Monday, December 12, 2005

Three Inches Closer to Fame



Last week, I received an unexpected email from a writer working on a story for my Alumnae Magazine about Alumna Bloggers. She wanted to know if she could interview me for the piece. I was a little hesitant to do the piece because like all bloggers, I exist in a constant state of fear that someone from work will find my blog and for some reason I'll be fired for it. However, after I learned it was just a short piece and not the cover story or anything, I agreed to do it. (The last thing I need is for my boss to walk into his physical therapist's office or someplace where some proud Alum displays the Smith Alumnae Quarterly on the coffee table and have him see my dumb face smiling up at him from the cover of the mag.) We made an arrangement to speak on Saturday.

Now, if I were a different person, I would have sat down, anticipated what questions the reporter would be asking me, and plan out insightful, witty respones. However, I am not that person. So we had a very nice, casual conversation on Saturday that I had totally not prepared for (I'll just be talking about me and my blog, what is there to brush up on?). Of course, it wasn't until after our interview that I remembered that anytime I am interviewed for a published article of any kind, I come off sounding like an arrogant bitch. I suppose there are two conlcusions we can draw from this: a) I am an arrogant bitch b) I am an idiot who doesn't know how to interact with the media and therefore am precisely the kind of person who should prepare for any interviews beforehand. I should also probably have a PR Handler with a stun gun aimed at my neck and legal counsel present, but who can afford that these days?

Anyway, the piece will be out in the Spring Issue so we'll just have to wait to see how it turns out. Coincidentally, I asked the reporter how she got the name of my blog, and she said it was just on the list of potential bloggers to interview that the editor gave her. I suppose this means someone at the ol' SAQ reads my blog, which is nice. You see, I worked for the Quarterly my senior year at Smith doing some reporting and writing a few columns; then, when I graduated, they offered me a one year contract to write a column about what life is like your first year out of college. Ideally, I would love to this kind of writing again, ie writing short, humorous (debatable) columns about my life for freelance cash, but I am too lazy to shop around any proposals. In the meantime, if you've ever wondered, "Gosh, what was Cupcake like when she was 22 years old? " The answer is, I was a lot like I am now but even stupider and I cried about once a month. But don't take my word, check out some of my old columns below:


My Holiday Wish List

Start Spreading the News

From Bad to Worse to Brooklyn

Daddy's Girl

6 comments:

lebrookski said...

i did a phone interview for the quarterly. also, totally unprepared for it. and i fear that it's going to be the only time i make it in there unless i start doing more meaningful things with my life/time

lebrookski said...

but kudos to you...cause your blog is way entertaining

lebrookski said...

and you should check out this link

How much is my blog worth?

Anonymous said...

I read every single one of your columns last night and loved each one. You are doing a good job of living life Nancy. Not everyone does.

ka said...

my brush with published fame came when Nancy interviewed me for an SAQ article.
Um, how come no one from Smith asked me about my blog? Do they have a thing against zombies and or profanity?

Cupcake said...

Hey Ved, remind me what I interviewed you about? I remember seeing Brooksy in there too- you had a little photo, no? Maybe something about a fellowhsip or going to Germany? Clearly anyone who was anyone at Smith is now a member of the Cupcake Mafia.