SURFING THROUGH YOU TUBE

By Vicki H. Moss, Contributing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

If you’re looking for writing inspiration, You Tube videos are a treasure trove. Last night, I was doing some research by watching a video, but with potato salad on my mind. So I Googled, “You Tube,” for videos on how to make potato salad, curious as to how other people prepared one of my comfort foods. Anything to veer off topic and procrastinate from writing, right?

At first I was intrigued by this one woman’s technique of cutting up boiled eggs which was similar to mine. Mesmerized by her rhythmic hands, I was then hypnotized by how she deftly wielded her sharp blade through all of that soft white eggy part before getting down into the slicing and dicing of yellow yolk—the entire time admonishing her viewers not to skimp on the eggs. “Five potatoes, five eggs. Do not skimp on the eggs in your potato salad,” she said in a buttery voice. She had me convinced and I wondered how many billion pounds of potato salad she’d made in her life for funerals, family, and friends.     

In another demonstration, the cook used an onion chopper for chopping up her onions. Pfffftttt! So much easier to use a sharp Henckels prep knife and with a quick chop, chop, chop, you don’t have to clean those plastic contraptions into next week because your dishwasher failed to blast between the small blades. Meh, onto another.  

In the next video, I was shocked at what people tossed into their potato salad. Miracle Whip? What! Yuck! Everybody knows you’re supposed to use Real Mayo! Why is she putting milk in there—Holy Cow! No one likes their potato salad that creamy! You could drink that potato salad and I’ll bet she overcooked her potatoes. Ugh, ugh, ugh! And throw some more mustard in there, Miss Stingy! Wait a minute, not so free handed with that vinegar Miss Sour Sally!

And this next video took the potato. I felt my face screwing up and heard myself grinding out, Nooooooooo! Who puts sugar in potato salad? Are you crazy? You just dumped in ¾ cup of sugar on top of five cut up Irish potatoes and diced eggs and all of that Mayo, dill relish, and mustard! Gross! And if you’re not a diabetic, you ought to be! And now I can’t erase from my ever loving mind this video of you dumping sugar on your potatoes! I can feel that grit clinging to my molars Miss Sugary Sarah! How can I stop this video from replaying in my head! I did not see that. I did not see that. I did not see that.

Suddenly, I burst out laughing at myself, though I was shocked—yes shocked—that I was so traumatized by the sugar episode. More so than that time I watched a reality show of people eating worms, I kid you not. Oh my goodness. What did this say about me? Probably that I was a food snob, just like my mother. When had I turned into her when it came to cooking? Was I going to start condemning people for not putting sage in their dressing? Yep.   

And it hit me, I’d just “experienced” my own cooking scene by watching those videos. (If only I had a video of me watching that video—the horror I felt on my face as my jaw dropped was surreal and hilarious as I thought about checking my blood pressure.)

The scene might not work for my present nonfiction book project about a soldier who had lost his life in Afghanistan, but it would work for a novel or a memoir down the road. One thing for sure, that scene was definitely going in a book.

So, Happy Trails while surfing through You Tube cooking videos and beware too much “sweetness.” Now, I’m off to the frig for some potato salad!

Are You An Influencer?

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine

Don’t you wish everyone took your word that your information you have is worthy for them to sit up and take notice?

Well you aren’t the only one. We all wish that during some point in our lives. Think back to when you were in school. Did you try to convince a friend to do something, and did they do it?

Are you able to convince others, now that you are older, to do things you want them to do? To convince them your idea is worth trying. Or maybe to convince them they should read your next book?

Everyone is always putting on their social media things about their books and other books in hopes it will stir people to read these particular books. That’s good. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. You have to go deeper.

One way would be to pick out three people that have influence over others. Particularly the ones who you know would have an interest in what you’ve written. You want to get them to notice your work. A good example: If you wrote a book that would make a great TV movie then research the producers/directors that make these types of movies (you could even find the film companies that make them and the heads of these). Make a video/book-trailer –60 to 90 minutes and send this to these producers/directors, with a short note.  

Think out of the box. If you are going to locate the influencers and approach them then you can’t be shy. Give it all you’ve got. The worst that can happen is you don’t hear from them. Then move on to the next set of influencers.

Now, I want to suggest one other important thing. Put this book-trailer and/or video on You Tube, your website, your blog and your social media. Create your own buzz around it. Draw attention. You can list the links to these sites and send the influencers so they can see what is being said about the video/trailer. (It also should protect you from someone using your ideas.)

Take this a step further, and have some friend interview you and ask questions about the book, the background, etc.,  while another friend records it, and puts it on You Tube, website, blog, and social media. Ask your friends to put this on their website directing people to see it on You Tube. The more buzz you create the bigger draw you become.

Good luck! Hope to see you in the movies.