Write it in shorthand. Don't spend more than 2 minutes. They will edit it into oblivion anyway, and the insipid result will make you want to throw up.
Yes, I write letters. But I've never had them so brutally tortured into effete submission until today. I guess I should write a letter about this. I would say something like:
"While I won't attribute to malice your uninspired butchering of my letter into something completely unrecognizable by me, possessed of none of the character nor strength of my original letter, I am baffled as to a reason for such sloppy and overzealous editing of a letter that did not need it (save perhaps for one grammatical error at the end which I noticed right away). My last line summed up the intent of the letter perhaps better than any other sentence, and that is gone. If you insist on editing letters that don't need editing, can you at least try to avoid sucking the soul out of them?
Thanks,
Dan Cooper"
Which they would probably print, since I'm sure they would take my constructive criticism to heart. Except it would look something like this.
"Why you change my letter? It was good.
Thanks,
Dan Cooper"
</PointlessAndSelfAbsorbedAndAlsoNoDoubt ExtremelyAnnoyingWhining>
P.S. I should probably point out that I'm talking about the (Bush-endorsing) Oregonian.
