Meryl Street didn’t win an Academy Award for her spot-on portrayal of Julie Child in Julie & Julia. But her performance in the 2009 film marked the 16th time she’s been nominated for the prize.

I’m convinced the reason Streep’s been recognized so many times is because she’s a good picker.

By picker I mean Streep has a good feel for what roles would be right for her, overall and at that particular point in her career. My hunch is she takes into account the script, director, producers backing the picture, amount of time she’ll need to invest in the project, and finally, the money. Whether she’s got a good agent or just a keen sense of what works well for her, it’s made her career.

On Sunday night, Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for her portrayal of a take-charge mom who brought a homeless black teenager into her Southern white family in The Blind Side. Bullock’s a good actress too. Whether she’s on par with Streep is a subject for a different blog post. But Bullock’s been in lots of interesting, if not heavyweight films over the years. She’s also been in a lot of dogs: to wit, she’s the only actress ever to win an Oscar and a Razzie (for All About Steve) in the same year.

It’s taken the actress they call America’s Sweetheart this long to grab the golden statue because she isn’t as good a picker as someone like Streep.

So what does this have to do with writers?

Writers, like Streep, Bullock and other creative types, are only as good as the projects we pick.

Pick a stimulating assignment that pushes you beyond what you thought yourself capable of doing and you wind up improving your writing, your portfolio and your chances of that higher profile publication saying “Yes” the next time you query.

Pick something easy you’ve done over and over again, and you don’t grow.

Pick a publisher that pays peanuts, pays in exposure or can’t or won’t pay at all, and you end up frustrated, and quite possibly, broke.

Figuring out what projects to pursue is something some writers are naturally great at. Others are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Still others have to work long and hard to figure out the process.

If you’re someone who innately knows what projects are right for any particular place and time, hooray for you – I’ve love to hear how you go through that decision-making process.

If you’re not, here are some things to think about the next time an opportunity comes your way or when you’re thinking about which assignment you want to do next. Call them the 5 Ps of Picking a Project:

1. The project – Am I excited to do this? How much time and effort will it take? Does it fit into my writing specialty? Is it an area people are interested in, one that I could make into a new specialty? Do I already have sources I could talk to who know the subject? If not, how easy would it be to find them? Will I have to travel? If so, how much time will it take me away from other projects?

2. The people – Have I worked with the editor or staff before? If so, are they easy to work with or overly demanding, demeaning or rude? Do they make a story better or edit in mistakes? Are they quick to answer emails or phone calls?

3. The publication – Is it a magazine, website, newspaper, company I want to be affiliated with? What kind of reputation do they have? What kind of financial situation are they in: on the way up or down? How do they treat their writers?

4. The pay – Is the compensation worth the number of hours I need to put into the project to do it justice? What rights are involved? Are expenses included? Is it pay on acceptance or publication? If it’s low paying, can I reuse the research and pitch a different story to a different publication? Could it lead to more work or a contract or retainer position?

5. The big picture – How does this fit into my goals for my writing business this year? For my career? Could it lead to more lucrative work? Is it something I’ll be proud of? Can I squeeze this in without sacrificing projects I’m already committed to? How does this fit into my non-work life?

Nobody’s criteria for choosing project is exactly the same. But by going through a well-reasoned thought process you could end up like Meryl Streep, a perennial winner.

Valerie is an instructor at the gym I belong to.

Calling her an instructor is a bit of an understatement.

She’s more like a drill sergeant in a leotard.

Valerie is strong, motivated and incredibly good at what she does. So good people willingly get up at an ungodly hour to make her 5:45 a.m. class. So good, she was recently honored as the 20,000-member club’s instructor of the year.

What makes her so good? She’s a big believer in intention, being in the moment and putting maximum effort into whatever she’s doing right then and there to get the best results. It shows in every crunch and lunge she does in class, in the sweat that pours from her face, and the muscles that grace her frame, the ones everyone who takes her class covet.

In fact, Valerie believes in intention so much she had the word tattooed around her arm.

There are lots of similarities between working out and writing.

In writing, as in exercising, you get out only as much as you put in. Take a half-baked approach to an interview, a story or a rewrite and you end up with dull quotes, a boring read and poorly executed revisions.

But put intention into what you’re doing and you end up improving your writing – and I’d wager your relationship with the publications you work with as well.

You’re going to sit in front of a computer for hours a day writing or editing anyway, why not do it with intention. Come up with a list of the things you need to do that day and focus your energy on executing them, one after the other.

