Renowned Comox Valley singer/songwriter, artist, poet and author, Mary Murphy, is expanding her repertoire, and she鈥檚 doing so for the benefit of the community at large.

Murphy is delving into the industry of instructional/educational videos - and she鈥檚 doing so on YouTube, meaning the opportunity to gain insight into her expertise will be free to all participants.

She said the idea came from requests by friends and fans.

鈥淚 get asked quite a lot about writing, obviously, because I am a writer, and a lyricist - I write all my songs, but also all the books I write,鈥� said Murphy, explaining the topic of her video project. 鈥淚 often hear people say, 鈥榤an, I would love to write - even a short story - I have always wanted to do that, but I don鈥檛 know where to begin. I am procrastinating, and wish I had some advice.鈥�

鈥淪o my original thought was wouldn鈥檛 it be fun to do a written column about writing. And (it evolved into) maybe we should do an online thing, with video, which is right up my alley, because I love creating videos, even though I am terrified of cameras. You can put me on stage in front of 10,000 people and give me a microphone and I am right at home - but put a camera in front of me and I just freeze. So I thought what a good way to incorporate what people would like, which is some information, and for me to move past one of the things in my life that has set me back, which is being terrified of cameras.鈥�

Murphy said her 鈥減icture the crowd naked鈥� trick for getting comfortable in front of a camera is a pen.

鈥淚t gives me the sense of security that this is a microphone,鈥� she said.

She promises the videos to not only be educational, but also entertaining and interactive.

鈥淚 really like visual stuff and I really like action, so to just have me sitting there yakking into the camera doesn鈥檛 seem very interesting - to create, or for people to watch,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o I am creating the videos with exercises that are happening with whoever is watching. So there are actual, concrete exercises happening, and a lot of visual stuff going on, to make it visually enticing.鈥�

She said the purpose of the videos is to give people the tools they need to tackle a new project, be it as a hobby, or even a career goal.

In her first episode, launching Wednesday, March 13, Murphy tackles what she considers one of the biggest barriers facing fledgling authors.

鈥淭he鈥� very beginning of the very first episode, is all about procrastination, because that is one of the biggest blocks to conquer. So the first part is an exercise to get through procrastination,鈥� she said.

鈥淚 even procrastinated on making the video for a while because of my own fear of it. But I figured I can鈥檛 talk about procrastination unless I, you know, jump into those shoes, so I challenged myself.鈥�

Session 1 has a running time of 19 minutes and covers the following elements:

* Overcoming Procrastination

* Emotional Connection through music exercise

* Example of using music to elevate a beginning paragraph

* Bonus material at the end

The link is

New episodes will be launched every week.

So tune in to Mary Murphy鈥檚 first instructional video on the art of writing. And watch for her pen.