I’m on TV!

Last week, as I was leaving Novel Idea, our local indie bookstore, its owner Oscar Malan called out, “Oh, Ying: CKWS (the local TV station) is coming in to ask me about what sold well in 2014. They’d also like to interview someone with a book coming out soon. You wanna?” Which is how I found myself, yesterday, claiming my unspecified number of minutes of fame.

Here’s how the thing went down. I showed up promptly at noon, fairly spaced out because I’d been working on The Next Book. I was hungry because breakfast was five hours ago. I had tuque-head, because it was -24C outside, with the wind chill. And I couldn’t find my lip balm. On the bright side, I managed to eschew the stereotypical black turtleneck. Yes, indeed: my turtleneck was dark brown.

CKWS anchor Bill Hall was much better prepared than I and he couldn’t have been kinder. While his videographer was setting up, he chatted with me about the Agency – just a nice normal conversation about books. And when they were ready, he smiled and said, “We’ll probably just have that conversation again.” And so we did: one take, about three or four minutes long. I’m sure I talked too fast; I know I stumbled verbally a couple of times. I definitely failed to work in a couple of shout-outs that I’d planned (I’m sorry, Ann-Maureen! I’m sorry, Mary Alice! I imagined there would be more general questions.) On the bright side, I didn’t drool on myself and didn’t say anything terribly offensive. I think.

Anyway, it’s up now. I’m afraid you have to watch an ad before getting to the content. Oscar goes first, offering some excellent reading recommendations with his famous deadpan wit. And if you skip to about 4.55, you get me.

How about you, friends? Have you ever triumphed or failed on camera?