Showing posts with label Barbara Barth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Barth. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Women Friendships - a Guest Post by Barbara Barth

Welcome author, Barbara Barth, with a heartwarming post about the power of women friendships.

Photo by Court Cook on Unsplash

Find your tribe and love them hard is a favorite saying. My tribe has always been creative women and dog lovers and I’ve been lucky over the years that my tribe has grown in many directions, with friendships staying strong. When my husband was alive, I had my antiquing buddies. We did shows together and set up booths in the same antique shops. We hung out mostly during the day since we had husbands at home at night. Hobby antique dealer and retired Federal employee, I was in heaven doing what I loved with girlfriends.

When that changed for me, I didn’t have any single friends, and since I don’t have children or family in town, the days and months ahead could have been bleak. My married girlfriends rallied around me, made sure I got out during the day, and some spent their evenings with me, as we ate out and went to movies.

One night that might have set the pace for all that followed, I was supposed to go see the new Sex In The City movie with two friends (one married, one living with her man) but I was in a funk curled up on the couch, ready to cancel. Ten minutes before they were picking me up, one called. “Be ready. We’ve got wine.”

I didn’t get a chance to say no, she hung up quickly. I jumped up, brushed my teeth, put on some lip-gloss, and walked out my front door just as they pulled into my driveway. We smuggled small bottles of wine into the theater in our purses, giggling like silly teens. The night became magical because my friends didn’t give me a chance to stay at my own pity party.

It’s been eleven years since I lost my husband and I’ve worked hard to make new friends while keeping the old ones close. To use the term “work” talking about friendships may seem odd, but my life is different than most of the women I know. I have no huge distractions, like grown children or grandkids, my dogs are my family. Many of my old friends are now full of family at home again, babysitting, taking care of aging parents, some doing it all and still working. I’m a free agent, my big worry is finding the proper pet sitter.

My friends are my family and I try to keep up with all of them, phone calls foremost, but dinners out still a favorite way to get together. Most times I’m the one calling to see who is free, because I’m free too much! My writing keeps me busy, and recently I’ve started painting again. As much as I love my creative life, I’m too much of a social being to stay quiet for too long.

My new tribe came as a huge surprise. After my move in 2017 from Metro-Atlanta to my Victorian cottage an hour away, I discovered the Monroe-Walton Center for the Arts in Monroe, Georgia. A fabulous art center that has become a huge part of my life bringing me on the Board of Directors with all my writing events. New friends that feel like we’ve known each other forever.

I’ve been lucky that all my gal pals have been fun, crazy, talented, nurturing, and caring. We encourage each other to become our best selves. I’ve learned to live my life as a single woman and enjoy it fully thanks to the support and friendships of the women I meet along my journey.



About the Author: Barbara Barth

Author, blogger, sometimes antique dealer, dog hoarder, bedazzled by life. Widowed ten years ago, Barth writes about finding a creative path back to happiness. Her recent move to a 1906 historic cottage brought many surprises, including discovering the Monroe–Walton Center for the Arts where she started the monthly Walton Writers group and is on the MWCA Board as Literary Arts Chair. Barth is a contributor to Walton Living Magazine and a former blogger for The Balancing Act, Lifetime Television’s morning show for women. Currently she lives with six dogs, rescue dogs that rescued her.

Visit her website at https://www.barbarabarthwriter.com/, follow her on Twitter @writerwithdogs, and follow her Amazon author page.



Book Summary: The Unfaithful Widow


Picking up where The Unfaithful Widow ended, Ten Years Later continues the author’s journey from widow to a slightly askew woman. A memoir written with warmth and candor on being single again, aging, and finding a creative path surrounded by dogs, friends, laughter, and a bit of craziness. Barbara Barth shares stories on the adventures that followed her first year alone as she moved headfirst into a new life, listening to her heart, sometimes not so wisely, but always full speed ahead. Join her on the ride of her life, from owning an antique shop to moving to a Victorian cottage outside of Atlanta, and all the follies in between. Going into the next decade with six dogs by her side, the author proves you are only as old as you feel, and happiness begins with a grateful heart. A funny and engaging memoir for anyone who wants to be their own superhero facing life’s good and bad moments.




Print Length: 374 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, LLC
ASIN: B07YBNHXZG

The Unfaithful widow Ten Years Later is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.com


 Be sure to follow Barbara Barth as she continues her book tour:


November 13th @ Words from the Heart
Stop by Linda's blog and you can read a guest post by Barbara Barth about publishing anthologies.

November 14th @ Thoughts in Progress
Visit Mason's blog today and you can read Barbara's guest post about starting a writing group. Don't miss it!

November 15th @ The World of My Imagination
Visit Nicole's blog and read her review of Barbara Barth's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

November 16th @ Lori Duff Writes
Stop by Lori's blog today where you can read her interview with Barbara Barth and read her review of Barbara's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

November 16th @ Jill Sheets Blog
Visit Jill's blog today and you can read Barbara Barth's guest post about self-publishing.

