On being interviewed...One of the most/least fun parts of my job - TopicsExpress

On being interviewed...One of the most/least fun parts of my job is interviewing people for articles. Heres my plea if you are ever contacted as an interviewee: 1) Please reply. Say you cant, say you cant until next week, or say you can---but please say something. For many short articles I dont have room for quotes but from one or two people. So I pick my favorites. Then wait, because I cant contact the other choices until I hear back from the first. 2) If you say you can, please follow through. Its frustrating to be put off over and over until the deadline is now looming and you realize you need to get somebody else but whoever you contact now is going to be irritated because to them, youve put it off to the last second. 3) If you dont have time to answer everything, answer some, Its really not all or none. 4) If you do have time, dont be afraid of saying too much. I know how to edit. But I cant make up quotes. 5) Dont be afraid of letting your personality show through. Most of the stuff I ask you, I could just write myself. But Im asking YOU because people want to hear YOUR angle on it. 6) That said, I am sure some people must be drunk when I talk to them, because I have hung up the phone after an hour of gibberish and just looked at my notepad and thrown it away. So, be kind of sober ahead of time...