You could be amazed with the results.

The next time you find yourself complaining about the source who didn’t call back or did but then droned on and on when all you needed was one pithy quote, thank your lucky stars that’s all you have to whine about.

National Public Radio reporters covering the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake are sleeping in sleeping bags outside and bringing in their own food and water so they have enough to eat and drink.

You can read the story behind the story of NPR’s Haiti coverage in NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard’s Jan. 15 post on the radio network’s Website.

One of the staffers Shepard interviewed was NPR deputy managing editor Stu Seidel who told her:

“This is a terrible, terrible story. Even though all of us have a lot of experience, we are still making this up as we go along. What’s in my head right now is who will be in the next group that I send in this weekend. This story is going to take a toll on the people we send there if we have them reporting constantly in a relentless way.”

NPR isn’t the only media outlet sharing a behind-the-scenes look at their Haiti coverage. Here are are few other accounts, plus one that questions whether news agencies are doing the right thing by sending so many people into an area with massive travel bottlenecks and limited supplies:

The Miami Herald – In the latest installment of its weekly “Inside the Newsroom” video, Miami Herald Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhall talks about the paper’s quake coverage and “how to do justice to a tragedy of such enormous proportions.” According to Gyllenhall, 10 Herald staffers are covering the tragedy for the paper and its website, Spanish language and mobile editions, focusing on two main themes: how to explain what’s happening, and how the rest of the world can help with the recovery.

The New York Times – The paper used its Lens blog to showcase photos taken by Tequila Minsky, a Manhattan-based freelance photographer who happened to be in Haiti at the time of the quake. According to a post written by David W. Dunlap, Minksy phoned a friend who’d previously been a copyeditor at the Times, who in turn called the paper on Minksy’s behalf offering photos of the scene. Since this post went up on Jan. 13, it’s been updated four times with more images from other Times’ photographers of the earthquake’s aftermath.

The Washington Post – In a Jan. 16 piece, the Post’s Philip Kennicott opines that images coming out of Haiti are more graphic than those of other recent natural disasters. Whether it’s because of the magnitude of the disaster, proximity to U.S. shores, or willingness of news media to present “the full horror” of the situation, media organizations have lifted the veil they once held over especially gruesome photographs of death and devastation, running images so ghastly some require warning labels. He writes:

After years of hinting at horror, the scales have fallen, the camera is unsheathed as a seemingly transparent window on misery, and journalists are allowed to show the worst, and say with the blunt, desperate urgency of the best journalism: Look.

MedPage – The amount of news media personnel who rushed into the country to report on the aftermath of the quake led bloggers such as MedPage’s Dr. Bjoern Kils to speculate on the advisability of letting news anchors, reporters and videographers take seats that could be going to doctors and aid workers. Particularly disturbing to Kils was an attempt to dig an 11-year-old girl out of the rubble reported live by CNN’s Ivan Watson. Wrote Kils: “I do wonder if this type of reporting is really necessary or if perhaps two more arms – or four or six more, depending on the number in Watson’s crew – could have made a difference in freeing her…”

If you’ve seen other items on the story behind the story of the Haiti earthquake, leave them in the comments and I’ll update this piece in coming days.

When it comes to the media business, the world is flat – and I don’t mean the screens replacing print for reading everything from newspapers to books, though that’s happening too.

I’m talking about flat in the sense that with so many newspaper and magazine staff jobs going by the wayside, publications don’t have as many middle managers or mid-level editors as there used to be. As a result, many publications are farming work out to independent contractors, editors and writers.

With so much in flux, at any given time the hierarchy of who’s working for whom could change, and the editor you wrote for yesterday maybe the writer you edit tomorrow.

It’s happened to me in the past couple months, as I’ve taken on a new editing project. I’ve found myself assigning stories to not one, not two but three freelance writer/editors who at one time or another I’ve written for while they were either staff or freelance editors. Another writer I’m working with is also a freelance editor who may eventually throw some assignments my way.

If it’s happening to me, it’s got to be happening to other writers too.

So how do you act when your boss today may be the person reporting to you tomorrow?

