Live TV and Homemade Espresso!
Here’s something I didn’t expect to happen this week: I was on a talk show!
Rachel’s been visiting CBS Pittsburgh every month to talk about local books and authors with Heather Abraham (seen clapping above!) for “Talk Pittsburgh”—so it wasn’t completely random… but they mostly cover adult books, so I wasn’t really expecting them to want me to come on to talk about back to school reading.
We were on right after an extreme weather warning and a chyron announcing severe thunderstorms was rolling at the bottom of the screen while we talked!
I’ve never been on TV before—I can talk about books and writing for hours and hours (and hours?) in-person, but put an iPhone in front of my face and I’ll flub every take… so when I agreed to be a guest, it was a classic “this is a problem for future Nick” kind of situation. And then the future caught up with me and I was miked up and waiting for our turn in the studio while a live show was filming in front of us!
All the guests for the afternoon had been studying their talking points in the green room—but Heather and Rachel are such pros and once I sat down with them, all of that went out the window and we just kind of chatted about school visits and books.
And the segment was over before I knew it!
Rachel’s been helping Talk Pittsburgh with their book club for a couple of months now and usually I use that as an excuse to hang out downtown while she’s filming. There’s a park downtown called “The Point” where the three rivers meet, and I’ll walk Chaely by the water and give quiet thanks that it’s Rachel on TV instead of me…
Now, though… I don’t know—it’s really weird seeing yourself on camera and I definitely got a little distracted by the teleprompters—but I kind of got the taste for it!
I am currently booking school visits for 2023-24…
And have lots of information on my site about how to make that happen if you’re interested, or if you’re a new subscriber (a million thanks, again, to Heather Abraham and “Talk Pittsburgh” for having me on)!
Jean Craighead-George and Gary Paulsen were BIG inspirations for Storm Blown. The first draft of Storm Blown—back when it was called Feather Island—had a Jean Craighead-George quote at the beginning of *every* chapter… and it never gets old, seeing my books on these lists with them. So thanks to, Goodreads, too!
In other news…
The first book in my middle grade fantasy series still hasn't been announced yet—but I’m happy to report that I’m already working on book two… thanks in large part to the espresso maker Rachel and I recently acquired and are teaching ourselves how to use!
I’ve only ever made drip coffee before, but now I’m steaming milk and making cappuccino’s and “having opinions” about different roasts—so now that I’m fully awake and ready to go, I’m hoping to have book two done in record time :)
More on that soon—but until next time, I hope you’re staying cool and enjoying the last of these sunny summer days!
Your friend,
