On the morning of December 1, 2009, I woke up to find a very brief email in my inbox saying "So... still wanna be on staff?" After an obscene amount of arm-flailing, fist pumping, inane grinning and joyful squeals, I think I managed to write back "Yes, please." After a few days the initial glee wore off and slowly I started to panic:

Oh dear god, what if they ask me to be on a podcast?

Fast forward to December 14 and the appearance of an email from Paul titled "Book Club Podcast" (one of the great things about being on the Murmur staff is occasionally getting email from guys at iFanboy). I took a few deep breaths and opened the email. This was the email I was both excitedly anticipating and quietly dreading. It took about a minute for me to realize I was just staring at my computer screen and not actually reading the email. Obviously I said yes. And I should point out that while I was (and still kind of am) super nervous about the whole ordeal, I was also (and still kind am) absolutely over the moon with excitement. I mean, this was THE call to do THE Murmur podcast. I'd been hoping for an email like this since July.

The plan was this: Paul, Kelly, and special guest Josh Christie (and me) would use the podcast to discuss Beat the Reaper, our first Book Club book. We'd record after the New Year and Paul would handle the recording and editing of the show. 

So my first hurdle was a microphone and Skype. Paul sent me the Amazon link for the headset he was currently using and I just added to my Christmas shopping list. That was easy. More on Skype in a bit.

Next we kicked around some other ideas for segments via email. Kelly was the one who came up with New Years Resolutions and Booze (because she's awesome). I threw a couple ideas in because I needed to say something other than "duuuuhh, I dunno" (which is what I was thinking). We had a rough sketch of what we were going to discuss.

And then the madness of the holidays hit and I forgot all about it (honestly, I didn't pick up Beat the Reaper until the 28th. I read a bulk of it on January 4 when I was home sick). When the dust settled in January, Paul went back out to us all so we could firm up when we were recording and finalize the discussion topics.

A few hours before we were set to record, we got a script from Paul. Now here's where I start to panic because it's all become very real. This is actually going to happen. I still had 30 pages left in the book as of 6pm. And aside from some random "talking points" I had floating around in my head, I got nothing. Nothing. What happens if I pull a Kinsey?

Then there were the possible technical issues. Up until this point I had never used Skype. At all. I mean, I downloaded the free iPhone app months ago, but lord help me if I had to actually use the thing. So when my netbook literally started ringing at 9:30 and I still didn't have my headset/microphone thingy plugged in, I was in a state of sheer terror. This is when I poured myself a glass of wine.

And then my netbook started talking to me with the dulcet voice of Paul Montgomery, which was very confusing. But magically everything started working and I'm chatting with Paul and Josh, waiting for Kelly to sign in. And suddenly I can breathe again. This is mostly due to Paul, who is very calm and very professional - that's not to say Kelly and Josh weren't awesome, because they so were (by the way, Paul's Skype avatar is Snoopy, and it's just impossible to panic when Snoopy's around). Next thing you know Kelly was on the call and it's off to the races.

The rest is kind of a blur to me. There were a couple rough spots, but from what I remember it was a nice, easy conversation. I think I was trying a bit too hard, but I don't think I completely embarrassed myself (except maybe with the "lady of the night" thing - I was trying not to say whore and I blanked). I did have a lot of "umm"s and "like"s, which I'm not thrilled about. But overall I think they'll ask me back... maybe... I hope.

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