1. Quit thinking of writer-editor relationships as ‘us v. them.’ Constantly pitting yourself against editors because of perceived bad treatment – lousy contract language, unreasonable deadlines, crummy editing or late payments -  makes you a victim. If you’re not happy about aspects of a writing opportunity you have the power to make a choice: negotiate new terms, walk away, or accept the fact that the terms are lousy but you’re taking the assignment anyway. Yes, sometimes the editor you’re dealing with is disorganized, mean or incompetent. But in many situations, problems you encounter may be beyond their control. If you run into trouble the best thing to do is talk, via email or better yet, by phone.

2. Approach the editor-writer relationship as one of equals. One’s not better than the other, just responsible for different things. Editors translate ideas into stories suitable for their audience, sit through a lot of meetings, buffer writers from demands – reasonable or otherwise – of editors and other publication staff higher up the food chain and prep articles for prime time. Writers are editors’ eyes and ears on the front lines, keeping tabs on what’s happening out in the world to come up with interesting, relevant stories. If you think of what editors and writers do as being different parts of the same enterprise, you’ll have more appreciation for what the other does, and it’ll show in your working relationships.

3. If you’re a writer, think like an editor. Editors keep track of multiple details for multiple projects for multiple issues simultaneously. Some go so far as to use Excel spreadsheets or project management apps to keep things straight. If you’re a writer, you can help them and yourself by thinking like an editor. Don’t turn in stories until you’ve gone over them with the eyes of a copyeditor. If you’re responsible for turning in elements that run with the story such as headlines, decks, inks, file art, sidebars, subheads, etc., send everything with your original draft – along with your invoice – instead of waiting for an editor to remind you. If you have aspirations to work as an editor, being organized about those types of details is good practice, gets you noticed, and it could pay off if you ever want to ask for a recommendation.

4. If you’re an editor, think like a writer. As an editor, if you say yes to a query, talk through what your expectations are of the writer and for the story at the very beginning so everyone’s expectations are the same. Because of their status, editors often have access to people and information writers might not. Sharing that information with a writer could help them with a story they’re working on, which helps you in the long run.

5. Be considerate in all your business relationships. I write a lot about workplace issues and in the last couple months have done a few pieces of employee rewards and recognition programs. My take away – you don’t have to give people money or stuff to make them feel good about doing their job, or about working with you. A small amount of courtesy goes a long way – an email to say thanks for an assignment, or a Twitter status update on how awesome someone is to work with. When the holidays roll around, you don’t necessarily need to send gifts to editors you work for – though last Christmas I did send something small to editors I’d worked with over the year.

Do you work as an editor and writer? What advice do you have for getting along in a flatter media world?

Have you ever been so busy, so overloaded with things that have to get done right now you didn’t know where to start?

I’ve been feeling like that as I wrap up some assignments I’ve had on the books for a while, take on a gigantic new one, and at the same time, juggle a stream of requests to do presentations, take part in panel discussions or give interviews.

It would be easy to turn down the latter because it’s not all paid work. But I’ve spent a lot of time in the last year immersing myself in all things social media and talking about the future of journalism, so I don’t want to pass up those opportunities just when my marketing efforts are starting to pay off.

So how do I prioritize what’s becoming a longer and crazier work week?

It’s not just me. As the economy picks up more freelancers are getting offers of new projects, and after what the recession did to our business this year, nobody has the heart to say no to work. So we’re all in the same busy boat.

Some writers set a timer and concentrate on one thing until it goes off. Others segment every day into specific parts devoted to different tasks. Freelance writer, author and blogger Leah Ingram is the master of this. Even if you read the Q&A I did with her some months back, it’s worth taking a second look just to see again how she’s able to produce magazine articles, books and a busy blog with aplomb.

I was thinking about all this when I walked into Starbucks recently. I was browsing through the store’s bookshelf waiting for my hot spiced cider when I saw a guide to getting accepted into the Air Force Academy. My high school-aged son is interested in the Air Force Academy, so when my drink arrived I sat down and started reading.

A few chapters in there was a section on what first year cadets can expect – lots of classes, little free time. In fact, according to the guidebook, first years are given too much to do on purpose, so they learn to figure out what’s most important. The thinking is that when they’re in combat situations they’ll always have too much to do and will have to be able to prioritize in an instant.

I couldn’t help draw parallels to how freelance writers and other self-employed people operate. We always have too much to do. The trick is to figure out which things demand your attention right now and do those first.

That’s sometimes easier said than done, especially when you have conflicting high priority tasks.

