My First TV Interview as an Author

On Friday, I had my first taped TV interview as an author. The interview will appear at various times in September on a Denver Cable Channel 8 television show called "Off the Page" hosted by an Aurora librarian. The show airs in nine markets around the metro area. The hostess interviews two Colorado authors per half-hour show to promote authors, libraries and literacy across the metro area. I shared the program with fellow Colorado mystery author, Mike Befeler, who looked cool as a cucumber through his taping.

I, however, was feeling a little frazzled after arriving late, because I spent 2.5 hours on the road to make what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive, due to rain, construction, and rush hour traffic. I made it through the interview with a minimum of sweat, though, and I'm anxious to get my DVD copy so I can analyze my performance. The interviewer emailed us our questions ahead of time, and I wrote out and rehearsed some answers. I didn't memorize them because I didn't want to sound wooden, but I ended up forgetting a few points I wanted to make.

The taping was interesting. There were two cameras, one looking over the interviewer's shoulder at me and one "long shot" camera that took in the whole view of the two of us sitting in our chairs. This camera was moved continuously back and forth along a track by the cameraman. After the interview was taped, they moved one of the cameras behind me to tape the interviewer asking the questions again, without me answering. The three types of shots will all be edited magically together afterward.