You’re going to be on the show! Now what?
Here is the info about what the process will look like, what questions I’ll ask, and how to join the recording.
First, let’s talk about what to expect.
- PLEASE use headphones or earbuds. We cannot guarantee your audio will record correctly if you do not use them.
- FYI, don’t use Apple Airpods. They don’t sync correctly with Riverside.fm for some reason.
- Also, some headphones have a microphone on the cord. If you’re using this type of microphone, please pin the mic to your shirt so there aren’t any rustling sounds
- The microphone on your laptop/computer is good. If you happen to have a fancier mic, please use it!
- Be in a quiet room with a very strong wifi signal or plugged into your wifi router/modem. Your internet should be at a minimum 15mpbs download and 15mpbs upload. You can do a speed test at speedtest.net or fast.com
- Find a comfortable chair to sit in. Not a squeaky chair!
- We will record online through Riverside.fm
- You don’t need to create an account
- You just need Google Chrome AND headphones/earbuds
- We’ll send you an email with the login link to Riverside.fm (3-step login instructions with pictures below)
- Please have your camera turned on. I like to see you!
- I only record audio, not video
- We will send you a guest release form. Please sign it and send it back prior to your interview
- Please also send us a photo/headshot of yourself that you love so we can use it on our website and social media!
But wait! What are you going to ask me?
The queer books we talk about on this show answer crucial life questions for us. For you, what was that big question? What was happening in your life that made you need this book?
You don’t need to write out your answer and read it, but if you could have three or four sentences that would be great. No need to get into the book itself or to describe the importance of the book yet. Here, I want to know a little bit of what your life was like, what you were dealing with, prior to finding and reading the book.
Examples from past episodes:
- I had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and no one in my life had gone through anything like it, so how was I supposed to even begin processing it?
- I began to understand that I was trans but how do you transition – what do I do?
- In my cultural community, you can’t be Persian/Armenian/Syrian/etc. and queer. But I knew I was both. So, where did I belong?
- I didn’t know how to talk to my parent about my identity. I didn’t have anything to help me share it and I needed help finding the words.
- After I came out, I had a great job and I was in a great relationship. But something still felt wrong with me. I didn’t know what it was and I had to figure out why.
- My faith tradition was really harmful and I wanted to keep my connection to it, but how do I reconcile being Christian and queer?
- I had only come out to one person in my life, so I didn’t have any queer friends. And I wasn’t out enough to have a relationship. I was really lonely and needed someone or something to tell me what to expect and what it was like to be out and how beautiful my life could be.
After that…
Here are the general questions/conversation prompts to help you prep. I think of them as prompts to get us going. Once we get started with some of these questions then I let the conversation go where it needs to (instead of rigidly asking this list of questions).
- How did you find the book?
- What about it made you pick it up? The cover? The title? What is it on a list of books to read in a magazine? A recommendation from a friend?
- What were the life-saving features the book provided you as you were reading it that first time? (i.e. how was it answering the crucial question from earlier?)
- What was a specific chapter, character, or insight from the book that was particularly meaningful to you
- What was possible for you to do now that you had read this book?
- Let’s imagine you never found this book. What do you think your life would have been like?
- What has been the on-going impact that this book has had for you since reading it the first time?
- Who would you recommend this book to? What would be going on in their life that you would tell them: you need to read this book!
- Be prepared to share any websites, social media accounts, etc. for how you want people to connect with you and your work (if you want them to!).
For authors, here are the conversation prompts
After that, our listeners ask us all the time about how they want to know more about the personal impact writing the books we talk about on the podcast had on the author.
To that end, I’ll have questions around where the inspiration for the book came from, what drove you to pursue it, and how doing so changed your life. I’ll have questions about the publishing process (Was it well received by publishers? Was it a slog to get it to print?). I’ll also have some questions around the book’s ongoing impact for you since it has been published.
Conversation
Throughout the episode, if you want to jump in and ask questions of each other or myself, please do! Typically, that conversation between all of us organically grows out of my initial conversation prompts, but I want you to feel comfortable to do so. Not everything has to run through me! If you want to respond to a point made jump in!
Is this edited?
There will be light editing related to removing “ums” and for pacing. It’s a podcast so if you want to start over on a question, feel free and we can edit out your initial answer.
How to login to the interview?
- Open Chrome. If you don’t have it, please follow this link.
- Click the Riverside.fm link that we emailed you. Or, paste that link into Chrome.
- If you see the following click Allow. Sometimes you may not see this and it is ok if you don’t.
4. Scroll down. Type in your name.
5. Confirm and select that you are using headphones.
6. Confirm your camera is working in the preview window and that your microphone is selected.
6. Click Join Studio. That’s it!
