Submit a Valley Voice

Published online on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006

The Valley Voices page appears Saturdays.

On this day, we turn an entire page of the Opinion section over to readers who have written column-length pieces. When your thoughts on a topic are more complex than a letter will allow, consider expanding it into a full-length essay.

Valley Voices is very competitive. We print about 3,500 letters each year, but only about 150 Valley Voices. Submissions not selected for publication are not returned, nor acknowledged.

Here are some tips to getting published:

Shoot for 600 words.
If you look at the page, you can see that there is a set space for each piece. No matter how good your essay is, if it is too long or too short, it will not run.

Remember the basics:
Include daytime and evening phone numbers for confirmation and an address. This applies to e-mail, fax and regular mail alike.

Use your real name.
We don't print anonymous essays.

Don't be shy about using a picture.
We use pictures with Valley Voices because they add a whole new dimension to the pieces. Pictures are not mandatory, however, but encouraged.

Surprise us.
Tell us something we didn't already know. There is room for dozens of letters in the newspaper on a single issue. But probably in the space of six months there will be only one or two Valley Voices on any given topic. Be original.

Write what you know.
Essays laced with personal experiences are far more compelling than those written from a philosophical point of view.

Use conversational words.
Write the way you talk. Valley Voices are not lectures; not term papers; not speeches. Read your essay out loud to yourself as you write and see if it sounds like you. Another tip is to choose a plain-spoken person you like and write your thoughts as if you were telling her your story over coffee.

Choose a topic people care about.
A good guideline is to write about things that relate to articles, editorials or columns that have appeared in the newspaper. More people will relate.

Diversity is important.
This is what makes Valley Voices so special. We have published essays from professors and scientists, farm workers and full-time dads, teen-age girls and folks in their 80s. We have heard from people who were funny, sad and angry. We have worked with writers who had doctorates and those who barely got through elementary school. We are even willing to translate from other languages. All points of view are welcome on the Valley Voices page.

Submit a Valley Voices column