DMR Writing Services

As far as I’m concerned, email is one of the greatest things since sliced bread. As a writer, I do a lot of communicating of important information in this format, though it’s not necessarily the greatest format for it to be in. A small email technique I learned awhile back to makes understanding each other easier by utilizing that handy feature of copy and paste. For example, let’s say I get the following email:

Hi Marie,

When we meet with the graphic designers on Friday, is it for the second-to-final draft or final-to-print draft? When I spoke with Josie she didn’t make this clear to me.

Also I was wondering what you were doing for lunch afterwards. I have a new project coming up I’d love to talk to you about - a brochure for XYZ Industries due to print in February. Think you’ll have time?

- Laura

In my reply, I will simply cut and paste Laura’s original email and insert my responses afterwards, like so:

Hi Laura,

When we meet with the graphic designers on Friday, is it for the second-to-final draft or final-to-print draft? When I spoke with Josie she didn’t make this clear to me.

It’s both actually. We’ll make whatever changes need to be made on their computers and then print the final-to-print for a visual review before sending it to the printers.

Also I was wondering what you were doing for lunch afterwards.

Lunch? Josie set the meeting for 11 am so I figured we would order in and work through lunch since we’re going through two reviews in one afternoon.

I have a new project coming up I’d love to talk to you about - a brochure for XYZ Industries due to print in February. Think you’ll have time?

Wow, I’d love to work with you again! How about we meet up for breakfast on Monday to figure out the details – I don’t think we’ll have time on Friday to talk about this. After reviewing my schedule, I should be able to work this project in depending on its scope.

Looking forward to Friday,
- Marie

IMPORTANT: While using this adjustment, make sure to differentiate between the original text and your reply by italicizing, indenting or using the quote feature on the original text if your email program doesn’t automatically use the block reply line.

The great thing about this email hack is that it keeps the tone of the email conversational and to the point, since we know there are people out there who like to ramble off-topic. Also, this eliminates the "okay syndrome" (that vague reply that leaves you wondering what exactly the other person is saying "okay" to).

Use this liberally to eliminate confusion in those email volleys we all inevitably end up in.