Elizabeth Anne Wood, Ph.D.

Today I lost my radio virginity to the Tom Sumner Show. The show is billed as “Old Fashioned Radio for a New Generation,” and for three hours Sumner talks with an eclectic range of guests. Today’s broadcast included an expert on data use in policing, a health and wellness coach, and me. 

This being my first time, I was a little apprehensive and part of me wanted to do it just so it would be done. Forty minutes of conversation about my book and its themes with someone I’ve never met and about questions I don’t know in advance? What if it was uncomfortable? What if nobody enjoyed it? But Tom put me at ease even despite an almost exclusive focus on BDSM in a conversation about a story that I see as equally about caregiving, aging, illness, and family. He was warm, welcoming, and open to new ways of seeing things, and he wasn’t afraid to ask about things he didn’t know. I love talking to people who are willing to wade into uncomfortable or unfamiliar territory even if our starting points are very different.

One of the most important things I learned from my first time was to be prepared for others to see the story quite differently than I do. I’ve written a little bit about this before, but if writing a book is like birthing a child, then publishing it is a bit like sending the kid off to school. It’s going to interact with a LOT of other people, each of whom will see it in their own way. If I’m going to talk to people about the book – and I hope to talk to LOTS of people about this book – then I need to be ready to meet them on their terms and understand the book as they see it, and not only as I know it. 

I also learned that it’s never going to be possible to say everything I want to say. After the interview I had several “Oh, I wish I’d said…” moments. You can bet I’m taking notes and I’ll have a file of short reminders for the next interview. And after that one I bet the list will grow. And so on. I’m glad to have had my first time with on a show that was so welcoming to a beginner.

So, many thanks to Tom Sumner and his crew for the time they took to talk to me today. If you want to listen, my segment is archived here:

And the show’s complete archive pages are here: http://archive.tomsumnerprogram.com/?p=archive&cat=all

Check them out!