Letters

Now you would think it’s easy to write a letter. But the new style of writing is informal (credit the Internet) and most often your letter will be read in an email.  People nowadays want to get information in short takes.  So the new rules of letter writing are:
•    Get to the point quickly.  What is the purpose of the letter?  To inform, to educate, to sell something?  Tell the reader upfront.
•    Include supporting facts if you want the reader to do something.
•    Summarize the action you want to the reader to take.
•    Include the timing of next steps. Are you going to do something for the reader or do you expect the reader to do something for you? By when?

It takes time to write a compelling short letter. As the philosopher and writer Blaise Pascal famously said, “I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short.”