We need good writers for The Free Magnolia.

Your article may address any topic, historical or controversial or dialectic, but needs to be:

1. FEWER than 1,500 words, and the fewer the better.

2. Thoroughly edited. You read it, your wife read it, your mama read it, and you have included all their changes. Then you read it twice more and edit it again. Run spell check. Read it again and edit something else.

3. Write exactly as you speak. If it's good enough for your family, it's good enough for the rest of the South and the world. I assume you do not cuss at your family. If you cuss at me, I hit the delete key.

4. Say everything you've got to say, then stop.

5. Repeat step 4.

6. Words are your enemy. Kill as many of the enemy as possible..

7. Repeat step 6.

8. Now read your article once more. Can you state the POINT of the article in a single sentence? One sentence, not two. Truthfully, did you make that point in the article? Do all the words and sentences serve that point?

9. Repeat steps 1 - 8. Your article is now ready, and will hardly need further editing from the Free Magnolia Staff, freeing them up to watch football on TV and shoot skeet.

10. Within the body of your article, send to me as a MICROSOFT WORD DOC, please include your name and city and state, e-mail address, and some short statement about yourself: "Bob Morgan is an irredeemable scoundrel who lives in southern Mississippi where he steals horses for a living and is presently hiding out from the sheriff." If you want to use a pseudonym or nom de pslume, please state the name and that you want to use that instead of your own name.

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Franklin Sanders, is the editor of the Free Magnolia newspaper. Please send submissions, meeting the requirements above, to Franklin via email.