Hey Reader!

A very nice (seeming) young man knocked on my door this morning to do a quick “air quality survey”. He asked a few questions and I answered them and realized I’ve no idea whatsoever what the point of the survey was. 🤷🏻

But someone’s paying that kid to pester people and enter them into some sort of drawing, which, now that I’m thinking about it, seems kind of suspicious.

Anyway, I’m a recluse who doesn’t particularly like having anyone knock on my door, but I’m too polite to put up a No Solicitors sign. Because doesn’t that seem rude?

Yikes, expressing your boundaries sometimes feels like a minefield.

And yet I persist, because I lived without boundaries for long enough and I’m not going back. But I also believe we’re all in this together, i.e., life.

All of this is to say that apparently I’m super conflicted when it comes to giving my time and energy to strangers but I’ll probably continue to default to making their lives easier.

Because isn’t doing door to door sales or canvassing or surveying or whatever the worst possible way to make a living?

Let me know if I’m a pushover! For real.

xo, Julia

FIVE-MINUTE FIX

Use contractions.

Email is more engaging if it sounds like someone is talking to you, not writing you a term paper. And if you’re in conversation with a friend you wouldn’t say, “You are kidding! I am so surprised!”

Hell no. You’d say “You’re kidding! I’m so surprised!”

Take a look at your finished product, and check for awkward word constructions, the ones you only use when you’re writing business copy.

If you wouldn't say it, don’t write it.

By my count I used thirteen contractions in the story above, and wouldn’t it have sounded strangely formal if I’d left them out?

Like this:

A very nice (seeming) young man knocked on my door this morning to do a quick “air quality survey”. He asked a few questions and I answered them and realized I have no idea whatsoever what the point of the survey was. 🤷🏻

But someone is paying that kid to pester people and enter them into some sort of drawing which, now that I am thinking about it, seems kind of suspicious.

Anyway, I am a recluse who does not particularly like having anyone knock on my door, but I am too polite to put up a No Solicitors sign. Because does that not seem rude? Yikes, expressing your boundaries sometimes feels like a minefield.

And yet I persist, because I lived without boundaries for long enough and I am not going back. But I also believe we are all in this together, i.e., life.

All of this is to say that apparently I am super conflicted when it comes to giving my time and energy to strangers but I will probably continue to default to making their lives easier.

Because doing door to door sales or canvassing or surveying or whatever is the worst possible way to make a living, is it not?

Let me know if I am a pushover! For real.

I mean, that is just not great writing.

If you want, pretend you're writing to me! Your biggest fan, and someone who does not care if you use slang or make weird observations. The more spectacularly personal, the better!

​Randy Newman knows that shorter is really okay, and so does this email. Forward it to someone who's moving too fast for long words.

​