I wasn’t sure how I would do with my first phone interview; I am more along the lines of emailing my questions and getting the answers back. It is much easier for me to do it this way since I am bad at short-hand unless I am tape recording the interview. Short-hand it was since it turns out you can’t record on an iPhone when you are talking on the phone. Good to know for in the future when this happens again.
I give props to Michelle at Lamont Media for making this happen. She was able to get the time worked out so that I could interview Patricia. With questions ready, I was set to go.
1) How did you come up with 1000 places to see before you die?
I have been traveling for an entire lifetime and had unknowingly drawn up places from those travels. Bucket list; Not the challenge but in keeping it to 1000 places. Did revision of book in 2011 and came up with more places. It is always a challenge in staying at 1000 places.
2) How did these places make the cut and others didn’t?
You need to speak from your heart and write for yourself. You can never please everyone all the time. I covered interest from natural beauty and history and wrote from personal places and experiences which included so much.
3) Have you seen all of these places and how long did it take you to see them?
You need to understand the breadth; the first book I wrote on this subject took eight years from signing the contract to the book hitting the shelf. It is in knowing there were so many places needed to see so I drew on recent past history. I hit the road running to see as many places as my pathetic budget would take me. It has taken me eight years plus traveling an entire lifetime to see these places.
It was an honor to interview Patricia. She was gracious and took time out of her busy schedule for this interview.
Check out 1000 Places to See before You Die for upcoming tour dates. She will be one of the guest speakers at the San Francisco Travel Show on Sunday, February 8th if any of you are in the area and get the chance to hear her speak.
Have any of you interviewed someone over the phone versus emailing the questions to them? How did the interview go? Do you prefer phone interviews over the type of interviews where you can send the interviewee a word document with the questions listed on them? I would love to hear your thoughts on these types of interviews.
