Hitting the Airwaves

Yesterday I was a big brave Mummy Misfit and took part in my first radio interview with Jon Andrews at Radio Wey.  You can listen to my debut performance HERE.

Now you’d think, with my theatrical background, this would have been a doddle and I’d happily take it in my stride.  Not so, Grasshopper!  I was terrified!

As with everything, I guess it’s the fear of the unknown.  At least when I was an actress, lines had been rehearsed, moves planned and once the first few seconds of nerves departed, I’d become someone else for a couple of hours.  But this was something I’d never done before and I had to be me!  No hiding under the disguise of a fictitious character but Amanda Egan, author.

In my books Libby, the Mummy Misfit, constantly feels that she’s not good enough and that she doesn’t belong.  And that’s how I felt yesterday.  Why would people be interested in listening to me?  What if I totally stuffed up?  What if my tongue didn’t keep up with what my brain was telling it to say?

But I found that once the lovely (and very professional) Jon put me at ease and posed his questions, I began to relax - the brain and tongue seemed  to be working together and, actually, my story and background sounded quite interesting.

I quickly realised that eye contact is quite important when doing a radio interview - I could then figure out when the question had finished and when I should answer.  I found myself constantly looking for a glazed over expression in Jon’s eyes - my cue to shut up!

After listening to the recording of the interview I’ve had a couple of ‘cringe’ moments where I’ve thought “Oh why did I say that?!”

First off I talked about how our son was reading when he was three and then went on to describe the loud mouthed ‘Meemies’ in my books who brag about how bright their children are!!  Ooops, strike one!   I really wasn’t showing off, I was stating facts.  And I’m most definitely not a Meemie because I don’t talk too loud, own cupboards full of designer handbags or park by Braille!

Then when Jon asked why I’d chosen Tina Arena ‘Chains’ as a song request, I answered, “Ooh, I guess I just find it a bit saucy!”  Saucy!  What a stupid thing to say.  I admit I do find it sexy and a bit tortured … but …saucy?!  That was most definitely a “Watermelon Moment” (see previous post).

When it came to another song request, I’d chosen Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ - purely because it’s tradition to end our dinner parties with a couple of our friends with this track and I can relate to the feeling of angst and not belonging.  It wasn’t until we were part way through the track, I thought to ask if it was the ‘clean’ version!  After a quick panic from Jon and a check for any complaining email, I told him we were fine - Thom Yorke had just said ‘so very special’ - we were safe, the ‘F’ version hadn’t been winging its way down the airwaves!  Mummy Misfit strikes again.

So once I’d relaxed and controlled my sweaty palms, I think I did OK.  Not sure if I’m ready for the BBC yet but, then again, I’m not convinced they’d be ready for me either.  Saucy!

My song requests don’t feature on the podcast for copyright reasons but they can be found here with links and the reasons I chose them.

Copacabana - Barry Manilow

Mrs Sengupta in my books has an obsession with Bazzer.

Feel My Love - Adele

A unique voice and a very loving song.

Chains - Tina Arena

Saucy! And you have to stay with it for the slow, sexy build.

Creep - Radiohead.

Reasons explained in blog. [LANGUAGE ALERT!!!]

I also wanted Thin Lizzy ‘Still in Love With You’ or ‘Parisienne Walkways’ but Jon didn’t have copies. (shows my age!) I could well be in the audience on one of those YouTube Videos!

Diary of a Mummy Misfit and The Darker Side of Mummy Misfit can be bought at Amazon for Kindle and in paperback at Lulu.