Lately I’ve put all my work and non-work to-dos into one big weekly list and picked off the stuff that’s feels most important first and let the rest sit there. Some things roll over week to week because they’re not that critical. I almost always have 10 to 15 low-priority items waiting to get taken care of (we will replace the ugly green couch in the family room some day, right after I file the piles of papers sitting in my office and hang the pictures we took down when we painted last February). When it’s the end of the day or a weekend and I’ve finished a big project but still have work time to burn, I try to knock a few off the list.

I’m also a firm believer in outsourcing household or work-related tasks to clear the decks for work. I use a travel agent to book business trips. I pay for house cleaners, a yard crew and to have groceries delivered.  I minimize routine chores by grouping them together once a day or once a week.

Still, there are times when even the best time-saving tricks aren’t enough.

So I’m asking: if your schedule’s gotten busier, how do you handle it? How do you prioritize?

In honor of Halloween, here are my list of the top 10 things that scare freelancers:

1. An empty mailbox – No checks for you!

2. A reply from an editor that arrives a minute after you sent in a pitch – Inevitably means “Thanks, but no thanks.”

3. Email to your favorite editor that bounces back with the message “Address can’t be found.” – Oops, looks like a layoff!

4. @themediaisdying and Mediabistro’s The Revolving Door newsletter – Twin harbingers of newspaper and magazine industry doom and gloom.

5. Content sites. ‘Nuf said.

6. Magazine editors who say they want you – But don’t have a freelance budget right now, could you do it anyway for free as a way to build a platform for your next book project?

7. Realizing you hit the “Reply to all” button instead of “Reply” on a snarky comment about a fat-head editor you intended to share only with a fellow writer that instead every staff writer and contributor is going to see.

8. Rewrites!

9. Answering questions an obviously newbie associate editor inserted into your text not because the story needs it but because she has no clue what you’re talking about and is too lazy look it up for herself.

10. Editing by committee – Wherein a story your immediate editor signed off on with nary a peep gets kicked back to you once, twice, three times from editors higher up the food chain with so many requests for revisions or “fresh” angles you no longer recognize it as your work.

Trick or treat everyone!

Scenes from a work day:

9 a.m. First call of day, with a trade magazine editor and old friend. Talk shop. Go over pitches for business features I sent earlier. Settle on a few, plus a special report story package. Discuss terms. Schedule due dates. I am a contributing editor.

10 a.m. Interview local quasi-celebrity social media expert about Twitter, Facebook, etc., for career piece for new website for women. Fun stuff. Conversation veers to mutual acquaintances, dumb things people do online. Make mental note to interview this source again if possible. I am a career columnist.

11 a.m. Conference call with two web gurus for story for small business tech website. Realize I can only use fraction of their information. Contemplate pitching follow-up piece in order to use leftover material. I am a tech writer.

Noon – Another interview for same tech piece. Hear same things over again, signal story’s ready to write. I’m an old pro.

1 p.m. – Monitor ongoing email discussion with editor, other writers collaborating on stories for new small business website. I am a team player.

2:30 p.m. Get idea for blog post. Dash off post, look up links, preview, change headline, preview again, tinker with headline, preview, make change, preview, make change, preview. Publish. Check stats. Wonder why stats have been lower since switching blog to self-hosted. I am a blogger.

4 p.m. Write social media story for women’s website from morning interview. Channel light and breezy in order to stuff maximum meaning into minimal word count. I am a word-working wonder.

6:30 p.m. Feed dog. Check homework’s done. Make dinner. Do dishes. I am a working parent.

8:30 p.m. Finish final edits on copy going into catalog for youngest son’s upcoming school auction. I am a volunteer copywriter.

9 p.m. – Query editor of tech website with ideas for next month’s assignments. Check email. Check blogs stats. Check Twitter. Check email again. Power down computer.  I am a Type A worker.

You could call what I have freelance multiple personality disorder.

Then again, if you do what I do, you know it’s all in a day’s work.

An argument that’s often made in favor of writing for content aggregators – my term for sites like Demand Studios, Helium, Associated Content, Studio101, etc. that pull together works created by a multitude of providers- is that it’s easy to get work. You sign up, in some cases, go through some type of try out or training period, then grab whatever articles are available for writing, or write on the subjects of your choosing.

By writing for content aggregators, proponents argue, writers can bypass the often lengthy query process – sending pitches, waiting for answers, and dealing with rejections. Instead of plowing their time and brain power into queries and other marketing endeavors, they can immediately direct all their energies toward paying work.

But settling for easy money is a mistake.

