Well, another busy day in the life of a director of public relations. I assume the nature of my work isn't that different from yours, whether you're the account coordinator, account executive, intern or manager of the department. I'll show you what I mean and you can decide for yourself.

In PR, there's the unstoppable flow of email, live phone calls and voice mail messages to return, the constantly full in-box and faxes coupled with the added convenience of the wireless phone with its own voicemail and text messaging. Then, there's the ever present pager for those "24/7" clients, not to mention the clients who stop by to say hello or "grab just a minute" when you're flying out the door to a meeting. Whew, how do we get to the actual work of public relations if all we're doing is managing the communication process all day?

Well, in the most basic sense, that's what we do for a living, we manage communications and build relationships to facilitate-guess what-even more communication. It can feel frustrating and suffocating while we're in the midst of it, more phone calls, more voice mail, more faxes and emails and the pager goes off. I often find myself saying, "How can I get to my work with all this? What are some of the things I have to do today anyway?

• Final PR report due for an ending client project
• First draft of a strategic communications plan for a major client
• President is expecting budget projections for coming fiscal year
• Speech to write
• Review the media target research for a national product launch
• Discuss pitch strategy with Account Executives
• Write for workinpr.com
• Research PR industry trends for technology report
• Meet with the PR team
• And those are just the big things…oh!

The speech has been formulating in my mind, so writing it shouldn't be too difficult. It's a motivational presentation to the statewide directors and volunteer coordinators of social service agencies. The speech will be "I am the face of your client." I'll tell them where I am today and how I got here. Then I'll tell them how poor I was, on food stamps and WIC, lining up for commodities, no college degree, wanting more in life, a career, a future. I'll tell them how I volunteered with a social service agency in the middle of all that and how that changed my life. How one person, my volunteer director, inspired me to go to college, how I was able to do it with loans and scholarships, how she made me feel, how I succeeded…okay, the outline's complete, think I'll deliver extemporaneously (can you say "no time to write?").

Let's see, I can move to the next priority on the list: How 'bout the department budget? Can't do that extemporaneously, unfortunately. Have to research, have to write, have to compute, have to just sit down and do it. Feels overwhelming, think I'll take out the budget I created for last year and look at it as a road map for this year. I'll work on it tomorrow. What next?

Well, it's first thing Monday morning, let's check the email…(was out of town over the weekend, didn't check) ah, 38 new emails…let's see…I immediately file 14 in the "jokes" file from a particular editor who enjoys sending so many jokes, I can't possibly read them all…but I can't blow him off either…review the high priority ones from my boss first, then clients and staff. I don't know about you, but I figure my boss is my number one client. Looks like my 11 o'clock is getting re-scheduled, as the boss has given a "command performance" I need to attend (sound familiar?).

Quickly scan the rest of the emails and realize my well-planned day is unraveling quickly. Ah, the phone rings again. I only had seven voice mails when I arrived this morning, what a relief. This time, a client "emergency."

The national accreditation they've been seeking for months has suddenly been granted much earlier than even they anticipated. Drop everything, they want a release now and they want it from me. Due to the deeply technical and strategic nature of this client, I inherited them when I was brought on board and as I have grown with them, so has my very unique body of knowledge on their issues, history, and their specific media contacts. I guess the dues I pay now are that there's really no one else uniquely positioned to write the thing. I haul buns to research and draft and get approval and when it's complete I'm told they want to table it till they can stage an "event." Humph...sound familiar?

Okay, now, it's mid afternoon, I've still not even looked at the budget…what about the email? Oh, goodie, 23 new messages. What's up with that? I can't keep up…reporter returns my call wondering if the product I've pitched is national or regional…Account Executive asks me to review a pitch she's getting ready to deliver to the Wall Street Journal…the boss wants conference notes on the command performance meeting from this morning…the art director has called a creative meeting for a new client…oh yeah, I was supposed to write the strategic brief…

Oh, I can't handle it all. Think I better go get a juice out of the fridge. Hang out for a few minutes avoiding my office. A client walks in, and I happen to be right there. "Oh, hi! Just the person I came to see…do you have a few minutes?" An hour later, she leaves, new assignments on my desk, a new list of tasks to do, more to be carried over to tomorrow's list of things that didn't get done from yesterday, last week, last month. Is this what it's like for you too?

So, why, if I can't get it all done, do I get to be the director? What is it that makes this such a privilege and a chore at the same time? Well, nights, weekends and holidays, for one. I've spent many a weekend and holidays including Mother's Day, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve (Y2K), Memorial Day and a host of others either doing client media relations or taking calls. I work a lot of weekends. I'm on a pager 24/7. I get the occasional 3am emergency calls. I go to breakfasts that start at 6:00 a.m. to "work the room," and spend nights till 11:00 p.m. on the rubber chicken circuit to see and be seen and to schmooze. I serve on boards of directors and am elected to lead community initiatives. But most of all, just like you, when my clients need me, I'm there to help them tell the story or plan the strategy. Like you, I can offer guidance and counsel, I can think on my feet and talk in front of cameras. Like you, I'm not afraid of reporters, and know how to meet their needs while getting the client's message positioned in the best light possible. I can make killer presentations and "close the sale" but in the end, like you, I'm a good communicator with passion for telling the story correctly and with energy.

So much for a day in the life of a director of public relations. Tomorrow, I'll plan better and get it all done.