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> I must admit, there was once a time, about 20 minutes ago, where I too
> fantasized about the "life of a writer." I wanted to be taken seriously for my
> brilliant ideas and theories of the universe. I thought everything I said and
> did was pure genius.
Hey, me too! But I long ago learned the difference between daydreams and
reality.
> Honestly, I think you can express yourself in technical writing, it just takes
> a lot of hard work and practice. I like to think that inside all the crap I
> have written, there is something cool I figured out. It is pleasurable to
> figure out something and then explain it to people. Its like telling people how
> to solve a complex puzzle.
I think you've nailed it. Probably, I'm perverse, but I get immense
satisfaction out of arranging a complex process into a series of steps
that the average person can follow, or in editing down three pages of
notes into half a page. There's probably an aesthetic here, but, if so,
it's one based strictly on functionality - to be exact, on function.
>
> This is also why I frickin' hate most college writing programs. They focus so
> much emphasis on literature and tools that they fail to teach the nitty gritty
> crap work of writing. They get students all excited about their wonderful life
> as a technical writer
In fact, a class helps to reinforce the impression that being a writer
is a social role, rather than a practical function. Writers of various
sorts who earn extra money teaching tell me that they keep seeing the
same students over and over. For these students, taking classes and
critiquing each other's work is the way they socialize. They're an
extreme example, but they serve to emphasize that, in many ways, the
classroom is the antithesis of the writer's life.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"In the bathroom mirror they try that Joan of Arc look again
Two parts Ingrid Bergman to one part Shirley MacLaine
The wounds of time kill you but the surgeon's knife only stings
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels beat your wings."
-Richard Thompson, "Jerusalem on the Jukebox"
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