On the Radio

Sometimes people ask me how they can be on Writers Forum. Actually it's easy if you are a Maine writer, especially if you live down east or mid coast or in the Bangor area. If you don't know what those things are, you are probably not a Maine writer. If you are a Maine writer and you would like to be on Writers Forum, send me an email -  EllieOLeary@gmail.com. I book writers a few months in advance in order to avoid a mad scramble in the days leading up to the show.

At the end of each show I ask for writers, published or unpublished, to call the station or send an email if they are would like to be a guest on the show. Those people almost always get scheduled.

I would also like to mention how not to be on Writers Forum. One important thing is not to ignore me once we have settled on a date. I ask guests to send me a brief bio, about 200 words, that I can use to write an introduction that I will use on the show.

One scheduled guest didn't get back to me and then didn't get back to me even when I sent her an email about a week before the show to ask if she was still interested. Finally a few days before the show, I sent her an email saying that because I had not heard from her, I was going with just the other two guests. Then I heard from her. She said she didn't get back to me because she had been working on her bio and anyway she doesn't check her email that often and also her daughter was flying in to hear the show on Tuesday.

That brings me to two other things. First, if you have a book to promote, as the potential guest mentioned above does, check your email. If someone may be able to help you promote that book, work with them. A working writer should already have a brief bio blurb. You might want to update it each time you send it out, but you should have some version of it at the ready.

Also don't demonstrate to me that you have no interest in Writers Forum except to be on it. If you tell me you are available on Tuesdays or you can't do the date I suggested but you can do the following week, you are telling me that you did not look into Writers Forum before you responded. The show airs at 10 a.m. the second Thursday of every month, so no, the following week probably is not going to work.

Things happen. I used to book two or three guests, but now I am booking three per show as a precaution. Writers Forum had a rough winter. I had to cancel the December show to take care of a family medical situation. That backed up January and February. March was canceled for snow. April was National Poetry Month and I had three poets booked. One got sick and couldn't come, one arrived late. I started the show with one poet, the very gracious Elizabeth Garber. May had two guests scheduled, but one got sick. I did the show with Penny Guisinger as the only guest. June was the three horror writers who got snowed out in March.

July and August are booked, with three writers per show, including each of the writers that were sick and unable to be on the show this spring. I'm still waiting for one of the bios for the show that airs in 4 days. We'll see. Things happen.