Initial communications say more than you know

Don't delude yourself: first impressions matter. We judge people by those first few seconds and it is incredibly difficult to change someone's opinion after that judgment has already been made.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Yet, we do it ALL THE TIME.

There are countless examples where first impressions matter. But the one arena that people tend to forget about is digital communications (email and social media). It has become way too easy to send off emails, treating it like a text message with a friend rather than a business or formal method of communication.

While I can rant until I'm blue in the face about social media interactions, I've already taken the time to look at how one's messages could be a turnoff without even knowing it. Please read that post from last year, because for social media, you need to focus on your target audience and ignore everyone else.

Today, I want to focus on email communications and the hidden messages that exist in those lines of email.

I will be taking examples from some of my communications with prospective clients, paraphrasing and hiding identity of those email writers, but I want to give you some insight into the subtext I garnished from those emails.

When Do You Become An Author?

The debate about whether a person is an author or a writer seems to come up frequently. There are those who insist that there is a distinctive difference between the two, something that I have discussed before on my personal blog.

For those who can't be bothered to delve into the depths of my personal blog, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, a writer is one that writes (I still want to change that to one who writes, but we move on). Whereas, an author is one that originates or creates or is the writer of a literary work (as a book).

Based on these definitions, I'm stand strong by my belief that a writer is a person who writes. I despise the term aspiring writer, because there is no aspiring about it. You either write or you don't. It's that simple.

However, the transition to the author title is not as clear cut.

Exactly when does a writer become an author?

There is NO such thing as an aspiring writer.

There is a term that I seen bandied around a lot. I see it in bios for various writers. I see it in promotional materials for writing workshops and courses. I even see it in emails from agents, publishers and editors. And every time that I see it, or hear it, I want to growl. The term that irks me to no end: aspiring writer.

I know it might be silly to have such a negative reaction to what might seem like an innocent term, but how does one actually go about the action of aspiring to be a writer? You can aspire to see your writing in print (or in eBook format if that strikes your fancy). You can aspire to quit your day job to become a full-time writer. You can even aspire to get more hours in the day to dedicate to your writing. But aspire to be a writer?