I had my first podcast interview with Jeffrey Augustine this past week and it was a boatload of fun. We had just gotten into this first interview and quickly discovered that there is so much territory to cover and so many topics to talk about that we were all over the boards very fast. Open up one barrel of monkeys and then another appeared and another until it was like we were in the monkey house at the zoo. Quite a wild time.
Getting on the show was a piece of cake. Their first podcast was announced just a few days ago and I was listening to it and fascinated by what Jeff and Mike Rinder were talking about. I thought that this would be a fantastic medium to get information out quickly and easily, especially in response to current events as well as to talk about past history. So while the first podcast was still running, I emailed Jeff and Karen Delacarriere and volunteered to be interviewed. Before I was finished listening to the podcast, they had emailed me back and we’d set up our appointment for a Skype call to do it.
I very much enjoyed being on the receiving end of answering someone else’s questions, instead of having to come up with the topics and ideas and what to say all on my own. Being a writer is a lot of fun and I love being in total control of the final product, but it’s also a little lonely sometimes.
You sit in a quiet room alone, just you and your computer, and you basically talk at yourself and type or write what you’re saying. And then you read it back to yourself and say, “So, Me, what do you think?” And you answer, “Well, Myself, not so sure if there should be a ‘where’ in that sentence or a ‘whereas’; actually, that whole sentence just sucks. Take it out. Now what the hell was I thinking about here? Spotted owls? Zebra stripes? Are those things really just painted on?” And once you’re all done, you read it all back and wonder if you have just written the next Epic Masterpiece of Critical Thinking, or the equivalent of an operator’s manual for a new lawn chair.
Adding an interviewer puts a whole new dynamic into it. I had to think faster and work out my ‘colorful phrasing’ on the fly rather than craft the words I use. The answers are more personal, the experience more like a conversation – except with some nervous tremors thrown in similar to what I imagine it would be like to be on a game show. Don’t mess it up or you’re going to be that guy that everyone at home is calling a moron because he doesn’t know the number one item sold on the McDonald’s menu is the Big Mac. Duh.
Love what you say here as it hits the relating button.
Excellent interview. It sounds like your real spiritual/life path started when you got in that rented car and drove away Chris. Did you listen to any music as you drove to your new life? $500 is not a great deal is it- for 27 years dedicated service. I admire your lack of bitterness- you were exploited from what I can glean from this interview. All that money you spent all those years regging for doesn’t seem to have been put to much good use. Real Estate is hardly for the public good. I am glad your obvious talents are being channelled so positively now. And I am so glad you can treat yourself to some decent food now 😉 No more eggs!!!