Sunday Question – When Is The Last Time You Wrote A Personal Email Letter?

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Aug 15, 2010

I didn’t get into email until early 1996. When I discovered it, I couldn’t wait to find people who had it to write letters to. I’d always been a letter writer. I was the one who would find people from college and get caught up with them and keep them up to date on what was happening with everyone else. Initially it was on typewriters, then computer word processing programs before the modern Windows, and finally the good stuff, mainly Microsoft Word.

These days, I couldn’t tell you the last time I wrote a personal email to one person. I say it that way because I’m sometimes known to write a long compilation email and send it out to a whole bunch of people. And, as it figures, if I get anything back at all, it’s often a one or two line response.

What happened to the revolution that we were supposed to have in more and better communications because of email? Is it all time related? I ask that because I used to get to every email I got very quickly, and now sometimes it’s 2 or 3 days before I get to an email, even a business email. That feels so unlike me, but then there’s just so much email that goes along with all the research I do for all the writing I do. I’m always wondering if that excuse is good enough for neglecting friends that probably aren’t going to respond in kind. Thank goodness for my friend Kelvin; I think he is the only person I actually correspond with on at least a weekly basis, if not more often, and if history means anything, he was actually my first true email friend back in 1999 as the first person who actually told me he was going to send me an email and then did. Of course, I don’t expect him to see this so maybe I should say something bad about him and see if word gets out.

So, there’s the question; do you send personal email to your friends or family, and if so how often? Enjoy your Sunday!

Tags: email, personal email, Sunday question, word processing, Writing

20 Comments »

Beverly Mahone:

Yes, I do send personal emails. As a matter of fact, I just sent one last week to explain why they hadn’t heard from me in awhile. Since I love to write, I will write at least one a week. This is also a good way to let everyone know what I’m working on–as an author–so they will be prepared to buy when my books are published.

The cool thing is many of them write me back so I know they’re actually reading what I’ve written.

Mitch Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 12:43 PM

You’re lucky there, Bev. I only have two people who’ll ever write me back, at least within a time frame so I know they actually are responding to something I’ve written.

August 15th, 2010 | 12:05 PM

Rose:

I still send personal emails to family and fellow writers. I don’t do it often, but I do it from time to time. That reminds me- I need to check in on a fellow writer.

August 15th, 2010 | 4:05 PM

Kyle:

Almost everyday I write personal emails, part of my social marketing strategy. It is working very when social marketing really become social and communication is very leveled.

Mitch Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 8:30 AM

I just run out of time, Kyle, but I need to get back to it.

August 16th, 2010 | 7:38 AM

Carolee:

Rarely………sometimes I do email my mom or sister…

But I hate personal email- at least jokes and stupid stuff……

Mitch Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 12:53 PM

Ah, I love the jokes, but I don’t count that stuff as personal email.

August 16th, 2010 | 11:46 AM

Keith:

I’m not much for personal email. I have a few family members that like to keep in touch via email, and I have convinced them to switch to phone calls instead.

I have never been much of a writer and when I do write, it is mostly something that I have to sit down and force myself to do. I’d rather jump on the phone than force myself to write a personal email.

Mitch Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 2:01 PM

And I’ve gone totally in the other direction, Keith, rarely using the phone and certainly not giving my cell number to that many people. You sure you’re not older than me?

August 16th, 2010 | 1:02 PM

Melinda:

I talk daily with quite a few friends via email. Usually just a quick sentence or two. Since it is hard for us to get on the phone to talk (due to kids needing attention) I like it because we can still stay in touch.

I’m with you Mitch. I hate to be on the phone. I’d much rather take care of communicating via email with an occasional phone call added in there. I think it because those calls tend to last an hour! And I don’t have that kind of time.

Mitch Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 8:28 PM

Isn’t that something about the time, Melinda? What I used to do was write a long letter, then modify it for each person I was going to send it to. I haven’t even done that in a long time; I feel so ashamed.

August 16th, 2010 | 3:22 PM

Melinda:

I’ve done the different version letters too. Hey whatever shortcuts work I say use them. I think the trick is doing shorter letters more often. That is easier to work into your day.

August 16th, 2010 | 10:53 PM

Rummuser:

I am blessed with a large family spread all over the globe and all connected by internet and also with an eclectic collection of friends similarly located. I get and respond to at least five personal emails every day. Naturally, all the mail that I get are personal as I don’t have any official work anyway!

Mitch Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 10:27 AM

Of course Rummuser, but I like that you are communicating, and I mean really communicating, with family and friends like that.

August 17th, 2010 | 8:53 AM

Val:

I am terrible at keeping in touch with people whether it’s in email or by snail mail. I spend far too much time in my blog and other people’s blogs. I’ve got letters sitting in my study waiting for replies, from family and old friends, and there are emails going back probably months that I’ve still not answered. I’m just bad at it! And the curious thing is that I used to be brilliant at letter-writing and when I first had internet I was quite enthusiastic about email correspondence… but now. Well, I don’t know… I don’t have much energy and while I can write a blog post, I can rarely think of anything substatial to put in an email.

I went the route of the circular newsletter (but snail mail, not email) until a relative’s child had died and another family member said, “I hope you didn’t send her a newsletter” and I had. I felt terrible to have sent a copied samey N/L to someone who was bereaved. I haven’t been able to do it since then. Thinking of individuals is sometimes so hard. But it needs to be done.

Mitch Reply:
August 20th, 2010 at 5:34 PM

It’s tough to make sure you find things to address people individually on whenever you create a group letter or email, but we do what we can. I’m lucky to not be behind anyone as far as owing anyone a letter, and I always make sure to get back to those folks within at least a week. But it’s not always easy.

August 20th, 2010 | 4:46 PM

c5:

Before the internet, I was a penpal writer. I had friends all over the world. When I got modemly connected in 1994, I wished all my friends were too. When I found friends that were, we wrote each other long emails. It was great because it took only seconds and we almost wrote every day! Then ICQ was created…and YM…chatting became the norm. Now that there’s FB, status updates, that seemed to be enough. I still do write emails but it’s more like updates and instructions for certain tasks (at Church). Recently, though, I’ve written an email that was difficult to write because I was confronting a brother (in Christ) because I felt offended. That is the kind I can never express verbally.

Mitch Reply:
August 28th, 2010 at 1:22 PM

Good stuff Cecile. Truthfully, I don’t know that I can say I was a penpal, but I definitely was a letter writer before the internet came about. Strangely enough, when it comes to confrontation I don’t have much problem in writing an email for that. Luckily, it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I hope that turned out well for you.

August 28th, 2010 | 11:12 AM

Udegbunam Chukwudi:

I used to love writing emails in the past but after I discovered Facebook, cheap calls and sms it all stopped. The only folks I write personal emails are those without a facebook or twitter account and it takes a lot of effort for me to draft and complete such emails.

Mitch Reply:
September 8th, 2010 at 9:33 PM

It can be tough, Chuks, but I’ve been trying to turn the corner on it lately. Thing is, I can write whatever I want, but if no one writes back, it doesn’t matter.

September 8th, 2010 | 10:37 AM

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