The Anti-Sound Bite, by Caille Millner

I went on a TV program this morning to promote my book. While this specific experience wasn't as demoralizing as some other ones have been, I still find going on television to be excruciating. (Please don't think I won't accept offers, studio heads! I'm available!) I'm a competent public speaker, but there's a reason why I'm a writer -- so that I can edit my thoughts. On television, you have to be glib, witty, and always ready with a sound bite. "Tell me why you wrote this book" in 20 seconds. It's a lot.

I'd have an easy answer to that question if I had been working on a book as a ghostwriter, doing something research-oriented, or writing the fourth mystery in a best-selling series. But if you don't fall into one of those categories -- if you just write because you need to do it, because you have stories tearing you up inside -- then how do you answer that? I'm not even sure why I decided to write about my life at such a young age. When I started working on it I had no idea what I was doing. I do know that by the end of the process, I felt like I'd come to a real understanding of who I was and who I needed to be going into the future. And that I hoped other young people in my circumstance could read it and feel the same way.

That's not bad, actually. When's the next TV show?

View more information on Caille Millner's The Golden Road.

Caille Millner

The Golden Road

memoir

race

Latino

African American

Penguin Books

books