June 2026

June: Permission

Hi Video Kickstarters!

My sister was the rebel. I was the obedient one.

We grew up in the Virgin Islands, two years apart, at the same elementary school. And then her 5th grade year, she transferred to a new school — one with a teacher who was obsessed with writing. From day one, he assigned every student a composition book. Essays every single day, no exceptions. She'd come home and show my mother the book. And as the weeks and months went by, she got better. Because of course she did. That's what happens when you practice something every day.

My mother was so proud.

I watched that. I watched my mother — who up until then had been quietly exasperated by my sister's rebellious streak — light up with this unmistakable pride. Over writing.

And I filed it away somewhere deep: that's hers. Not mine.

I never got assigned that composition book. I never had a teacher who built that muscle in me. Nobody ever said, "Edie, you're a natural at this." The only things I remember being praised for were my handwriting (neat) and the way I spoke (I didn't have the Caribbean dialect — people said I "spoke well," which is its own complicated thing).

So I decided, somewhere around age ten, that I wasn't a writer. And I repeated it like a mantra for the next forty years.

I'm not a writer. I can't write. I don't know what I'm talking about. Who's going to listen to me?

In 9th grade, I failed English. Had to repeat it sophomore year. In a school system where your homeroom number told everyone exactly where you stood — the closer to 1, the smarter you were — I went from 9-6 to 9-18. I knew what that meant. Everyone knew what that meant. And it sealed it.

I'm not a writer. I’m not smart.

Decades later, when I started my business and needed to sit down and script a video, that ten-year-old showed up.

The blank page wasn't just blank. It was proof.

Happy Creating,

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In this issue:

June Focus You Don't Need Permission to Write. You Need a Workaround Toolbox Audacity & NotebookLM Actionable Tips Script Videos Without Writing Live Events! Weekly Wednesday Live Training + Q&A Before you go One Last Thought...

This month's issue sponsored by Embrace Video Action Lab

Building a video strategy by yourself is lonely and can be overwhelming. When you hit a snag, it is easy to quit. That is why I created the Embrace Video Action Lab.

Your new support system includes:

• You Ask | I Answer live weekly training and Q&A sessions.
• A safe, judgment-free space to post your first draft.
• Create & Post to get eyes on your work before you publish.

Trade procrastination for a published video library.

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June Focus

You Don't Need Permission to Write. You Need a Workaround.

Here's the thing nobody told me: you don't have to write to script a video.

You just have to talk.

Think about the last time you explained something you know well to a friend — a process you've mastered, a mistake you made, advice you'd give your younger self. You didn't stumble. You didn't freeze. You just talked, because you knew it.

That's your script. You just haven't recorded it yet.

The method I use now: I open a voice memo app — or Audacity if I want something I can edit — and I talk. Not to write. Not to perform. Just to get it out of my head. A brain dump. Raw, messy, circular sometimes. It doesn't matter. The goal isn't clean copy. The goal is getting your thinking out of your body and into the air.

Then I take that transcript and drop it into NotebookLM or ChatGPT. Not to rewrite it — to structure it. I ask it to find the three main points I was circling, organize them, and reflect my language back to me. What comes out sounds like me. Because it is me — just organized.

The blank page was never your problem. Your problem was believing that writing had to be the first step.

It doesn't.

The irony that I'm telling you this? The story I shared above — my mother, my sister, the composition book, the homeroom numbers — I didn't write that. I recorded it. I talked it out into a voice memo, and that recording became the raw material for everything you just read.

You already know how to do this. You just need permission to call it enough.

Need support, accountability and help? Join my Embrace Video Action Lab community over on skool.com

June Toolbox

Audacity & NotebookLM

I love finding tools and equipment that are simple and easy to use. Here are a couple recommended tools that make your videos painless, even if you have zero technical experience:

• Audacity (Free) The fastest way to turn your brain-dump recordings into usable material. Audacity is a free, simple audio recorder that captures your raw voice notes, lets you trim the rambling bits, and exports a clean file you can drop into any transcription tool. No learning curve. No monthly fee. Just your voice, recorded.
• NotebookLM (Free — Google) Once you have a transcript of your voice note, NotebookLM is where the structure happens. Feed it your raw audio transcript and it synthesizes your thinking into organized, coherent outlines that still sound like you. It's not writing for you. It's organizing your words so you don't have to start from scratch.

Script Videos Without Writing

You already have the voice. Here's how to turn it into a script without writing a single word first. Talk before you type. Set a 10-minute timer. Open your phone’s voice memo app and explain your next video topic out loud. Imagine you’re talking to a friend who knows nothing about it. Don’t edit. Don’t stop. When the timer ends, you have your raw material. That’s your script outline. Use AI as a mirror, not a ghostwriter. Upload that audio file to NotebookLM and ask: “What are the three main ideas I kept coming back to? Organize this in my voice.” The goal is to see your own thinking reflected back clearly, not to hand it off and get something generic in return. Your ideas. Their structure. Give yourself the composition book. My sister’s teacher didn’t wait until she was ready. He assigned the practice. Assign it to yourself: one voice note per week about your area of expertise. Don’t publish it. Don’t edit it. Just build the muscle. In a month, you will have more script material than you know what to do with.

Before you go

One last thought...

I failed English in the 9th grade.

For decades, I told myself I wasn't a writer.

I then built a business that runs on video scripts, email newsletters, and showing other people how to tell their stories.

None of that is a contradiction.

It's just what happens when you stop waiting for the right teacher to hand you the composition book and give yourself permission to start anyway.

The doors to the Embrace Video Action Lab are always open.

Join when you're ready.

This is just an invitation to be in a room with people who are doing the same hard, brave thing.

Picking up the voice memo app,

Talking into the void, and

Turning it into something.

People who understand the blank page and press record anyway.
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If that's you, come in.

Need support, accountability and help? Join my Embrace Video Action Lab community over on skool.com

Don't Miss!

Live June Events

You Ask | I Answer Live Q&A Every Wednesday at noon EST in my community ​Community Members ​Non-Members​ FREE to all until June 1