The little helpmate

I like simplicity. When I started writing and learned about sidebars, creating extra documents as accessories to a main article seemed an unnecessary complication. But once I began using sidebars, I found that they often made completing articles easier and offered readers multiple points of entry. Let’s say a magazine editor asks for 1,200 words. You plow ahead but find yourself stuck at 900, having more or less exhausted the topic. You need to deliver the article, but you can’t send in only 900 words. You may fear you can’t complete and submit the project, but the solution is simple and right in front of you.

The sidebar to the rescue