Re: Thinking Patterns (was RE: Interviews (5 Year Question))

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> wrote:

> If I had a dime for every tech-writer I've met who was attracted to the
> profession because they wanted to be able to say that they earned a
> living as a writer - well, let's just say that I would spend my days
> rolling coins into bankrolls, instead of writing.
> 
> A fantasy writer I used to know was always amused by his reception at
> conventions. He was very flamboyant, usually dressing in full Scottish
> regalia, and treating everyone in sight to drink or food on the few
> occasions when he actually had money, and talking into the small hours.
> Many people obviously envied him, and thought he lived the good life
> yearround. What they didn't know, he said, was that, except for the two
> or three weekends a year he went to conventions, he was spending weeks
> at a stretch when he didn't do much except move between his bed and his
> keyboard. But most people only saw his public persona, and thought that
> it was what a writer's life was about.
> 
> I think that some version of this image of the writer is in many
> people's minds when they think about writing. They don't think of the
> hard slogging that writing actually involves, and, when the inevitable
> disillusion sets in, instead of taking satisfaction in a job well done,
> they take refuge in the latest buzz, or in grammatical nitpicking, or
> office politics.

I must admit, there was once a time, about 20 minutes ago, where I too
fantasized about the "life of a writer." I wanted to be taken seriously for my
brilliant ideas and theories of the universe. I thought everything I said and
did was pure genius. 

Honestly, I think you can express yourself in technical writing, it just takes
a lot of hard work and practice. I like to think that inside all the crap I
have written, there is something cool I figured out. It is pleasurable to
figure out something and then explain it to people. Its like telling people how
to solve a complex puzzle. 

However, a lot of writers just get hung up inside the expression part and not
the "figuring stuff out" part. 

This is also why I frickin' hate most college writing programs. They focus so
much emphasis on literature and tools that they fail to teach the nitty gritty
crap work of writing. They get students all excited about their wonderful life
as a technical writer and how VOnnegut was a technical writer, but they fail to
mention..."um, oh yeah, before you go off into the big world, yeah, you're
going to have to learn about SNMP traps, network protocol analysis, and BASE-64
encoding...yeah, did we mention that? Sorry. Have fun, send some money to the
alumni association!" 

Or send the money to me. 

Andrew Plato 




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