The other night I couldn't sleep, so I dragged my sorry butt into my office at 2:42 a.m. to check my e-mail. I logged on to find a messages from AOL:
You have hit 1,000 messages in your in box.
Naughty, wicked, YOU!
We will now bounce EVERYTHING that comes into your in box.
(EVIL AOL.)
I quickly started deleting messages. But the thing is--I've saved almost 900 of these messages for a pretty good reason. Or, at least it seemed like it at the time. Okay, so a couple of them go back to May 2009. I keep stuff I think I might need. Or that I might want to revisit. Stuff like the many kind notes I received when my Dad died in October. Fan letters. Invoices. Backed-up files.
But some of these notes can't be filed because they're still pending, like a note from my agent two weeks ago on something she's trying to negotiate with my publisher. Or a web site a colleague has told me I really need to check out/join. (I just haven't had time to do so.)
There are several lists I follow where I get the individual messages instead of the digest. (Hi Guppies, Cozy Authors, Cozy Armchair pals and Cozy Chicks!) I estimate that to go through all my messages and file them, I'd need 6-8 hours to do so. As it is, I spend up to four hours a day going through my email and answering fan mail, taking care of bookmark/bookplate request, and commenting on other posts.
My god, it's waaaaay too easy to put myself in Leonardo DiCaprio's place as Jack at the nose of the Titanic and think: I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD...and we all know what happened to HIM!
Something has GOT to go. And I'm seriously thinking of going digest on at least one of my lists. Of course, I rarely "play" on the lists where I get messages as digest., but something's gotta give.
Have you ever had the same problem?
