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I have a way of writing my emails that works for me. I have never considered whether my method was shared by others. Apparently, though, it is. Lifehacker had this post last week about reversing your email writing order to increase your clarity.

Lifehacker’s suggestion (taken from EveryJoe blog) is to include attachments first and recipients last. I don’t employ that method exactly, but I do write the body first, heading second and recipients next. For all but the most terse email, I spend the same effort drafting and editing the body as I do my attached documents. I will not touch the header box until I am satisfied that the body is complete. I do not want to risk sending a message before I am ready to do so.

Then I summarize the topic and action in the heading line based on what I have drafted and, finally, add my recipients and attachments.

It is nice to know that I am not alone in my reverse-attack to email drafting. Try it today and see if you can’t tighten up your own drafting.

I have been on Twitter since September, 2008 under the name @advocatesstudio. My reasons for joining Twitter were to: (a) jump into another tech pond so that I could see what it was all about; (b) promote my research and writing business; and (c) follow attorneys and legal professionals, hopefully engage in the conversation, and keep a finger on the pulse of where our profession is headed.

I have definitely achieved all of these goals through my Twitter use. However, as time has passed, I have been struggling more and more with the balance between professional tweeting and personal tweeting. I myself enjoy reading the tweets of my professional peers and appreciate banter about their personal interests and lives – that mix is what draws me to particular Twitter users.  But I am cognizant that, as in all things, there is a proper balance, the measure of which depends entirely on the forum you are engaged in.

I truly love the law and enjoy research, writing and reasoned analysis. But, let’s face it, that is not the sum of my parts. In school, I enjoyed my studio art classes as much as my logic and calculus classes. I appreciate and have a deep history in art, music, performance and creative writing. But I dilute my message to my legal community by bringing into that forum too much material related to all of the other matters that stir my heart.

I finally faced my on-line multiple personality disorder this weekend. I have created another Twitter account and a separate blog in which I can pursue my more right-brained interests. Rather than overload one Twitter identity with a jarring mix of interests from all edges and ends of the spectrum, I will attempt to slot my interests into appropriate categories and venues.  My other identity is @startoestudio and the new blog here on WordPress is Star Toe Studio. I will investigate, explore and report on my artistic interests there.

Does that mean that @advocatesstudio will become a dry, barren husk devoid of all but the law, the whole law and nothing but the law? No way. Not me. But I feel that I can explore all of my interests more deeply and more honestly in two separate identities and outlets.

I am not sure how this will work, as it will definitely increase my time commitment to my on-line pursuits and I certainly have enough in my off-line world to keep me plenty busy. But I think my dilemma is one that many on-line professionals will have to face to some degree sooner or later: how to properly balance the professional and personal. This conundrum is not new – it just seems to be enlarged in the on-line “social” media context.And it gets down to the question of what does “social” really mean?

So, if you are brave, feel free to follow me at @startoestudio or read the blog at Star Toe Studio. Or, you can hang out with my professional self at @advocatesstudio or read all things law, research, professional writing and tech here.

To thine own self be true.

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