Wednesday, January 28, 2004
I met the PR woman in the Cellar Bar at the Merrion Hotel at around 4.30pm. She’s young and bright, and invites me to chat about the book for a bit – what was the scariest moment? how did I decide to do it? where did you stay? which place did you like the most?
After a while it dawns on me that she’s interviewing me as journalists will be doing. Apparently I did OK, because she told me that I’d be grand with the media interviews, and that the hacks would be as likely to write about me as the book, so I better be ready for that.
In some ways I already knew most of this, because I’ve been on the other side of the notebook a little. I interviewed Jostein Gaarder (author of Sophie’s World) for the Irish Times years ago, when the real hacks were all away on a school trip or something. But it’s still weird to think of journos sorting through a pile of review copies and press releases on their desks and picking out my stuff.
So the nitty gritty: the plan is to do a pile of things all in the space of a week or two. TV (Open House and Ireland am), and radio (Marian or Pat, Rattlebag). And some press stuff – as well as the review copies, try and get interview/feature things in the Times or Indo, and then do some local press. Maybe even a day in Belfast for the Belly Telly and the like.
I just sat there. Of course it was everyday stuff for my companion, but as I heard all the names I couldn’t imagine myself doing any of it. Of course, all the hacks might hate the whole idea, so I’ll not have to, but if you see a slightly embarrassed bloke sharing a TV couch in early March, that’ll be me. The accidental guest.
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