The Geekette Speaketh

I was once an avid stamp collector.  To be able to collect more stamps from other parts of the world I started looking for pen pals on the international section of our local newspaper.  The motions of snail mail felt like a carefully choreographed event.  Pick good stationery and a good pen.  Write carefully and conscientiously.  Fold paper meticulously and insert into envelope.  Stamp it.  Drop in mailbox.  Receive a reply weeks later, carefully unfolding the page and reading it at your leisure.

Email has changed all that.  Until a few years ago, email was rush rush for me.  Until I decided to treat email like I treated snail mail.  Sure there's no paper to fold and no pen to write with.  But there are some old fashioned tips that still work with email.

Like drafts.  I've gotten into this habit of writing email drafts using a text editor rather than directly on my chosen email program.  The reason is simple.  I don't want to accidentally hit "send" when I should have pressed "save".  Sometimes I'd go as far as write with pen and paper, scan and send.  Just so I can feel some part of my snail mail letter writing again.  But that's me.

As much as possible I take the time to edit forwarded email too.  I don't like seeing a whole bunch of signatures and headers that have nothing to do with the heart of the topic.  If I don't like it, then I'm sure my recipients don't like it either.

I've had a lot of trouble with the instantaneous feature of email as well.  I can get very hot-headed at times.  I've had a bit too many reprimands in the past due to my trigger-happy send finger.  Nowadays I'd use my draft method of writing and sleep on it.  It usually takes me from twenty-four hours to about a week to reply to something that's supposed to be thought out with a cool and objective head.  If it didn't feel right, it probably isn't right at all.  That also explains why it took me so long to email my feedback about the performance of a co-worker.  I had written a long report about his performance.  But every time I took a look at it, I had to take into consideration how I felt as well.  (Honestly, we weren't really on good terms.)  In the end, my essay turned into a simple three sentences on what really mattered.  I had nothing negative to say because they were either personal remarks or stuff that has already been taken cared of in the past.

Drafts also allow me to take a good look at my grammar.  My brief stint as a copy editor allowed me to be more conscientious of my tense and spelling.  I've slowly disengaged myself from the program's grammar and spell check feature.  My best friends in writing (anything) are Merriam-Webster and Reader's Digest's "How to Write and Speak Better". 

Yes, I'm a draft email fan.  It's made my writing life so much better!