e.i.b.: Delete This After Reading

and other ways of connecting.

Apr 08, 2021

Heat, a delightful human who I’ve come to know through her writing (her newsletter and her blog), and I have been chatting / writing back and forth for the past few days about connections with others through writing in a newsletter. She also shared about her present way of handling “e-clutter.”

With the realization that I wanted to fully embrace connecting with folks through an email newsletter, I knew I needed to get a handle on my email, too. So I’ve also been finding my way with handling my own e-clutter.

I even made a new email address specifically for receiving others’ newsletters.

These threads of thoughts got me further ruminating.

I’m choosing to expand my imaginative mind to welcome in more ways of connecting with one another through this vehicle.

The most obvious ones are:

comment
reply to the author of the post
share the post with someone else

But what about these:

delete the unread or semi-read posts that are collecting dust so that there is more mental and literal space in your inbox to receive new posts
integrate reading posts that are sent on a habitual basis into your daily / weekly / monthly routine
read it, think about some part of the post and let it seep into your day somehow
read it and then come back a week later, read it again
skim through it and then click a link that ends up taking you to an awesome place where you learn something new
read it, feel inspired by the writer, allow that inspiration to fuel you
subscribe but hardly ever read because you want to show your support for the person
read it and get jealous of the writer, transform that jealousy into fuel that inspires you
like something about it and try it on for size in your own newsletter or other creative medium
unsubscribe because you’ve realized you never read it and realize that your name on their list doesn’t mean much at all if each and every post goes unread
unsubscribe for awhile because something about the writing is ticking you off
unsubscribe and resubscribe with your new “subscriptions-only” email address
leave the posts sitting in your inbox and then choose to read several straight through instead of scrolling Instagram and feeling lonely

I’ve done each of these. Some of them I’d say are more on the side of “interacting” with the newsletter rather than “connecting” with the newsletter writer. But as a newsletter writer myself, I like the idea of readers / subscribers both interacting and connecting with my newsletter.

It’s just that for so many from the list above I’ll never even know what’s going on in the mind, heart, body, being of the reader.

That brings me to one of the root desires of mine - wanting to have a sense for the reader’s mind, heart, body, being.

Now that’s a lot to ask, right?

Especially asking the reader to share their mind, heart, body, and being in a public, long-lasting way such as writing a public comment that will stick around as long as there is a cache or cookie.

With almost literally everything on the Internet offering the ability to comment on it, no wonder it’s so easy to forget how much I desire from a reader.

I invite you to flirt with another way of interacting or connecting with this newsletter and with others you subscribe to. Pick something from above or make up your own unique way.

And if you want to share publicly or 1:1 with me about it, feel free to leave a comment or reply to this emailed post. :-D

Experiments in Belonging

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