Letter Writing Made Easy

Dear All,

The point of this blog is very largely to make it easier for others to write letters for Amnesty. If you have any comments on how it can do that better, please let me know.

I think writing letters on behalf of Amnesty is easy, and it even gets easier as you go. Here are some thoughts to make it even easier.

1. Keep a template. Create a document that has your name and address in the top, and a line or two that work well to finish a letter with at the bottom. (To get an idea of how one might do this, look at any letter posted here, and subtract the content that is specific to the particular action it is about.)
2. Make it personal. Begin your letter with some words about yourself. Part of the impact of the urgent action network is that so many different people react. The recepients of the letters will only know that if you tell them who you are.
   
3. Shamelessly copy and paste. It is perfectly fine to copy text from the Urgent Action into your letter. The main strength of the Urgent Action network is in its numbers, it is wildly unrealistic to think that all the letters get read. You should ensure that your letter is grammatical, and you should write: "I urge you to release so and so immediately", not "urging the authorities to ...", and so on. Aside from that, use copy and paste a lot.
   
4. Grab a friend. If you pool your efforts with a friend, and share your template with her, you can easily double your output with almost no increase in effort. You take one action, your friend another. You create two sets of letters, one for yourself, one for your friend, and your friend does the same.
5. Set a managable target. Aim for a level of activity that you can sustain. It is better to write one letter every two weeks for a year than to write five the first week, and then no more.

If you have thoughts on how to write good Amnesty letters, please post them below.