Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales , New Mexico 88130

Paul Chimera is an award-winning marketing writer and journalist, as well as a marketing communications consultant and adjunct professor. Mr. Chimera's journalistic work has included reporting positions for Buffalo area newspapers and a large volume of freelance article contributions to Business First of Western New York , The Buffalo News , Spree Magazine , Western New York Family Magazine and several other publications. He currently writes a monthly column for After 50 magazine in Buffalo , a publication his column has appeared in since the magazine's launch in April 2004. His work has also appeared in more nationally known publications, including The Miami Herald , the American Journalism Review , and Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine , plus a dozen regional parenting magazines from New York City to San Diego .

For 10 years, Mr. Chimera was editor-in-chief of The Salvador Dali Collectors Quarterly , published out of Pacific Palisades, California, but written, edited and designed in Buffalo . He has established himself as an expert on the life and work of the famed Spanish surrealist painter and was, in fact, publicity director of the original Dali Museum of Beachwood, Ohio, before it permanently relocated to St. Petersburg , Florida , in 1982.

In this interview, he discusses his current interests as well as his new book entitled Nuts, Bolts and Anecdotes.

1) I understand that you have recently written a book entitled Nuts, Bolts and Anecdotes. Briefly, what is your book about?

Well, the full title is Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing and Note Taking in Their Own Words. It's further sub-titled A Handbook for Journalists and Students of Journalism and Media Writing .

Simply put, it's a round-up of best practices in interviewing and note taking from more than 75 reporters, columnists and editors. They represent such publications as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic magazine and many others -- large and very small markets.

2) What prompted you or led to you writing this book? What was your motivation?

I've been a journalist (and marketing writer) since graduating in 1971 from the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University . But oddly enough I never had any formal training in interviewing. I never knew if I was "doing it right," but I've long been intrigued by just how other print reporters handle this all-important, "before-the-story" dimension of newspaper and magazine journalism. I decided to ask others in the profession what works best for them and why. I figured it might make for a useful handbook on the subject. I also felt I could make some money from my project, which took me about a year and a half. Making money is important when you make your living as a freelance writer!

3) Who is the intended audience? Who would benefit from reading this book?

Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes is squarely aimed at two audiences -- working journalists who may wish to hone their skills while getting a glimpse into how their brethren in the craft do it; and students of journalism, who must learn to become sufficiently skilled interviewers. As author John Brady put it, "...no matter how fine a writer might be, he is crippled if he is not an effective interviewer." That's a snippet from my book.

4) In your opinion, is a face to face interview preferable over a telephone interview that has to be transcribed?

Well, I'm not sure a telephone interview ("phoner") needs to be transcribed as such. I mean, when I do them, I simply type my notes into the computer. There's no transcription, but rather there are notes that need to perhaps be tweaked a little and then sifted through to get to the heart of the story.

With in-person interviews -- and I use notebook and pen almost exclusively, vs. voice recorder -- I usually type up my handwritten jottings so I can better understand them. Having said that, I think face-to-face is always preferred (time permitting), because you can make an honest, human connection with your subject, and he or she with you. Plus, you can discern personality characteristics, mannerisms, surrounding details, and so forth, that are not possible via phone.

5) What about e-mail interviews, which really do not allow for follow up questions?

E-mail interviews are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly accepted today -- by both journalists and sources. I devote a chapter to the subject of email interviewing in my book. Like many tings in life, the e-mail interview has its pluses and minuses. You're right -- usually there's no room for a follow-up question in an e-mail interview. By the same token, it ensures accuracy of quotes and allows the respondent a "clearer head" vs. the spontaneity of a conventional face-to-face or telephone interview. In this Internet age, you're simply going to find that e-mail interviews will become far more commonplace and practical. Several specialists expound on this in the book. And I recount an experiment I once did, where I did every aspect of a business story via e-mail -- from sourcing the story to interviewing to follow-up "conversations," etc. It worked out splendidly, by the way.

6) How do you put a very important person "at ease" (and how do YOU remain comfortable)?

Different journalists have different takes on this one, Michael. But generally people are put at ease when you , the interviewer, are at ease. In my book, I talk -- and my sources talk -- extensively about getting subjects to relax (and about what makes them nervous in the first place). There's no magic wand here. But generally it's a good dose of common sense. Most people will react favorably, for instance, to a genuinely complimentary (but not obsequious) comment about, say, the interesting Salvador Dali reproduction hanging on their office wall. Or the delightful photo of the family vacationing in Cancun . Or, yes, even the over-used "amazing weather we're having!" line.

People want to feel that you're a regular person with everyday concerns and sensitivities and sense of common courtesy. Not merely "professional inquisitors." I personally remain comfortable by reminding myself that I'm there to learn and to be fair. It's a conversation and nothing more. I frank ly don't care how "important" or "famous" the person is. People are people, when you get right down to it. Even if some try to hide behind masks of self-importance!

7)  In your mind, what exactly is your book all about- what skills can a reader procure?

Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes: Journalists Discuss Interviewing and Note Taking in Their Own Words reveals pragmatic tips, techniques, tools and ideas. They involve interviewing and the "technician's" craft of note taking. Readers will discover, for example, an astonishing technique shared by Ann Williams, senior writer with National Geographic magazine, where she actually makes sketches in a separate notebook of the scenes she finds herself in, such as Cairo. This process helps to fix certain details in her mind. It also allows her to meet people she otherwise wouldn't, since they come up to her out of curiosity, wondering what she's doing in that notebook. I include four such sketches in the book.

Also, readers will pick up certain practical short-hand devices, including a brief look at a system called Quickhand. It's far easier to learn than classic Gregg Shorthand -- and nearly as effective. Other journalists in the book share their individual techniques of self-invented short-hand, and readers can pluck from those ideas whatever works for them. Indeed, one of the overarching themes in the book is that there is no one "right" way to do journalistic interviewing, and that readers should consider everything presented in the book, then use those ideas that work best for their own comfort zone.

8)  Who are some of the "experts" that you consulted with regarding the book?

I mentioned National Geographic's Ann Williams. I garnered information from, among many others, Rudy Maxa, who's known around the country and the world as "The Savvy Traveler." Rudy is both a TV host -- he does a series of travel shows for PBS -- and a print journalist. He's written two books and is a former Washington Post columnist and much sought after speaker on Washington politics and more frequently world travel issues.

Another expert, if you will, is Rob Hurwitt, theatre critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, who tells a fascinating tale in my book about interviewing "in the dark, on the fly" -- the title, in fact, of chapter one. Also, Patrick Reardon, a journalist with The Chicago Tribune, who shared remarkable insights about interviewing. If you'll permit me a brief excerpt: "I do use a tape recorder in various special cases: whenever I interview Mayor Richard M. Dailey, I always use a tape recorder because his syntax and grammar are so convoluted and often fragmentary that there's no way to know what he said without listening to the tape several times." Sharon Begley's another expert. She's the science columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and makes the slightly irreverent comment that she doesn't like using a recorder because "rarely is anyone so interesting as to warrant listening to them a second time!"

9) Do you have a web site where readers can get more information? Or an 800 number?

My blog is: www.paulchimera.typepad.com . No 800 number, but my address for ordering Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes ($19.95, includes shipping in U.S.A. ) is: 419 Burroughs Drive, # 7 , Amherst , New York , 14226 .

10) What question have I neglected to ask?

Your line of questioning was comprehensive, sir. I'd like to include you in a future, second edition of Nuts, Bolts & Anecdotes!