Eleven days to go!

Today’s video shoot went very well indeed.  First I want to offer a huge THANK YOU to Ryley Konechny and Nick Betancourt for being co-directors and cameramen, and Joel Dietrich of Evan Hardy Collegiate Media School for making their facilities available.  So anyway, I turned up at Media School and they were already setting up.  It was all very professional: lights, cameras, microphones, make-up; all that sort of stuff.  It was a three camera shoot, although a fourth was used to record the audio tracks.  There was this neat set built like the room of a house, which I suppose could be used for anything like a bedroom, a lounge, maybe even a cafe or something.  But in this case it was pretty much a bare room with a chair in the center.  Yes, I felt like I was being interrogated—but not so brutally as to force me into ‘gray man’ mode.

I also felt like I was on a film set and of course, technically, I was.  But I confess that I’m neither actor nor media-friendly personality.  Obviously this video is me being interviewed about my spy novel ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ but, due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions, I’ve had to give rather ambiguous answers.  Honestly I’ve never done anything like this before and it felt strange, although I wasn’t really very nervous.  I confess to have developed a whole new respect for actors, who do this sort of thing all the time.  I mean, how on EARTH do you remember lines, be in character and act naturally all at the same time?  I couldn’t even get being ME right!  It must require some serious talent to be able to do this stuff on a daily basis, whether you’re an actor, an interviewer or a public figure.  Much as I want the novel to sell brilliantly well, I’m really hoping to avoid fame.  I just don’t want that.

For a moment, I must return to Joel Dietrich, who I’ve known for several years as the main man at Media School.  We frequently collaborate on video projects and the students get to come round my work to do their thing.  I sometimes compose music for their videos.  It’s been a productive few years, but Joel shocked me today.  He’s one of the few people I’ve let read ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ ahead of release and so, upon learning that he’d finished the book, I asked him what he reckoned to it.  Well, the comments he gave me back were so kind and complimentary that I was actually speechless for a few seconds.  Turns out he REALLY enjoyed it and—in his own words—wanted to punch me at the end because he couldn’t wait for the next one!  Coming from an intelligent, well-read man like Joel, his comments were high praise indeed and I feel very humbled by them.  Now, if a million more feel the same way, I will perhaps consider myself a writer.

And that is all for now.

Roger and out, X.