I just got off the phone with an interview for an audio blog. I’m sweating from concentrating so hard. The interviewer sounded like an interesting, congenial person, but even with a nice interviewer, it’s an intense process.
Any honest person with a normal ego who’s ever been interviewed will tell you that the one overarching thought you have during an interview is “don’t sound like an idiot, don’t sound like an idiot, don’t…” You are thinking this at the same time you are trying to answer questions intelligently, steer the conversation to make important points, and include topics of special interest to that particular interviewer. You don’t want to ramble, but you don’t want to be terse. You want to be interesting but not pompous. You don’t want to say “um,” “like,” or “you know.” You want to enunciate properly. You are trying to do all of this simultaneously. It’s a wonder your head doesn’t explode.
At least with a recorded interview, there’s the chance that they will edit it to make you sound brilliant. A live interview is a whole other beast. I had a long and interesting live interview with the New Zealand equivalent of National Public Radio last month (it can be found in the Media section of the website). Just getting ready for the interview required some thought. I had Maria guard the front door to make sure no one rang the doorbell and asked Pete to take the dog for a walk. I prayed for a good connection and that I wouldn’t burp, sneeze, cough, hiccup, or get the giggles.
The interviewer asked excellent and wide-ranging questions. But at one point we seemed to get stuck on the topic of eating road-kill including, and she wouldn’t let this slide, road-killed dog. I could visualize thousands of New Zealanders listening to their radios and wondering what was my damage.
Since then, I haven’t had the nerve to listen to the interview. My mom did and said it was good, but she’s my mom and I’m not sure she’d tell me if I sounded like a blithering idiot on the radio. I should ask my daughter. She’s 15. She’d tell me in an instant.
(For the record, I love my dog and my daughter. Honestly! How could you not love a pair like this?) 
I suppose the big question about eating roadkill dog or cat would be that they could be someone’s pet. Is the ethical thing to track down the owner before or after dinner?
Coyotes and vultures eat any road kill available with no apparent guilty feelings. Never heard anyone question a vulture’s choice of meal!
I suppose the big question about eating roadkill dog or cat would be that they could be someone’s pet. Is the ethical thing to track down the owner before or after dinner?
Coyotes and vultures eat any road kill available with no apparent guilty feelings. Never heard anyone question a vulture’s choice of meal!
Ps I ignore all road kill because it just reminds me of mortality.
You’re a braver woman than I…people tell me I’m fascinating and articulate and should be on the radio, but I can barely stand the sound of my own voice.
I doubt I’d be able to find it now, but NPR once ran a segment about their own editing practices, and they aired a sample segment of a typical interview before editing. It was pretty fascinating; they make people sound a LOT more coherent and concise in editing than they actually are.
It was a pleasure speaking with you, Dolly. You were astounding! All that intense concentrating paid off.
[...] recently had the privilege of spending some time speaking with Dolly Freed, author of Possum Living: How To Live Well Without a Job and (Almost) No Money. Dolly [...]