Tweet Tales Tuesday Week 261
October 18, 2017
15 Minute Tweet TalesLast week, I talked about the project for the grant my brother won, so this week it’s time to talk about mine! The grant I applied for is called the Artists Ventures Initiative, and its purpose is to help artists in South Carolina turn their art into a business. Over the years, I’ve absorbed a lot of knowledge about writing in a variety of formats, so I applied for the grant to start a business of online writing courses. I was thrilled when I won because the grant will be a huge help with initial startup costs and marketing to get the word out once the classes are available. 
 
I’ve already started putting together the first class, and it’s called Writing Like a Hollywood Movie Crew. If you read last week’s post, you might remember that was what I presented at the SCBWI-Carolinas conference. It was a distilled version of the eventual online class. At the conference, I talked about five positions on a Hollywood movie crew and how they can help your writing, whereas the online class will have twenty-one. People in the audience seemed enthusiastic, and several people contacted me later to say my examples really helped them, so I have high hopes for the full online course. 
 
It has taken longer than I expected to put the lessons together, partly because I’ve been learning about the video editing software as I go. My brother helped me film all the “on camera” sections, which were painful because I HATE being on camera. The lessons will be a mix of me on camera, PowerPoint slides, animation, and then my narration. Which is another stumbling block, since I also hate hearing my recorded voice. I’m in complete denial of how awful my voice is, so to be confronted with it again and again and again is … not fun. 
 
Plus, you know that saying, “Perfect is the enemy of good”? Yeah, I’ve always been a perfectionist, and I’m really struggling. As I record sections, if my voice bobbles at all, or I stumble over a word, I feel like I have to record everything all over again. I need to be able to let things go as “good enough” or I will never actually complete the lessons and release the course. But despite some of the parts I don’t like, I really enjoy the actual creating the lessons part. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a teacher.
 
Of course the biggest challenge in creating this new company was coming up with a name. I didn’t want it to focus soley on writing because my brother was interested in creating some courses about social media and YouTube, plus I wanted it to be a place my artistic friends could also create courses if they wanted. Therefore the name needed to cover a bigger range than just writing. I also wanted to incorporate dogs somewhere in the name because I plan to use the Rish family dogs as part of the marketing. 
 
After much brainstorming and overuse of a thesaurus, I decided on Transmedia Mutts. Transmedia storytelling tells a narrative across multiple media platforms, so I thought it fit the fact that multiple ways of telling stories would be covered. And then of course Mutts for our pampered pooches. 
 
The next step was designing a logo, but since I have no artistic skills at all, I called in the big guns – Will Bryan, who designed the amazing posters for my short films Saying Goodbye and High Heels & Hoodoo. He came up with a logo that’s fun, eye-catching, and memorable. Thanks, Will!!!
Transmedia Mutts logo
The logo is now front and center in the Transmedia Mutts’s social media accounts. Check them out … in fact, give them a follow. Pretty please!!! They will be a source of writing tips, social media advice, and best of all – cute doggie pics! 
 
 
If you want a sneak peek at what the lessons will look like, I have an intro lesson up on the website. And right now, I also have the PowerPoint presentation from the SCBWI conference up there, too, so you can learn even more! Due to the hosting software, you will have to create an account to access it, but I think it’s totally worth it. ☺
 
And now for this week’s Fifteen Minute Tweet Tales:
 
rasceta – the creases on the inside of the wrist.
 
10/17 – He holds her hand, sliding his thumb back and forth over her rasceta. She swallows a moan, then tries to smile as he introduces his folks. 
 
Play along and write tweet tales for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post them on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add them below in the comments because I’d love to read them. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
15 Minute Tweet TalesLast week, I talked about the project for the grant my brother won, so this week it’s time to talk about mine! The grant I applied for is called the Artists Ventures Initiative, and its purpose is to help artists in South Carolina turn their art into a business. Over the years, I’ve absorbed a lot of knowledge about writing in a variety of formats, so I applied for the grant to start a business of online writing courses. I was thrilled when I won because the grant will be a huge help with initial startup costs and marketing to get the word out once the classes are available. 
 
I’ve already started putting together the first class, and it’s called Writing Like a Hollywood Movie Crew. If you read last week’s post, you might remember that was what I presented at the SCBWI-Carolinas conference. It was a distilled version of the eventual online class. At the conference, I talked about five positions on a Hollywood movie crew and how they can help your writing, whereas the online class will have twenty-one. People in the audience seemed enthusiastic, and several people contacted me later to say my examples really helped them, so I have high hopes for the full online course. 
 
It has taken longer than I expected to put the lessons together, partly because I’ve been learning about the video editing software as I go. My brother helped me film all the “on camera” sections, which were painful because I HATE being on camera. The lessons will be a mix of me on camera, PowerPoint slides, animation, and then my narration. Which is another stumbling block, since I also hate hearing my recorded voice. I’m in complete denial of how awful my voice is, so to be confronted with it again and again and again is … not fun. 
 
Plus, you know that saying, “Perfect is the enemy of good”? Yeah, I’ve always been a perfectionist, and I’m really struggling. As I record sections, if my voice bobbles at all, or I stumble over a word, I feel like I have to record everything all over again. I need to be able to let things go as “good enough” or I will never actually complete the lessons and release the course. But despite some of the parts I don’t like, I really enjoy the actual creating the lessons part. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a teacher.
 
Of course the biggest challenge in creating this new company was coming up with a name. I didn’t want it to focus soley on writing because my brother was interested in creating some courses about social media and YouTube, plus I wanted it to be a place my artistic friends could also create courses if they wanted. Therefore the name needed to cover a bigger range than just writing. I also wanted to incorporate dogs somewhere in the name because I plan to use the Rish family dogs as part of the marketing. 
 
After much brainstorming and overuse of a thesaurus, I decided on Transmedia Mutts. Transmedia storytelling tells a narrative across multiple media platforms, so I thought it fit the fact that multiple ways of telling stories would be covered. And then of course Mutts for our pampered pooches. 
 
The next step was designing a logo, but since I have no artistic skills at all, I called in the big guns – Will Bryan, who designed the amazing posters for my short films Saying Goodbye and High Heels & Hoodoo. He came up with a logo that’s fun, eye-catching, and memorable. Thanks, Will!!!
Transmedia Mutts logo
The logo is now front and center in the Transmedia Mutts’s social media accounts. Check them out … in fact, give them a follow. Pretty please!!! They will be a source of writing tips, social media advice, and best of all – cute doggie pics! 
 
 
If you want a sneak peek at what the lessons will look like, I have an intro lesson up on the website. And right now, I also have the PowerPoint presentation from the SCBWI conference up there, too, so you can learn even more! Due to the hosting software, you will have to create an account to access it, but I think it’s totally worth it. ☺
 
And now for this week’s Fifteen Minute Tweet Tales:
 
rasceta – the creases on the inside of the wrist.
 
10/17 – He holds her hand, sliding his thumb back and forth over her rasceta. She swallows a moan, then tries to smile as he introduces his folks. 
 
Play along and write tweet tales for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post them on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add them below in the comments because I’d love to read them. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?

Jocelyn Rish

Jocelyn Rish is a writer and filmmaker who never imagined her cheeky sense of humor would lead to a book about animal butts. When she's not researching fanny facts, she tutors kids to help them discover the magic of reading. Jocelyn has won numerous awards for her short stories, screenplays, short films, and novels and lives in South Carolina with her booty-ful dogs.