"Tech Writer" name

Subject: "Tech Writer" name
From: Cherlyn B Paul <paulc -at- BATTELLE -dot- ORG>
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 09:57:53 -0500

If I may take this thread in a slightly different
direction...

I started in college textbooks, before computers. It was a
mid-sized publisher in the midwest, and I was one of, maybe,
16 "production editors". Because I liked the fields, and
because they thought it odd that a "word person" could be
comfortable with math and science as well, I did mostly
math, hard sciences, and technology. I came to understand
that this was "technical editing", as opposed to what my
colleagues did on sociology, special ed, history, political
science books.

After that came four years of freelancing--when you do just
about anything you can get paid for, and now 7+ years in a
contract research laboratory in the midwest, where they call
me a "Senior Technical Writer/Editor". My colleagues and I
in the publications department do a huge variety of stuff,
from newsletters to journal articles, lots of research
proposals and reports, and a little bit of what "technical
W/E" has come to mean--software or hardware documentation.

We have all wondered what to call ourselves. The option
"science writer" keeps coming up, but that seems firmly
attached to those who have specialized in a scientific field
and write it for an audience from educated laypeople to
specialists. That's not us, either.

I personally am not looking for a change of job title;
that's not what these meanderings are about. But rather how
do I announce myself professionally in a way that will
communicate accurately what I do and don't do (very
intentional present tense, there)??? I/we can't possibly be
the only ones! How do others do this?

Thanks in advance,

CBP


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