Tonight, I will be on the Computer America show.
I’ll be mostly talking about Just A Geek, but I’m sure I’ll geek out about Linux, my frustrations with my iBook, how cool it is to be a TotalFarker, and this cool wind-up Bender I have on my desk.
I’m on from 7PM to 8 PM Pacific. This handy link has all the listening details.
First Break Update: Well, I pulled a full-on rookie move, and talked right up against the break . . . but it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t hear the music starting. Grr. So far, the interview is fun. I feel a little long-winded, so I’m going to shorten up my answers in the second block.
Second Break Update: DAMMIT! I talked into the break again! I’ll have to get the exact times they go to commercial, so I can not suck. Still too long-winded. I’m sort of rambling in my mind, (too many thoughts jumping up after each question, each thought leads to a new thought, which leads to still another thought. It’s hard to tie them back together. Anyone who’s seen me speak live knows what I mean.) If I were a politician, I would be “off message.”
Okay. Next break I will be succinct and direct. I am so not going to suck!
Third Break Update: Much better! I didn’t talk into the break! Yeah!
Of course, I did sort of rush myself a little bit, and it feels weird to talk about how Just A Geek is doing. I think it’s doing well, but I don’t have anything to compare it to, you know? I can’t see actual numbers other than the Amazon sales ranking, so I sort of panicked and answered that I’ve heard from lots of people who have told me they liked it.
Hrm. So I didn’t *totally* suck, but I didn’t rule, either. Hopefully, I’ll hit the good balance in this next break.
Fourth Break Update: Best break yet! I stayed focused, kept my answers short, and even kept my head about me when I got a question from a caller that made me squirm a bit. These hosts are really great, and I’m really enjoyng myself.
Final Thought: So I didn’t totally suck, but it took me two full segments to get warmed up. Maybe in the future I should do some sort of fake interview with myself for ten minutes, so I feel comfortable when I get on the air . . . hrm. That actually raises an interesting thing: I’ve been so severely burned over the last few years by The Media, I feel a little nervous and stand-offish when I get started, because I don’t know if I’m going to get slammed or not. The hosts on this show were fantastic, though, and they totally didn’t make it all about Star Trek, or all about Computers or anything like that . . . and they’d actually read the book (!) which was a huge bonus.
To use baseball as an analogy: I didn’t hit it out, but I got a double, and stole third before scoring on a fielder’s choice.
Still with me?
I’m just now realizing that I haven’t done very much publicity for Just A Geek, in comparison to Dancing Barefoot, which is weird (and a little alarming) considering we (O’Reilly and I) thought Just A Geek was a much “bigger” book. Hrm. Maybe it’s also very early in the “cycle,” too. Maybe I need to send The Voice Of Self Doubt off to the Cornfield.
Maybe I need to get offline and go watch WSOP on ESPN.
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darn it! i missed it! that’s what i get for living in japan….
Nice work Wil. Don’t worry about coming off too long winded. Sometimes its nice to have a little extra information.
Excellent…I finally caught a Wil Wheaton interview.
Good Job man…good job!!!
You can listen to it on MP3 format on the site. I am listening to it now and Wil you really don’t sound bad. It’s good to be chatty!
I just finished listening to the show. You did a really good job…despite talking into the first two breaks, which resulted in me giggling in ‘omg your so cute’ glee….which clearly shows my silly (and mildly embarrassing) fangirl-ness.
Though I do have one thing to ask…what was your first thought when the last caller asked you about your Toy Soldiers character, Joey Trotta? Seeing as Star Trek: TNG and Stand By Me were the most mentioned works from your history.
Great show, Wil! They are still talking about you on the show! :^)
K.: You can get the mp3 of the hour from Computer America’s website. It just got loaded. :^)
Hey Wil, You’re too hard on yourself. Just relax and be YOU. You don’t have to always “put on a show.” You are the most enjoyable when you are just being the REAL you.
I thought you did well and I am glad you are getting a lot of exposure. You definately deserve it.
Looking forward to seeing/hearing you again.
::happy dance that I live on the West Coast:::
Angel
Good interview, Wil!
I’m sorry that I made you squirm. 🙂 I didn’t mean to imply that everyone hated Wesley Crusher, but rather that such individuals are extremely passionate, and tend to overwhelm those of us who liked the character (myself included). One of the first things that drew me to your website was the manner in which you’ve developed a sense of humor regarding this fanatical (and largely irrational) hatred.
I’m pleased to learn that there’s at least a sliver of hope that you might appear on G4TechTV in the future. (The general consensus was that you had solemnly sworn never to associate with G4 Media again.)
And yes, Corn Mo rocks!
hey it was a fun time
Becca: The funny thing is, since I don’t get asked about Toy Soldiers very often, I love talking about it. I think it’ a great and fun movie, and I’m really proud of it. What I said is the truth, though. I was so nervous about my accent sucking, I wasn’t able to think about much of anything else.
Very cool interview indeed.
I was suprised I got on! I called on a whim whilst munching sushi telling myself “Naw, they’ve probably got dozens of people lines up on hold…”
but it was very awesome to hear/briefly chat with you. And I’ll make good on the guinnness offer for your first east coast signing, I promise. 😀
Wil, we need to kick “The Voice Of Self Doubt” much further away than the Cornfield” — all the way to whatever starbase you were calling from.
You sound great! I haven’t heard the whole interview (listening to it now), but you are coming across as intelligent and enthused about the things that interest you.
I, for one, would love to hear more about Toy Soldiers – you’ve been promising stories “soon” about it in your FAQ for ages! 😉
Maggie
thanks clara!
great interview wil!
hey Wil, i missed the show, cuz of that crazy thing called, WORK, ugh ! heh but i just turned the station on and they mentioned that the interview is UP on the site and ready to download ?
ima bout to check it out now on >>http://computeramerica.com/
Re: “Toy Soldiers,” I’ll second those comments. I was thrilled to hear the last caller ask, and yes, there is that bit in your FAQ, isn’t there? It might surprise you to know that it has the fan following it does; Joey is a fascinating character, and it’s a credit to you that we’re fascinated.
Wil…
Friend, you really do need to have confidence in youself. You’re quite the writer and have WORDS at your disposal. I’ve been diggin’ your stuff here at WWdN for a while now (wasn’t really a big ST fan or otherwise) and have noticed how hard you are on yourself–how maybe Hwood has taught you to look for validation in your performance. Man…that’s a trap.
So…since this is public (which pushes that SAME button), let me close by saying it was neat to hear your interview. I’m a fan because of your writing (and how you’ve made the blog a “medium”).
Stay honest, stay transparent, and believe in yourself proven by your track record….Oh, and when I’m in the doubt cycle:
[When Mitch is talking badly of Curly] Mitch: He’s right behind me, isn’t he?
Curly: I crap bigger than you!
Curly’s line bails me out of ALL sorts of doubt!
Crappin’ Bigger….
Eric
I’m listening to the mp3’s that are posted on the site (I missed it at 7) So far it’s sounding good. Quick question.. In the contact information here, you (Wil) want your email digitally signed, or encrypted.. As a windows user, how would I do that, using hotmail or yahoo email? I’m guessing I probably can’t.. Thanks for any info though.
Timbo: Don’t worry about encryption. It’s a geek thing! If you can do it, great. If not, no big deal. 🙂
The Voice of Self Doubt should have been pummeled into the corn field long ago! You were enthusiastic about the topics brought up and that’s what makes it fun to listen to you. Maybe if you still feel stand-offish about the media you could try a little relaxation technique of some kind prior to media encounters?
Wil-
Great job during the interview. As others have mentioned, I believe you’re much too hard on yourself. You know, since I found your site (about a month ago when I went through the gallery from the marathon), I’ve found myself coming back for more and more, often wondering why. Today, I realized why
*downloads interview*
While I’m waiting… The mock-interview sounds like a good idea.
I listened to it on the website. Yeah, you were a tad chatty opening, but not offendingly so. Was fun to listen to. Good job dude.
Dude, you worry too much. You did good!!!
PS I’m never wrong 😀
tad chatty. (that’s funny.)
You were great! Couldn’t listen live, (damn you, work ethic!) so i’m so excited that they have the MP3s! “I felt like I was wearing my ‘big boy’ pants?” Comedy gold baby!
Rock on Wil!
Don’t listen to that self-doubting bitch Wil, you totally rule dude! Just remember to listen to the force (Ving Rames – haha, funniest shit I’ve ever heard) and keep rocking man! I’ve got your book on my birthday wishlists, so I will hopefully get it soon. 🙂
Can anyone tell me which “hours” I need to download to get the interview? I wanna hear too, dammit! This is discrimination against Aussies! lol
Mitch –
You want to download 08/24/04 – Hour 1.
I stayed up until 03h00 British Summer Time and listened for the hour. Thanks for letting us know you were on and providing those link thingies. It is such fun to hear the grown man, and nearing middle-age man, when one dug the little boy dude, even when it is in the entertainments media world, not one’s family or friends. Weird world. Good Wil to all mindkind, is our motto, or something fairly similar.
