And as soon as I said it, didn’t I work this weekend? LOL I have a crazy week this week, and I wanted to get ahead of it. The article I wrote was about an hour-and-a-half out of a slow Sunday, and it’s already approved and filed, so not a bad thing to get off the desk.

I like your attitude in general, Paula. I’ve never been nervous about interviewing sources, so their attitudes toward getting back to you would cement my distaste for self-aggrandized behavior.

Gabriella, we’re all tightly wound right now, I think. I hear it in the voices around me, see it on faces in the street, and on Zoom, people sound Zoomed out. It’s great to have work as a place to find some modicum of what normal might look like again, but damn. Like you, I’m not letting it become everything. We need to switch off, and we have the right to do so!

You’re fortunate that you have that lovely pup of yours for companionship. 🙂 He makes me smile!

I’m finally at the point where I’ll only even consider working evenings or weekends if I have a pressing deadline or took off a day or two mid-week.

Also, not sure I’m diligent as much as I don’t want any of those sources complaining to the editor that I never followed up with them. So I guess it’s my little passive-aggressive way of dealing with the “I’m so important I don’t have time for this” people—99.999% of which like thinking of themselves as big fish in a very little pond. Please. I’m a happy as a little fish swimming in a much bigger, better, and less-polluted pond.

Lori, I’m over the top in stress these days. No travel due to covid plus all the stressors of work, plus people being on edge. I did the same as you recently–got away for a week at a lake house, and it was great but even felt too short.

I also knock off early each day. I do emails between 6-7 a.m., then go swimming and am back at my desk by 9. I work pretty much nonstop until 4, with two dog walks in there. But I refuse to work evenings and weekends. I’ve had people ask, and I don’t feel the need to explain; I simply say I’m already tied up. Why be your own boss if you have to work 24/7?

I’ve also cut the bad news. I read the news in the morning and then am pretty much done for the day. I can’t change much going on in the world today, and as we now know, what seems remarkable today won’t even be memorable in a month now that the news comes at us so fast. Why worry my pretty little head?

Anyway, thanks for airing this. It’s encouraging to know that I’m not the only one feeling stressed.

Paula, I think you made the right move. Frankly, the “He left the office five minutes ago” sounded like a dodge to me. Just say he doesn’t want to talk if that’s the case. Stop wasting time, dude.

I’d be over that guy, too. Perhaps a visit to his location sometime might get him to warm up to talking with you? I’m really not sure why people dodge free publicity like this. It’s insane.

I sent him an email saying that if for any reason he doesn’t have time to speak to me, I’d appreciate it if he would suggest someone else at the business I could interview. Nearly three hours later, still no reply,

I emailed my editor saying I’d done trying to reach that guy. I’ve spent way too much of my time (which I’m not paid for) trying to get him on the phone. He might be the face of their brand and think he’s above needing to respect someone else’s time, but he’s not. I would happily NOT include his company in the article. And am preparing to do just that.

I wish I had just 10 calls this whole pandemic. I have at least that many per month. I do restrict them to phone only on my side. Being “on” all the time is exhausting.

Good for you. Yep, you cannot hold the burden for people who can’t be bothered. I’m like you — I don’t get why these people pass on free publicity all the time. It’s not as though in my line of work they’d be scandalized by something they said. Not too many people out there hanging on the words of a workers compensation expert. LOL

With work stuff, I’ve reached the point where I refuse to take on stress from others. Last week when a publicist repeatedly blew my deadline I simply said either they get me what I need in time for me to meet my deadline, or I turn in what I have. And that’s what I did, along with a note to the editor explaining why one out of 20 entires had no quotes. (When one publicist can’t get three sentences from one person cover the course of at least 10 days it usually means they forgot about it until the last minute.)

Today a source missed the call he set up. I graciously stayed on the “conference call” for 15 minutes in case he was running late (gotta love a speaker phone) – and emailed so he would know I would still be there. When eh didn’t show, I called his place of business. Call was transferred, but never connected with voice mail because the call got disconnected. I tried calling back again, and this time the call disconnected before it could be answered. I assume they’re having phone/internet issues, so I emailed him again saying I’d be available until Noon today (17 minutes away) or tomorrow afternoon. I let my editor know about the issues connecting with the source. What I won’t do is loose sleep worrying about it. If he wants free publicity by being quoted in an article, he’ll get in touch. If not, this article will be fine without him.