diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-compose.el b/mu4e/mu4e-compose.el
index 044c8c2c..2320e1b6 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-compose.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-compose.el
@@ -356,7 +356,6 @@ tempfile)."
   ;; insert mail-header-separator, which is needed by message mode to separate
   ;; headers and body. will be removed before saving to disk
   (mu4e~draft-insert-mail-header-separator)
-  (insert "\n") ;; insert a newline after header separator
   ;; include files -- e.g. when forwarding a message with attachments,
   ;; we take those from the original.
   (save-excursion
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-draft.el b/mu4e/mu4e-draft.el
index 22195b5b..0b622beb 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-draft.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-draft.el
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ separator is never written to the message file. Also see
       ;; search for the first empty line
       (goto-char (point-min))
       (if (search-forward-regexp "^$" nil t)
-	  (replace-match (concat sepa))
+	  (replace-match sepa)
 	  (progn ;; no empty line? then prepend one
 	    (goto-char (point-max))
 	    (insert "\n" sepa))))))