Life as a freelance writer
In: Freelancing| Writing
26 Mar 2009Today Deb blogged about the excuses we all come up with as freelance writers. Things like “I don’t have enough experience”, and “there are no jobs out there”. The list got me thinking of my own personal reasons for not starting freelance work, so I’d like to add a few more from my personal files.
My [...]
In: TW| Writing| technical writing
16 Mar 2009“But the deadline’s coming up fast, we’ve just got to start cranking out the content, pronto!”
A former technical writing manager told me this a while back when our documentation team was struggling to produce consistent content for the new software release. And it would have been an acceptable reponse and exhortation to us, if we [...]
Proofreading is an essential step in any kind of writing, but I find it’s especially important in technical writing. That’s because the information you’re trying to transmit to people must be understood immediately for a specific reason. Whether it’s the procedure on how to land a plane, or the description about the new iPhone application [...]
In: Procedures| TW
9 Mar 2009We tend to think of most writing as being constructive, but sometimes it’s the exact opposite. Take writing a procedure, for example. To write one you’ve got to first break down the larger idea into its smaller components.
Before we start, let’s go over a few concepts first.
What is a procedure?
A procedure is a set of [...]
In: TW| Working| Writing| technical writing
20 Feb 2009Today I was reading a post from Ugur Akinci about how wikis will transform the role of the technical writer, and it reminded me about the wiki initiatives I was trying to promote at a previous job. Wikis are great tools if they’re used correctly, as they can help alleviate a number of issues that [...]
I'm a freelance technical writer who's trying to make the transition from working for somebody else to working for me.