Outline your thoughts in a checklist. Before turning on your computer or dictating machine, pull out a yellow pad and jot down the main points for your letter. List what you want the letter to say. Write the points in any order; write them as they come into your mind. You can rearrange them when you write the letter. Right now you're just making a checklist for writing the letter.

列出您的构思提纲。在打开电脑或录音机前，拿出一个黄色的小便笺簿略记下信函的大纲并列出您将在信函中要写此什么，记录这些要点时不要考虑什么顺序，想到什么就写什么，因为你可以在真正撰写信函时重新安排顺序，而现在，您要做的仅仅是为信函准备提纲。

Keep the legal pad close at hand. When you run out of ideas for the checklist, put the pad at the side of your desk. New ideas always spring forth when writing. Jot these down on the pad as you write the letter; they are easily forgotten.

随时将上述小便笺簿放在手边。当您不需要所构思提纲清单时，也要将小便笺簿放在桌上。因为在写作过程中随时可能涌现出新思路，要及时记下这些新的思路，稍不注意，它们就会被忘了。

Simple Stuff That Will Make You Look Dumb If It's Wrong

一些错误的小细节常常会欺骗您的眼睛

Letters begin with boring things like the date and recipient's name and address, but if any of these are missing or wrong the letter writer will look pretty careless, to say the least. So be careful when starting the letter, and you can even include some extra things that will make the letter even better than the regular letters the recipient receives.

信函的页首常常要注明时间、收信人姓名、住址等繁琐事项。如果这些事项有错误或是被疏漏，说得严重一点，会让人觉得书写者有些粗心大意。所以，从一开始起草信函时就要小心谨慎，注意那些特别事项，让收信人觉得律师函比一般信函确实要好。

Date your letter. Date your letter the day you write it, and send it the same day. Undated letters are difficult to reply to. I usually reply to them by saying, 'This is in reply to your undated letter that I received in the mail on 24 June 1999.'

注明日期. 在信函上注明撰写的日期，并在当日发出信函。未注明日期的信函回复起来有些困难，遇到这样的难题，我常常是这样写的，'兹对1999年6月24日收到之未注明日期函做出答复。'

Consider using the international dating convention of day-month-year rather than the U.S. convention of month-day-year. As reported in the 1 June 1999 Wall Street Journal:

'The quirky U.S. style of date-writing is giving way to the day-first standard used by most of the world.

... Both the MLA style guide and the Chicago Manual of Style support the day-first format. 'You get rid of the comma that way,' says Joseph Gibaldi, director of book acquisition for the MLA in New York.'

在注明日期时，最好用国际通用的格式：日-月-年(day-month-year)，而不是美国通用的格式：月-日-年(month-day-year).正如华尔街日报在1999年6月1日中所报道的那样：

'有点古怪的美国时间格式正在让位于世界通用的日期在先的时间格式......现代语言学会(MLA)文体和芝加哥手册文体都支持这种日期在先的时间格式，美国纽约州现代语言学会(MLA)的图书采购部主任Joseph.Gibaldi也说'你们必须抛弃那些使用了逗号的时间格式'。'hxw.red