When the phone rings or your internet freezes in the middle of a Zoom interview!
For an author, media interviews are one of the most important things when it comes to marketing. A great thing! It means getting the word out about your writing, reaching an audience who could potentially be readers of your story. You're on air live or recorded, talking about your passion. Sounds great right? It's what writers dream about. What could go wrong? Well...
In the last few months, I've done three Zoom interviews. Two recorded ones out of Chicago and one live one out of Colorado/Germany/globally. While Zoom is a new thing for me, I thought I had it figured out. I bought a new iPhone for just such tasks and my friend, Mike Odesse, showed me a neat and simple wooden stand he had constructed for himself to hold a phone while recording/speaking into. Cool. I built one and it works nicely. I'm all good to go, right?
Next on the list is a good spot in the house from which to do these interviews. The proper lighting is of utmost importance. A good chair and a place to set your phone stand. Away we go! Well, on the live interview with Michael Conti on The Hildegard Way Worldwide Virtual Pilgrimage a few weeks ago, all was good. I set up at my kitchen table as I'm about to go on, then my internet feed started freezing! With only minutes to spare, I scrambled with all my paraphernalia and notes to the sunroom beside my internet modem. The connection comes back. Whew! But by this time I am now quite frazzled! I never really recovered and my interview went ... meh! I thought it went terrible to tell you the truth.
Then... during my two interviews with John and Mark from Chicago on their show "Angles & Attitudes", I received a phone call in the middle of the first interview. Ugh!! Then last night, my internet froze (again!) in the middle of an interview with them and Jerry Sawchuk (Terry's son). I again had to scramble to my modem in the sunroom, in the dark, trying to find the light switch in the middle of the interview. Embarrassing! I was absent for about a minute though they could see my picture bouncing around in the dark! Yeesh! Mark and John were both very gracious about it and said everything was fine, and I was thankful for that. But I was so mad with myself and I was wondering that they'll never have me back!! Lesson learned. All interviews stay in the sunroom, even if its freezing! This Zoom world is complicated here at Peekaboo Trail!
Oops, I just remembered, I'm going to be having a live author interview at the Penetanguishene Public Library in two weeks during Library Week! What'll I do? I can relax. They'll be taking care of the techie stuff! Thank goodness!