Scrapping and rushing.

I am one of those people that put all of my eggs in one basket. The latest instantiation of this regrettable personality trait of mine was my fervent hope that a social service agency treating substance abuse for women here in Portland would let me have access to their clients for one of my stories. I met with their media flak two weeks ago, wrote her a long email explaining what I wanted to do, and we kept following up with each other. I was being compromising (not a word anyone knowing me would use to describe me) about how much time I would likely spend with my subjects, which was their biggest concern. It looked like things were going to work out. I was going to make things work out (a trait my friends would use to describe me).

For things to work out, I was told, I would have had to meet with the executive director and the director of inpatient services. Except, the executive director is in Africa for the next two weeks, and the director of inpatient services on vacation as well. The end of their vacations ran well past my March 29 deadline.

So I had to scrap the story. I am now scrambling to call every single social service agency treating opiate addiction in the state of Maine to get a story idea hammered out. And I keep running into the same roadblock--hesitation on their part about the amount of access I would need for my story.

This getting access crap is like trying to move Heaven and Earth.

By: Amanda Waldroupe, writing.