That Time I Was On A "In The Telling" Podcast Episode...

I knew my friend Liz Christensen had begun a new podcast promoting storytelling in all its incarnations. I even blogged about it when it came out. I've enjoyed the episodes already out there in the podcast universe. It's been fun for me because she's interview many of my writing friends. I know Liz from theater and not a lot of my theater friends interact with my writing friends.

A few weeks ago Liz contacted me. She wanted to do an interview for an upcoming episode. Of course, I agreed. We recorded last Friday. The episode came out Tuesday, and I heard it this morning. I recommend you listen to every episode she's made, but I have to say, I'm definitely partial to this latest one. You can access the episode by clicking: HERE, or you can do a quick In The Telling search in the iTunes Store.

I'm not the only one interviewed. Liz's style is to interview multiple people and combine guests's comments. And in so doing, she uses other's memories and experiences to tell a unique story where points are made, impressions given, and hopefully, minds opened.

In the latest episode, there's three of us interviewed, myself, musician Columbia Jones, and artist/educator Jordan C. Brun. Each of us have different careers, different family situations, different goals, but we do share one thing--a desire/need to create. I love how Liz uses our stories to show there are always different perspectives on life. She's really good at it, a natural interviewer.

If you've never heard the InThe Telling podcast before, give this one a shot. And Columbia's song at the end is good--worth the price of admission. Thanks Liz for giving me the opportunity! It was fun.

Getting A Review...That Made My Day

Ever since high school, I've been performing in front of people. Actually, I guess I've been performing as long as I could remember. Trying to make people laugh, impress them--I've been putting myself out there for a while. And when you do that, be it on stage, in a class, on paper, you set yourself up for praise or criticism. You're voluntarily allowing yourself to be judged, measured, and not only do they judge your performance/art, they judge your education, your background, pretty much everything.

And it can be brutal.

In college I sang in an incredible forty-voice choir. I thought we were pretty good. In fact, there's not many choirs I've heard that were better. Being in a talented group, you get used to hearing good things about yourself and the art you produce. Then, after a performance, we got a bad review in the paper. The next day in class, our professor/director said something about reviews. He told us we can't just believe the good reviews. He said not to put too much credence in the good, because you'll have to do the same to the bad.

In short, if a good review can make your day, a bad one can ruin it.

A few weeks ago, my book went on sale. And a writer's bread and butter is getting reviews, preferably positive ones. I've gotten a couple of reviews, and the latest made my day. It's because the review came from a twelve-year old, just the age for whom the book was written (you can read the review: HERE...). A middle-grader gives a middle-grade book a great review. That's a win-win-win.

So, how should apply my professor's advice now? Good question. I suppose, as the author, I shouldn't allow the reviews to dictate how I feel. But I've been looking at reviews perhaps in the wrong way. I've been looking at them through my perspective, how the words affect me. When I read these kind words from this twelve-year old, I think about how my words affected her, how it made her feel.

And when I think of things that way, it made my day.