Letter from the Editor: Make it Personal

On an average day, I receive about 200 emails, and I'm not counting junk emails and spam. I try as much as I can to tame my inbox and answer the most important and urgent emails, but some messages inevitably get buried, lost in the fray or carried out with the tide. And this despite having tried most of the inbox management systems out there such as zero inbox, yesterdaybox, boomerang, mailbox (which I still use); you name it, I have tried it.

As much as email has made it easier to communicate with one another, the ease and ubiquity of email and the amount of it we receive has devalued the importance of the personal message and has made us take for granted what it means for someone to sit down and take the time to really write - the lost art of the handwritten letter. 

Nothing makes me more happy then to receive a handwritten note, and an entire letter makes me ecstatic about the fact that someone cares enough to think about me, plan a message (it's not as easy to delete when you write by hand!) and write to me. If you ever really want to say something, there is also no substitute: while you are likely to read a handwritten letter multiple times, when will you ever do that with an email? I rest my case...

This is why when we worked on THE FIFTH COLLECTION's stationery needs, I was adamant that we would have notecards in them so we can write the old-fashioned way to thank the people that make us smile, support us and encourage us. If you're reading this, that includes you! So go ahead and write a personal note to someone that makes you smile and keep an eye out for one from me!