Print PDF
Favorite
Email
In the past few years I've taken to writing letters. There is no wrong or right way to write a letter, but I am going to share with you my personal method.
For reference, a selection of my letters can be seen at Randy Writes Letters.
For reference, a selection of my letters can be seen at Randy Writes Letters.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Get inspired.
Before you can write a letter you need to be inspired. After all, if you are going to invest the time to write a letter you may as well find something worth writing a letter about.
Under normal circumstances inspiration should just happen to come over the course of day to day life.
However, should you need to force this inspiration upon yourself rather quickly, I find a good way of going about it is to watch Fox News. In fact, there is no better way to strongly formulate an opinion about a subject matter that up until watching Fox News you quite frankly didn't care about. Fox News is the best opinion generating machine around... in my opinion.
Other quick methods include:
- Going for a walk
- Reading political hippie books.
- Visting whitehouse.gov
- Reading supermarket tabloids
- And many more!
Let me give you a real life example of all of the things that have inspired the formulation of the ideas posited in this letter (Yes, I have already written this letter, but now I am taking the time to explain my process). And before I forget, I was inspired to write about social privilege and power as it relates to politics, celebrity and the general public.
First, I was inspired that morning by a celebrity discussing the nature of celebrity on NPR. My next largest inspiration was a sentence on page 22 of a book I got later that day at a garage sale called "Thoughts of the Young Radicals." Other minor and/or unconscious sources of inspiration include Neil Postman's "The Disappearance of Childhood" and the song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by Jack and Jeffrey Lewis. And this is not to mention years of constant study, media bombardment and the ever so important personal experience.
Under normal circumstances inspiration should just happen to come over the course of day to day life.
However, should you need to force this inspiration upon yourself rather quickly, I find a good way of going about it is to watch Fox News. In fact, there is no better way to strongly formulate an opinion about a subject matter that up until watching Fox News you quite frankly didn't care about. Fox News is the best opinion generating machine around... in my opinion.
Other quick methods include:
- Going for a walk
- Reading political hippie books.
- Visting whitehouse.gov
- Reading supermarket tabloids
- And many more!
Let me give you a real life example of all of the things that have inspired the formulation of the ideas posited in this letter (Yes, I have already written this letter, but now I am taking the time to explain my process). And before I forget, I was inspired to write about social privilege and power as it relates to politics, celebrity and the general public.
First, I was inspired that morning by a celebrity discussing the nature of celebrity on NPR. My next largest inspiration was a sentence on page 22 of a book I got later that day at a garage sale called "Thoughts of the Young Radicals." Other minor and/or unconscious sources of inspiration include Neil Postman's "The Disappearance of Childhood" and the song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by Jack and Jeffrey Lewis. And this is not to mention years of constant study, media bombardment and the ever so important personal experience.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
Please please can anyone help me????????
May I please ask a grammar question for anyone out there who might be willing to help me?
I have put all the following sentences into the spell check and grammar check . I have on my computer. None of them are marked as wrong. I don't understand how they could all be right. Please help me. I'm finishing a story I've dedicated to my mom. My mom has bone cancer and I desperately need to finish it and publish it before she passes away.
The book is aimed at a grade three level assessed by the Fleish-Kincaid Readability test. (Typical children aged 8 and nine years old, should be able to read it without assistance.) I would like to keep it as simple as possible.
1. Then the thunder came; and it was so loud, that it sounded just like Henry’s father’s car when the muffler fell off!
2. Then the thunder came. It was so loud, that it sounded just like Henry’s father’s car when the muffler fell off!
3. Then the thunder came, and it was so loud, that it sounded just like Henry's father's car when the muffler fell off!
4. Then the thunder came; it was so loud that it sounded just like Henry's father's car when the mufflar fell off.
Then the thunder came. It was so loud that it sounded just like Henry’s father’s car when the muffler fell off!
Could you please tell us more about the political hippie books and the supermarket tabloids?
Which should I embrace, and which should I shun?
Have you heard back from Schizney Spears yet?