First Impressions

If you had told me when I woke up yesterday morning that I would be on the local news by evening, I would have probably locked myself in my room all day for fear of horrific car accidents or deranged random shooters because those would be the only ways I could have imagined myself being on TV in the course of the day.  


Note to self:  when you comment on the local news stations "fishing-for-stories" post on Facebook in the morning, try to sound boring unless you really want to be on TV!  But I couldn't fight it much because I knew that the subject matter was something that I feel myself to be a bit of an expert on and, though I know that there are many who have struggled much more than I have, I hoped to share some hope with others who are going through hard times.  That's a big part of what my blogs (this one and www.thegreenbackanaconda.blogspot.com) are about.


I'm a writer.  Broadcast media is SO not my genre!  I majored in English and Communications in college.  In the Communications department, I tried very hard to focus on PRINT media.  I even fought them a little on some of the ways they wanted me to "round out" me degree with broadcast stuff.  So right now the writer in me just wants to go hide behind reams of paper.  Or a keyboard.  Guess that's what I'm doing right now!


Addtionally (if you'll indulge one more anecdote), when I was in the 9th grade and it came time for The 9th Grade Play and I HAD to be in it, I worked very hard to get a spot as an Act Director because the Act Director's job was the stand, blessedly, BEHIND the curtain and whisper the lines if anyone forgot their lines while on stage.  Today, I'm looking around eagerly for red velvet curtains to hide behind!  I am just very, very uncomfortable with the entire concept of being on TV.  Apparently, I knew that in both the 9th grade and in college.  And now.


But I WAS happy with the story.  When it finished airing, my oldest daughter turned to me and said something like, "Mom, you don't look OR sound that good in real life!"  Thanks, honey! I'm glad it was there when I needed it!  


All that said, I have one major observation about my 90 seconds on TV.  The very talented Garret Krier did an amazing job of editing and summarizing and I do feel that I was well-represented.  However, seeing the story made me realize all the more that EVERYONE'S life is infinitely more complex than anyone will ever know.  I'll be careful not to think I know all about someone just because I saw them on TV from now on.  And then I will go back to the novel I am working on where I get to play with trying to make my characters deep and complex and, hopefully, almost REAL and where I get 300 pages to try to illustrate them rather than having to try to do the impossible like Garret did and try to catch something in 90 seconds!  The thought exhausts me!  But the projects and the blog posts DON'T exhaust me so STAY TUNED!