Great friends and good karma

"I have a favour to ask," I said to a good friend one day. "I’m doing a story on cervical cancer and I want to write an article about your experience with the disease. Will you let me interview you?"

Without hesitation, my friend said yes.

Then there was my travelling pal who was addicted to over-the-counter painkillers when we lived overseas as twenty-something backpackers.

She readily agreed to be quoted too.

I’ve asked friends about their insomnia, parenting struggles, financial woes, their joy at finding a career they love, their relationships, their eating habits – all so I can pen stories about their experiences.

Now, I’m sure that as friends, some of them said yes out of obligation to me and our friendship.

Equally, though, I know some were chuffed and proud to realise that I - and my editors - thought they had interesting stories to tell.

I know others who were prepared to be quoted in the hope it may help others in similar situations.

Really, though, it doesn’t matter why they agreed to let me publish their stories in magazines and newspapers. What does matter is that I am forever extremely grateful that they did.

You see, a big part of the job of being a journalist is asking people for favours, either to hook you up with experts and interviewees, to use their photos or to be case studies themselves. (In fact, if everyone I owed favours to were to call them at once I would be busier than the Pope at Easter.)

So, I always feel indebted to my mates and to those people who have been eager to help me out.

Good karma

That’s why, when a friendly, bearded fellow from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) came calling last week to ask me to spare 90 minutes of my precious time for a social trends study, how could I say no?

"It’s my duty," I explained to my husband when I asked if he could come home early to look after the kids while I completed the survey.

And, in my mind, it is. It is my duty because I am one of those people who uses ABS research on a weekly, if not daily, basis to lend credibility to my stories.

I am the one who is usually asking other people to give up their precious time to talk to me for the sake of public interest.

So, to my friends and interviewees, I say, "Thank you. Thank you."

To the bearded ABS man, I say, "Sure. I’ll help you out."

To karma, I say, "It’s nice doing business with you."

For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/