Inbox - Brag or Confess

When I was checking my email the other day, one of my co-workers gasped at the amount of mail in my inbox.

I must confess it is astronomical. I belong to so many egroups and organizations, and also network with so many people in the writing business, I can't read all the messages I receive each day. What I usually do is delete junk mail first, then go to the quick messages, then save ones I have to think about or which will take longer to read. The problem is lots of times I never get to those messages I wanted to read. They just keep piling up. That's sad because I do remember a few years ago I was hung up and hunting down the 2 unread messages I couldn't find in my inbox and were probably junkmail placed in a spot I'd already bypassed.

I didn't mention that I also save lots of my mail after I've read it, instead of deleting it.

Can you guess how many unread messages I have in my inbox as of this moment? I'll leave the answer here tomorrow.

What about your inbox? Are you behind with reading your messages, or do you diligently keep up with them? Do you delete most of them after you've read them? Please brag or confess.

Do You Belong to A Writing Organization?

Here I am with Mary Micheff, on the left, at our Holiday party. She was the President of Chicago-North RWA when I first joined.

I've been a member of the Chicago-North Chapter of Romance Writers of America for years. I was trying to remember how many and came up with at least 13, maybe more, since time goes by so fast.

As you may know from previous posts and remarks I've made in person, I credit my local chapter for passing along enough encouragement and know-how to launch me on the road to publication. I doubt if I could have made it without them.

I also belong to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and EPIC. Through listservs and networking, especially at conferences, such as Love is Murder, I've learned valuable information.

What about you? Do you belong to any writing organizations? Has membership helped your career? Or, do you go it alone? Please share. Feel free to brag about your organization.