I wrote several emails today, research-related. I was left with the feeling that somehow I'd forgotten bits, that I remembered just after sending the email. And then doubting that I'd said what I wanted to clearly. As far as I can tell, the emails weren't that bad given the responses, but it was a nervous time while waiting for those responses and thinking that maybe they'd make fun of my crappy emails.
Anyone know a way around this? Approved email writing style, maybe a program that reads the email over and says "Nice work, says what you want it to, and clearly" so that I don't get worried about them?
5 comments:
This kind of goes in the comment from the first post, but I'll put it here because it's kind of related.
My own blog is purposely written in stream-of-conscious format to match the way I speak and (by definition, right?) think. I just say what's on my mind and then sometimes the filters kick in and make me realize perhaps I shouldn't have said whatever I just did.
I agree that forcing yourself to write something done every day is a very good thing to do. I also use my blog to force myself to write non-academic things. In my case, though, I almost never try to phrase even e-mails carefully (there have been rare exceptions over the years). Actually, I think one of my better skills is thinking and writing on my feet. I tend to write papers very fast relative to others and even most of my rough drafts tend to be pretty smooth. (I suppose it makes up for my occasionally inability to concentrate and my consistently slow reading.) I purposely don't edit my blog -- it's supposed to match my speaking style -- but even when I write more formal things like academic papers, I typically start with a sort of core dump before polishing my text.
I tend to phrase my emails very carefully, unless it's to a close friend. If it's for lab-related stuff, I let it sit in my draft folder for at least an hour or so, then read over it again before sending. At least it cuts down on the number of times I have to immediately send a follow-up email with forgotten info.
This is best case scenario: when I write e-mails for my work, such as responses to inquiries for information about various things or collaborative planning with colleagues, I guess I outline what I am going to say in my head before I start and then write a whole lot of stuff down (kind of like brainstorming), and then edit and refine that and lastly reorganize what I've written so it flows. Then I reread the whole thing one more time (and sometimes spell check) and hit send...usually before I remember to add whatever attachment I've promised :)
Oh, one more thing -- when I am really concerned about how an e-mail is going to come across I send it to a friend or colleague to review for me before I send it to the intended party. Very often I end up either not sending the original e-mail at all, or I end up revising it.
I don't know if I've ever met Mason but apparently we have similar writing methods/skills...
I have to write emails all the time as a stage manager and I sometimes got replies that mentioned that I sounded "angry" or "frustrated." As a result, I just concentrate really hard when writing the email, just to make sure it doesn't sound to sarcastic, and then I read it aloud in my head at least once before sending it. However, I have to write a lot of emails so it has gotten easier and I don't worry as much. Mason mentioned writing like he talks in his blog and I think the same thing can apply to emails. If you read it to yourself once and it sounds okay, it probably is fine.
I forget attachments all the time. So have my professors, employers, friends, relatives, etc. That makes me not feel so bad... The other day a friend wrote me with a simple question and I think I took three emails to respond because every time I hit "send," I thought of something else...Oops..
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