About the First Gift Basket Video: I had to make this a whole environmental experience. It is a new birth for me, liberation even. I started by setting up my space, taking some setup photos, having a devotional time which included journaling about this experience and the support I have received from each of you, taking a soothing spa bath, pre-conditioning my hair (okay, TMI, but this is a new birth experience), getting dressed for my design, having a nurturing breakfast (lemon drink, blueberries, grapes, apple, banana--in that order), and returning to my "design center," which is my desk for this moment, to make this gift basket. I am excited!!! It feels so good to be doing anything related to my passion. This is fitting because it is Palm Sunday (to those who acknowledge it). How appropriate is that! I know you may be tired of hearing/reading this, but this is the breakthrough in progress. So with all of that TMI said, I designed the gift basket and recorded it. Next I am editing the video and will let it marinate in the YouTube Studio before I release it to the world. Here's a before picture of my work area with the gift items, and of the me with the finished Christian-Based Easter Gift Basket. (No bunnies, eggs, or candy found in this creation.) It can be used as a gift, get well, birthday, just because gift. I will let you know once the video is published. It will be published by tomorrow if not earlier. Now onward to the editing, finishing my hair, then to Day 12... Side Info: -Current Niche: Teaching Gift Basket Biz Startups -Pivoted from: Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse Accountability Tags: @Yvette Bowlin @Jenny Sharratt @Dajana K. @Michael LeJeune @Cam F @Travel Gran @Jaye Brunner @Eddi Pinegar @Adam Tinkoff @Ricardo Solomons @Dawn Ponsford @Monika Astara Murphy y @Andy Asher @Deb D @Laura Niebauer @Cat PInegar

Okay, I went ahead of myself in Day 9, Part B. Oh well. Anyway, Day 10 is DONE & notes attached! Here are my answers to the questions in the workbook of this section: My bullet-point outline: -Intro -Step #1 -Step #2 -Step #3 -Step #4 -Outro (w/CTA) B-Roll - I will record these as I prepare for designing, teaching, and filming my gift basket content. In my editing, (I use Descript) I will remove filler words, retakes, and more. I recently learned what retakes were. I'm ever learning with this YouTube journey. I also need to learn how to zoom in and out of the video. The support from Descript is swift and clear so I have not problems getting the info I need to learn this. Now, "How will I know a clip is clear enough to keep?" Humm, I need to check this out. I think it would be by feedback from my viewers' comments. Now about the polish, for now I will not add background music. I do not want any copyright issues of any kind and I have heard of horror stories. When I decided, I will have a music jingle or tone created for me. I want to have my own music, not what others are using. For the onscreen text, I have to learn how to do this too. I had Descript's Underload (their AI) do that for me in two videos and I was relieved! That does not excuse me from learning how to do it myself so I will learn. I plan to use 4K because I learned that YouTube positions these videos first and they show better on television which most people are choosing to watch YouTube on.. I understand because the video is bigger and clearer. I even watch 90% of my videos on TV. The easier part of this editing process is the workbook exercise of answering these questions and giving me explanations to consider. I am learning. The part that seems confusing is the rules for myself. Once I rewatch the video a couple of times, it may click and become clear. I see that I will need to dedicate a lot more time to learn editing which I will do after I complete this challenge. Then, I will know what to tell an editor when I hire one again.

Recently I did a podcast interview with Vitor and he had such great questions - so I thought I would share it here with you. They are an editing company (I haven't used them) utilizing YouTube to grow their brand with a podcast. Smart move in my book! Here's the interview if you would like to have a watch.

Oh No! Y'all are leaving me behind. No worries, I will catch up! I got distracted in my "recovery" and started planning an opt-in for my channel. My hosting checkout app was having problems so I switched to one that I am used to working and it was sooo much faster. I decided to leave ​that alon​e and get back to my other work and this challenge. I have to say, the distraction was good because I kept working.​ But then, I wanted a particular hairstyle for this 30 second video. I wanted to color the grey. Why didn't I think, I could always do another 30 video with the hairstyle I wanted. (Oh the self-perfection drama!) Update on the Taxes: Second one 95% done, Third on 30% done. I have time for the 3rd one so it will wait. I'm not getting FOMO, but I will catch up! Update on the Recovery: Yesterday (7 days later), I had to drive myself past that same accident scene. I did everything not to relive the horror I saw a week ago but the emotional shock started rising up. I breathed, sucked on 2 mints, blasted Pandora with Gospel Music, and thought about your collective prayer wishes (which helped!)—all while driving past this area. In a few seconds, it was behind me. The ​Lesson: Sometimes you must go through the painful horror to get to the other side. What I didn't share in my last post (Day 9, Part A) was that I was in a rollover accident myself, so the memories crept in later as I recovered from the shock last week. I am fine today and the next time I need to travel that area, it will be even better. Now, about Part B of My Day 9 (attached): I watched the video 5 times and made notes in my workbook (see it attached). I created a quick cheat sheet too. OMG, my 30-second video assignment turned into a 6-minute, 14-second video that I edited down to 2 minutes, 12 seconds, then 1 minute, 53 seconds, and now 1 minute, 46 seconds. I worked on it for 3 hours! I decided to stop there. That's still too long. I'm being a perfectionist again! I know I wasn't supposed to edit the video (I think), but I did. I discovered something--I am too wordy!

Completed day 4 of the challenge. I'd love to hear about your first reaction to this banner. The channel name is my name + tagline: Monika Astara - Permission to Play Target audience: Retiress, seekers, non-creatives to reclaim their natural creativity & restore their joy through easy, proven, art-therapy-style play.