Yesterday I spent a few hours recording myself. No part of the footage will be used in posted video, but I don’t believe any of it was useless either.

Some people write scripts for themselves. I doubt I will ever do that. Some people write outlines and that is something I might try one day (but no promises). Thus far, the thing that has worked for me is simply to try to make a video—over and over again.

First efforts are largely about discovery: I press record and start talking on a topic and thus find out what I have to say about it. In the process I bump up against limits to my knowledge and this informs me of what I need to research, try out musically, or even just remember. Later my efforts are more about shaping the monologue—figuring out what ideas and points to include and where. And eventually the process becomes more about details and, especially, compressing everything I want to say into the tightest package possible (that still feels personable).

In fact, all parts of this refining process are going on simultaneously from the first time I press the record/stop button through to the last, but the overall emphasis shifts over the course of the iterated attempts. Takes will eventually start to feel usable, and in the end I will settle on a single one, which I may or may not further reduce using editing tools. (I prefer the look of unedited videos, but sometimes an otherwise great take is still just a bit too flabby.)

At this stage I’m still very much in the discovery period of recording for this first video, so I have nothing really to show from hours of work. But I trust the process. Also, I forgot it was Thanksgiving day weekend and failed to make plans for visiting family (shrug emoticon), so tomorrow I’ll be here, back at recording again (thumbs up emoji).