Early in 2023, when I thought starting a podcast seemed like a terrific idea, my new co-host, Kathy, immediately asked if she was going to get to interview me. ME? Um, hello? I had just published my first book, a memoir, but really…this is an era where everyone with an ink pot and a quill is publishing books. When Kathy first asked that question, I wasn’t even sure if anyone but my husband would buy it (with my gentle urging).
Interview me? Yeah, no. I blew that question off.
In fact, I blew Kathy’s question off for months even during our chats about future episodes of Whine & Wine and how to map them out. Those chats often included a quick volley of, “Well, I still have to interview you” and an equally quick return of laughter.
Until…I finally caved, giving Kathy the green light but only after the audiobook was published. In all honesty, the audiobook was a giant pain in the ass that had the potential of never being published, so it seemed like a safe promise.
Rookie mistake.
If I know anything about Kathy it’s that she remembers everything everyone has ever said. The other thing I know about Kathy is that she has the ability to voluntell so well that, often, those she voluntells think their new to-do lists were their own idea. I experienced this many times when we worked together at IBM a thousand years ago and would be awakened during meetings by the words, “Well, Jyl and I are going to…“
For the March episode of Whine & Wine, Kathy and I finally sat down for that coveted interview. Well, the first interview. When I saw her stack of post-it notes, I knew right away that this would be a series rather than an episode. For comparison, I’ve done nearly a dozen interviews about What to Expect When You Weren’t Expecting and never seen a single post-it, let along a whole pile. The interview world is an odd one. It is not uncommon for authors to provide the questions that will then be asked back to them during recording. I guess I get it? No everyone is an reader, including television, radio, or podcast hosts.
Clearly, Kathy had not only read the book, but evidently she had also memorized it.
Tune into the March episode of Whine & Wine to hear how round one of our interviews went:
Next month, Rich will take his turn in the hot seat and then, if I know Kathy at all (and I do), I suspect she will want to chat with us together for May.
Want to check out What to Expect When You Weren’t Expecting? Choose your media!
Notes from the Show Notes:
Has it really only been a year since Jyl’s best-selling memoir, What to Expect When You Weren’t Expecting, hit bookshelves around the world? Kind of.
This book about the challenges of building a blended family has been scooped up by (step)moms worldwide as they’ve discovered that they are not alone. Jyl has appeared on podcasts in several countries, chatted with a few radio hosts, and even put on her lip gloss for a live television interview.
None of that was as terrifying as this month’s episode of Whine & Wine in which Kathy takes the lead like a baby Barbara Walters.
To celebrate the release of What to Expect When You Weren’t Expecting’s audiobook (read by Jyl and her husband, Rich), Kathy finally got the interview she’d been begging for and she arrived with pages of notes.