Re: FWD: (Writing and) Editing as a career

[Linda Kelley <lkelley -at- MCS -dot- COM>]

Anonymous wrote:
>        In my experience, I've found that many tech writers are expected
>to edit their own work.  Does this match your experience(s)?  In my
>current position, I have been instructed to edit all my own work and
>submit it in a publishable state before it goes out for (subject matter
>expert) SME review. <snip>

In my company, tech writers are responsible for making sure their work is
grammatically and stylistically correct.  It doesn't have to be perfect
before it goes to the SMEs for review, but we've found that if a draft is
rampant with typos and other errors, the SMEs tend to get distracted and go
through the document looking for typos rather than performing a thorough
technical review.

We have tried to implement a substantive edit step early on in the process,
performed by someone other than the original author.  Because we do not have
any technical editors on staff, this step has to be performed by another
writer with his or her own workload, and unfortunately, it is often omitted
due to time constraints.  The purpose of the substantive edit, BTW, would be
to try to catch organizational problems, omission of information, etc., not
grammar and punctuation errors.  If I could only have the luxury of another
writer's assistance once during the process, I would prefer it be at the
final stage, to catch anything I might have missed or any new typos I might
have introduced in making revisions.

>        Also, I have been absolutely unable to communicate the idea of
>drafting (i.e. working drafts) to many supervisors.  So, I've just
>accepted that in order to considered a good writer I must be a good
>editor, too. <snip>

I don't know what type of work you're doing, but often the number of drafts
depends on whether you're writing from scratch or updating an existing
document.  I would expect a brand new document to require several drafts,
while modifications to an existing document might only require one or two
drafts.

>        This type of edit does not get done in many circumstances.  When
>I try to work on this type of "Does it make sense?" edit,  I've often
>encountered the attitude (akin to a brick wall) that if it matches the
>current style that is all that matters.  <snip>

Matching the current style should not be *all* that matters, but it does
matter.  Sometimes a tight deadline means that I have to choose what will
get done and what has to wait until the next revision.  Obviously document
usability is a key issue, but the document also has to contain accurate
information and look professional, or it reflects poorly on my company.
Being able to balance all of this (and more) is what I think makes a good
tech writer.

============================================================
Linda Kelley  (lkelley -at- mcs -dot- com)
Senior Technical Writer
Synergex
(630) 941-8539