Archive for May, 2008
Writing for money
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money — Samuel Johnson
Well, there are writer who put pen to paper for art. Unfortunately, though, art often doesn’t pay the bills. But a number of forms of non-fiction writing definitely can.
In this article, Shaunna Privratsky discusses writes about how she learned [...]
Technical ability, music, and writing
Writing isn’t about putting words on paper or on screen. Well, it is. But there’s more to writing than that. There is also technique involved in writing. While you don’t have to be a master technician to make a living as a writer, technique does help. And to ensure your growth as a writer, you [...]
What are you working on?
As far as work goes, it’s been busier than usual around these parts. And that’s saying something. There’s a lot on the go, an even more on the horizon. Here’s what I’m working on at the moment:
A corporate technical writing contract (as usual …) A presentation for a conference in October More content for the weekly series [...]
Writing and presentations, redux
A while back, I wrote my first musings on the similarities between writing and presentations. Since then, I’ve finished reading the book that I mentioned in the post and have given a couple of presentations. And the link between writing and presenting is even stronger in my mind.
Thought for the day
Do not write so that you can be understood; write so that you cannot be misunderstood. –Epictetus
How I became a technical writer
As you may or may not know, my main writing income comes from technical writing and consulting. I should say technical communication but few outside of the industry really understand what that term means …
How I became a technical writer is an interesting story. I didn’t start out with that ambition — I graduated from [...]
Thought for the day
In an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books. – Harper Lee
Common typographic typos
When you think of a typo, you probably have visions of a incorrectly-spelled word or bit of bad grammar. Well, that’s one kind of typo. The other is literally a typographic error — too many dots in an ellipsis, incorrectly-used quotation marks, and the like.
This blog post looks at the 10 typographic mistakes that everyone [...]
Tips for generating ideas
As I’ve written before ideas are the lifeblood of any writer — regardless of whether you’re working in the world of fiction or non-fiction. Sometimes, though, it can be tough to come up with a good idea.
This blog post offers 15 tips on how to generate ideas, and to write with ease. I’ve always felt [...]
Dumb terminals: the ultimate portable writing tools?
Over the years, I’ve tried a number of portable tools for writing. From a Psion Series 5 to a Palm PDA with a keyboard to an Alphasmart Dana. None of them were quite right, though. Not as right as my Eee PC or even one of my ThinkPads.