Letters to the editor - send more, and send often!

[Jeff Thomas]

I have a friend who has encouraged me to broaden my horizons. I think he's right, and I want to pass the same suggestion on to all of my TFL friends.

First, write letters to the editor as often as possible. Recently, and unfortunately, there is enough RKBA news that you should be able to find appropriate opportunities.

Secondly, and this is key, write to more than one publication. Most of us receive one paper, perhaps two. But, when you write to editors, include USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, local business papers, religious papers (the Jewish News, for example), and nearby out-of-town papers. Gather their email addresses, and simply revise your letter so it will play well in their their publication.

Just a suggestion. As we visited the MS Magazine forums to preach outside the choir, by the same token, letters to the editor can be quite powerful Just down limit your 'field of fire' ...

Regards from AZ

 

[Art Eatman]

Be polite. Keep it to one page, one subject. Offer verifiable references. And be polite.

And check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.

, Art

 

[Jeff Thomas]

Good points, Art. Locally, our largest paper has a 200 word maximum. I post my letters via email. My normal procedure is to take my best shot, then work it over for awhile. Usually have my wife read it and provide comments as well.

Then, I copy it over to Word, and have it do a word count. 200 words is pretty tight. I'm always over 200 words [surprised, right? ], so then I start tossing what I can. I spell check, and take one more run through to make sure it is the best I can do. Then I let it fly, sometimes with small edits for different papers. The computer helps make it more efficient.