TheWritersBag.com

Before e-mail, written communications were almost never sent to the wrong people. After all, a letter had to be folded up, placed in an envelope, and then the envelope had to be addressed by hand or typewriter before it could be stamped and dropped in the nearest mailbox. This all took time, and in the time it took, even the dimmest letter-writer had ample opportunity to make sure he was sending his love letter to Charlotte and not Ralph.

Now that e-mails have replaced letters, things have changed. The potential of embarrassment in the world – even unmitigated danger – has skyrocketed.

Why? Because you now live in the era of e-mail, when “Reply,” “Forward” and “Attach” buttons are a mere mouse-click away, and “To” fields can be populated just as quickly and easily. Sure, it’s all very fast and convenient – but the time between finishing your e-mail and shooting it off irrevocably, irretrievably and immediately to someone has shrunk to a heartbeat. It’s in that heartbeat that mistakes – sometimes huge mistakes – are made.

For example, the CEO of a large corporation asked the company’s human resources director to send her a spreadsheet listing the salary and bonus earnings of everyone in the organization. By mistake, the HR director attached the sensitive spreadsheet file to the Christmas party invitation he had just composed and sent it out to all employees in every branch. It was his last official act as HR director.

And then there was the employee who missed an important meeting because she ran a personal errand. When her boss e-mailed her later to ask why she hadn’t come, and expressed his annoyance with her absence, she decided to forward his e-mail to her friend. In it, she wrote, “Can you believe my boss? He’s the biggest *@#!!**# on the face of the earth!” Unfortunately, she then made a big mistake: she hit “Reply” rather than “Forward.” When her boss, rather than her friend, received the e-mail, he quickly fired her.

The moral of the story? Take a few deep breaths before sending your e-mails. Make sure you’re sending the right messages with the right attachments to the right people. Unlike letters, you won’t have time to think things over on the way to the mailbox.

Special Note: Send Me Your Problems!

Some of you have asked if I could help you with specific writing issues. My answer is yes. Send me a comment with a piece of text you have written (nothing too long, please) and tell me what has you stumped or doesn’t seem right. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of it and we’ll invite others to comment with their ideas or suggestions. Let’s make this a valuable, interactive learning experience. To contact me, click here.

Consider the following three events:

1. Jack and Jill fell in love.
2. Jack and Jill got married.
3. Jack and Jill had a baby.

There are times when the order of the events or messages in a piece of writing is not important. Often, however, order is important. Rearrange the order of the three preceding three events and see if it makes a difference. Here are a few examples:

1. Jack and Jill fell in love.
2. Jack and Jill had a baby.
3. Jack and Jill got married.

Or:

1. Jack and Jill got married.
2. Jack and Jill had a baby.
3. Jack and Jill fell in love.

Obviously, even though Jack and Jill are going through the same three major events in each of the three storylines, the stories change dramatically as the order of the events changes. In these sorts of situations, be sure you get the order right.

Special Note: Send Me Your Problems!

Some of you have asked if I could help you with specific writing issues. My answer is yes. Send me a comment with a piece of text you have written (nothing too long, please) and tell me what has you stumped or doesn’t seem right. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of it and we’ll invite others to comment with their ideas or suggestions. Let’s make this a valuable, interactive learning experience. To contact me, click here.

There is a good reason to be careful about the order in which you throw messages at your readers – even when no chronological significance exists. It is the reason why newspaper and business writers typically cram everything they really need to communicate into the first few sentences of their written pieces.

The rationale is simple: Most readers don’t have much time, and even when they do, they don’t have much patience. So when you’re writing to a busy readership and you have to get certain messages across, it’s best to assume you have less than 10 seconds of the readers’ time before they move on. (Anything more is frosting on the cake.) So lead with what’s most important!

Let’s say you’re writing an e-mail to all the members of the management staff in your company. The various messages (pieces of information) to be included are as follows:

1. A meeting has been scheduled for all members of the management staff.
2. Coffee and breakfast rolls will be served.
3. If time permits, we will discuss options for the company’s summer party.
4. Anyone who can’t come should let the director of marketing know by Thursday morning.
5. Everyone should bring ideas for product improvements.
6. The meeting will be held in the executive boardroom.
7. It will take place next Monday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

If you simply wrote out the preceding messages in the order they are listed, you would qualify for the Bonehead of the Month award. Readers who fail to wade through the entire e-mail because they are interrupted or bored to distraction will have only a vague idea about some future meeting that has something to do with breakfast rolls and the summer party.

How would you order the messages, putting first things first? If your reordered sequence runs as follows, you win the gold star:

1. A meeting has been scheduled for all members of the management staff.
2. It will take place next Monday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
3. It will be held in the executive boardroom.
4. Everyone should bring ideas for product improvements to the meeting.
5. Anyone who can’t come should let the director of marketing know by Thursday morning.
6. Coffee and breakfast rolls will be served.
7. If time permits, we will discuss options for the company’s summer party.

The reordered list places the messages in descending order of importance – first things first. Even those readers who run off to the water cooler before reading the last three points will have the essentials. The finished e-mail might look something like this:

A meeting has been scheduled for all members of the management staff next Monday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the executive boardroom. Bring your ideas for product improvements. If you can’t come, please let the director of marketing know by Thursday morning. Coffee and breakfast rolls will be served. If time permits, we will discuss options for the company’s summer party.