A LETTER OUTLINING FUTURE PLANS (#37): In addition to being a co-owner of Galeriía Atotonilco, my friend Susan Page is also the founder of the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival. Perhaps you’ll find this letter interesting background material.
Hola Susan:
After I finished my documentary, “John Prine: The Gulfport Years, 2005-2020” complaints from his record company almost got my channel CAST Of CHARACTERS Live permanently banned from YouTube. I made it because John and his wife had a second home in my hometown of Gulfport, Florida. A friend is going to show it to John’s widow, Fiona, and he is sure she’ll have the record company withdraw its copyright complaints. It is the best thing I have done, and beautifully captures the life and music of John Prine in 38 minutes. The copyright complaints were why I have been trying to get Oprah’s approval for my use of her clip at the Lynching Memorial in my documentary “Racism in America.”
Meanwhile, I decided to write 100 short stories for Facebook. Today’s was #36, about Galería Atotonilco and Gustavo Pérez. I have included the story below and the photos I used above. Writing for Facebook is different that writing a short story. Interesting photos and a catchy opening sentence are a must. I like writing for Facebook because I can use photos and I get instant feedback. I notice that I get a lot more “LIKE”s when I use photos of Cathy or the dogs.
I also notice that I get the fewest comments when I post a video. That is understandable because it is hard to comment on a video you didn’t watch. Most people check their email and Facebook on their cell phone. When I make a video I use the best quality images available so that they look good when enlarged. I like to watch my videos on YouTube on my 75” TV. As I mentioned in #33, I watched Tonio K.’s “Say Goodbye” on the movie screen at the Santa Ana Theater and it was awesome! The 2” screen of a cell phone just doesn’t work.
While I was banned from Facebook it took facebook 4 weeks to decide my “Racism in America” wasn’t hate speech against white people), Fred Dannen referred me to the man who built the website for Boleto City and in a few weeks we should have castofcharacterslive.com up and running. It will be divided into two parts. One for my videos and one for books and short stories. We’ll use Vimeo for the videos instead of YouTube. YouTube has restricted several of my documentaries to viewers 18+ years of age because of the graphic violence inherent in the subject. This makes it nearly impossible for someone who doesn’t have a YouTube account to watch. Even if I send a link, they still have to prove they are at least 18.
For my written work, I want it set up so that when a viewer picks a topic, pages will swipe to the left like a book on Kindle. I will also be able to use photos, which will fit my first two books nicely. I did a lot of traveling before we settled in SMA, and had outlined a book about the 36 places I want my ashes scattered, “Pieces of Me.” I took a 2 day writing class with Chet Kozlowski. He liked the “unique concept”, which I call a travel obituary, but felt there was too much material for one book. The second book is called “Closer to Heaven: From St. Petersburg to San Miguel de Allende.”
Two years ago I took a week long class on writing non fiction and finished the preface and first 3 chapters of “Pieces of Me. Then we started CAST Of CHARACTERS Productions and my attention was focused on video. Now I like the concept of self-publishing one chapter at a time with photos. I think the instant feedback from my friends will keep me going, several following my Facebook shorts have urged me to write a book. They were probably just being kind, but a friend from high school said I was her, “new Net Flicks.” If I continue to write 4 to 5 hours, 6 days a week, I should be able to finish a chapter a week.
I also have a collection of short stories I wrote over 20 years ago, “Mother’s Day”. It’s about being the primary caregiver for my Mother while she died from cancer. And two other books I started.
One other idea I have is for a guest author section where friends can post their stories or chapters.
Susan, I would appreciate any thoughts you might have. Perhaps you can point me to some information about a similar project.
Your Quiceañera from last Valentine’s Day will be the story and video for this Valentine’s Day. I’ll follow that up on the 15th about February 14th, 1986, when the State of Florida closed Park Bank. It was the biggest bank failure in the State’s history, and my ex and I were innocently involved.
Cathy send her regards.
Our best to Mayer and Golda.
Scott
