Legal Writing

A participant in a writing workshop I once led taught me something. (That almost always happens.) The hardest thing about writing messages, she said, is "filling in the subject."

"So you just throw something in there," she continued. "When the reader gets it, it's the part he or she reads first. And the subject line may not be what you want them to get out of it."

She was right.

This week, pay attention to Subject lines in the e-mail messages you write. If you've really thought about what you're going to say, and to whom, and for what purpose, go ahead and write the Subject first. It will focus your work on the message itself.

But if you're not sure exactly what you'll be saying in the message, save the Subject line for last. (Actually, save it for next-to-last; don't fill in the To line untl your message is absolutely ready to send. You'll avoid those terrible premature dispatches.)