ham radio
My aforementioned college roommate Amber once told me that I had a habit of interrupting people to tell stories about myself. For example, when she reported, “My dad almost cut his finger off,” I said, “My dad’s always injuring himself in some kind of shop accident.”
I was trying to be empathetic, but I guess I see her point. I’ve tried to curb this tendency, but I haven’t been very successful. So it’s nice when someone asks to interview me, because then I know I’m supposed to talk about myself and that I won’t get in trouble for doing so.
This weekend, poet Carlye Archibeque was kind enough to interview Jamie and I about our day jobs and our writerly lives on her Blog Talk Radio show Inspired by. Visit http://blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=42266 to hear:
1) Carlye muse on what color she’ll dye her hair next as she battles technical difficulties (I was on the phone this whole time, shouting, “Carlye! Carlye! I’m here!” but blog radio is in its scrappy, unpredictable infancy).
2) Me get all Hallmark-y about the importance of arts education.
3) Me say, “Even though I had a book come out, I don’t feel like I’ve ‘made it’ or anything” a la some falsely modest celebrity as opposed to an unknown fiction writer whose success or lack thereof wasn’t really keeping anyone but herself awake at night.
4) Jamie eloquently explain why, even though her pre-interview email to Carlye sort of made it sound like she hates LA, she doesn’t really hate LA.
5) Me interrupt Jamie to talk about myself.
Comments
Made me tempted to seek out a writing community and made me miss aspects of LA I didn't discover while there. Had the internet been, say, 5 years further along when I was there, I believe my experience would've been quite different.