Write a blog? How?

Nancy Krommer with her best friend Cindy goes to the fortune teller Ruth to see what the future holds for them. The "witch" tells the girls some disturbing things that she sees in their tea leaves and leaves Nancy's mind reeling. Could this "witch" with the cat eyes really see the future? Or was it all just a hoax?

Question from the e-mail? You said I could write a column for your blog. HOW do I do that?

Answer:  You write a blog column, as you would any other opinion piece.  Pick a subject. Make a statement about it. And you're off!

As with most personal opinion pieces, you want it no longer than two double-spaced pages, or about 500 words.

Here’s the outline:

The lead: Make a statement about something
    The price of baloney is $4.50 a pound (and write a couple of paragraphs about what it is now and how it used to be 10 cents a pound during the Great Depression, and was still expensive in a time when the average man’s salary was $1 a day.

The body: Give examples and tell anecdotes
    People used to say they were spreading baloney when people were exaggerating and giving out with less than the truth. (And give some examples of people who have told lies, some amusing, some serious. Girls who’ve lied, or to whom guys lie, politicians and how many lies they tell, the way government cuts medicare, and SSI, but buys $800 toilet seats.

Make your point:
    Lots of people will hand you baloney.

The conclusion: Use the lead to confirm your point and make the piece come full circle
    Think about the baloney people slice for you every day. Even when people give it away for nothing, baloney can be very expensive.