Re: Interest and Learning (was no subject)

[Win Day <winday -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM>]

I've snipped the original post, my response to it, and a large chunk of Kent
Newton's response to that.
>>[snipped description of variety in the techwriting field]
>>I wish I had enough time to pursue all the areas in tech communication
>I'm
>>interested in.  I've yet to work on WinHelp, or with HTML, or SGML.  All
>>_kinds_ of new things to learn!

>If you took the time to learn all these new areas, Win, when would you
>have time to write?  I see this as the insidious effect of the mad race
>to know the latest technology: we're so busy learning the technology that
>we have less time to research and document the product or service we were
>hired to document.  Does anyone else see this trend as time-consuming as
>I do, or am I just an alarmist?

I DON"T have time to learn all this new stuff.  I wish I did.  Not because I
feel an insidious need to learn the latest and greatest technology
flavour-of-the-month, but because the evolution of our profession truly
fascinates me.  THAT"S the point I was trying to make in the first place.

I thoroughly enjoy what I do.  I love to write, but even more, I love to
learn.  Freelancing allows me to learn new technology for my clients all the
time -- their systems and products, and the tools I use to document.  If I
haven't learned something new today, I've wasted an opportunity.

Just think -- how boring our lives would be if we reverted back to the
typewriter (or worse yet, hand-lettered volumes)! <g>

Win
---------------
Win Day
Technical Writer/Editor
Email: winday -at- idirect -dot- com