maintain correspondence

Well, I’ve been doing pretty well with logging things into the letter register, but now I need to see where I’ve fallen behind, etc.

I’ve managed to send an RSVP to a friend’s wedding, finish all the Christmas card/newsletter things (as of yesterday, with two dessert-containing packages to be mailed by the husband-man tomorrow), go to the gym with my neighbor, call my sister and my dad* (even though they didn’t call me!!), improve neighborly relations, and just keep up with friends.

*Still can’t reach Grandma, but still try weekly.

So today I’m going to review how to “update” the book (especially how to do this in electronic format rather than paper-and-pencil) and work on figuring that this week.

Well, thanks to Lewis Carroll’s advice, I’ve started logging correspondence (email, mail, phone) in a “letter register.” I tried using a physical, pen-and-paper approach, but got frustrated with lining things up properly. Then I tried using a spreadsheet from Google, and that seems to be working nicely.

Effects so far: keeping up an e-mail conversation with Miriam, finally making plans to go to the gym with Vassi, and knowing where I’m falling behind in other ways.

I’ll need to figure out how to do this properly, so I can keep track of people with whom it is harder to keep up with. Also, there are various ways: phone, email, letters.

This is really frustrating, because I’m not quite sure where to begin.

• Modern tips (how to write letters)
• Tips from Lewis Carroll including advice on a “letter-register”
• Emily Post on letter-writing