I agree on the spreadsheet. We're spreadsheet-ed to our eyeballs right now, and there are just too many things going on at once. Mine is one small part of that effort. That doesn't make it any easier to get the info from the people in question. One contact flat-out refused to help with the additional info. I passed that info along. I have to honor that, as does the client.

Oh, you know me! Blunt is nothing I'm afraid of, and I think she'd appreciate it! Good suggestion.

Cathy, my gut has been uneasy about this entire relationship for a few months now. Factors beyond the client's client have tied my hands (at the client level), so I'm uneasy with putting too much billable time into chasing these people. But I'm going to take your advice one step further — I'm going to call the sources directly.

Paula, agreed. And if this person were an editor, I'd get no push-back on the "I tried three times" thinking. Alas, it's a business owner, and rarely do business owners think that something isn't going to happen because they asked. 😉

D'uh. I totally wanted to remind her about everything I'd already told her, but knew that wouldn't be helpful. (I did however point out that I'd already spent too much time fruitlessly chasing these iffy leads and could only afford to spend one more hour of time on it.)

The problem is, when you try to defend yourself by explaining why the piece is late or incomplete (despite saying upfront that you're still actively working on it), some people will assume you're making excuses.

"I've contacted over 20 companies to find an executive to answer these questions;no one has agreed to be interviewed," isn't an excuse. It's an explanation.

Matter-of-factly saying you're still waiting for Person A to provide the needed information is not shifting blame, it's saying you're in the same boat with the client or editor.

The editor in question always asks how many times I've tried contacting each person. I'm with you Lori – three tries and that's it. E-mail, phone, and then one last try. Nagging never works. Nor does forcing professional writers to account for every action. (It's totally passive-aggressive, but since this place requires weekly updates, I started including how much time I spent transcribing interviews just to remind her how much effort goes into each assignment.)

Like you, Lori, I give regular updates, but sometimes you just sense in emails that a problem is brewing. I don't know the situation, but sometimes my client can help with the part getting stalled.

Go with your gut. It's seldom wrong.

I'm sure I've made a bad impression at some point. There are points where I've just had to cut bait.

In this case, I'd suggest a spread sheet with all the projects and all the deadlines, including the deadlines you're giving sources to get back to you so that you can get back to the client.

I'd have a conversation with this woman and be very up front about what you feel is going on, and offer solutions to mitigate the frustration on both sides. She's blunt — you can be, too.