The invoice you're afraid to send
The work is done and the client is happy. The invoice has been in your drafts for eleven days. Here is why it waits, and the three emails that end it.
DH
Ed. · Doer HQ
Every Thursday · Free
One thing that was harder than it looked.
A letter about the cost, the craft, and the boring middle of making things that go out the door. 700–900 words. No inspiration, no roundups of “10 habits”.
Opens Buttondown, where the list lives. One letter a week, unsubscribe anytime.
The format
Four parts,
in the same order.
The structure is the product. You always know where you are, and you always leave with something you can use on Monday.
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01
The scene
One situation, specific enough that you recognise it before the second paragraph.
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02
The reason
Why it happens. Three causes at most, and none of them is a character flaw.
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03
The fix
Fields, steps, a formula. The part you can copy into your own work that afternoon.
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04
The words
What to actually write or say, short enough to send without editing.
Issues
What has gone out.
Three issues so far. Each one is readable here, and in Spanish and Japanese.
002
The proposal that wins by saying what you won't do
Twelve pages lost to four, and one of those pages listed what the studio won't do.
003
What your hourly rate doesn't include
Sixty hours quoted, ninety-four worked, and the seven kinds of unpaid work in between.
One letter, every Thursday. A person, a thing they shipped, and what it cost. Free, and the archive stays open.
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