Freelancing isn’t about writing. It’s about sales.

To be good at freelance writing, you have to be good at sales.

You have to be able to sell a concept. You have to be able to sell how a concept fits a particular audience. And you have to be able to sell yourself as the best person to do the work.

By bypassing the sales process, you shortchange yourself from the very beginning by accepting work that’s easy to get – and carries a low rate as a result.

If you’ve ever written about business, you may know about sales cycles. Some products have short sales cycles. Consumables like food or fashion have short sales cycles. A farmer picks apples, sells them to the wholesaler, grocer or farmer’s market and people buy them. Other products have incredibly long sales cycles. Pharmaceutical reps may call on a doctor’s office for months before getting them to agree to recommend a certain type of prescription medication to their patients. Boeing may spend years – years – courting a major airline or a country before convincing them to buy a fleet of multi-million dollar airliners.

Sales cycles for freelancing articles for print or online publications – not including content aggregators – fall somewhere in the middle. It’s not often you email a pitch to an editor and hear back the same day – it may happen if you write breaking news or work as a contributing editor for a publication on a regular basis. But if you’re pitching cold – the equivalent of a sales rep cold calling prospective accounts – it’s pretty rare to hear back right away. Sales cycles for freelance pieces could be weeks, maybe even months, and include multiple rounds of email conversations with potential clients. As I noted here recently, not long ago I heard from an editor I’d sent a letter of introduction 18 months before. I ended up doing a big project for her and more work could be ahead.

Another reason freelancers avoid selling: they can’t handle rejection, or they’d rather not deal with it. Nobody likes hearing “no.” But in sales, rejection is par for the course.

So freelance sales cycles can be long and the outcome isn’t guaranteed. Is that a reason to chuck it all and grab low-paying work, simply because it’s the path of least resistance? For some that answer is yes. For others, the rewards of higher paid work outweigh the risk of waiting out a long sales cycle, and the risk of getting a “no” instead of a “yes.”

Good salespeople know, the key to limiting your risk is doing adequate due diligence on potential clients ahead of time to understand the needs they might have that you could fill, all the better to target your “sales” pitch – that also includes researching which markets aren’t buying right now, so you don’t end up bumping your head against a wall of rejection. Also important: having enough proposals in the pipeline so the deals you land are enough to keep you busy working at the income goals that you’ve set, and continuously prospecting new markets.

Next time you’re getting ready to go after new work, don’t think of yourself as a writer. Think of yourself as a salesperson, and writing is the product you’re selling.

Tribes, marketing guru Seth Godin’s 2008 book, is all about the groups people identify with. Godin posits that the Internet helps make it easier for individuals to be leaders and form tribes with others who share their interests, be it for work, faith or fun.

It’s got me contemplating my own tribes. There are the obvious ones – my extended family, the parents of children my kids go to school with, friends I went to high school or college with.

Then there are the writing tribes I belong to. When I worked at a daily newspaper, the other reporters were my tribe.

When I went freelance, not only did I lose my full-time paycheck, I lost my tribe. Instead of being part of a pack of 300, suddenly I was on my own – at least that’s what it felt like at the time.

It’s partly the reason journalists – anybody really – feel discombobulated after losing a job. Suddenly the tribe you’ve identified with for as long as you held that job has vanished.

But as Godin points out, the Internet is the perfect tribe-making tool because it makes communicating so easy. First it was through email listservs, then IM and chat rooms on online services like AOL, then the Web, blogs, and now the ultimate tribal circles, social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn and so on and so on.

Today, I’m part of several writing tribes. Knit them together and they’re the buddy system I lost when I left the newsroom. They’ve become intrinsic to my professional identity.

My tribes:

Freelance Success – A subscription-based writer’s community with a weekly newsletter and pay-rate database. For me and many of the hundreds of professional writers who pay the site’s $99 annual fee, the best part is the message boards, which are active, civil and cover topics such as magazines, corporate writing, blogs, travel writing and books.

#EditorChat - A weekly online chat on FriendFeed.com hosted by Motley Fool finance writer Tim Beyers and business feature writer Lydia Dishman that takes on all manner of subjects writers and editors care about. #Editorchat happens Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The latest discussion covered the types of work or household tasks freelancers outsource to buy themselves more time to work – or would if they could afford it. Earlier discussions have covered the New York Times’ decision to have columnists teach online classes, writing for content aggregators and hyperlocal news.

