💡 Planned Stories and Messages
Planned stories are your backlog of stories you mean to write, and Messages is the inbox for what readers send through the contact page. This page will guide you through jotting down an idea, placing it in a topic, and handling the inbox.
Planned stories
"Planned stories" holds stories you mean to write but have not placed yet. Add one to a topic from "What comes next" on any story.
- Press "Plan a story".
- Type a "Title" and, if you like, a "Teaser (optional)" of one or two lines readers would see before it is written.
- Press "Plan story".
Each row has "Start writing", which opens the story as a draft, and a bin button to delete it. A planned story belongs to no topic until you attach it. To attach one, open a story in a topic and use "Use a planned story" under "What comes next". See Topics, threads and series.
Messages
"Messages" shows what readers sent through the contact page. It has three tabs, "Inbox", "Unread" and "Archived", each with a count, and a number beside "Messages" in the navigation shows how many are unread.
Press a message to read it. The buttons above it let you:
- Reply by email: opens your email app addressed to the sender.
- Mark as read or Mark as unread.
- Archive, or Move to inbox from the archive.
- Turn into a Brief: start a Brief from the message. See Briefs.
A message shows the sender's name, email, subject and the time it arrived. "Show more" loads older messages.
The contact email under "Settings", then "Site", is shown to readers on the contact page. Messages from the contact form also land in "Messages".
Best Practices
- Clear the inbox weekly: archive what you have answered, so "Unread" stays meaningful.
- Keep ideas short: a title and a teaser is enough to remember a story by.