Sometimes the story is different than what you think

That's what Michele Norris said recently about a story she wrote back in 1989 for The Washington Post. Norris today works for NPR. But back then she was doing a story about the crack epidemic hitting the nation's capital -- a two-part narrative about a 6-year-old boy whose mother was a crack addict.

Well, she was doing one kind of story. But she switched gears during her reporting -- and went after the best story.

You need to be open and flexible with your story ideas. Always be willing to change gears, always be alert to the sound of the story calling you.

(Interesting, too, that in this interview, a quarter century later, she is asked if she knows where Dooney is today. Disappointingly she doesn't.)