Writer's block and Verbal Diarrhoea

Why is it that the first e-mail is always the hardest?
You scan profiles, trying not to sound too lame, trying to come up with a more ingenius subject than 'Hello'. 
You angst for minutes over how to end it and whether to sign off with a kiss.

Then you wait - interminably - for a reply.
So far, I've sent three e-mails and yet only one guy's responded. And they're Christians! Hmph.

When a reply does arrive, the temptation is to reply immediately - especially if you're someone like me who tends to forget to reply if you leave it too long.

With Mr Long Replyer, I spent a couple of hours composing an eloquent reply (well, I was distracted by things like Facebook chat, blog stats, a skype call and a change of government...) and within hours had another very long response - followed by a one sentence follow up the next morning! Impressive.

But, I'm a writer. I find answering questions about myself very easy - it's why I'm committed to blog writing, surely the most narcissistic past-time there is! I know I can write well, amusingly, interestingly - it doesn't take a lot of effort. [And that's not me being big-headed, honest!] My fear is that I won't live up to it in the flesh. 

Plus, I know from past experience that I can build up really good relationships via the written word that don't quite match in practice - like the friend who I couldn't stand in person, yet via blogging and e-mailing we became close friends. Weird. 

Oh well, there is now one actual date on the cards. Well, it's been suggested and I've agreed that it sounds like a good idea - an actual date in the diary is yet to be established.

In the mean time, I'll get back to the e-mail I started writing 2 hours ago. Unsurprisingly, it's another of the 'firsts', very tricky.