Oh, Darlin', Don't You Ever Grow Up

At the end of last year I posted a blog about my goals for 2011. Today I want to look at my progress on these goals.

1. Graduate college- Well, this isn't technically going to happen this year. I have two more classes that I have to take next semester, so I won't actually be student teaching until Spring 2012. But THEN I'll graduate. So I'm only a little behind on this one.

2. Re-write NaNo novel from 2008- This one is mostly going to happen over the summer (which has been my plan since I made the goal). But I HAVE been getting involved with some awesome writers and I'm totally feeling the motivation! This one is definitely going to happen.

3. Upload 100 videos- Heh. Ummm . . . yeah, not doing so well on this one yet. This semester has been pretty darn busy. But it's only April! I think I can still do this one. It's just going to take some diligence.

4. Read 50 books- Doing much better on this one than the video-making one. I've read 10 books so far this year, which means I'm a little behind if we're going with one-book-a-week, but this is another goal that is going to get a major boost over the summer. Also, I decided to make this goal official on Goodreads (which is an AWESOME website that I hadn't used before but now REALLY LOVE), so you can watch me as I read (and usually review) each book that I read this year: Allison's Goodreads Challenge.

5. Exercise regularly- No comment. *insert excuse about schoolwork and stuff*

6. Watch Dr. Who- Hasn't happened yet. WILL HAPPEN. But I'm not worried about this one. When I marathon a show, I MARATHON IT.

7. Start a weekly vlog with my roomie Janice- See #3.

8. Fall in nerdfighterlike- Nope. Nothing at all on this front. There just aren't many LDS guys in Flagstaff that are single or my age. Maybe I'll meet someone this summer! Maybe.

So it looks like I'm actually doing okay on these goals! It's only April, so it's still a little early to tell, but I think it's best to think about them more than just at the beginning and end of the year.

Until tomorrow, best wishes!

P. S. Title is from Taylor Swift's song "Never Grow Up" (because I'm listening to that song right now and I couldn't think of a title and it seemed to fit better than "I Am Not the Kind of Girl Who Should Be Rudely Barging In On a White Veil Occasion" . . . I'll use that one for the blog when I talk about my epic Hogwarts Wedding.)
P. P. S. Check out my blog! I changed it up and it's all cute now :)

Let's Make Some Goals

I just read Alan Lastufka's 2011 To-Do List, and I thought it was a cool idea.  I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions, but having a list of goals for 2011 seems a lot more acceptable to me. So, here goes:

-Graduate college
-Re-write NaNo novel from 2008
-Upload 100 videos
-Read 50 books (maybe try a nonfiction or two? maybe...)
-Exercise regularly
-Watch Dr. Who (all the recent seasons)
-Start a weekly (eventually bi- or even tri- weekly?) vlog with my roomie, J-Funk <3
-Fall in nerdfighterlike*

I think that's a pretty good list.  Some of these are more important than others, but they're all things I want to do and they're all feasible in 2011. Some of them will probably overlap, too. I'll probably count my roomie-vlogs toward my 100 videos. And I'm taking four literature classes next semester, so some of those 50 books will go towards me graduating college. And, you know, maybe if I upload lots of videos I'll get to know some awesome nerdfighter guy and fall in nerdfighterlike! You never know! :D

Anyway, I know I haven't blogged much lately... that whole blog-every-week thing kinda fell through, lol. But I did really well with uploading videos! And I'm going to continue doing that. Blogging will be kind of secondary to making videos, but I'll blog somewhat regularly, because some things are just more easily communicated through the written word.

And since I'm kind of tired and the written word isn't really coming to me in an eloquent form right now, I'm going to cut this blog short. I'll revisit my list around this same time next year and see how I did!


*hey, it worked for Alan! :)

How to Vlog: Quick and Easy Instructions

I got a question on facebook about how to vlog from Sandy Raymond.  Here's what I came up with:



First you'll need a YouTube account.

Then you need some kind of video camera (I just use the built-in camera on my Mac, but I'm saving up to buy a good one). 

Next, record yourself talking to the camera about whatever you want to talk about then  use an editing program (if you want) to put together the best parts of what you said (I tend to have several minutes worth of footage that is just me staring at the camera). 
Note: If you use Windows, you can download Windows Movie Maker for free, or if you have a Mac it should already have iMovie in your applications. 

Once you've edited you need to export the video (this changes it from a project that can be edited to a ready-to-upload video). 

