email from the heart

January 17, 2016 - Daily Notes

Even email can be a practice in giving voice to the heart. These days, especially email. 

Today is Sunday and my to-do list for Lucia is singular: Answer every email. First, the messages I've been saving for days--even weeks--from writers, bloggers, artists and others. Before starting Lucia, I did expect I'd receive a lot more email. Twenty years working in public relations, where it has been my job to get the attention of editors and journalists for my clients, has taught me that an editor's inbox gets outrageously full.

Now I am learning the art of replying.

I have yet to master it. I do read every email that comes. I do not often reply immediately because I do not always know just what I'd like to say. Not at first. Usually I wish for time to linger on someone's blog, peruse her world on Instagram, look up essays he's written before, and gain enough of a sense of who this person is and what they create that my reply will be thoughtful, informed, valuable, authentic and connected.

It's tough to find time for this. I am learning to create time. It is important to me. Communicating with Lucia's readers and future writers is essential. 

It is raining in Seattle and I have one thing only on my list today: Give voice to the heart via emails. All of them. 

How do you manage email? Do you have advice? I am all ears.

xo
laura