Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Preparedness Newsletter

This will be short, as I was mainly working on the preparedness newsletter. I thought of just posting a link to it, but I have not posted it yet.

Traditionally it goes out on Thursday, which I picked because people are less likely to read things on Monday and Friday. With my natural tendency towards procrastination, it is sometimes late. If you send something at 11:30 Thursday night, it is an awful lot like sending it on Friday.

I have found that it works better if I write it, then sleep on it and check again, so I should be able to successfully do that this time, having written the first draft on Wednesday.

Sometimes the writing does not flow, and I will find I have taken the wrong approach, or I am missing something. For example, long ago when Chandra Levy disappeared, I read someone’s suggestion that young people living alone should always leave notes when they leave, giving where they were going and when. Writing a newsletter on not being a crime victim, I really wanted to include that, because I thought it was brilliant, but it just was not working.

I realized that the problem with that tip is that it is to make it easier for people to locate you after you have disappeared, and I wanted to focus on things that would keep them from disappearing. Sure, it’s nice being able to solve the crime promptly, but it falls short somehow.

Last month’s letter was always going to be on whole grains, but I thought it would focus more on specifics of using them, and benefits, and it was really more about making a smooth transition as you incorporate them into your diet, and easy ways to get started. Really, you can never give all of the possible information, so it is more about giving them a good start where they can logically follow onto their next steps.

The other reason that I like to leave it overnight is that, well, sometimes I worry that I get too harsh, like can I really say that? Is that too much? I’m a passionate woman, and very direct and down-to-earth, and maybe sometimes people need some sugarcoating. Actually, I never really soften things that much, but I think about it.

Also, I worry sometimes that I use too many big words, but I don’t change those very often either. Well, I still like to give myself enough time to have the option.


26 minutes walking outside
Crunches
John 20 – Acts 7

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