RE: Status of the Technical Writer

Subject: RE: Status of the Technical Writer
From: Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 13:14:52 -0400



> On Behalf Of Cardimon, Craig said:


> Try this the next time you're at a party. Tell someone you are a science
> writer instead of a technical writer. Use a little spin. I became a
> computer science writer. I did that in an elevator in Las Vegas. The
> results were stunning. I got wows instead of nods. Just try it. Your
> mileage may vary.

SOME days, what I do isn't even of interest to _me_, let alone normal
people. :-)

My standard response, these days, to the question "And what do _you_ do?" is
something like:
<deep breath>
"Well, enough about me. Read any good pill bottles lately?"

or

"I look for sources to feed my chocolate habit. D'you know a good pusher?"

Those (and similar) replace my previous effort: "I write manuals that nobody
reads." If that didn't derail that line of questioning instantly, I'd go on
with: "You know; you've seen 'em gathering dust on shelves everywhere,
holding doors open, helping raise video monitors that extra inch or two...
hmm? No, not the reference books and the For Dummies stuff - those actually
made money for somebody - I'm talking about the kind where the plastic wrap
doesn't even get split unless the CD is inside too." [This finally meets
with knowing nods and sympathetic expressions.]

But seriously, I'm not really down on what I do - I like what I do. It's
just not glamorous unless it sells commercially (or gets a half million hits
per day, minimum). So I have a little fun with the eye-glaze inducing effect
it has on the general public.

Kevin

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