WRITAMINS™

These writing supplements from WORKTALK will boost your ability to write more quickly and concisely.

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Spelling errors, grammar gaffes and fuzzy logic are careening through cyberspace at an awful rate. Even people who would ordinarily revise an important letter many times think nothing of pressing "send" to "distribution" without giving their message a second glance. Then their typos and garbled ideas pop straight into the computer terminals of their increasingly impatient colleagues. How can you avoid being the source of egregious e-mail? Read on.

Composing e-mail may not feel like "writing." But it is writing, and it deserves the care you would put into any written work. The good news is that you can make your message as clear as possible before you send it.

The bad news is that computer messages go everywhere instantly and then stick around forever (ask Monica Lewinsky). Many e-mailers squander the benefit by zapping their stream of consciousness straight into cyberspace instead of pausing to revise. If you want to write excellent e-mail, follow these simple rules:

1) Re-read each e-mail message carefully before you send it. Remember - no message is so brief that you can't make a fool of yourself by misspelling a simple word. And any message that might be read by hundreds of people deserves to be carefully crafted.

2) Use the "Subject" line to hook your reader. Use it wisely. The words in your "Subject" line may determine whether your message is read or deleted - so try to put the essence of your message or request into it.

3) Pare your distribution list. It's easy for you to add another name to your "BCC:" list - but not so easy for the person who receives your message to open it, read it, and figure out why on earth you sent it. Cull through your "distribution" lists and make sure that every person is essential. Then the people who receive your messages will be more likely to open and read them.

4) When forwarding a message, delete all the gobbledygook at the top of the message. What could make a person feel more special than to see that he or she is the 400th person to receive the cute message you are forwarding? A lot. Delete all previous addressees before forwarding; that way your reader can get straight into the message.

5) Avoid colloquialisms when writing for an international audience. If your e-mail messages go abroad, follow the same principles that you would follow in all cross-cultural communication. Avoid cultural "in jokes", slang phrases, references to exclusively American holidays such as Thanksgiving, and other gaffes of ethnocentrism.

What other e-mail errors irritate you? Please tell us. We are creating a training program called "Writing Excellent E-mail" and are eager to learn about problems waiting to be solved. Contact Elizabeth Danziger at lizd@worktalk.com.

If you'd like to join the distribution list for Worktalk Tools, email us at lizd@worktalk.com and write "subscribe" in the message box. © 1999 Elizabeth Danziger All rights reserved.