H1N1 makes me feel like an attention whore.
by Demers
So last week I had H1N1. It was terrible, and that’s pretty much the last word on that I’ll say in this post. What’s interesting is what happened after. I go to a school where the journalism school is pretty prominent. We also have two campus newspapers and a student-run TV channel; two of these outlets havealready interviewed me because well, I was sick.
I’ve said the same things to both outlets and essentially I told them what they might not have wanted to hear: H1N1 is no big deal. That’s all well and dandy, but now that my friends want me to sit in front of their broadcast class cameras, I’m starting to get a bit frustrated.
A couple weeks ago I wrote an article for one of the campus papers (who coincidentally interviewed me yesterday) about how some H1N1 prevention methods are over the top.
Ironically, I then got H1N1.
I figure, hey, I want to write columns for a living, and this is the perfect opportunity to get my foot in the door! My editor contacts me and tells me to write a 250 word column about my time with the sickness. She ended the e-mail with the words “you are going to be a celebrity!”
This irked me a little bit.
I realized that I was becoming “famous” (and I used that in the loosest sense of the word) just because I was sick. I was “that guy with that disease”. I wasn’t getting a spot because my writing was good; I was getting it because I happened to have the flu for about a week, and the timing just happened to be within a pandemic. Great.
I’m very tempted to turn down the column position because frankly, if they publish the article that they interviewed me for yesterday (which they will), people will get sick of seeing my name attached to H1N1; I’m by no means a medical expert and I only know as much as I’ve read about.
While I’m typing this article I got a text message (update: and a Facebook message!) asking for another interview from one of my friends in class. I’m very tempted to just say “No, I’m tired of talking about it.”
Part of me doesn’t really feel right talking about myself this much; I don’t want people getting tired of me. As a guy who wants to write columns for a living, people not wanting to hear me talk is essentially the worst thing I could hope for.
Take the jobs, man! Doesn’t matter why, as a writer and a freelance one – take all the work you can.
Agreed, we’re all whores in some way…..
Sell out! Whore yourself to interviews. It’s not the most flattering way of jumping to the next rung on the ladder… but it’s very well could be a jump to the next rung.
My Grandfather told me his best deals didn’t come from hard work. They weren’t his best, most thought out decisions… He was simply in the right place at the right time. The best deals he made, according to him, were the lucky one.
Get the most outta this Swine god dammit!
I like the fact that you’re writing for the sake of telling people something. Really. Few people still seem to do that these days. Many writers seem to be in for the glory only. So kudos to you for being in the field for the field. Keep it up and stay strong.
As for you being a celebrity… that depends how you handle it. If you feel like you have something worthwhile to say, go for it, tell the story to everyone you can. But if you don’t, then I wouldn’t do sod all for them.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the motivation of the people asking for your time and writing. It’s chance to get your name work out there, why hesitate? No one is going to take you for an expert on H1N1 unless you make the claim.
Just make sure the pieces you write are some of your best work.. then who knows where it might lead?