Feedback on the Tiny Mayan Woman

I REPLY TO EMAILS SENT TO ME

I do try, to the best of my ability, to reply to all emails sent to me.

It really matters to ME when a person takes the time and energy to comment about my enewsletters.

My intention is to honor the risk a person takes in communicating with me by sending a reply often within 24 hours of receiving an email sent to me.

I know, from replying to other people’s enewsletters, how frustrating and discouraging it is when I have sent an email that I’ve thought out ahead of time and then received nothing in reply. Therefore, I’ve been there and done that. And, I don’t want to be like that.

In fact, I went through the trouble and expense of buying a mini-laptop just for sending enewsletters and replying to emails while I’m traveling. A larger laptop wouldn’t fit into my backpack with the cameras. I carry all my precious electronic equipment on my back wherever I go because I can’t risk having them damaged, lost, or stolen when I travel.

I’m telling you this to let you know just how important your emails are to me.

Only once, I could not reply because I kept receiving a bounce back saying the person‘s email address was incorrect even though I clicked on “reply” to the person’s email. I tried three times to reply to this woman’s email before I gave up.

But that is an exception. As far as I know, assuming the email sent me and the emails I’ve sent in reply did not get lost in cyberspace, all the emails sent to me have received a reply.

So, thanks again for sending me your comments. They mean a lot to me. Otherwise, it feels as if I’m sending my enewsletters into a void. When you write to me – whether it’s by email or by a comment on my blog at http://www.CarolChapmanLive, you actually honor me.

YUCATAN TRAVEL BOOK

I also appreciate receiving feedback because I plan to use these enewsletters and blog posts as the basis for a book on Yucatan travel. Therefore, your feedback is doubly important because it helps to make my writing better.

FEEDBACK ON THE TINY MAYAN WOMAN

For example, I received a number of emails commenting on my enewsletter about the tiny woman. People wrote to say that of course she was being helpful. How could I think she might be crazy?

Well, that’s because I was writing as if you could read my mind – a common writer’s faux pas.

Now I know to include in the book when I write the story about the tiny woman that:

The waiter kept rolling his eyes at the tiny woman as if her behavior at our table was odd.

Also, she kept going on and on while we were trying to eat.

Miriam thought her “helpfulness” was a bit inappropriate since she was also drawing maps on the napkins beside our plates.

However, the reality is that in the mix between cultures, it is difficult to know what is and what is not appropriate. I prefer to err on the side of assuming that people are sincerely being helpful when they come up to us and volunteer information. Also, I really liked this tiny woman. She felt helpful and friendly. In the interface between cultures, that‘s what really matters – the humanity between us.

Blessings,
Carol Chapman

Copyright © 2009 Carol Chapman