I was nervous the day I showed up for my big interview on a New York City talk show. I looked for reassurance at my then teen-aged son who was standing in the back of the studio. He had accompanied me on our trip to the Big Apple from Chicago. I took a deep breath when I realized my segment was next.

I was going on right after the famous soap opera maven, and she was taking extra time. My segment was allotted only 4 minutes so I knew I’d have to be concise. But I was prepared, so when my turn to be interviewed came up, I stayed on topic and those 4 minutes flew by!

But when I watched the edited interview on TV a week later, I was disappointed. The segment had been shortened to only 2 and a half minutes! Turns out they gave the extra interview time to the soap opera star.