A peek into my professional day

Hey Friends,

I had a great time doing a taping for NET recently and I wanted to give you a glimpse at what it’s like for your average mom to do a 3-minute monologue video for your local public television station.  So here’s the backstory:

(all photos by Rebecca Tredway Photography)

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by Stephanie June with Nebraska Public Television about a project she was working on.  They were going to be producing some videos in cooperation with Nebraska Children and Families Foundation to address child abuse prevention.  Stephanie knew about me from my work on My Bridge Radio and thought I might be a good addition if I was willing.  Of course I was willing!  After spending the last decade working with kids from difficult family situations, my heart is very much for helping moms who are struggling get some practical tips for how to deal with stressful situations without resorting to actions they will later see were abusive.  I asked Stephanie what kind of topic they wanted me to address and told her to check out my “Excuse Me” post.  She said that would work perfectly, so now I needed to adapt it for a three-minute speech to be delivered rather than just a post designed to be read.

This was a little bit of a struggle for me since my radio spots are about 90 seconds in length. I had some work to do to slow down my speech and make sure I had written content to fill 3 minutes.  I did some rewrites, read it aloud to Brian and then went through it a bunch of times myself, just to tweak some language choices.  It’s interesting- sometimes things that work just fine when you write them are terrible to read.  You can write a tongue-twister without ever knowing it until you read it out-loud a few times.

I sent my draft to Kelly Medwick at Nebraska Children and Families Foundation and got her take on it.  Approved!  (relief!)  This will be part of their Rethink Your Reaction campaign, which I love.  I enjoyed looking through their website and seeing the ways they’re working to encourage families and keep kids safe.  They are also sponsors of Project Everlast, which is amazing.  They work with young adults who spent time in foster care.  It’s great to hear these adults speak about their experiences for the benefit of foster parents who can learn from the successes and failures they’re hearing about.

So the next step for me—prepare to be filmed!  That started at Tangled Up Salon with Emily and Rebecca.  Rebecca is my favorite friend-tographer and served as moral support and documentarian. . . about the same roles as she served during Joel’s birth.

 

 

Emily is my good friend and also a hairstylist.  So as you can see, I have hit the friend jackpot.  Emily did a great job helping me feel relaxed and confident and I just had so much FUN being a little pampered.  As a woman who gets her hair cut every other year, it was a big treat to have somebody giving me a little special attention.Of course, as I walked out of the salon I was juggling my purse, keys, an open can of Coke and my water bottle and managed to spill on my shirt.  Thankfully, I know how clumsy I can be so I was prepared with a second shirt.  Even more thankfully, it was the water and not the Coke that spilled and it dried on the drive to the studio.

During my drive I had some good moments to pray.  I felt such a peace and confidence that however this taping went, it isn’t my identity.  God has blessed me with a husband who loves me, kids who love me, and great friends.  This was an opportunity I never expected or pursued, so if it went well, GREAT!  If it didn’t, that’s okay, too.

As I was coming in to do my taping I could see Sally Ganem (Nebraska’s First Lady) finishing up her segment.  It was a little nerve-wracking.  I really kept trying to breathe deeply and think about something else, but definitely had butterflies.  It did help to be distracted by the inside of the NET building.  It is a fascinating place!  The lobby area is big and open with TVs hanging from the ceiling and enormous screens on the wall playing PBS (“Dinosaur Train” on one screen, a unicameral debate on the other).  You could look into the rooms where they were watching what was being filmed on a bunch of screens and then there was a door leading into the actual studio area.

And then it was my turn!  It was great to meet Stephanie and Kelly in person.They had me sit down (relief to not be standing for the taping! less decision making about where to put your hands), put an earpiece on so I could hear them in the control room and had me wear a microphone.

Then it was my first experience with a teleprompter.  That was a new challenge.  I have to work against reading too quickly in general, but now the text is MOVING?!  It was hard not to feel like I was in a race to beat the teleprompter, but I got it figured out quickly enough.

We got things done in a couple quick takes and that was it.  I hope somebody finds this message encouraging and it will be a practical help.  That’s always what I hope when I speak something out into the world.  And a big thanks to those of you who read, listen, and share.  It’s great to know that we’re not alone in this parenting adventure!  Thanks for coming along for the ride.