I've had a lot of letters printed, many of a slightly trivial nature (as per some of my asides here), but a good few serious ones too. My mum always looks out for one from me but I've disappointed her in recent years, as I haven't sent any for ages. I understand that the Guardian receives about ten times or more as many letters as they print. They like you to follow the format of the letters you see printed, so no fluff and nearly always that reference to a previous letter or an item in the paper in the form you see in other letters. And if you send it after about 2pm you haven't got much of a chance. You can be unlucky in that you can send in a letter on a topic that they're not including in the letters column the next day. If they've covered it today, there's a good chance they won't cover it tomorrow, depending. You won't get in if you're discursive or if a lot of editing is required. Play their game and you up your chances!

I've had a couple printed in the Saturday mag and I got my entry in "that's my pet" in 2002 with my cat Toots, photo of both me and Toots. I shared the column that day with Catherine Zeta-Jones! I've had a couple of contributions to Notes & Queries printed too. But perhaps my greatest achievement was a letter in the Radio Times praising a radio programme about wine. :-)