skit that featured me. My actual self. It was different.

Skits are great. YouTube is full of skits and pranks and stunts but there's another kind of video that I don't have a lot of experience with. It's video blogging, or vlogging. I've seen these videos where people sit down and talk about their lives and it's fascinating sometimes. There are other times when people are so boring you'd rather slit your wrist than keep watching. But then there's the other people. Those special few who just get it. I don't have a lot of experience making vlogs (which I hope to change) but I do watch them. Here's 5 ways you can make your vlogs more interesting.

5.) Be Relate-able:
Some of the best vlogs I've ever seen were ones I could relate to. We all have awkward moments. We all get embarrassed. We all have weird experiences at school or on the bus. Talk about those things. Chances are, the people watching you have had similar experiences. Please don't sit there and talk about how bored you are or how you're making a video because you haven't made a video in a long time and blah blah blah. Nobody wants to see that.

4.) Limit Jump-Cuts:
Sloppy editing is definitely frowned upon in the YouTube community but similarly, don't edit yourself into visual suicide. You don't need to be in a different place on the screen for every word you utter. Of course there are exceptions to this rule like if you're adding dramatic effect or you want to drive a point but you don't have to completely mutilate your sentences. If you have to resort to cheap tricks to keep people interested then maybe it's your topic that needs a change.

3.) Show Don't Tell:
One of my major pet peeves are vloggers who insist on telling me about an event instead of just showing the event! If you're going to scout locations for a short film or go shopping for supplies, take your camera with you! At the least take pictures. I don't want to hear about how cool something looked - I want to see it for myself! I understand there are times when you can't record, but try to capture as much as you can when possible. We're living in selfie culture. Embrace it!

2.) If You Can't Actually Show Us, Act It Out:
There's also the vlog-skit-vlog approach that never gets old if done correctly. Sometimes, you just don't have your camera handy. Other times a camera may not be allowed. That's ok! Just put in a little extra effort to film a short skit of the situation. Skits give vlogs variety and it also draws the viewer in, making them feel as if they were with you when it happened. Try it!

1.) No Topic Is Off Limits:
I think this is one of the most important things you can remember. The cool thing about vlogs is that you can talk about whatever you want as long as you care about it. Nothing cool happened today? That's perfectly fine! Talk about an event from the past, anything. It could be a movie or something that happened at school or the time you broke your leg. And don't limit yourself to that either. Talk about the future and where you hope to be in five years. The sky is the limit!! Don't be afraid to let people get to know who you really are. I mean, isn't that the point?

I hope these tips help. Of course they aren't the "be all, end all" and I certainly don't know everything. These are just things that interest me when I choose vlogs to watch.

Versace - Migos ft Drake

I pretty much made up the chords to this cover. Scroll down for my cover video and the original song. I only did a portion of it because it's a looooooong song! Enjoy!!

G Em C Am

Versace, Versace, Medusa head on me like I'm 'luminati

This is a gated community; please get the fuck off the property

Rap must be changing cause I'm at the top and ain't no one on top of me

Niggas be wanting a verse for a verse, but man that's not a swap to me

C Am C D

Drowning in compliments, pool in the backyard that look like Metropolis

G Em C Am

I think I'm sellin' a million first week, man I guess I'm a optimist

Born in Toronto but sometimes I feel like Atlanta adopted us

C Am C D

What the fuck is you talkin' 'bout? Saw this shit comin' like I had binoculars

G Em C Am

Boy, Versace, Versace, we stay at the mansion when we in Miami

The pillows' Versace, the sheets are Versace, I just won a Grammy

I've been so quiet, I got the world like "What the fuck is he planning?"

Just make sure that you got a back up plan cause that shit might come in handy

C Am C D

Started a label, the album is comin' September, just wait on it

G Em C Am

Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace, Versace

Chronicles of the Dead: Season 2, Episode 3, "The Turncoats"

This is EPISODE 3. Be sure to check out 1 & 2!

http://www.youtube.com/chroniclesofthedead

Chronicles of the Dead: Season 2, Episode 1 "Betrayal"

Why is Harriet Tubman A Trending Topic in 2013?

"This is our only chance for freedoms."

I don't usually jump on the bandwagon when it comes to Twitter fights, but as a black woman and a YouTuber, I feel the need to voice the opinions swirling in my head.

The drama began when Russell Simmons uploaded a video titled "Harriet Tubman Sextape" to his Def Comedy Jam channel. The video, starring Shanna Malcolm (as Tubman) and DeStorm Power (as a fellow slave), swept over the black community like a tidal wave. 

When asked to remove the video and apologize, he did. But many people feel his apology wasn't sincere. The fact that Simmons also removed the video hasn't stopped it from popping up on other YouTube channels.

Is the black community being too sensitive or was the reaction just as it should have been? Does anyone remember this video uploaded by TheSecondCityNetwork in 2010? "Harriet Tubman: The Sexiest Abolitionist."

 It certainly didn't receive the backlash that Russell Simmons got. And this is my point. Lots of people on YouTube joke about sensitive subjects. They're jokes. I have joked about slavery myself in this video and I wear whiteface in this one. Is it okay because we're not popular? If I had a million subscribers, would I be forced to apologize and take videos down if people didn't share my humor?

There's a deeper part of me that also feels like people use "just kidding" as a blanket. You can do or say whatever you want to another person as long as you tag 'just kidding' at the end. It's wrong, but we all do it, don't we? Can we really point fingers at each other and say who is wrong? Is there a right and wrong way to make a parody? I'll be the first to admit the video wasn't funny, but I can respond by not watching again and not subscribing. Who am I to tell someone who doesn't know me to apologize? Why should I even be offended in the first place? I would be a hypocrite to do so.

I think maybe we need to just pipe the fuck down and stop being so sensitive. Forcing someone, even a celebrity, to make adjustments for you (when you probably don't give two fucks about them anyway) is just stupid.

 

When You Don't Have A "Plan B"

A leap of faith

I did it. After all this time. All the waiting and hoping and praying. All the times I failed math and re-took it. All the times I cried and envied other people. I finally moved out of my parent's house to pursue my bachelor's degree in theatre. Finally.

But why do I feel so weird? It's not culture shock because LA has the same shit that Banning and Beaumont had...but there's some other nagging feeling. I walked to the 99 cent store with John looking for hot chocolate when I realized what's been bothering me the last 14 days:

I don't have a "Plan B."

But that's okay, right? Having a backup plan is for pussies, right? If you're going to do something, do it! Like Dr. Frank-N-Furter says, "Don't dream it. Be it."

But those things are easier said than done. I'm a 100 miles away from home, tens of thousands of dollars in debt and I'm hanging by a thread. Or at least, that's how it feels. 

I'm here to learn and create. I'm here to start a REAL career as a writer and actress. I want to do internships and meet as many people as I can so we can help each other achieve our goals. 

I know I'll make it if I just keep believing and working hard like I've been doing. That's how I got to where I am now. I kept working and I didn't give up no matter how bleak everything seemed.

I think another reason I feel weird about it is because it didn't come at a time where I was desperate for it. It came when the time was right. I was watching How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with John last night and a conversation Simon Pegg's character has with Megan Fox's struck me:

Sydney Young: What's it like to be famous?

Sophie Maes: Weird. It's happening so fast. It's like it has nothing to do with me. It's like I'm not even here.

It just struck me. As if...I was always going to transfer and move away from home whether I wanted to or not. Because I wanted it to happen, it did. 

I don't know, that's probably just my weirdo brain being weirdo. Whatever.

The point is, I'm here now. And in the famous words of RuPaul, "Don't fuck it up!"