So you work at a big hi-tech company and you have questions. Lots of questions. But your manager is in yet another meeting and your deadline is looming. Who do you turn to? Why, your friendly, neighbourhood technical writer of course. Here’s why: 1.       Your technical writer may have written a 500 page manual on […]

To be working on a project that is. At least it feels that way considering most writing projects I’ve been involved in are over after a hair-pulling night of throwing words onto a page or two. Project timelines are a bit more distended in the technical writing world. But, anyway, enough kerfuffle. What I’d like […]

I say eleven, because Ben Minson came up with this excellent list of seven plus four more on his blog, Gryphon Mountain. His list gives reasons why a company should hire a technical writer. Check it out if you need to justify your existence or if nobody has fought through the cobwebs to your cubicle […]

Wired magazine has some interesting pieces this month. Well, every month is pretty good, but writers might appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at how an article is assigned, written, edited, and designed. You can  read the email correspondence between author and editor, and get an idea of how to pitch your story idea to a magazine. […]

In this rocky economic climate, marketing yourself has never been more crucial if you want to survive the inevitable cutbacks. When it comes to technical writing, it’s a useful exercise to understand and appreciate what companies look for in a writer. Lyndsey Amott, in an article on her website, stresses that industry knowledge should not […]