I Like Normal People

SafeHaven, a local shelter for domestic abuse victims and their children, is having this big luncheon in the beginning of October to recognize great women. I first learned about the event back in May or something, when my managing editor asked me if I wanted to interview the guest speaker. I asked who it was, and she said, Tim Gunn, and I said yes and got all giggley.

Well, that fell through, for one reason or another (I don't know why), and the new guest speaker is Patricia Heaton, known for her role in Everybody Loves Raymond. My editor set up the interview with the local SafeHaven PR person, and then gave me the time and date for the 15-minute phone interview.

I did the interview this morning, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the way it went. At the exact scheduled time, my phone rang, and after I picked it up and said, This is Liz, I heard the woman on the other end say, Hi, this is Patricia Heaton. No PR person lurking on another line, no comments about how this is only 15 minutes, no requests that certain topics be off limits. It was just a normal interview, and she was very pleasant, and that was that.

I've never interviewed someone quite like that before--I mean, I've interviewed people that are big in certain communities, like the medical community or cycling community or whatever, but never people that the general public knows about. I don't know that I'll ever do many interviews with well-known people such as Heaton, but if they're all as low-key as her, then I will happily do it whenever my editors need me.