Finally, log on to YouTube and select the "upload" option.  Upload the video you just exported, give it a spiffy title, a description, and some tags... and voila! You've just vlogged!


I would suggest watching some other people's vlogs to get an idea of how a well-edited vlog looks. Here are some of the more famous vloggers that I love to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers
http://www.youtube.com/user/wheezywaiter
http://www.youtube.com/user/meekakitty
http://www.youtube.com/user/shaytards

And, of course, you can check out MY vlogs!
http://www.youtube.com/user/joebob1379




Hope this is useful!  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and I'll be happy to answer them.


Until next time, best wishes!

It's Official. I'm a Published Author.

YIPPEEEEEEEEE!

I'm excited.  Can you tell I'm excited?  Because I am.  Excited.  Seriously.

WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

So the anthology with MY STORY IN IT was released yesterday!  It's available at Amazon for those of you with Kindles and at Smashwords for those of you with other eReaders or with no eReader (like me).  And just for good measure, here's the link to the page on the publisher's site: http://www.notreebooks.com/anthology---vampires-zombies-and-ghosts-oh-my

If any of you are interested in reviewing the book on your blog, let me know ASAP and I'll pass you along to the Eve Paludan, the editor of the anthology.  She is looking for as many reviewers as possible!  Or if you don't want to write a big long review on your blog but you read the book and like it, would you do me a favor and leave a review on Amazon?  It can be really quick, and it would mean a lot to me and I'm sure to the other authors featured in the book.

W0000000000000000000000000000000T!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick update and let you all know!  And, um, if you're interested in the book... would you maybe buy it?  Please?  *is hopeful*  Leave me a comment and tell me what you thought of it if you DO read it.  That would absolutely make my WEEK.

Hope you all have a lovely day!

-Allison

P.S.  Apparently nobody cares about my dream wedding.  I promise to avoid that kind of talk in the future at this blog.  I'll keep it to my BEDA blogs when I have nothing better to write about. :)

P.P.S. I posted a vlog the other day about baking, the Grand Canyon, and my story getting published.  You should check it out.  There is a shot of a DELICIOUS strawberry shortcake (if I do say so myself).  Maybe if you're lucky you'll be able to activate the smell-o-vision :D

Big News! (And welcome back to blogging, Allison.)

YOU GUUUUUYS!  I have something REALLY COOL to tell you.

A short story that I WROTE with my OWN TWO HANDS is being PUBLISHED!  Let me type that again for emphasis: PUBLISHED!

It's going to be in an anthology called Vampires, Zombies, and Ghosts, Oh My! (and Other Creature of the Night STORIES).  It will be published in eBook format, so gets those eReaders ready!

In anticipation of the release, I've launched a WEBSITE.  Because I'm FANCY like that.  You should CHECK IT OUT: www.allisonridley.com :)  It's still pretty simple, because I'm still learning how to do web-site-y stuff, but I'm rather proud of it!

That's my BIG NEWS for the week, but in smaller news I've decided that it's high time I return to the world of blogging.  See, after BEDAugust I was kind of burned-out on blogging, but I miss being able to share my innermost thoughts with the internet on a regular basis, so I'm going to start up again.  I can't guarantee how OFTEN I will blog, but I think I'm gonna shoot for once a week.

Speaking of things that will happen once a week, I've ALSO decided to start* VLOGGING.  My goal with that is also once a week, so I think what I'll do is write my blogs on Tuesday or Wednesday and do my vlogs on Friday or Saturday.  That way they're kinda spaced out.

I've already done my first vlog of this Vlog-Once-a-Week-November-and-December, or "VOWND."




Anyway, that's pretty much my life right now!  School is going well, though I've been kind of distracted the last few nights with the excitement of getting published.  I'm loving almost all my classes, though, which is a HUGE improvement from last year.  I'm a little behind on a couple homework assignments, but I'm not gonna let that get me down.

I hope you'll all check out my website at some point... I'm really kinda proud of it, and I'd love for you to share it with your friends if you're so inclined.  I know I'm not even close to being KNOWN or anything, but I feel so professional now and it's a really cool feeling.  So humor me.  There's a little box on my site where you can ask questions, or you can comment on the "news" section... it would totally make my day if you did.

Thanks for being such great friends.  I love you all!

Best wishes!



*By "start," I mean "start for the first time since the last time I decided to be a vlogger"... which was almost a year ago.  Heh.