Author Melinda Chambers is Interviewed on Lifetime Channel

A little birdie told me some exciting news…very soon our cousin Melinda Chambers will be dropping in for a visit.  Okay, so she isn’t making a national tour to each of our homes but we WILL be able to see her on our televisions.  Melinda will be appearing on “The Balancing Act”, a one-hour nationally televised morning show that airs Monday through Friday on Lifetime Television. 

She and husband Byron went to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida a couple weeks ago to tape the segment in which she discusses her award-winning children’s books.  Be sure to turn in (and set your DVR) on Tuesday, April 26 from 7:00 - 8:00 AM.

Melinda is always too modest to broadcast news like this so I’m glad Mike Spiker read about it in the State Journal then passed the word along to me.  When he emailed Melinda to congratulate her on the wonderful news, she replied, “It was really exciting!  I have no clue what I said or how I did.  I felt like I was on the outside looking in.” 

Well, I was excited too so I begged Melinda to share a few more details about her adventure.  She sent me a copy of the the article she had posted in her Homespun weekly column at HampshireReview.com.   

“My husband and I flew out of Dulles Airport in D.C. on the first Saturday in April, the same day that Southwestern Airlines had a problem with a hole in one of their planes, so they temporarily grounded their fleet – fortunately we were flying Jet Blue.
“The flight was uneventful, but since we had left Hampshire county in snow flurries, it was a welcomed change to see the palm trees and the 80 degree weather.  My interview wasn’t until Monday morning, so we spent the remainder of Saturday and all of Sunday taking in the local sites of Fort Lauderdale and Dania Beach.
“Monday morning came quite soon enough, and once again we were on the road.  The studio was located about a half an hour’s drive away, so off we went on I95.  We quickly found the interstate to be 10 lanes of bumper-to- bumper traffic, which seemed even worse than D.C. traffic.  Staying with the traffic, we managed to find our way to the studio with time to spare.
“Prying my husband’s white-knuckled fists off the dashboard, we headed inside where we were greeted by a very friendly staff.  My first stop was to make-up, where they plastered my face with all kinds of cream and color.  When done, I looked at least 10 years younger, with about a half an inch of make-up.  That was my first unique experience, to be followed by a microphone attached to my lapel and three cameras facing me.
“When you’re watching interviews on television, they look very relaxed and easy.  However, when facing the cameras, even though it’s being taped, it was a whole different ballgame for me.  I can adlib with the best of them, but this was definitely out of my comfort zone.  I had no idea what I had said, and when we did a re-take halfway through, I said completely different things.  I haven’t seen the tape since it’s still in editing, which may take them a while to decipher.
“I now have the greatest respect for the TV industry, realizing first hand that talking face-to-face to someone with cameras directed on you is a lot different than a normal conversation.  Anyway, it was quite an experience and one that I won’t soon forget.
“Flying home, my husband and I went through the famed body scans at the Fort Lauderdale airport, but made it out without too much fanfare.  Facing snow flurries once again, it was still good to see the mountains of Hampshire County, and to get back to ‘life as usual.’  I won’t be making a career in the movie business any time soon.”

For more information about Melinda and her award-winning children’s books, visit Melinda’s NEW personal website.  And if you miss the show on Tuesday, return to this page  and click on the video shown in the “Announcements” section below.  The link should automatically update so that you may view the interview here.  Hmmm…another Spiker Star is Born.