The continuation sheet Checking your first draft WRITING LETTERS / 139 you can produce. Think carefully about what you want to say and for whom it is intended. Note down the points you wish to make, put them in order and write your first draft avoiding any unnecessary words or ‘flowery’ language. If your letter is longer than a page, use a plain sheet of paper of the same size and colour as the first. It should be plain and not headed notepaper. Under no circumstances write or type on the back of the first sheet. Leave three spaces at the top of the new page. Then against the left-hand ‘margin’ type in ‘2’. Leaving a line space, write the date and, after another line, space put the name of the addressee. Leave three line spaces before continuing the letter. ◆ Don’t use technical facts and figures unless you are sure your reader will understand them. ◆ Keep your paragraphs short. ◆ Don’t use slang or jargon. ◆ Don’t ‘embroider’ your facts. Keep them simple. ◆ Make sure you have a beginning, a middle and an end.