How to Manage Your Time when Planning an Online Interview

No matter what you do in life, whether it is writing, managing a home or running a business, "If you fail to plan, you will plan to fail. You may ask, "What exactly does this mean."

If you are an author whose area of expertise is writing stories, a blogger or an individual who writes editorials or commentaries for mass media, there are important steps one should consider.

You may be a great storyteller or writer, but if you neglect to manage your time properly, it can make a difference as to whether you have a good or a mediocre standing in the writing world.

Being a writer is like running a business. This means you have to do your research, gather your thoughts, prepare and execute those ideas into an ideal article.

If you are planning to write a piece that involves an interview, then it is important to allow yourself sufficient time to gather the information needed and to put forth the questions you plan to ask your subject.

When you submit questions you want answered, it is pertinent to make certain that you give yourself and the individual you are going to interview enough time to gather his or her thoughts.

If you plan to interview an author, many writers will submit their own questions and answers. This makes it easier for the interviewer to concentrate on other portions of the article, namely the person's bio, excerpts from their book(s) and other applicable data.

Always provide a deadline for submitting responses to your questions. Let us say you want to publish the interview on June 1, and it is now April 15. Give a deadline for submission. If you have not received this information by the date specified, send a reminder. People do forget, and sometimes an emergency may occur. You may also opt to say, "Submissions will not be accepted after this date." This is why it is a good idea to have a couple of backup articles in the tin. This allows the writer to move on to their next piece.

If you have not received the responses to your interview questions by the due date, it does not make any sense to contact the person the day before you plan to publish the article and then insist that the interviewee send the answers immediately, especially if the individual already submitted the answers to you a month ago.

An occurrence like this is can cause misunderstandings and imply that as a writer, you are either unorganized, and you are not paying attention to important details.

It also puts the interviewee in an awkward position because she or he may feel, "I did what I was supposed to do; as a writer, you should have done your job." After all, the candidate's time is just as valuable as the writer's time.

Check to make certain that the information you publish is correct. Many times, writers post the wrong URL or email addresses in their articles. Sometimes before the article goes live, someone will catch the mishap(s). However, this is not always the case. Again, your attention to details is open to discussion.

Of course, we all make mistakes, but when it gets to be the norm, then we as writers have to take a step back and evaluate how much planning and time management we should be devoting to our craft.