RE: Now lone techwriter, startup

["Sella Rush" <srush -at- MusicNet -dot- com>]

I really have to add my "me too" to Sarah's post.

As a former lone writer, I agree that her "organize-as-you-go" approach is probably the most practical for the lone writer.  Open a blank document in Word (or whatever) and just start documenting your decisions as you make them. When you're formating a document, create styles as you go to save time--and in the end you'll have the beginning of a template that can be cleaned up either on the fly or during downtime.

What this means is that you only spend time making decisions that *have* to be made, rather than trying to prepare yourself for every contingency.  (It's important to realize that in those first few weeks you simply don't have the perspective to make all the right decisions--most of them will have to be revisited anyway, so why agonize over them now?)

Also make sure you spend a little time each day to evaluate what decisions you've made and what will be called for in the near future.  This will help you stay focused.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sella Rush
technical writer
MusicNet
206-269-6115
srush -at- musicnet -dot- com

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