As you may or may not recall, last August my article on the evils of recycling was published. Sometimes I lose sight of the fact that thousands of people read the stuff I put out there. Some probably think it’s a load of tosh. Other slightly more creepy individuals google my name and usually ask some sort of favour. But others actually have something interesting to say. So Ben, even though you’ll never read this, thanks for your letter. It’s not often I get to hear from the mythical ‘audience’ writers always harp on about.

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 in a while and you suspect the engineering department has forgotten about you. Or maybe you need to explain what-it-is-you-do-exactly in a job interview. Here are his basic points:

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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. Great stuff.

Also, technical writers might get a kick out of this photo essay of classic instruction manuals. What I found interesting was what Dan Winters, the photographer who compiled these, had to say: "I actually think that modern manuals are unreadable," Winters says. "Visually speaking, they probably peaked in the ’30s." What rot. Seriously – is this guy part of the MTV generation or something? End-user documentation has never been cleaner and easier to understand. In fact, most help is migrating to interactive web-based apps that even a child would coo at. I understand he’s speaking as a visually-biased photographer – not a writer, but the overly intricate diagrams in his photo essay (as cool as they are in a retro sort of way) hardly represent the peak of information architecture.   

It’s been almost a month since the launch of Canada’s National Do Not Call List. If you signed up on September 30th, your right to slam a deviant telemarketer will kick in this October 30th. Sweet. When will companies learn that people telemarketing is the second most hated form of privacy invasion on this planet (Door-to-door marketing holds the number one spot in my mind)? Even junk mail doesn’t seem as bad, as annoying as it is.

These days, however, telemarketers have it tough. Not only can they get fined for contravening the DNC list, but they have to contend with a new trend – these days most people have cell phones, not land lines. Sure, you could screen the call using Caller ID, but here’s something better: once you have the number of a telemarketer, program an entry in your directory. I use the moniker "Do Not Answer". I then set the customized ringer to "Do not ring". I haven’t had to speak to a telemarketer in five years. And because I’m feeling generous, I’ve decided to share my sacred list with you.

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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 be a primary deciding factor when mulling over suitable candidates. Her top three must-haves are:

1. design a document that looks good both on paper and on-line
2. design a document that can be updated easily
3. write instructions that are easy to understand

She goes on to say that the proof of a good writer lies in the way they organize their thoughts and that inexperienced writers shouldn’t necessarily be dismissed.

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