Wil, the interview was great! Lots of personality and insight. It was what I wanted to listen to! Seeing your thoughts about it afterward on line, makes it a more fun for us who listened as well. Take care.
I listened to just about the whole hour (missed the first five minutes because I messed up the time difference between PST and EST), and thought that you were funny, even when you bumped up against the commercial. The host calling you Wesley was really funny too, even if it might have bummed you out just a little (not the impression I got, but still…)
As for the mock interview idea, that sounds interesting. Maybe you could take all the thousands upon thousands of emails you surely get every day, take some questions out of those (that are, you know, sane), and record an audioblog with them. It’d be a warm-up and and addition to the site. Besides, I haven’t seen a new audioblog since your righteous tirade on the American flag doormat.
Anyway, it kind of sucks that you won’t get out here to the East Coast any time soon, but I’m sure there’s plenty of people out here waiting for you to do it if you can.
And…I’m done.
Thanks for the links, you guys are awesome! 🙂
Nice interview.
Went to your audio links to see who Corn Mo is. Didn’t find anything obvious. Google found something though, is this it?
http://www.cornmo.com/
I totally agree with Eric. Wil you must unlearn what you’ve learned. 😉
It was interesting to hear your comments about a book signing out east. I guess we have to push O’Reilly if we want to see Wil in our neck of the woods.
Agreed on the east coast stuff. Interview was funny. Why are you so hard on yourself? What am I saying?! Pot, meet Kettle. I think it has something to do with being born in the early 70’s.
Wil,
I haven’t listened to the interview yet — downloading now — but your comment about how well Just A Geek is doing prompted me to post.
I ran across it by accident at Barnes & Noble about a month ago. Thought I was gonna buy it from a local independent store, later in the month, but I was there anyway after dropping off my husband for a signing of HIS book, and the sweetness of completing the cycle was too much to resist.
You see, he’s currently publishing through an on-demand company, and doing just about all his own publicity, and he was inspired to take that plunge solely by you, Wil. Nothing I or anyone else said could convince him that it was worth the risk of publicly failing to at least TRY, but you took that great big risk over and over again, in acting (where we’ve always enjoyed your performances) and in writing here in your blog and then in writing and publishing your book, and you didn’t fail, you soared. And my husband figured, if Wil can lead the way like that, I can’t wuss out on my own opportunity, and maybe (like Wil) I can use the first book I publish to help get attention for the next book that I’m currently writing.
So I’m reading *your* book off at home, and Dearly Beloved is doing all the things that I’m sure you remember at your own very first signing – fretting because more people aren’t buying his book, fretting because some people ARE buying his book, trying to answer questions intelligently about the book’s genre and his influences and how is it that HE got published when this one woman has been trying to interest a publisher in HER works for nigh onto ten years, and SHE talks about the dark moment and other literary technobabble details and really she’s a nice lady but she comes across as mad that he got a book out without any input from the local writers’ group at all, much less her personal input.
All this time, he’s selling a copy here, a copy there, but he’s not really paying any attention. And then the signing’s over, and the manager comes over and helps him count and announces that he sold around fifteen books, and he’s all disappointed, and then I hand him Just A Geek opened to the page where you mention that selling more than ten books (at that signing you describe in the beginning) is a Big Deal. He didn’t sell out, he’s no Wil Wheaton after all, but for Madison, AL with next to no advertising or street cred, he did pretty well, and now he believes it.
So for a really good read under any circumstances: Thank you!
For having the courage to put yourself at risk of heartache like this, and sharing that with the rest of us geeks and gamers: Thank you!
For having said just the right thing, which my husband was able to read at just the right moment, coming out of the keyboard of a professional whose word he trusts: THANK YOU!
And, yes, I’d certainly say that your book is doing well!
It’s always been my understanding that it’s the hosts’ responsibility to see that the guest doesn’t talk into the break, and NOT the guest’s responsibility. If the host needs to interrupt the guest, then they need to do just that. Happens all the time.
‘Course, I didn’t hear the show, so I don’t know what kind of hosts were there or if there even were any after the beginning, but that’s my 2 cents.
Wil, buddy! Missed it when the interview aired “live” but caught the mp3 online just now. How cool was that? You can tell stories.
Wish you’d be able to do book signings out my way. Only trouble apparently is the cost to get you out to the east coast. Heck, I’m actually mid-west, so getting you to the mississippi might be close enough. 🙂 Maybe we gotta start a letter writing campaign to all the New York shows to get you out here.