November 17th @ A Storybook World
Be sure to stop by Deirdra's blog today and check out her spotlight of the book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later and enter to win a copy of the book!

November 18th @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Be sure you visit Bev's blog and read Barbara Barth's guest post about starting over at 70. You won't want to miss this!

November 19th @ Look to the Western Sky
Be sure to visit Margo's blog and read her interview with author Barbara Barth. Don't miss it!

November 20th @ Anthony Avina's Blog
Make sure you visit Anthony's blog today and read Barbara Barth's guest post about publishing anthologies.

November 21st @ Cassandra's Writing World
Stop by Cassandra's blog today and read her review of The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later. You can also enter to win a copy of the book as well!

November 22nd @ Karen Brown Tyson's Blog
Join us at Karen Brown Tyson's blog where you can read a guest post about self-publishing by author Barbara Barth. Don't miss it!

November 23rd @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Visit Bev's blog again and you can read her review of Barbara Barth's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

November 24th @ Choices
Be sure to stop by Madeline's blog and read Barbara Barth's guest post that will be talking about women friendships.

November 25th @ Wild Woman Writer
Visit Anne's blog today and you can read Barbara Barth's blog guest post about starting over at 70.

November 26th @ Life Like A Galaxy Girl
Stop by Alanna's blog today and you can read her review of Barbara Barth's memoir The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

November 27th @ Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
Visit Lisa's blog today and you can read her interview with author Barbara Barth and find out more about this incredible author!

November 28th @ Bibliotica
Stop by Melissa's blog and make sure you read Barbara Barth's guest post about grief over the years and finding happiness again.

November 29th @ Stranded in Chaos
Visit Sara's blog and you can read her review of Barbara Barth's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

November 30th @ Anthony Avina's Blog
Visit Anthony's blog again and read his review of Barbara Barth's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later.

December 1st @ Words from the Heart
Visit Linda's blog and read her review of Barbara Barth's book The Unfaithful Widow Ten Years Later. 

December 2nd @ Women's Writing Circle
Stop by the blog Women's Writing Circle and you can read a guest post by Barbara Barth about adopting dogs while all her friends are having grandkids. Don't miss this one!
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Friday, May 9, 2014

How to Make a Book Trailer, Guest Post from Barbara Barth

Welcome Barbara Barth, author of DANGER IN HER WORDS, with  a must-read instructional guest post on how to create a book trailer.

      

Making My Book Trailer
    I am a very hands on person. I don’t want to say I am a control freak . . . but perhaps I lean towards that end of the spectrum rather than the ‘let someone else do the work’ side. With everything I do, from writing, to self-publishing, to decorating my antique booths, it is a total art project for me. I have a vision in my head that I want to capture and share with others. No one else can do that for me. I also find it a challenge to see what I can actually manage to do on the computer and it is great fun! I created my own website and blogs. I love putting graphics together and coming up with something that is visually pleasing . . . at least to me and I hope to others!  I want whimsical and light-hearted most of the time. Even with my memoir The Unfaithful Widow, the cover was pink and white, to convey hope rather than grief.
    Here is the most important thing before we go any further to let you know how easy it was for me to make the book trailer for Danger In Her Words, and if I can do it, you can do it.
    I DON’T work in HTML. I am the queen of drop and drag, uploading photos, and creating text boxes. However, do keep in mind the trailer is a visual extension of your book and you want it to be professional in appearance, not a quick thrown together job. With a bit of planning you can do a simple book trailer that will be eye-catching and one that you will be proud to display.   
    I did a bit of research before I started to determine what makes a whiz-bang book trailer.
  How long should it be? This is MAJOR. Think of it as you would an elevator pitch for your book. Keep it quick, to the point, to create excitement, anticipation, and curiosity. You want to use critical elements to communicate the tone of your book and its message. Done properly, you can create interest in buying your book or at least entice the viewers to check out your website. Do not give away the details of your story. Remember you want the viewer to want to know more than you are telling.
   A book trailer works best from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Personally I think 3 minutes is overkill. I checked out some trailers of authors I liked. The trailers that held my attention were about 1 minute 30 seconds long. So that is what I aimed for. Enough time to get my idea across without becoming boring.
   The next step for me was organizing my images and what I wanted to say. I chose several of the B/W illustrations from my book, plus the front and back cover. The images in my book are stock images I purchased. You can use your own images, images from public domain, or purchase stock images. Do not ‘borrow’ images that are not yours to use. I also wrote down the key words I wanted for my text boxes so I would not have to tax my brain too much at one sitting!
   The site I used was Animoto (http://animoto.com ). There are other sites available if you Google ‘making a book trailer’, but I’ve worked with Animoto before for personal occasions and liked its simplicity.


