Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Hardest Part of my Job

The end of March is pretty hectic for me. Between the 17th and the 31st, I have 8 articles due, 3 of them rather lengthy, four of them mid-sized. And that's not counting what the first two weeks of April look like. Not that I'm complaining. I don't mind have articles due virtually every day. I actually kind of like it.

Last week I was telling the husband that things were a little stressful for me. He looked surprised, saying, "I thought your busy time was the end of the month."

It is, I answered, but that's the easy part, the best part of my job. That's the writing. I love the writing. It comes naturally to me, kind of like breathing. When I reach that part of the job, all is well.

The stress comes in the search for sources. Most of the trades I work with provide the sources, which is wonderful. Sometimes those sources already know I'll be calling -- even better.

But sometimes the source search is like pulling teeth -- and there is nothing that makes my blood pressure rise like the thought of the dentist and pulling teeth. I know who I want to interview. I call, leave a message. I email with details about the article. And I never hear back.

Sometimes I just find another person to take that source's place, all well and good. But other times, that person is the only option. Or like one article: it's a series of profiles and I need to do 8. I have a list of about 25 companies to contact. I have 7 profiles now. But I can't for the life of me get number 8. People aren't interested, or they can't find a good candidate, or there are internal issues that make participating impossible. Or, my favorite, they never answer.

It's very stressful, when you are creeping up on a deadline, or your deadline is very short, and the sources don't materialize.

Finding sources: to me, the hardest part of the job. Writing 25,000+ words in a 4 week period, piece of cake.

2 comments:

Angela Williams Duea said...

Sources are hard. Sometimes I'll get someone to agree to participate and then don't hear from them again and can't get them to answer me. Argh.

Patti said...

getting a call back in the business world is getting harder and harder. makes a person crazy...