Wednesday, April 16, 2008

letters

I've been learning recently where letters to the editor come from. A lot of people send them, but you know what? A lot of people have no point. And a lot of people also do not use English very well.

So I've come to the sudden realization that a person with a point and enough of a grasp of English to write three or four good sentences could get their letters pretty much anywhere. Particularly if they wrote their letters in a reasonably timely way, say before the next issue of the periodical came out. (Or even after, depending on deadlines.)

Ok, this might not work at the New Yorker. Those letter-writers are smart. But I bet you it works most other places.

4 comments:

grrrbear said...

That's it, as soon as I get my next issue of your publication I'm totally writing a letter. Then we'll both have our names in print!

Annie said...

This is awesome to know!!!! TOTALLY starting to send in letters.

Talentedhands said...

Someday I need to finally write my rant about the fertility business. The problem is, a lot of other people have already done stories on the same thing. Most people just don't care.

towwas said...

Oh, people always like rants about the fertility business. You shouldn't write it as a letter to the editor, though - you should write it as a proper full-length essay!