| The Senator is right! I DO have confidence to | | | | words...said the same thing...and cut about a third |
| approach people in high places, but most of all, to | | | | of the words off the piece, etc. WOW! She called |
| defend myself with my writing, etc. In my bone | | | | it, "tight-writing." I could now see what she was |
| to pick with the VA Medical Center in | | | | talking about! |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I live) is how | | | | This is so important, because if you approach |
| the Senator got involved in the first place. In this | | | | people in high places...you cannot and should not |
| matter, the VA Medical Center has wrong and | | | | waste their time! You have to be brief...get to the |
| wrongdoing on their side, and I have right on my | | | | point...and say what you're going to say in the |
| side, and that's another reason why it's easy to | | | | least amount of words, etc. You must eliminate all |
| be confident. The other Senator from New | | | | gibberish! Because I've written so much over the |
| Mexico, Senator Bingaman and U.S. | | | | past two years, I'm getting better at |
| Representative Heather Wilson (District 1) have | | | | "tight-writing" and I can usually cut several |
| been involved in this matter. | | | | hundred words off my articles, and still make |
| During this long ordeal, which has been going on | | | | them understood, etc. But, it takes a lot of |
| for three years now, I have communicated with | | | | practice. |
| other people in high places such as: Secretary of | | | | When I bought my first computer in 2001, it |
| Veterans Affairs; the Inspector General of the | | | | came bundled with MSN (Microsoft Network) for |
| VA; the Governor of New Mexico; The Director | | | | free for a year. I didn't like MSN, so it expired and |
| of the VA Medical Center; a local judge, etc. | | | | that was it...or so I thought! Get this...18 months |
| And, it all starts out with self-confidence in your | | | | later after it expired, I got a letter from |
| writing skills and your attitude/abilities, etc. But, | | | | Microsoft, telling me that I didn't follow the |
| you're going to have to pay the price in time and | | | | guidelines of the TOS (terms of service) and I |
| or money or both, etc. And, as time goes by...we | | | | was being billed for $48.00! WHAT? |
| all tend to forget what we learned in school. For | | | | Well...well...well...I was now going to have to do, |
| me, it all started with an invitation in the early | | | | what I had done so many times in the past, and |
| 1990's! | | | | that was to craft a letter to the Attorney |
| I was invited to join the Southwest Writers, by | | | | General's office (Consumer Protection Divsion) in |
| the then president of the organization, Eileen | | | | Santa Fe, New Mexico. We're going to find out if |
| Stanton who has sold over 5,000 of her articles, | | | | Microsoft is going to get anything out of me! I |
| to some of the top newspapers and magazines in | | | | sent a copy of the letter to Microsoft in Arizona, |
| the country, and she has also penned a book, etc. | | | | where it originated. Two weeks later, I got a |
| With over 700 members nation-wide, S.W. | | | | response from Microsoft, and it was a nice letter |
| Writers has some of the most talented and | | | | informing me, that I had been given a credit on |
| accomplished writers in the country! Needless to | | | | the $48.00 and that I didn't have to pay it, etc |
| say...I was flattered by the invitation! | | | | Isn't that nice of Microsoft? That's probably how |
| I had been interested in writing for my later | | | | they all become billionaires in the first place...$48.00 |
| years, so I decided to take a few writing courses, | | | | here...and $48.00 there from all the suckers in the |
| to improve on my writing skills. So, in my 40's, I | | | | country...and PRESTO...you're an instant billionaire! |
| completed the following; Writers Digest course; | | | | In another matter.concerning the local cable |
| the National Writers Club course; a creative | | | | company, I paid the cable company and the |
| writing course at the University of New Mexico, | | | | telephone automatically with my checking account. |
| taught by Eileen Stanton. To complete all of this, | | | | Everything went fine for about a year, and then |
| took about 18 months and cost about two | | | | everything came apart. I got a nasty letter from |
| hundred dollars at the time. So, if the reader | | | | the cable company, telling me that I owed them |
| wants to get better at anything...(including writing) | | | | $75.00 and that the cable was going to be |
| you're going to have to pay your dues! | | | | dis-connected...and it was! WHAT? How could this |
| I remember when I used to do my homework at | | | | happen? The bills were being paid automatically. |
| work, during lunch time. One day, a fellow | | | | It was time to write another letter to the |
| employee came to me and looked over my | | | | Attorney General's office, and all my writing |
| shoulder to see what I was doing, and he asked, | | | | starts out with five or six pages...a real mess...and |
| "Didn't you learn all that stuff in high school?" I told | | | | all has to be edited down into one or two pages |
| him yes, but I wanted to learn it all over again, | | | | that look civilized, etc. I sent a copy to the cable |
| because I was interested in writing for the future. | | | | company, and two weeks after the cable was |
| He just laughed and walked away. (guess who's | | | | dis-connected, there was a knock on the front |
| getting the last laugh?) Completing these writing | | | | door. |
| courses is one of the best things I have ever | | | | It was the cable guy, and he told me that he had |
| done for myself. | | | | a letter from his manager, giving me a credit for |
| I don't think a year has gone by of the last 10-12 | | | | the $75.00 that I didn't have to pay. He was also |
| years, that I have not had to fight somebody for | | | | there to turn the cable back on, free of charge. |
| what is right...and to defend myself...the telephone | | | | The letter was an apology for the mix-up, and |
| company; the cable company; the medical center; | | | | credit given. The cable company had been so |
| the auto club; the bank and so forth! And | | | | rude to me in previous weeks, but I let the cable |
| defending yourself starts out with a nicely crafted | | | | guy turn the cable tv back on, and during the |
| one or two page letter. But, the nicely crafted | | | | next week, I returned the black box to the cable |
| letter didn't come easily, either. | | | | company and closed the account! |
| When I was completing the writing courses, one | | | | And finally...the worst letter I've ever seen, is one |
| of my instructors told me that I was too | | | | that one of my sisters sent me, when I was in |
| "conversational" with my writing...too "wordy" and | | | | boot camp in the Air Force. This letter was |
| I had to cut words from my writing pieces. | | | | ugly...filled with miss-spelled words and grammar |
| me...for being a blabbermouth! I'm | | | | problems! I really don't know how she graduated |
| so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o sorry for being a | | | | from high school, etc. If I wrote that poorly, I |
| blabbermouth! | | | | could never defend myself, and write to people in |
| What happened, is my writing instructor, took one | | | | high places such as people in Congress, etc. I |
| of my paragraphs and re-wrote it with her own | | | | would be too ashamed of my writing! |