Re: Future Technical Writer

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

When my older son bailed out of college after two years, not knowing what he
wanted to do with his life, I gave him a month to find a job on his own.
When he
didn't find anything, I offered him a chance to help me out with a book I
was
writing for a publisher.  Reluctantly he agreed. I taught him about writing
technical books for major book publishers, and he learned.  When we finished
that book, there was another contract pending and I asked him if he wanted
to
help out on that one too.  He agreed, this time not so reluctantly.  After
that
one, there was yet another book contract, and I told him that if he agreed
to do
it with me I'd list him as a coauthor.  He liked that idea.

This set of contracts went on almost nonstop for two years, and he became a
full
partner in writing the books.  Meanwhile, he was regaining confidence in
himself
and decided to try a course at the local junior college. He found he could
handle it and signed up for two more courses the next term, meanwhile still
writing books with me.  Then he decided he'd like to go back to college,
this
time a different one, and major in political science instead of engineering.
He
did, and the experience was completely different for him.  Further, he was
able
to polish off two more books while he was in college.  And when it came time
for
him to do his honors thesis, his advisor was dumfounded to realize that here
was
a professional writer (by this time with his name on 13 books) working on a
college-level thesis.

He decided to take a captive technical writing job after graduating, and
quickly
rose to take responsibility for the new department. Unfortunately the
company
was a typical startup where the engineers dictated pubs policy, and weren't
willing to listen to the experience of this young writer.  Meanwhile the
book
market had turned less profitable, and Mom was out doing contracting.
Ultimately
Mom wound up running a contract that needed a a team to leap tall buildings
in a
single bound and perform other related miracles. And the son couldn't pass
up
the opportunity (and the pay raise!).

To finish off a long story quickly, my son and I formed Los Trancos Systems
in
1994, and have been happily slaying dragons and leaping tall buildings (and
making money at it) ever since. I love working with him, and I must say that
the
experience has changed our relationship from mother/son to partners, with
lots
of respect for each other's strengths and weaknesses.  We have the freedom
to
explore whatever technical niche interests us, provided we pay attention to
cash
flow, and to expand and contract our business as market conditions or our
wishes
dictate.  We have employees we like, we buy whatever equipment we need, but
most
importantly we constantly learn from each other.  Proud of him? Far, far
more
than that.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

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