When Projects Get Unexpected Attention

Yzabel / December 8, 2005

Something a little weird happened in the past two days, within the frame of my work.Not really believing in it, I had suggested a few ideas/improvements for our technical manuals. You see, I’ve never received any teaching/training to become a technical writer. Everything I know in that domain, I’ve had to learn it the hard way, through trial and error, through personal research. Since I’ve felt, in the past months, that things were stagnating and that it’d be a shame to not try and make them better, I had taken upon myself to push said research to another level, which in turn made me realize how much I still had to learn, as well as how much I could improve things in the job itself.It looks like this may actually go further than what I had in mind, and that my idea struck the right nerve at just the right moment. This is, in fact, very exciting. It means tons of work in perspective, but I like and need having deadlines and structured schedules, as I already mentioned it here. It’s writing, too—not fiction, but writing all the same, and I somehow have the feeling that being able to produce good manuals in that regard will further my craft no matter what, even if not adapted to novels themselves. (I write these manuals both in French AND English… hence my expected improvement with the language itself.)projects, technical+writing, writing

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Comments

  • Victor

    Hello Yzabel,I think that is a great idea. Putting yourself to a task, pushing yourself to finish a not-so-fun project, and actually finishing it can only help you in your future writing endeavours. I’m trying to push myself to get back to an old non-fiction manuscript and revise it. I’m going to need a good kick in the caboose.Oh, and don’t forget that all of the posting you’ve done on your blog counts as well.Salut. J’attends avec intérêt de lire plus de vos poteaux.(si je pourrais réellement apprendre que les Français et ne pas employer le Google traduisent désormais l’outil, je pourrais réellement sembler intelligent… pour une fois.):)Vic

  • Yzabel

    Hello Victor, welcome here :)I agree, and what’s more, working on technical manuals, as I’ve discovered it, can actually be somewhat fun, in a way. It’s more a matter of mindset, sure, but once I’m in, it flows by itself. The most annoying thing will likely be to know where to stop when it comes to detailing. Myself as well as the other people who’ve worked on the first manuals have a tendency to want to squeeze as much as we can in, and learning to write in a more concise way will no doubt prove useful in the long run!

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