Now I am not resting on my laurels, nobody can seriously accuse me of that, however this is the story behind the story, the bloopers so to speak, and it is a really interesting story, so I’d like to share it with you.

First of all, here is a link to the interview https://bipolar1blog.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/clint-malarchuk-interview-by-samina-raza/

How, you might ask yourself, did Samina Raza come to interview Clint Malarchuk? How did that come to be? Well Clint Malarchuk’s book called “A Matter Of Inches” had just come out. My brother, who is very literary and keeps on top of everything sent me an email with the link to Clint’s book and a message saying “You should interview him for your blog.” I read the book reviews and a bit of the book’s preview and thought to my self that Clint Malarchuk is not going to want me to interview him. And there the issue stood for a few days.

Why was it important to interview Clint? Well my family had been living in Buffalo NY since 1972. My brother and my sister were born there. Just like anyone living in Buffalo. we were huge Buffalo Sabres’ fans. Clint Malarchuk had been the Buffalo Sabres’ goalie and we watched and loved him. When the goriest accident in sports happened, when his throat got injured by the skate of another player, there was a collective scream in Buffalo. He was taken to the Buffalo General Hospital where my step dad worked as a cardiovascular surgeon. And although he did not work on Clint, he was there the night the accident happened. So we “knew” Clint in a manner of speaking. And when his book came out, and we found out about his battles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and alcohol abuse as well as major anxiety and depression disorders, and I had a blog about bipolar 1, it made sense to try and interview him.

But, at first, I was too nervous to even think about it. Then I went from Louisville to Buffalo to visit my son. My brother also came to Buffalo at the same time to visit my son. He asked me what was going on about possibly doing the interview. I said basically nothing. My brother gave me a little push. And then somehow I started to believe that it could be done! My son had posted, on his Facebook page, about Clint’s book and that post also showed that Clint Malarchuk had a Facebook page. So that very night, on December 12th, 2014, I friend requested Clint Malarchuk and he accepted, as he has accepted almost 3000 people! There was a lot of excitement in my son’s apartment that night because Clint had accepted my friend request! Most of the excitement was from me! Then later that night, 12:34 am to be exact, I sent Clint a message telling him about how I was a huge Sabres fan. How I’d heard of his book and intended to read it pronto. Also, I said I had bipolar d/o and I’d started a blog about my illness. I also told him I would love to interview him for my blog. The next morning I told my brother what had happened. I waited one day, nothing. Two days, nothing. I told my brother, “He’s not interested.”

Then later on Dec. 15th, Clint wrote back saying he would like to help! There was a lot of hooting and hollering after getting that message. I got his book “A Matter Of Inches” on my Macbook Air immediately. I started reading the book at about 8 pm. And I finished the book at 6 am the next morning. As I’ve said before, I sobbed, I laughed, I couldn’t put it down. I was hooked from the first word of the Prologue to the very last word of the book.

Then I emailed him a list of my questions which I’d formulated. I had about 22 questions.

And he answered all of my questions, over the phone, graciously, patiently, and sweetly. Even encouraging me to keep up the good work of my blog. The interview lasted 40 minutes and I recorded it on two devices because I was so afraid that I might accidentally erase the whole interview.

It took me two days to transcribe it. And I posted it on my blog on Dec. 22nd. And immediately after I posted it, I sent Clint a link to the post. After about half an hour, he messaged me saying “Great job Samina!” After I read that, I was dancing! And smiling and laughing! And I texted my brother, my son, my nephew, all the people who were actually present when this all started, to say that the interview was done and posted. I also emailed them a copy of the interview.

This was the most fun post I’ve ever posted. Not only did it mean a lot, it was with someone who we had a connection with. It was important information to disseminate. And Clint Malarchuk was a delight to interview. Thank you again Clint!