Ya, that’s it!
Don’t know what I’d do if I actually got to meet you. Probably faint in a fangirl puddle on the floor. Mixing metaphores. Sorry.
Melissa
Great cornfield reference! Makes we want to go to the library and get hold of that story again right now.
Yeah, I jsut saw Toy Soldiers the other day, and it was a raelly great movie. I would like to know more about it.
Hey man- late to the thread (again)- just finished listening to the mp3. Good job. Really cool of those guys to put the info. right on their front page to make sure everybody can grab it. No signing up or other goofiness- just download goodness.
hate to jump on the bandwagon– but Phoenix AZ is not far away and there are some really nice book stores here…. and I promise, we would make it worth your while. William Gibson was here not all that long ago, I mean everybody is doing it. You have to do it too.
My copies of JAG and DB are just acheing to be signed.
And last but not least– if you guys keep up with the running, I for one (maybe the only one?) would love you bringing your talent to the topic. I’m a sucker for running stories- love your poker stuff but can relate to the running more.
pax
So , I wish I owned a book store so you could come over to the east coast, but all we own is a house(newly bought and yes kids do help keep the lawn looking great) So I’m going to find the publishers site and email then and ask them to send Wil and Anne to Florida to sign books. Anyone else want to join me???
Dam! I just sat and listend to every single one of your audoblogs. Including the ones in the past. And let me tell you they are pretty intresting. well now that iam all cought up on your audoblog I think i will go to sleep!
Cody
hey Wil, just had to share this funny lil thing that just happened…
i am sitting here getting ready to listen to last nites interview again, but after reading some of the comments on here, i kinda got sidetracked and started listening to the AUDIOBLOGS again, well my 15 yr old daughter Alicia was sitting on my bed listening in too…during the first blog, titled “Old Glory” she yells out a “hell yeah!”..agreeing with yer rant on the anti-patriotism…then silence again as we listen to the next and the next blog, at the end of the May blogs, she just sits up on the edge of the bed and says “mann, that guy is wierd” hehe
i gotta say, i think you found a NEW fan, in her 😛 she wants to check out yer site when im offline …so ROCK ON WIL ! 😀
The Voice Of Self Doubt is a double-edged sword, isn’t it? We want to kick it to the curb when it interferes with our professional confidence levels, but it may also be responsible for our being willing to apologize to our kids when we’ve pulled a boner.
Hi Will,
First of al let me say sorry about my english wich is pretty bad. Reading en talking is okay but the grammar could be better (i think). Just to let you know you have a fan on the other side of the ocean here in The Netherlands.
Strange when you come to think of it, don’t you think. Just stumbled on this blog a week ago and orderd JAG en DB. The post man would have deleverd them yesterday but a was at work all day so i have to pick them up at the post office today. I cant wait to start reading.
The thing that strikes me most is that it almost feels like i somehowe know you. I can relate to most of the things you write. I’m 35 and experienced (is that a correct word ?) my share of dillema’s.
Anyway, i wisch you al the best and i hope to see you acting again. But please, don’t you ever stop writing 🙂
Regards,
Leon (The Netherlands, next to germany but you knew that right :))
Nice interview.
Is there a reason all the ads are for grey-covering hair dye and testosterone-replacement stuff?
Are they trying to tell you something…?
Hey Wil,
My friend asked the last question about Toy Soldiers. You don’t sound like Corey in The Lost Boys, I’m glad the director didn’t have to shoot you. LOL! I’m so jealous of Karen. I love you so frickin’ much.
I loved the quote about looking at the doors behind and not seeing the doors ahead. Your career is going to be fine, have a little faith in the Balance. *squeals like the fangirl she is* I love you. Tell Anne she’s a really lucky girl and according to all you’ve written about her, you’re pretty lucky too.
Geeks of the world unite!
about the talking into the break…it’s really not your fault…the interviewer has to jump in and stop you..wave his hands…or somehow indicate what’s going on…after a little while doing interviews i discovered that some people thought they were still on during the commercials…and some just started talking “on air” when they sat down in the chair…i had to tell them…as sweetly as i could, that they were not on the air…even people who i think should know what’s going on, often don’t…so i tell all my guests what’s going on straight off…of course the listeners at home don’t know about any of these goof…unless we tell them!…one of these days i’m going to catch one of your radio or television interviews…despite your concern that you are all over the road…i have found that these un-organized thoughts that come with a rambling conversation often open doors that would never be opened in a more structured interview…so if you’re ever on my show…just ramble on…that’s where all the good stuff comes out.