Twitter – Writers use Twitter many ways – to connect with sources, promote a story, showcase a blog. Another is to synch up with fellow writers. I follow several hundred writers and editors and am followed by a like number. We use it like a mini-message board, to share tips, answer quick questions or exchange atta boys. If you’re a writer, follow me at
@MichelleRafter and I’ll follow you back.

Portland digital media scene – A collection of writers, bloggers, podcasters, software developers and other media types with one thing in common – living and working here in Portland. This is probably the most loosely defined tribe I’m in. Portland’s media tribe hangs out at the Green Dragon on Fridays for Beer and Blog, goes to WordPress user groups meetings and WordCamp Portland (the next one’s Sept. 19-20 at Webtrends), and congregates at Mediabistro.com cocktail parties (which, BTW, somebody needs to resurrect – Mediabistro, if you read this, I’m happy to volunteer). The area’s digerati coalesced in the biggest way ever when more than 150 locals got together at the Digital Journalism Camp in August to listen to panels on hyperlocal news, new revenue models, podcasting and more.

UPOD – A Yahoo group for experienced freelancers led by Los Angeles freelancer David Hochman that I tune into via email.

Online News Association – This trade group for professional journalists who specialize in digital media has benefited from the demise of traditional (print) media in the past year, witnessed by a major uptick in membership. The group holds an annual convention – this year’s is in San Francisco Oct. 2-4 and I’ll be there – regular online and in-person classes, an online journalism awards competition, member discussion forum and offers other benefits and resources.

These tribes have become the places I look for help, bounce ideas off people, blow off steam when I’m frustrated with a story or editor or visit when I just want to talk.

As more people work freelance – not just writers but all kinds of freelancers – expect to see more tribes. That’s what all the fuss is over social networks, which ones are the best tool for creating tribes. It’s why Facebook and Twitter are such big news, why investors still pour money into social network start ups and everyone from job boards to media outlets are tacking on a community component to their websites – think of it as tribal warfare.

Are you in a tribe?

Social media has made a PR rep’s job harder.

Should you ask before following a reporter on Twitter? Is it OK to respond to a HARO request even though the expert you represent only kinda sorta knows about the issue? Is it ever OK to just pick up the phone and call someone?

No, no and no.

I don’t claim to be the Emily Post of PR-reporter netiquette. But I’ve spent enough time on the news side of that particular fence and been online since the dawn of email to have formed strong opinions as a result, opinions that based on my conversations with other reporters and freelancers, are widely shared.

If you represent a company or organization dealing with news media and wonder how email and social media fit in, here are some pointers:

DO

* Email your press release – But don’t follow up to find out if I got it, read it, like it, want to use it. If I do, I’ll be in touch.

* Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn – So when I am looking for sources you’ll know right away.

* Respond to my tweet, LinkedIn question or HARO request – If the professor, company, non-profit or other source you represent fits my need as I’ve outlined it.

* Cover yourself – If the organization you represent makes a huge announcement and you’re not going to be around to handle reporters’ calls.

* Promptly follow up interviews – With any additional facts or materials your organization’s source promises to get to me.

* Tweet me to pitch a story idea – Or at least to see if I’m interested. Love the 140-character cut off – it keeps pitches from running on and on. If I like it, I’ll ask for more details in an email.

DON’T

* Call me – That’s why email was invented.

* Futz around making press releases arty or pretty – All I need are facts, contact information and links to pertinent websites.

* Ask what I’m working on – Chances are I can’t or won’t tell you.

* Respond to HARO requests with sources that aren’t related to the topic – FAIL. Don’t expect a quick reply either. A single HARO request can elicit dozens of replies. I try to answer all of them, even if it’s just to say thanks but no thanks. But if I’m on deadline I might not have the time. I will, however, save them for the next time I’m writing on that topic.

* Ask me to sign a non-disclosure agreement – Been there, done that, got burned, won’t get burned again.

* Ask me to send you a link to the story when it comes out – I’ll say yes because I’m polite that way, but by the time it does come out I’ll have forgotten or will be on another deadline.

* Invite me for coffee or lunch to hear about what I do – Unless it’s something I’m actively working on I can’t take that much time out of my day. If I want a F2F interview with your client, I’ll let you know. Or go to national or local meetings for the industries or subjects I write about – I’ll be in networking mode and will be happy to meet you and talk about your client.

* Friend me on Facebook – It’s the one social network I reserve for friends and family.