Like a chipmunk, grinning with self-satisfaction for piling its burrow high with nuts and berries for the winter…
That’s Chris with his email-idea vault.
Now… many a burglar wouldn’t give it a second look.
But I know the treasures hidden within.
Many are awaiting to be rediscovered. Enjoyed again. And shared.
I’ve been squirreling away email ideas for the past year or more.
I considered talking about “chipmunking away” today. Because I like chipmunks. 🐿
But I figured that might cause mass confusion.
So “squirrelling” it had to be (with chipmunks still in the starring subject-line role, of course!)
Anyhoo…
Not all ideas in my vault are as relevant as they once were. Like some stuff about freelancing. And finding copywriting clients.
But there’s still an almost never-ending supply of stories and prompts for me to fossick through for my emails.
I only dip in there when there’s nothing on my mind when I sit down to write.
And because there IS often something ready to spew forth from my brain to my keyboard…
It means I’m growing the stash MUCH quicker than I’m depleting it.
And that suits me just fine. Because…
The curse of writers everywhere — writer’s block — has become all but a distant memory.
An email idea vault is pretty easy to set up.
First, you just need somewhere to stash things.
At the moment mine is spread across two places.
(And probably will be for a while. At least while I resist my procrastinatory tendencies to do “important” work. Like spending hours shuffling notes around.)
One of those places is just a bunch of text files in a Dropbox folder. The file names are a rough indication of the idea.
Many have content inside already. Some with 80% complete emails that I bashed out when the idea initially hit.
The other place, where I now put new notes, is my notes app.
Now, I’ve had a BAD run with those over the years. (cough Evernote cough)
But am currently delighted with the one I’m using.
It’s called Standard Notes.
It’s free to use (open source). But you can pay for premium features if needed.
I’m still on the free version. And there’s no limit on notes.
Second, you need stuff to go IN the vault.
This means keeping your antenna up for things that are useful to squirrel away.
Like everyday life stuff…
…Baby “painting” with the contents of their nappy. (Been there!)
…Reading a cool marketing book.
…Sending your 100th email.
…Noticing the ladybugs sitting on your office windowsill. (Sent an email about that once!)
Even mundane stuff can be given a bit of must-readability in emails. By injecting some fun, silliness, self-deprecating humor… or plain oddness.
Even though they’re everyday things, it’s still a good idea to keep notes about them. So they’re right there at your fingertips.
And then there’s having ideas for some tips you can share. Or industry-related comments you want to make. Or storing material for a good old-fashioned rant!
Better to err on the side of collecting too much. You can always cull things when you spot they’re longer relevant.
Especially stuff that SEEMED a good idea at the time. But might be a tad embarrassing if it got into the wild now!
Standard Notes is great for keeping track of ideas.
And you’d be forgiven for thinking I’m shilling this because I have an affiliate link.
But I don’t.
It’s just awesome software.