TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR

1: A Blank Piece of Paper!

Are you intimidated by all that white space on the page? No problem. Letters should be kept to just two to three paragraphs anyway. For most readers, that is enough to catch the gist of your point. So three paragraphs, or no more than 350 words, is all you have to come up with to shoot us a letter that we will likely publish without massive cuts.

2: What to Write?

Please keep your letter focused on a current event, issue or newsworthy item. Read the local newspapers or attend a city council meeting. Let us know what you think about things going on in your community. Introduce your problem in the first paragraph, use the second paragraph to support your view, and wrap up with a great summary that leaves readers no doubts about how cleverly you made your point.

3: Manners!

Make your point personal. Tell readers why you have some skin in this game, and what is in it for them, as they take their time to read your letter. However, do not resort to personal attacks. Besides leaving yourself open to libel, no one likes that approach, and we won’t publish a letter that takes that tack.

4: Keep it Current.

Be timely. There is nothing less effective than writing a letter about something that angered you three weeks ago. Readers are not going to follow you through yesterday’s news. GMT’s web letters mean you don’t have to wait for a press date to send us your letter. We publish within 24 hours of getting your letter and approving it. So send us your thoughts, opinions, gripes and concerns; we want to share them with the community.

5: Keep up the conversation!

Instead of holding your breath for next week’s newspaper to come out so you can see if anyone responded to your letter, you can submit your thoughts online to GMT’s Letters to the Editor, and we invite reader feedback. The site is set up to offer threaded comments, meaning readers may comment on your published letter, and you, or anyone else, can then comment on their comment. We hope you will track comments on your letter, and add more comments to any discussion generated by what you wrote.