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The TEXT Thread

treekiller

aka cover letters, get well soon cards, thank you notes, and other correspondence thread


writing is such an integral part of practice (and getting that dream job with a starchitect). since most of us weren't english majors, here's a place where you can post drafts of stuff for feedback and assistance from the collective wisdom of archinect... just don't post any really long bits (make a linkable file in those cases...)

if you want to quote finagans wake or song lyrics for discussion, go ahead too. we can also start a IM dictionary for us gen xers and baby boomers who don't know how to type with our thumbs...


this is a thread about text in all its glories and vagarities! have fun!





(The TEXT Thread should always be referred to as TTT from now on;-)

 
May 14, 07 3:27 pm
mightylittle™

here's a text/letter related question...

why do all of my emails begin with...

Attached please find in pdf format...

and end with

Please let me know if you have any technical issues with these files...

???



oh, and:

for you joyce lovers...

The great fall of the offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes

i'm going to a wedding on bloomsday!

May 14, 07 3:42 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

a thank you note for editorial snarkyness and practical advice:

Dear Mr. ABC,

I greatly enjoyed meeting you last week and learning more about your [insert adjective here] multidisciplinary practice. Afterwards, I walked down to XYZ project and was impressed by the detailing and the quality of materials that transcend that sort of project. It would be a pleasure to join the ABC team as a project architect to continue making great projects like XYZ.

I look forward to meeting more of the ABC team as we discussed.

Best wishes!

-TK




ok- I never know what to use at the end: 'best wishes' 'most sincerely' 'ciao!' 'yours truly'- none of these ever feels right, but what alternative do you have?

Should I stick in more info about what I liked about ABC? that they are into sustainability? got generous PTO benefits? I could start tomorrow but have to finish writing a book by the end of the month?



ML- I tend to start my cover letters/cover emails with:
Dear HR Lackey-

In response to your April 9th job posting on Archinect.Com, I am submitting my resume for consideration as a Starchitect-in-Training.


in the subject line i stick: resume attached to get this out of the way.

at the end of the email: please contact me if you require additional information or have an question.



I forgot that bloomsday is coming, now I know why I have joyce on my mind!

May 14, 07 3:53 pm  · 
 · 
mightylittle™

lately i've been signing off with simply...



Regards,

Mightylittle
Chairman of the Board
Phone Number
Website

May 14, 07 4:04 pm  · 
 · 
liberty bell

For sign-offs, I like "Regards,". I also like "Sincerely," if it is sincere. Very traditional. But I also often use something like "Thank you and I look forward to speaking with you again, liberty bell"

I'd suggest not using "transcend", TK. Sounds little...spacey. Unless you then us the sign off "Transcendently yours, treekiller".

May 14, 07 4:15 pm  · 
 · 

i use 'respectfully'.

May 14, 07 4:16 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

lb- ok, that transend... part is scratched.

regards has won the vote 2-0, sincere has always been too prim for me so thanks!

May 14, 07 4:19 pm  · 
 · 
cadalyst

i use "thanks" @ the end of each email

May 14, 07 4:54 pm  · 
 · 
xtbl

ha ha, cadalyst, so do i!

May 14, 07 4:55 pm  · 
 · 
mightylittle™

i was using "Please let me know if there's anything else i can do at this time." for a while, but people would actually take me up on it.

damn clients.

May 14, 07 5:00 pm  · 
 · 

I remember doing some work for a church design, and the rector commented that i was the only who didn't end my letter/proposal with

"deeply blessed" or "with God's greatest grace"

I got the job, but then the finance folk wouldn't green light the project...fuckers.

May 14, 07 5:04 pm  · 
 · 
xtbl

wow, that is crazy 'philia.

May 14, 07 5:05 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

That's Finnegans Wake. My exgirlfriend/future wife has a copy of Finnegans Wake that she purchased at a used bookstore in D.C. The previous owner had carefully typed a full page letter of loathing for the book and placed it in an envelope which was then affixed to the inside cover. As I recall the letter suggested that the reader not waste his/her time with "this heap of dung".

May 14, 07 5:12 pm  · 
 · 
Mark Anthony

cadayst and cris... I also end my e-mails with Thanks. I feel like it adds more weight on their decision because I'm already thanking them for the thing I'm requesting.

May 14, 07 5:13 pm  · 
 · 

I tend to use Thank you, or even Thank you for your consideration at the end of those sorts of emails.

May 14, 07 5:15 pm  · 
 · 
vado retro

i think that i am the only person who uses a heading in my emails. i always begin my emails Hello Dumbass, or Hello Numbnuts.

May 14, 07 5:17 pm  · 
 · 
mdler

all my emails have NSFW in the heading

May 14, 07 5:33 pm  · 
 · 
AP

most of the time:

Regards,
AP

sometimes:

Best,
AP

and when appropriate:

Thanks,
AP


although in the future I may have to use techno's crazy example:

Deeply blessed with God's greatest grace on my face,
AP

May 14, 07 5:42 pm  · 
 · 
aml

ap, i do a combo version of yours for extra "properness":

Best regards,
aml

May 14, 07 6:52 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

combo version like this?
best regards and thanks for the memories,
TK


that's sort of harsh

May 14, 07 8:22 pm  · 
 · 
WonderK

Stick with "best regards". Although don't screw up and write "best retards" like I almost just did, LOL.

I have a coworker whose signature at the bottom of emails - to everyone - looks like this:


WonderK's coworker

Master of the Universe
Firm Name
Firm Address
Firm Telephone #

May 14, 07 8:34 pm  · 
 · 
mightylittle™

wow...your coworker uses your archinect screen name as his sig file?!?

now that's thinking outside the box.

