Lights, Camera . . . Panic!

Just got the news I'm going to be doing some TV interviews to talk about Mama Does Time Including one on a certain well-known morning show based in New York CIT-TAY, with which I happen to have a marital 'in.'

Okay, it's the NBC TODAY Show. I'll be on the couch Tuesday, Nov 4, between 9:30 and 10 am, barring any Election Day meltdowns.

So now the worrying begins.

I not only have to sound good, I have to look good (or, at least presentable). Meaning my customary writing clothes -- giant sweat pants and bunny slippers -- won't do. Even my dress-up Florida clothes -- lots of swirly, flowery patterns, and shoes showing toes -- aren't right. I mean, I don't know much about styles, considering I haven't changed my haircut since 1979. But I do know that people Up North dress in dark colors this time of year, and nobody wears pink plush bedroom slippers with animal heads, at least not in public.

I need a fashion makeover. Maybe I should write Ask Mama for help. That Rosalee Deveraux would straighten me out! After all, she has counseled there's no such thing as TOO much when it comes to animal prints . . . and that's certainly good fashion advice.

She's also an expert at make-up, and I could use a few tips. If I want to look any younger than Neanderthal Gal under those TV lights, I'll have to slather on the pancake with a trowel.

Then again, I could just stop worrying about how I look, and let my work speak for itself . . .

Yeah, right.

A Great Face for Radio

Well, it's finally here. My official book tour for Mama Does Time. I'm in Tampa, Fla., prepping for my debut signing, Thur., 10-16, 7 p.m. at the wonderful Inkwood Books. I'm staying over with a good friend, who is supplying me with ample cups of herbal tea to calm my first-time-author anxieties.

I did my first "media'' . . . an interview on Tampa's WUSF-FM with Bobbie O'Brien, public radio reporter par excellence. Radio's super, because you can just relax and talk. There's no stress over hair, clothes, crater-sized wrinkles ... At nearly 55, I've got a GREAT face for radio!

Tomorrow's the big day: a morning interview on WFLA-TV (Gulp! Hope the turquoise-colored jacket, the same color as Mama's convertible, looks OK. (Second thoughts: Will I look like I'm wearing a Realtor's blazer?)

Silly concerns, I know. And not very literary. But there it is. Wonder if Denis Johnson worried how his hair looked when he accepted last year's National Book Award?

As the Notepad Turns

Weird feeling today ... I'm an interviewee instead of an interviewer. After 20-plus years as a journalist, I now know how it feels to be the one who has to come up with the answers instead of the questions.

The questions are easier!

Julia Buckley, a fellow mystery novelist and interviewer extraordinaire, helped me kick off Mama Does Time by kindly posting an absolutely FAB profile of me on Mysterious Musings .
She has about a hundred other author interviews on the site. I'm thrilled to be in such impressive company.

See book cover above for the kind of SCARY stuff Julia writes. Still, she was very sweet and not at all condescending toward my little ol' story about three country gals and their Mama getting into mischief in down-home Florida.

I've said it once, I'll say it again: Mystery writers are the most generous people on the planet!

How cool is this? I'm an "Author Talk!''

Writing and publishing dynamo Shelley Lieber is making me her first interview subject in a new teleconference series, "Author Talks.''

Pretty cool, huh?

Click here to reserve a spot for this interactive teleseminar. Do it now, because space is limited. Chat with us Tues, Oct. 7, from 7 to 8:30 pm (and yes, you can bag out before the end. I'll never know).

Phone in, ask questions about writing, publishing, how I created my series debut, Mama Does Time. Heck, you can even harangue me. There should be some payback for all my years as a reporter, firing the hardballs at quaking interviewees. (Full disclosure: No one ever quaked.)

Let me Propose a Toast ...

Public speaking: Terror. Nausea. Failure.

Can I get a show of hands?

How many writers are ridden with anxiety at the idea of getting up to speak before a crowd? Fearful they'll open their mouths and nothing will come out ... terrified their voice will issue forth as a squeak, they'll forget what they wanted to say, they'll have to run to the bathroom and hurl?

I know. If we were meant to be speakers, God wouldn't have given us the ability to write.

I have one word for my fellow scaredey-cats: Toastmasters.

I've been attending for about three months. Last night, I walked into a new club where I didn't know a soul, and gave a speech about how I'm learning to sell myself. Didn't throw up. Did get some laughs.

Find yourself a local club (there are almost 12,000 in the USA and 90 other countries). Pay a visit, with no obligation. You'll learn something about public speaking, I guarantee it. You'll get the chance to practice -- before you have to stand up at a convention or a signing and speak in order to sell your books. Believe it or not, you may even enjoy it.

But just in case, they keep the barf bags beneath the podium.

Nah, just kidding. They stash them under the seats.