Bruce A. Martin
P.O.Box 456, Middle Island,
Long Island, NY 11953
(631) 924-8680
bam@hamptons.com
2000 April 15
Reader's Digest - Editorial CorrespondenceDear Editor:
"Variety, freshness, and originality."
These are what Writer's Market said you seek. My hesitancy about submitting some sample essays vanished abruptly when I read that triad, because I know that my writing is always original, exhibits great variety, and often "gets fresh."
Reading further, the intimidating caveats regarding "accuracy, down to the smallest detail" are, frankly, what prompted me to follow instinct rather than algorithm, and to send you the enclosed items "on speculation." Foremost (almost) among my passions are those of pedantic veracity. Close behind is my lifelong crusade to render fascinating technical subjects into language both understandable and stimulating to the literate layman. (For the nonce, I'll spare you the details of my merry-go-round analogy that succeeded in teaching ionic bonding valences to six year olds, my silent lesson about language principles, and other escapades that will appear in my forthcoming article on innovative teaching techniques.)
Who am I? (And who am I to break the mold of the default, plastic, pro forma "query" letter?)
While I have never claimed "writer" as a professional title, I suppose my hundreds of published works could justify such an appelation. OTOH [Whoops! Sorry, that's computerese for "however"], the bulk of my publications (as indicated by the gratuitously-included list) have been far too technical for your typical subscriber. BTAIM^H^H^H^H^H Nevertheless, I was recently advised that my burgeoning collection of non-technical essays may contain some that are sutiable for publication beyond the email, bulletin boards, private websites, and unviewed pendaflexes to which they have been constrained for years and decades. Despite the occasional intrusion of both technical and non-technical erudition (the level of which I can easily adjust in a given piece), I have become convinced that many of my musings would appeal to, intrigue and stimulate readers of your digest. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of submitting a number of items for consideration as enclosures under this single cover letter.
It struck me as both illogical and unkind to follow the conventional approach of prepending to each an individual cover letter whose word count might easily exceed that of the item. (I would enjoy writing, but you might resent having to read them all.) I hope your appreciation for this dispensation will outweigh any objection to my deviations from protocol. Thanking Ms. Holm for good advice, I have dutifully enclosed the ritual S.A.S.E. for your reply; however, since the originals reside magnetically among my megabytes, please feel free to feed any rejected pages to your shredder.
I hope you enjoy reading these samples, and would I welcome any comments you may have -- constructive or not. Thank you for your kind attention.
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Sincerely,
Bruce A. Martin |