Ms.D and I have already met on several occasions but it was time to get started and record our conversations. Earlier this week I decided I was going to start taking the bus to our interviews. I grabbed the wrong bus to get downtown and arrived feeling rather frazzled and out of breath.

We sat down, ordered our lunch, started talking, and within about five minutes I realized that I wasn't actually recording. This is a bad dream come true.

(As I get older I am becoming increasingly OCD about a few things: forgetting my wallet, losing my keys and phone, and the audio recorder conking out during an interview. Just thinking about it makes me break out in a cold sweat!)

So I had looked down to see whether it was working (as per usual) and instead of seeing that reassuring "REC" symbol, the display read "DATA FILE SAVING." Uh, that's not right. And that's when it shut down completely.

Although I had fully charged my battery and tested it beforehand, it was clear that it was not holding the charge. Thank god I had a power cord. Thank god we were able to move to a table near an outlet! I apologized and we moved on, but I was (and am!) totally mortified.

I am glad I got my bad luck out of the way because the rest of the interview went well. I am going to start transcribing it today.

It's not clear in my mind yet how I'm going to structure all of the stories and information that she's giving me. Perhaps it's too early to start thinking about the timeline of her story. I have a feeling it will start to reveal itself once I really get started.

I am in awe of Ms.D and her drive to succeed. I need to figure out where this comes from. Is it nature or nuture? Are some people born to be big achievers, or does something happen to them when they’re young to make them into big achievers?
In the coming weeks I want to write about:

• what it is about Ms.D that makes her different
• is this a memoir or an autobiography or a motivational text
• self-publishing
• contracts
• the "shut up" principle (from the perspective of the interviewer!)

4 comments

1. Hello! on 28 September 2009 at 10:22

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2. Julie Harrison on 28 September 2009 at 20:56

   Don't be mortified about the recorder -- just consider it Murphy's Law and be happy that you brought the cord (in my life, I probably would have forgotten the cord. And a pen.) This is such an interesting journey you've launched, I'm really looking forward to following along!

    
3. Capital Mom on 28 September 2009 at 21:19

   Well, it does give you something to write about here, doesn't it. Can't wait to see what happens next. :-)

    
4. BeachMama on 28 September 2009 at 21:23

   Sorry the recorder didn't work, but so glad that you are moving forward with this opportunity. Amazing Andrea.