Hey Reader!

I posted a thing.

It was designed, of course, to be attention-grabbing. But then I ran headlong into the whole concept of following through on saying something out loud.

And then came the regret.

Here’s what happened:

I posted yet another picture of myself wearing a white shirt. At the time I thought, damn, I should wear something else one of these days or every picture will look exactly the same.

But the thing is, I wear white shirts almost every day.

I have a big collection of them, though to be honest I only wear a few with any regularity because, modern consumer culture.

This all started when I sported short platinum blonde hair, a state to which I may return one of these days. I found that white or ivory in combination with that super-blonde hair made me look extra-alive.

It’s harder to look tired when your face is embedded in glowing brightness.

And because dressing myself is not my favorite thing to do, I figured I’d just get everything in white (well, top things. I’m not going to wear white pants because, PANTS!).

Now I have a terrific collection of white (or white adjacent) button up shirts and let me tell you, it has made getting dressed a whole lot easier.

So there I was posting another picture of myself wearing white and feeling as boring as the kids menu at your local Applebee’s.

And then I figured, hey, lean in!

Because even though we’re over Sheryl Sandberg and that hypocritical come-on-let’s-be-here-for-one-another call to feminism of the mid teens, it’s still a concept that lands.

So I leaned all the way in and stated that one could, in fact, write an entire email about clothing oneself exclusively in white shirts. That was the post that started all this nonsense.

Because a person who saw the post just kept mentioning it, and then the pressure was on to actually produce such an email. 😬

So, kids, be careful what you post online!

I do stand by my oft-repeated statement that you can turn absolutely any story into a newsletter intro. The question is, how will you relate that story to a greater message?

In this case, I want you to think about what habits you can adopt that will make a chore feel easier.

Here are a few tricks to make newsletter-writing easier. Maybe not as easy as grabbing the first thing you see in your closet, but simpler than staring at an empty page, stress-eating Doritos.

1. Choose monthly themes. Having trouble with this? Your friendly local AI would love to help. Once you’ve got a theme it can be a lot easier to come up with a related story, tip, webinar topic, etc.
2. Are you writing a weekly newsletter? Break down the month: Week 1: Case study. Week 2: Great tip, trend or hack. Week 3: Links to related research or content (preferably your own podcast, blog, Youtube, Insta, etc.). Week 4: Go deep on an offer. Or something along those lines.
3. Use a template!
4. Keep a revolving list of things you want to tell your audience, and don’t be afraid to repeat those things. You can write a different email about the best way to groom a dog every single month, and your readers will love it. What’s your version?

Writing a newsletter isn’t rocket science, but it’s still hard sometimes.

Keep it simple to keep it easy.

Yours in sartorial ease,

Julia

PS - While I don't claim to be even a tenth as stylish as any of these women, I'm in good company.

PPS - I love leftovers for the same reason I love white shirts: I already know I'm going to like what I'm getting and it's soooooo eeeeeeeasy.

Plain White T's know that moving ahead with simplicity and intention will lead to a bright future, and so does this email. Forward it to your sparkliest friend.

​