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Monthly Archives: November 2011
Staying Organized
I have a reputation for being very organized, which is a good one to have, and one which my customers at NASA and ScienceCheerleader.com have come to value. However, such was not always the case…and, I should note, I make … Continue reading
Posted in documents, technical writing
Tagged journal, organization, reporting, task log
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Desktop Folder Follies
If you have dozens of folders on your virtual desktop and you can find everything easily, great. You can ignore this post. However, if your “system” consists of putting every “critical” folder on your desktop and you then complain that … Continue reading
How Do You Approach a New Topic?
You’ve just been presented with a new and off-the-wall topic compared to your usual content. What’s off-the-wall? It’s what happens when you were hired to write technical documentation and you’re suddenly asked to write a formal letter on behalf of … Continue reading
The Technical Communicator as Fiction Author
My apologies Dear Readers, if I’ve been out of the blogging loop lately. I have been hip-deep into National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal there is to write a first draft of a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. Brief … Continue reading
Why I Don’t Write About Work
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you might have noticed that I write about pretty much everything except the actual technical content of my job. There are a couple of reasons for that. For one thing, this blog … Continue reading
Posted in personal
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Classroom Interview – University of Houston
This week I had the unique opportunity to be an online guest speaker for a technical writing grad school class at the University of Houston. The instructor, Dr. Aimee Roundtree, found me via the internet–LinkedIn? This blog? My other blog? … Continue reading
Posted in audience, careers, education, personal, technical writing
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Spam in WordPress
I seem to receive a lot of spam offering me helpful “advice” on how to make my site better. One was a particularly long and condescending message about how I was using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) incorrectly. I note that … Continue reading
Large, Medium, or Small: What’s Your Best Working Environment?
One of the first things that will draw you to a particular job is the content that you will be writing. However, another important consideration when looking at a new job is the size of the company doing the hiring. … Continue reading
Posted in job hunting, philosophy, research, workplace
Tagged large business, medium business, small business
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What You Need to Know to Do Your Job: Tech Skills
The title is a trick, since obviously every situation is different. I have been swimming in the technocracy for ten years now, and my experiences and requirements have changed with each job–partly. What follows is a general shopping list of software … Continue reading
Writing for Style
It takes awhile for someone’s personal writing style to develop and a lifetime to evolve. Recently I was digging through the stories I wrote as a kid, going back to age 8 or so, and at first I could see … Continue reading
