I Was On TV!

My Wayne's World Moment, but it all came out Garth

This past weekend, Emerson The Elephant Seal and I were featured in Jennifer Palma’s Picks on Global News Morning BC!

I’ve said it before, but I am kind of a local news nut. I am still of the demographic that turns on the TV in the mornings to listen to the news while I make coffee. So when I was invited to the Global BC news station for an interview, I just about lost my mind.

I got to visit the studio on a rainy Sunday morning and try to keep my cool as Jay Janower (Sports!) and Yvonne Schalle (Weather!) passed by me a couple of times. It was definitely a surprise, given that Emerson has been out for almost a year now.

I made sure not to have any coffee before the interview because I knew myself well enough to know that I would start shaking and low-key sobbing from the caffeine.

I made notes and bullet points and even considered bringing flash cards. But then the publicist took my backpack and I forgot… everything. Even my name. I looked around the studio with the hot lights and various monitors and teleprompters and found my mind totally blank. At some point I realized Jennifer Palma had notes. I DIDN’T HAVE NOTES. WHO AM I WHAT IS THIS PLACE WHAT AM I DOING HERE. JENNIFER PALMA HELP ME.

We spoke live. LIVE. I don’t remember what came out of my mouth, but I do hope it all came out alright. I think I said I came to Canada without parents. Did I make it sound like I was an orphan? I’m pretty sure I said something really dumb, like, “I love sightseeing.”

I mean, I actually really do love sightseeing, but that’s kind of a stupid thing to say to Jennifer Palma, isn’t it? I was maybe two sentences away from describing my perfect date.

The whole thing ran for about four minutes, but it felt like much longer.

But Jennifer Palma. Ah, what a pro. She really is such a lovely lady, and was so kind as I fumbled through my words. After our interview, I turned to Jennifer shaking and essentially yelped, “How do you do this every day???”

She laughed and told me not to worry—I did really well.

The Pressure of Perfect, Even When It’s Good Enough

These things that we kind of have to do outside of writing and illustrating books are the most frightful to me. Meeting people. Showing my work. Talking about it. Posting on 🤢 social media. Especially in today’s landscape where everything is documented, archived, and never quite forgotten, I feel this intense pressure to always have it perfect… or else.

And I know that people could be quite mean when we don’t do things perfectly.

On my way out, the publicist simply gave me back my stuff and said, “That went well.”

The producer wearing a light blue Ohtani jersey with sakura flowers stitched all over it whispered too. “You did really good today.”

And you know what? I’m taking their words for it. I have to, otherwise I will drive myself crazy.

When I got home, my husband wanted to see if we could catch the replay on TV. We did. I sat on the sofa with my head buried inside my t-shirt, inwardly cringing at what I looked and sounded like being played back to me.

Once it was over, he turned and said, “That was great.” And that was that.

Find The Next Thing

I recalled Grant’s piece of advice when our book Adventures of Desolation Sound was released the year before Emerson. Not quite exactly how he said it, but…

Don’t look at the figures. Don’t obsess. Hope for the best, but move on to the next project right away.

By the time Desolation Sound was out and we were visiting bookstores, he was already deep into research and planning his next book.

I decided to do the same. By the time I got home, I was already thinking about a new story idea and the funny sketch I did a couple of evenings before:

I sent Jennifer Palma an email to thank her for the interview that morning. She responded, “We thought you were so genuine, we even did an extra news story on your book, it ran in the Noon show.”

Oh dear. Well, if Jennifer Palma thought I did well enough to do an extra news story… I’ll believe her! 🤩

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I’m sure you can find the news interview online somewhere. I’m still a bit flustered and embarrassed about it, but let me know and I can send you the link directly.