Writers,
Here are some items that came up at last Thursday's exciting meeting.
Some points that came up from the meeting:
1. The CAA Media Response Team website has much of the information we
discussed
http://www.exploreveg.org/groups/writers/
2. You can see successful letters here to get ideas for how to structure
pieces
http://www.exploreveg.org/groups/writers/published-pieces
3. If you want feedback on a letter to the editor, feel free to send it
to the listserv (writers@ca4a.org) or send it to me (jason@ca4a.org) if
that's too public.
4. You need to track your own letters to see if they get published since
not all media will get back to you.
5. Since letter writing requires a bit of time, it's good to build that
into your schedule to make a habit. For instance, make a commitment of
writing one letter per week.
6. I was asked what some good letters look like. I don't have a great
answer for that other than they make their point succinctly and appeal
to everyday common sense. My personal belief is that very angry or
hostile letters aren't very convincing to people and neither are letters
that use too abstract of concepts (too philosophical). Two writers on
animal issues who I like and who I think appeal wonderfully to people's
common sense are Matthew Scully and Michael Pollan.
http://www.matthewscully.com/articles.htm has some articles by Scully
and this article of his in the Arizona Republic is great
(http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0219scully0219.html).
Michael Pollan has many articles on his website too.
http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=55 makes an eloquent
argument against factory farming and more humane treatment of animals.
7. I made a commitment to come up with some pointers for how to write
letters on factory farming along with some good/bad examples. I'm still
working on this and I'll put it on the website soon.
8. I'll be experimenting with the way I send out stories on the listserv
in the next couple weeks. Let me know if something's not working for you
about it.
9. If you haven't, make sure to read "Moving the Media" by Karen Dawn.
It's a good piece on the importance of letter writing and responding to
the media. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~keto0011/caa/karen_dawn.pdf
Watch your email for lots of writing opportunities!
Jason
