I Like You, But You're Clogging My Inbox

I had to come to terms with a hard truth this week: namely that I was unable to keep up with the enormous amount of email I've been receiving between the several different addresses I possess. It sort of surprises me that it took so long for me to deal with the situation since I'm generally a very organized person: I clean around the house often, keep a fairly workable file cabinet up to date, and I'm a die-hard plotter.

But things happen, especially in the vortex that it a first draft of a novel. As soon as I came up for air, I began a serious evaluation, and a cleansing of the inboxes commenced. I'd like to say farewell to a few old friends who will be missed, although not enough to allow the clutter to continue.

Yahoo Loops - There aren't too many of these that I'm active on, so it wasn't too hard weeding them out. I'm a sucker for the loops that run lots of free tutorials, but most of them sit in my inbox for months, or get stored away in folders never to be opened again.

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day - I won't embarrass myself by admitting how far this one got out of control. I'm still a word-a-holic, but if I can't trust myself to read these every day, it's not worth the trouble.

Author Newsletters - I won't name any names here, but I will say that I made my decisions here mostly based on the length of the emails. My advice to writers who have a newsletter is to keep it short and simple, because it doesn't matter how much cool stuff you cram into your mailings if they're too long for people to devote their time to.

Goodreads - Here's the thing, for the longest time I didn't have many friends on the site, but now that my network has expanded, I just can't keep up with all the update notices. On the other hand, I do check in more regularly on Goodreads thanks to our Speculative Society Book Club.

Graphic Novel Reporter - I haven't spent nearly as much time visiting the comic stores as I used to, so reading this newsletter was my attempt at keeping up with one of my favorite hobbies. It's just not the same as the real thing, and I end up skipping over them every week.

Travel Deals - A few years ago, travel was a priority (and a luxury) for us. Sadly, times have changed, and almost all of our vacations involve visiting family for holidays and special occasions (no offense guys, we love to see you). Reminders about all the wonderful places we don't have the time to visit right now are just too depressing.

The purge is finally complete, and while it won't alleviate all the inbox clutter, it's a good start.

Have you banned certain mail from your inbox? What would you like to see less of when you open your email?

Cheers!
Ella