I would say the biggest challenge and greatest frustration with working under a deadline is inevitably having to rely on sources. If that is true of news writing, it is certainly true of feature writing since feature writing is largely about people.

I've been working on a feature article about American Journalism students studying aboard as well as foreign students studying here in the United States. Two of my key sources are located in Europe. Time differences aside, it's been darned near impossible to coordinate telephone interviews. My source in Ireland, for instance, doesn't have a telephone in her dorm and therefore must call from a telephone booth outside. After a week of hit and miss, we're communicating largely by email -- and it's much more difficult to do interviews by email because you don't have the luxury of immediate follow-up questions, not to mention the fact that you miss long pauses, laughter, variations in tone, and all those things that add depth to what is being said.

So I'm venting. Sort of. Argh.