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Subject:Re: Questions about the Technical Writing field From:Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 12 Sep 2002 20:32:52 -0700 (PDT)
> 1. How/why did you become a professional writer?
Low incidence of being eaten by wild goats. I am fond of explaining the obvious.
> 2. What is your job title? job description?
President / Principal Consultant. I break things.
> 3. What percentage of your time is spent writing, editing, or presenting?
10% writing/editing 10% presentations 80% driving to meetings and getting stuck
behind some meatloaf driving a dirty old Geo Metro and throwing cigarette butts
out the window.
> 4. What types of writing, editing, and presenting do you do?
Mostly responding to surveys.
> 5. Who are your audiences and what are their needs?
Faceless hoards of morons, who need a swift kick in the butt.
> 6. What things do your audiences expect from your documents or
> presentations?
AUDIENCE: Information. We want information.
TECH WRITER: You won't get it!
AUDIENCE: By hook or by crook, we will.
TECH WRITER: Who are you?
AUDIENCE: The new number 2
TECH WRITER: Who is number 1?
AUDIENCE: You are number 6.
TECH WRITER: I am not a number I am a font fondler!
> 7. What is your biggest writing-related challenge on the job?
Magical toads giving me strange instructions.
People who lack the ability to think logically.
> 8. What about deadlines? How do they influence the way your write on the
> job?
Faster. Must write faster.
> 9. What standard and predictable processes (writing techniques,
> organizational templates, heuristics for brainstorming, etc.), if any, do you
> employ in profession-related writing?
Only those that are time-consuming to research, difficult to implement, hard to
manage, impossible to monitor, and transparent to my co-workers.
> 10. What are the frustrations/rewards of your work?
I get to watch others take credit for my laziness.
> 11. What advice do you have for students?
Pucker up, buttercup.
This absurd response brought to you by the letter N. When you really need an N,
nothing else quite works.
Andrew Plato
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