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WRITING LETTERS WITH MOM
	
Introduction
Mom's simple but effective letter-writing
macros are a subset of the
docprocessing.html#DOCPROCESSINGdocument processing macros ,
designed to ease the creation of correspondence.
Because the letter macros are a subset of the document
processing macros, you can use
definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACROcontrol macros to design correspondence to your own specifications.  However,
mom makes no pretence of providing complete design
flexibility in the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple
communicative documents whose only real style requirements are that
they be neat and professional-looking.
Tutorial on writing letters
Mom letters begin, like all momprocessed documents, with a
docprocessing.html#REFERENCE_MACROSreference macro (in this case,
docprocessing.html#AUTHORAUTHOR ),
a
docprocessing.html#DOCTYPEDOCTYPE (
LETTER, obviously), the essential
docprocessing.html#PRINTSTYLEPRINTSTYLE macro, and
docprocessing.html#STARTSTART .
	.AUTHOR    "Yannick P. Guique"
	.DOCTYPE    LETTER
	.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
	.START
PRINTSTYLE, above, could also be
TYPEWRITE.  Mom has no objection
to creating letters that look like they were typed on an Underwood
by a shapely secretary with great gams back in the 1940s.
After the 
START macro, you enter data pertinent to
your letter: the date, the addressee (in business correspondence,
typically both name and address), the addressor (that's you; in
business correspondence, typically both name and address), and a
greeting (in full, e.g. "Dear Mr. Smith,").
The macros for entering the data are simple (they're not even
definitions.html#TERMS_TOGGLEtoggles )
and entered in an intuitive order.
	
.DATE	
.TO	
.FROM	
.GREETINGMom ignores any you omit and spaces the letter's
opening according to what you do include.
Once you've filled in what you need to get a letter started, simply
type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph with the
docelement.html#PPPP macro.
At the end of the letter, should you wish an indented closing
("Yours truly," "Sincerely," "Hugs and
kisses"), invoke the macro 
CLOSING on a
line by itself and follow it with the text of the closing.  
N.B. Don't put your name here; momsupplies it automatically from 
AUTHOR with
enough space to leave room for your signature.
Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence,
here's what the complete letter looks like.
	.AUTHOR    "Yannick P. Guique"
	.DOCTYPE    LETTER
	.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
	.START
	.DATE
	August 25, 2004
	.TO
	GUILLAUME BARRIÈRES
	Minidoux Corporation
	5000 Pannes Drive
	Redmond, Virginia
	.FROM
	Y.P. GUIQUE
	022 Umask Road
	St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
	.GREETING
	Dear Mr. Barrières,
	.PP
	It has come to my attention that you have been lobbying the
	US government to prohibit the use of open source software by
	endeavouring to outlaw so-called "warranty free"
	applications.
	.PP
	I feel it is my duty to inform you that the success of your
	operating system with its embedded web browser relies heavily
	on open source programs and protocols, most notably TCP/IP.
	.PP
	Therefore, in the interests of your corporation's fiscal health,
	I strongly advise that you withdraw support for any US
	legislation that would cripple or render illegal open source
	development.
	.CLOSING
	Sincerely,
	
Defaults for letters
In letters, 
mom sets:
	
the date flush right, page right, at the top of page one
	
the addressee in a block flush left, page left
	
the addressor in a block flush left, page left
	
the greeting flush left
	
the body of the letter justified
	
in multi-page letters:
	
		
a footer indicating there's a next page (of the form .../#)
		
the page number at the top of every page after page one
	
	
the closing/signature line flush left, indented halfway across the page
Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed
via the
typesetting.html#MACROS_TYPESETTINGtypesetting macros or the document processing
definitions.html#TERMS_CONTROLMACROcontrol macros prior to
docprocessing.html#STARTSTART .  Assume that any
style parameter not listed below is the same as for
docprocessing.html#TYPESET_DEFAULTSPRINTSTYLE TYPESET or
docprocessing.html#TYPEWRITE_DEFAULTSPRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE .
PARAMETER             PRINTSTYLE TYPESET   PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE
---------             ------------------   --------------------
Paper size            8.5 x 11 inches      8.5 x 11 inches
Left/right margins    1.25 inches          1.25 inches
Header margin         3.5 picas            3.5 picas
 (for page numbers)
Header gap            3 picas              3 picas
 (for page numbers)
Family                Times Roman          Courier
Font                  roman                roman
Point size            12                   12
Line space            13.5                 12 (i.e. singlespaced)
Paragraph indent      3 ems                3 picas
Spaced paragraphs     yes                  no
Footers*              yes                  yes
Footer margin         3 picas              3 picas
Footer gap            3 picas              3 picas
Page numbers          top, centered        top, centered
*Footers contain a "next page" number of the form .../#
	
The letter macros
All letter macros must come after
docprocessing.html#STARTSTART ,
except 
NO_SUITE.
	
#DATEDATE 	
#TOTO 	
#FROMFROM 	
#GREETINGGREETING 	
#CLOSINGCLOSING 	
#NO_SUITENO_SUITE  -- "next page" number off
Macro: 
DATEInvoke 
DATE on a line by itself, with the date
underneath, like this:
	.DATE
	October 31, 2002
Macro: 
TOInvoke 
TO on a line by itself, with the name
and address of the addressee underneath, like this:
	.TO
	JOHN SMITH
	10 Roberts Crescent
	Bramladesh, Ont.
Macro: 
FROMInvoke 
FROM on a line by itself, with the name
and address of the addressor underneath, like this:
	.FROM
	JOE BLOW
	15 Brunette Road
	Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
Macro: 
GREETINGInvoke 
GREETING on a line by itself, with the
full salutation you want for the letter, like this:
	.GREETING
	Dear Mr. Smith,
Macro: 
CLOSINGInvoke 
CLOSING on a line by itself after the
body of the letter, with the closing you'd like (e.g. "Yours
truly,"), like this:
	.CLOSING
	Yours truly,
Macro: 
NO_SUITEIf you don't want 
mom to print a "next
page" number at the bottom of multi-page letters, invoke
.NO_SUITE, on a line by itself, prior to
docprocessing.html#STARTSTART .
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