   They offer three programs: Lite, Plus, and Pro. Lite is free, but not what I wanted. Pro costs $39.00 a month and was more than I would ever need. All three plans include unlimited video creating and sharing. The Plus program was perfect for me. The cost is $5.00 a month paid as an annual fee of $30.00, renewable the following year. With the Plus program your video can be up to 10 minutes long, it is web quality, you can choose from 51 templates, and there are 300 plus music tracks.
    I want to mention here that the 300 plus music tracks are not the most exciting, but you can keep sampling different songs with your project and find one that works nicely and is pleasing. I went through twenty-five horrible songs to find what I thought fit the tone of my book and the images I used. You can upload your own music choice, but remember copyright infringement is a big issue. You Tube will pull videos for copyright violations. You can find music in public domain (http://www.pdinfo.com/Public-Domain-Music-List.php ) or go to iStock and buy music clips. I chose to keep it simple and work with what Animoto offered.
   I have joined Animoto, created my account with a user name and password, paid my annual fee, and am ready to get started.


   Click on the CREATE tab on the top right corner of the home page. It will take you to a list of templates on a page that says CHOOSE A STYLE. You can choose a category, or if you are like me, I want to look at everything. So I clicked on ALL. The line of choices is right under the top row of templates. Some of the templates are limited to the Pro Plan only, and you will see that as soon as you click on it. Move along.
    After trying several of the templates I chose to use the Animoto Original. Each template has its own way of streaming the photos and the size of the images. I did not use a video in my trailer, but photos with text, still the trailer came out like a mini movie. I ended the trailer with a photo of my book cover, back and front, and my website.
    Note here, that with any of the templates you choose, you have the option for any music, any  length up to 10 minutes, to upload your photos or video clip, write your text boxes, and preview before publishing. I added my photos and text in one template and then kept going to the top right hand side of the screen to click to change style, so I could see how my photos worked in many templates to find the best fit. I did the same by changing the music and previewing. It did take most of the morning to accomplish this, but it was fun to do. After my trailer was completed I uploaded it to You Tube.  It hasn’t gone viral yet . . . oh well! I think it conveys what I’d hoped for and I am tickled pink to have it as another tool in my media kit.
    Making my own book trailer was not about cost. I receive daily e-mails from companies that offer to make a professional book trailer for $25.00 and up. For me it was about creating the vision I had for my book.
    The photos below show some of the process.
    
Animoto Home Page:
Templates. Under first row you can choose category. I chose ALL.
Start screen. Note left hand side where you can change style, add photos, text, etc. by clicking on link. On top is the link to click to change music.
After clicking on Add Photos, the screen comes up for me to choose my pictures.
Here I’ve started to add photos and text.
My final trailer completed.

Thank you, Barbara! I have wanted to learn how to make a trailer for my books for so long. Now I can't wait to try my hand at it!

 Thank you to The Muffin at http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com the blog for WOW-Women on Writing for setting up this stop on Barbara Barth's blog tour. The tour will run through June 6. Check out the WOW website for more stops.

Meet Barbara Barth:

Barbara Barth likes a lot of things: turquoise jewelry, surfing the 'net, and margaritas, to name a few. Then there are the dogs. As many as her house can hold! This Georgia antique dealer and jewelry maker published a hobby newsletter for thirteen years. After her husband died she recorded the year that followed in a series of essays. When she isn't writing you can find her at the local thrift shops or pounding another nail into the wall to hang the paintings she can't resist. She published a memoir, The Unfaithful Widow, and Danger In Her Words is her debut novel.
  
Find out more about Barbara by visiting her online:
  
Websites/Blogs:
  
  

  
  
  
Facebook:


  
Twitter: 
  

About DANGER IN HER WORDS by Barbara Barth:

 A TV sitcom pitch gone wrong turns dog-column writer Susan Meyers in a tailspin. "Sex Sells" was the topic of the day at the writers' convention. Susan decided to try something new and a steamy romantic novel seemed just the answer. A widow who hadn't dated in three years, Susan was out of practice with men and sex. She turned to an online dating site to find inspiration for her book and unleashed a predator with the words she wrote. Tucked an hour away from her friends in a small town where she kept to herself, with only her tiny dog for company, Susan felt safe from the world. Little did she know her life was about to change.

A romp of a story about writing and finding yourself in this book within a book. If you love girl-talk, farmhouses, antiques, country towns, a touch of murder, a sprinkle of suspense, and a bit of naughty fun, come join Susan as she learns about life from her character Jamie. Two widows looking for love in all the wrong places might still get it right if they live long enough.

Paperback: 238 pages  
Publisher: Gilbert Street Press (February 12, 2014)
ISBN-10: 098317153X
ISBN-13: 978-0983171539    
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