Having had several letters to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times, and generally getting most of the letters I write them published, I thought I would share what I think makes for a letter that the L.A Times will publish. This may or may not work for other newspapers.

1. Get angry.

The only time I write letters to the editor is when I'm really mad. Therefore, I don't write letters very often. If you're not mad, why bother?

2. Keep to a single point.

Don't ramble. Figure out what you want to say and then say it clearly and simply. Logic helps.

3. Keep it short.

They will probably cut your letter even if you keep it short; so the less work they have to do, the better your odds.

4. Be inflamatory and colorful.

You're expressing your opinion, so be opinionated. Embrace your angry inner child. Saracasm seems to be something they go for.

5. If you're responding to a front page article, your odds improve.

If a single paragraph article on page D-12 has pissed you off, go ahead and write the letter--it will make you feel better--but your odds of seeing it in print match the original prominence of the piece.

Two reletively recent letters of mine they published, just to give you examples of what has worked:

Published October 13, 2007 in response to a puff piece on Che Guevara on the front page

It shouldn't surprise me, but it always does. Why do you write glowing articles about communist thugs guilty of mass murder? I doubt you'd write nice things about the German doctors and teachers who fanned out from Hitler's Germany to "help" in neighboring countries. I really find it difficult to comprehend why you can't understand that all totalitarianism, whether left or right, is equally evil.

Published March 13, 2005 in response to a front page article on Communists in a retirement community

Such a sweet story about old Communists in a retirement home. What's next, a puff piece on a Nazi country club in Idaho? No? Why haven't the millions of victims of the communist ideology not been enough for you to denounce it as fiercely as you rightfully denounce Nazism? Communism and those who sympathize with it deserve no more respect or sympathy than we offer for any who sympathized with such jack-booted thugs. Care you not for the blood of its millions slaughtered or oppressed in the name of that vile cause?

Obviously I'm not fond of Communism or Nazism or any form of totalitarianism.