Re: Does grant writing fall under technical writing?

Subject: Re: Does grant writing fall under technical writing?
From: Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>
To: Technical Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:39:47 -0500

Hi Craig,

It is interesting that you raised this issue, today of all days! I just
returned from a job interview for the position of Grant Writer for a
non-profit organization.

Before the interview I took the time to look into this field more
deeply. In addition, I have assisted with grants in the past. I will
tell you what I told the people who interviewed me.

The only difference between Grant Writing and technical writing is
my target audience. What you need to be assured of is that I am
capable of writing for your target audience, the people who will
decide whether or not to award you a grant. I must stick to strict
instructions, meet tight deadlines, interview subject matter
experts, research and verify information, and then create a document
that will be persuasive and clear.

I also gave them links to sites where they could view different types of
writing that I have done in the past, from strict technical writing to
poetry. I concluded that I believed that I had the background knowledge,
experience, and capabilities to be a very good grant writer for their
organization (they also are an organization that I happen to like very
much, which helps).

I don't know if I will get the position, but they were very impressed.
Each person who interviewed me had several questions about how I would
check my work and handle tight deadlines. It was funny, in a way I felt
like I was being interviewed for a hi-tech job. At one point I told one
lady this and she laughed.

A key question (I felt) was when she asked what attracted me to Grant
Righting. I told her, "Because I'd much rather do something that will
actually help people, than sit and check a software interface and submit
corrections to the GUI that will never be implemented because of
deadline issues." She seemed to like that answer as well.

My point, though, is that as others have said on this list, if you look
at Grand Writing closely, there really is no difference from it and
technical writing. The real problem? People have a rather finite view of
just what technical writing is. THAT topic has been discussed on this
list no end... and will continue to be discussed.

But it seems to me, that if you have the following components, it's
technical writing:
- Specific target audience
- Specialized information that needs to be communicated
- Specific deliverable
- Need to interview people and research topics

The problem with the word technical, is that most people think of
numbered lists, engineers, and software, but not the "softer" writing
that is just as difficult, such as grant writing, or marketing writing.

Can everyone do all of these? No. For example, while I feel comfortable
doing grant writing, and the related marketing writing needed to sell
the proposal to a potential donor, I am not at all fond of pure
sales-oriented marketing writing.

Hope these thoughts contribute to the discussion!

Deborah
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals.
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat


References:
Does grant writing fall under technical writing?: From: Cardimon, Craig

Previous by Author: RE: When to leave?
Next by Author: Re: Single-sourcing Using MS Word
Previous by Thread: Re: Does grant writing fall under technical writing?
Next by Thread: RE: Re: Does grant writing fall under technical writing?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads