Are you writing letters to the editor?

Are you writing letters to the editor?

Writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper is a great way to get an alternative message in front of a mainstream audience. Progressives and radicals need to do a better job of using this tool. While I do write letters from time to time, I know I could do so more often.

"How to write a letter to the editor."

1. Connect your issue (LGBT rights, reproductive rights, environmental issues, etc.) to a specific item in the paper. If you are writing about something not covered in that paper, try to make the lack of coverage the connection.


2. Have a clear message. A letter to the editor is not the place to do an exegesis.
   
3. Be concise; limit yourself to 200 words. Short, powerful messages are much more likely to get published.


4. Proofread and edit your own letter as well as having a friend offer feedback. Regardless, the letter will probably be edited before it is published, but the better you can make it, the more likely it is to make it into the paper.


5. Most newspapers have a limit on how often they will publish a letter from you. So, once one of your letters is published, take a couple of months off from submitting letters to that paper.
   

So get out your pens, and start writing.