How about...

Resplendently yours,
Mightylittle
Decepticon Hunter &
Loyal Autobot

May 14, 07 8:43 pm  · 
 · 

I'm not sure how to end invoices though...

however I like, please pay me so I don't have to sell another kidney

May 14, 07 10:15 pm  · 
 · 
∑ π ∓ √ ∞

i do the Regards or Respectfully or even a Booyakasha....

Finnegans Wake is awesome, even if you haven't read it, like me. Although, i'd prefer to read it aloud in an open mike night, the entire thing.

May 14, 07 10:22 pm  · 
 · 
Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

I've actually started to make some sense of some sections of Finnegan's Wake. I'm ever so proud of myself for that.

May 15, 07 1:22 am  · 
 · 
bRink

Maybe this is a bit of a tangent... But what is the most potent word you can think of?

Or maybe a powerful first line. Say the very first line of a novel that draws you in, says so much without embelishment. A single, simple line or first word that demands a follow up...

Anybody here have an interest in writing?

May 15, 07 1:44 am  · 
 · 
treekiller
bang!


I write non-fiction ;-)

May 15, 07 7:50 am  · 
 · 
antipod

I had a developer client finish his email with 'Chow'. I'm pretty damn sure he wasn't trying to be funny or ironic either. He was South African after all...:)

May 15, 07 8:08 am  · 
 · 
the silent observer

There is always the sign off "Cheers". But then, that makes you sound awfully British.

As for a simple line that demands a follow up:

"I'm not sorry."

May 15, 07 1:38 pm  · 
 · 
quixotica

what are your favorite words?

quixotic
derisory

more as i think of them

May 15, 07 2:57 pm  · 
 · 
strlt_typ

dross
joy
plume

May 15, 07 3:23 pm  · 
 · 
Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

Egypt

May 15, 07 3:29 pm  · 
 · 
sloring

I was hoping that this thread would be about sexy typefaces...

May 15, 07 8:47 pm  · 
 · 
mightylittle™

mmmm...sexy typefaces.

May 16, 07 2:41 am  · 
 · 
quixotica

I friend once made up a word, Coloptreflexiv, that basically means a words that looks like how it's spelled. Like boob for instance. b-o-o-b is the perfect spelling for boob because it invokes the image of boobs.



boob.

May 16, 07 9:24 am  · 
 · 
treekiller

so type about sexy typefaces!
do you mean Brad Pitt sexy?
or Lucy Lui sexy?



May 16, 07 9:25 am  · 
 · 
mightylittle™

i mentioned it in the Portfolio FONT thread, but it seems appropriate here. especially since tk demanded that i/we type about sexy typefaces...



look at the bounce on those numerals! i love 'em.

Designed by Tobias Frere-Jones at Font Bureau, Hightower is based on Nicolas Jenson's 15th century Venetian Roman...see more about it here.

and i don't mean brad pitt sexy...that's gross, i'm a dude, man!

but maybe kate winslet sexy.


{/}Light Bulb Goes On Above Head{/idea}


Pick a celebrity and match a font with them. Then start another one for someone else to finish.

I'll go first.

Kate Winslet is to Hightower

as

Sean Connery is to _________.



May 16, 07 4:48 pm  · 
 · 
garpike

Clarendon Bold

May 16, 07 9:56 pm  · 
 · 

Why are cover letters so f'ing hard?! This should be easy by now. But the whole new-grad, economy-in-the-crapper thing has me pretty down. I just keep thinking "They don't want to be reading this, they don't need people. Nobody needs people. I'm just bothering them, so why does it matter what I write because they've already decided to throw it away."

May 4, 09 12:01 pm  · 
 · 
treekiller

R- practice, practice, practice - it's took me 10+ years before I got good at this sort of business writing.

(ps, thanks for bumping TTT).

May 4, 09 1:30 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

You're right, Rationalist. Writing well is hard work. One of the best axioms I've heard on this: "good writing is re-writing." Another: "If I'd had more time, I'd have written less."

The point being: its takes time to craft clear text that does the job. It takes even more time to winnow things to the bone and do the job concisely for a busy reader.

It's all worth it, though. When you read the raft of poorly written crap that most "professional" people normally churn out, a brief, clear missive stands out like a jewel.

May 4, 09 1:55 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

And TK's correct, too. It's takes a long time for most of us to acquire and hone this important skill.

May 4, 09 1:56 pm  · 
 · 

haha, thanks guys. I have the benefit of being a pretty good writer (or so I've been told), but I think my problem is that I'm getting down about my chances before I even begin. Maybe this belongs more in one of the economy threads, but I'm just finding it difficult to maintain the positive, upbeat attitude that I know I need to have to generate anyone's interest.

Plus, I'm applying for jobs in some pretty far-away places (yes, diabase, I'm FINALLY applying to some Melbourne offices!) and know that most of these things get tossed right away, because it's too much work to bring someone in from abroad. *sigh* I think I've done the best I can though, and just need to get on with it. Got to keep reminding myself that the worst thing they can do is not give me a job, which puts me in no different position than I'm already in.

May 4, 09 2:05 pm  · 
 · 
fays.panda

im waiting to use this thread,, ill come back soon

May 4, 09 2:08 pm  · 
 · 
citizen

Don't give in to the dark side, Rationalist! Try to stay optimistic.

By the way, I like your resume'... very creative and eye-catching. (Fight on, BTW.)

May 4, 09 2:14 pm  · 
 · 

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