Starting The Year Off With An Interview

Since I'd mentioned my CNN interview on Facebook and so many of you had wished me well and wanted the details, I'm posting the experience here.

First, I don't know when the piece will be aired. I don't know how my taped portion will be used. Could be 20 minutes or a mere sound bite. They will let me know the information and I will be sure to post.

Early this week I got a call from Romance Writers of America asking if I would facilitate an interview with CNN on the subject of romance readers and E-readers. Ideally CNN wanted someone who could come to their studio in D.C. I'm the immediate past-president of RWA and also live in the D.C. area and the powers that be thought I could do this. Since I had a sinus infection, I pushed the scheduled interview as far out as I could which ended up being this morning.

In the meantime, I chose to brush up on my statistical information on the romance genre, the segment of readership, what were RWA's mission and community involvement, etc. I started practicing responses for expected questions or for if I encountered a certain tone to the questions.

As the morning loomed, I stood in the closet wondering what to wear. I look great in bright colors, but also not too bad in autumnal colors. In the end, I opted for black. I slathered on the makeup, made sure my hair framed my face and picked jewelry that made a bold statement. I left my house with little time to spare and drove to Union Station in D.C. (CNN is next to the station)

I did get a little turned around and schleped my way to the right building. CNN offices have heavy security. Even if you make it pass the first security station, you've got to then make it past the guard in front of the elevator bank, and then through the security guard in the lobby. So good luck to any notion of a flash mob in that building.

I was led back to a studio room--can we say: hot, balmy, tropical. I only have to think hot flash to activate the internal roaster oven in me. Ed, the camera guy, was friendly and empathetic as I sprouted lots of moisture. He said that he'd be turning off the lights, so not to worry. I appreciated that, but asked if he could turn out all the lights and just do the interview in the dark. He pointed to the monitor that was in front of me, which is like looking in a mirror while you speak (so I could now see myself sweat and pat myself dry...ugh). However, the interviewer would be sitting to the side of that monitor, so I had to concentrate on looking at her and not at myself (or maybe I was supposed to stare straight ahead and not where she sat - aiieee).

After I felt like a dripping rainforest, I asked them to take off the microphone that was attached to my outerwear and began stripping. Ed was nice enough to leave the room, but really I was so hot that I didn't care. He brought me a cup of ice and water. Finally I was ready in my sleeveless shell. My body temp was back to normal. I was calm and ready to get started.

Karen, the interviewer, was nice. Now I know that you shouldn't get too relaxed because they are journalists. I didn't make any silly remarks, didn't treat anything as "off the record." I did get my responses a bit jumbled when I took myself out of the moment and started thinking about a past response or of something I wanted to say.

My biggest flub was when she asked what I would say to people who thought romance books were silly, even though there are classics like Jane Eyre that are romance stories. I almost answered with my usual sarcasm, but then reeled my feelings into something more positive and constructive. (At least, I think that I did. I may have rolled my eyes...eek)

All in all, I'd give myself a B...maybe by tomorrow, I might push it up to a B+

So thank you for the Facebook support. Thank you Rockville 8 and LiveLoveLaughandBooks for your feedback. Thank you Cathy Maxwell, as always, you're awesome. Thank you RWA for asking me. Thanks Guerin, Karen, Ed at CNN for the experience. Now I wait for the finished product and hopefully not have to duck from rotten tomatoes.