You’re expecting a story from me this morning.

A meandering tale of some experience I relate to newslettering.

Because—unless this is the very first issue of Opt In Weekly to hit your inbox—that’s the formula I follow:

It’s almost always a personal narrative stretched into a metaphor about how to write a newsletter… except for when it isn’t.

And, this week, well, it isn’t.

Because I’m on a company retreat at Lake Pickwick in Iuka, Mississippi (do you know how to pronounce it?) and I’m somewhat off my game after a day of boating and playing games with the Simple Focus Software team.

They’re all discovering how obnoxiously competitive I am.

And I considered not sending this issue until I’m back home, in my usual quiet space, able to concentrate and tell you a semi-meaningful story that helps you improve your newsletter process.

But what’s occurred to me is that I’ve built expectations.

Not just of myself, but of you, too, if you read this newsletter regularly:

An expectation that I will tell you a story once a week.

Open my brain and let the words flow.

Make connections.

Deliver a tale that helps you craft your own newsletter, whether it follows a similar format or is wildly different.

Don’t fret. The story well hasn’t run dry.

It’s more that I need time to reflect, and I’m very much in the middle of experiencing.

Ideas are forming, but the 4-hour drive home tomorrow is when they will truly congeal, as I course down a familiar path, surrounded by fields of soybeans and corn.

And, so, this week I’ll just remind us all of a thing I’ve been thinking lately:

The best stories draw from personal experiences.

If you’re new to newslettering (or have hit a dry spell), it might help to step away from the screen and go “jump in a lake” (aka do the thing your reader does so that you can actually help them do it better).

Teach them to expect you to make a splash.

Ashley Guttuso