Our Fifteen Minutes of Fame!

Can I tell you about our interview on NPR?

If you'd like to read about it on NPR's website or listen to the interview: Click HERE

So the story starts before today. We're shrinks, bloggers, not seasoned media folks, and so it was pretty exciting a couple of months ago when Kathy, the wonder publicist at the Hopkins Press told us that Talk of the Nation wanted to have us on! Only not ClinkShrink because the call in format doesn't allow for more than two guests, and they could use her at another time for a forensic story. Roy and I chatted, Clink chimed in with all sorts of good suggestions from her years of testifying in court and teaching newbie forensics folk to testify, and Kathy wanted to meet to give us some pointers. There were approximately 243 emails involved. And when we met with Kathy last week, she did let us know that if we messed this up, our book-related interviews were finish. Not that I was feeling any pressure, which always mixes well with that pre-interview anxiety.

I picked Roy up at his hospital. I did this because it was on the way and there was no other way to be sure that Roy would make it on time and that I wouldn't have a heart attack if he didn't show up. We got to Washington early and obsessed about where to park, finally opting to park in the NPR building. There were all these people lined up outside waiting for Popsicles from a truck, which we later learned was in honor of the 40th anniversary of All Things Considered. There were no Shrink Rap Popsicles involved, but in the car, I did hand Roy a 'good luck duck.' I have a whole box of them, in case you ever need any.

So we sign in and we're meeted-and-greeted and escorted to a room where we can listen to the radio, wait, and be nervous. We talk about the characters in our book---we'd been warned they might want to mention them, and I had skimmed the book because these people aren't real, they were just vehicles to make all the facts more palatable. Everyone had hated them but me, but even I had forgotten who was who and who did what, and I'm not sure that Roy ever really knew.

Another gentleman joined us. He looked famous, but what do I know. I asked him his name. Peter Bergen. He looked at me like I'd just popped out of a cave and I figured he was famous so I mumbled about how I'm missing a pop culture gene. What are you here to talk about, I asked. I guess that was a really dumb question, because in the last two days, Roy and I may have been the only people in the world on the radio not talking about this. "Osama bin Laden," he said. Right. He asked us why we were there and we told him we'd written about psychiatry. What's it about? We both tripped over our words and had no real clue what our book was about. Funny, but when I got home tonight, my husband was watching that same Peter guy on CNN! Amazing.

So Mr. Bergen goes off to meet Neal Conan, we listen to him on the radio, and we scramble to figure out what we say if we're asked what our book is about. Roy thinks I wrote it in an email once and he searches old documents. I start from scratch: "People don't understand what psychiatry is all about and they make all sorts of assumptions. Shrink Rap explains the nuances and logistics of the practice of psychiatry without all the jargon." Sounds good. Of course, no one else asked what our book was about.

We meet Neal Conan. I'm excited. Roy is oh-so-cool. I ramble because I'm nervous. We sit down and Neal says something about the green button. "I press the green button every time I talk?" I ask. No No No, he'd said, "Press the green button if you have to cough." It's the mute button. Right. Got it. I don't have to cough. Stay away from the green button.

It's like a podcast, and the show itself was a lot of fun. We weren't nervous once we started just talking. I did not faint. I did not vomit. Roy can say the same!

On the way out, I felt like a balloon that had been blown up a little too full and then a pin prick was letting the air seep out. I told Roy that for once he talked more than I did. He said I talked more than he did. We laughed. I let him drive back because my driving makes him seasick.

I check emails. Some nice messages from Sarebear who tried to call in (Thank you!) and Carrie. Barb said we sounded good. One review on Amazon--one star-- and they clearly hadn't read the book. The NPR site already had comments about toxic psychiatric drugs and how healthys don't listen to their patients. Oy, but hey, I've come to expect it. My rant on the subject will be re-posted momentarily .

Kathy called to say we sounded good. Yes!
Thank you for letting me talk about this for way too long!