Behind the scenes with Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com

This is my behind the scenes look at snagging an interview with the most popular personal blogger on the Internet and New York Times bestselling author, Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com. You can view the interview transcript in three parts: part one, part two, and the final installment. The end of the interview is posted below.

Below, I include the odd yet entertaining bits of the interview that didn't fit into my Examiner.com articles as Denver Motherhood Examiner, as well as extra pics. It was over 27 minutes of wit and fun. Included in the comments are Jon Armstrong of blurbomat.com, and the man of my loins, Phil Porter.

You can also find the entire audio below. Bring a snack and a pillow. It's a doozy.

---

It was a good night for all Porters. While Amos enjoyed being babysat by the boobs he loves the most (belonging to our statuesque neighbor), Phil and I traveled to the south 'burbs of Denver into the land of Highlands Ranch to interview Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com and her husband Jon.

The interview went very well, and Heather and Jon talked and joked with us for almost 30 minutes before her scheduled talk and book signing at Tattered Cover. Luckily, I had asked for a few seats to be reserved for us so that Phil and I could have a chance to join the audience. One of the bookstore employees gave us two seats in the second row labeled "reserved for press." Ha! It was a packed house, full of enthusiastic bloggers and fans, and even the occasional gawker who would step into my view as they pretended to browse books.

If you listen to the audio, at the end, Heather compliments me on how great I smelled. I was wearing rose essential oil, which I always wear when I am out in public. It helps to open up the social side of someone, and it is a great oil for mothers. Also, Heather asked to touch me. I creepily said, "Yesss, touch me." Heheh. So, she smelled me and touched me. Not even Oprah got to do that.


So, on to the interview.

----

Aside from getting “dooced” from a job, which is pretty cool that you have your own word now…

I know. My mom is so proud of that. [laughs]

What advice or maybe warnings would you have for other bloggers?

One, anybody who wants to start writing online, you’ve got to realize that eventually, and I don’t care how anonymously you’re doing it, the last person that you’re ever going to want to read your stuff will find it. So, if you have someone, like, God, I hope this person never reads it, that person is going to read it. Eventually, it will happen. And so, you need to prepare. It will happen again, and it will happen again. And then, you know, just realizing, when you get your first hate mail or your first hate comment, move forward. We all get it, we all experience it, and it has nothing to do with you. It can be very discouraging. It’s a lot of work. Blogging is a lot of work, and I think a lot of people start websites and not realize just how much work and dedication it takes.

Do you have any hobbies that you don’t write about besides all of the other millions of things you do? Like, I knit.

Yeah, there’s not a lot of time. Photography is my main hobby. During the winter when I’m not cooking... pregnant, we snowboard a lot. Yeah, there’s not a lot of time for hobbies.

Are there a lot of snowboarding areas around Salt Lake City?

Phil: Sundance? Park City?

Oh, yeah. We have the best place to live if you’re a snowboarder, because the mountain is just right there, I mean it’s like not even twenty minutes up the hill. It’s great.

So, no snowboarding on this trip for you.

No. [laughs] My media escort came in and she overheard me talking about how I’m glad that his sperm didn’t take a month earlier or there’s no way I would have been able to do this. And she’s like, “Oh, so you’re pregnant.” And I was like, “Yeah, there wasn’t just like an incident with an Oreo, there’s an actual baby in there.” [laughs]

Will the “crown” versus “crayon” debate ever be put to rest? Because, I have to say, I told Phil about the way you pronounce it, and he said, “Oh, my God. That’s as bad as saying lie-barry.” [laughs]

[laughs] Well, no, see, lie-barry is because you were taught there’s another “r” in there. Whereas crown is like, you know, you’re in the South…

Phil: So, you just ignore all of the letters, all together.

H: Yeah, so crown is like, why waste the time, why waste the energy going “CRAY-ON” if you have crown? It’s the way Southerners sort of merge everything, all the syllables, into one goobledeegosh. Is that a word?

We were in Seattle and somebody asked me the question in the audience, and I said, “C-R-A-Y-O-N is pronounced crown.” He [Jon] went NUTS on Twitter, and started twittering like seven or eight, “NO ONE PAY ATTENTION TO MY WIFE BEHIND THE MICROPHONE.” And as everyone came through the line, they were like, “You’re husband has gone CRAZY.”

Technology, man.

[laughs]

Jon: It’s a bitch. It’s interesting you say that, because my name, when you yell it in the house, has fourteen or fifteen syllables.

H: [laughs] It’s bad because we came to school one day and Leta’s teacher said,” Yeah, I was reading Leta a book today about a boy who is coloring with some crayons, and she told me that I was pronouncing it wrong.” And Jon said, “GOOD GOD, WOMAN! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO OUR CHILD!”

[to Jon] I’m sorry.







It’s dialect. She’s learning dialect.

It’s dialect, yeah. It’s better than speaking like a Utahn. Come on.

Jon: She talks like your mom.

H: I know.

Is there an accent in Utah?

You drop the middle of the word. You go skeh-ing on a mohntain. Skeh-ing. And he’s like, dill or no dill. I watch “Dill or No Dill” at night.

Jon: Still bread.

H: Still bread. [laughs]


---


Then we posed for pics. My mind was all a jumble, and I was being asked questions as we stood there. On top of that, Heather is a tall beauty, even with a 7 month pregnant belly, and my squatty 5'4" just doesn't compare. It's like she was standing next to a gnome. What a visual. And, so, here is the actual visual.


I look shellshocked, but she told I smelled good, so there's that. Also, the office where this took place was a mishmash of equipment, telephone wires, and general mayhem. Our best backdrop was Sneakers the Seaside Cat. I like that Sneakers took the time to pose as well. All three of us are quite coordinated in black.

I'm smiling especially after Heather asked if she could touch me.

Jon took a million pictures, give or take, of Heather as she talked about her book to the audience at Tattered Cover.

Heather shakes her fist in Jon's general direction, or at least, that's what I'd like to think. I enjoy a good, copious fist shaking.

Heather braces herself for the huge crowd of fans who have lined up to have their books signed. I really admire that she was able to talk with me for half an hour, then entertain a large crowd while telling stories and reading from her book (while standing, mind you), and then handle a long line of fans without rushing them through it. All this, while 7 months pregnant.

So, there you go. That was my evening with the Armstrongs. Thanks for reading.




The full audio, for your amusement. Be sure to read part one, part two, the final installment, and the bit above to follow the full transcript.

DW_B0076.mp3

Now, go take a nap.