It’s been too long since our entire staff weighed in on your dating conundrums. So we’ve decided to bring back Ask Our Staff, who, in tandem with lovely Letty, will occasionally answer your dating conundrums. Click here for our archive on various dating dilemmas.

Happy autumn! Now that the fun and flirty days of summer are officially over, it’s time to take stock of your love life and set yourself up for the cold, lonely days of winter. That’s right, now is the time to start filling up your cell phone with the numbers of potential hotties to keep you warm long after the leaves have fallen. Being the outgoing, sociable person that you are, you need a way to keep in contact with the plethora of beautiful people that you’ll want to spend time with. That brings me to this week’s question:

Jill from Astoria writes, “What are some good text message flirtations?” I’m glad you asked, Jill. We have become so accustomed to text messaging that it hardly gets a second thought anymore. [Ed's note: Letty dealt with some of this in a previous column] We’re used to speaking in sound bites and IM speak. For a sexy session of text banter, you have to get back to basics. Follow these rules, and you’ll have guys begging to take you out on Friday night:

1. Spelling and grammar count. That’s right. Nothing turns off a savvy person quite like spelling and grammar errors. Learn the correct usage of “Your” vs. “You’re” and “To” vs. “Too”. It may not seem like a big deal, but ask around and you’ll be amazed at the number of people for which this is a pet peeve.

2. IM Speak is not allowed. Which of the following sentences is more appealing to you? “You are so sexy. I can’t wait to see you on Friday.” or “UR so sxy. Cant wt 2 C U.” Get the point? Spell it out (and remember to spell it right) and your text becomes much more personal to the reader. You also sound more literate, and here at Datespaces, literacy is sexy.

3. Appeal to the senses. Believe it or not, there are some people in this world that like to read books more than they enjoy movies or television. Why, you ask? The reason is that text allows the reader to create a world in their own mind. You can describe each of the five senses and have them titillate your reader. If your sweetheart asks where you’re going for dinner this Friday evening, you could say, “To the Italian restaurant”. Or you could say, “We’re going to the Olive Garden to smell the fresh baked garlic bread and enjoy some baked ziti as the cheese twirls and stretches off your fork.” There are endless options to this. Appeal to the senses and your darling will soon be blowing up your phone begging for more.

Remember, when it comes to text message flirtation, less is not more. Throw out your daily routine of IM speak. While an occasional “lol” isn’t too bad to show you’re kidding or make a comedic point, remember to be as descriptive as possible and write as if you were writing a handwritten note. Keep these three rules in mind, and your winter calendar will fill up as fast as you can say, “Equinox!”