A new type of project: book trailer

Just posted this "trailer" for Portland-based author Susan Conley's new memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune, and so far it's been getting great reviews (which, of course, makes me happy). I got to read a galley copy before producing it - it's a wonderful, sweep-you-away, highly recommended read. The book officially hits the shelves on February 8th. In The Foremost Good Fortune, Susan tells the story of living in Beijing, China for three years with her husband and two young boys. During their time there, Susan discovers she has breast cancer, and so the story - which set out to be a travelogue-family history - also becomes a meditation on battling the challenges of breast cancer in a foreign land.



I had great raw materials to work with for this piece, including Susan's husband Tony's beautiful photographs of China, and Laura (Winky) Lewis' lovely portraits of Susan as a writer. When Tony was in Beijing about a month ago, he also recorded ambient street sounds for me to weave into the piece - which, in my opinion, really bring it to life. I did the rest - interviewing, video production, editing - and am pretty thrilled with the finished piece. Next up? A three-minute version so it can accompany the book on Amazon. But first, wrapping up the last round of revisions for the five multimedia pieces for Middlebury College I'm co-producing with Bridget Besaw. More on that soon...