Is your Technical Communication career dying? How to revive it

A great article that I’m sure applies to the careers of some technical communicators offers some valuable advice for sagging careers. It starts with asking the following list of signs which might mean that you career is in trouble: You are unhappy with the nature of your work You aren’t growing You feel overshadowed You…

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graduation

How to Break into Technical Writing – 4 Questions & Answers

How to break into technical writing is always a hot question with multiple answers. A reader who has just received his Bachelor’s degree (congrats!) sent the following letter the other day: “I would like to break into the technical writing/communication field, though I have some questions:1) What should I have as an entry-level technical writer?…

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The Lessons I Learned from SPAM Writers

© 2010 Ugur Akinci I receive a lot of SPAM. 99.9% is caught by my fantastic spam filter (Akismet). Before I delete SPAM messages, I read some of them and find the exercise very educational. I have no idea why these parties keep sending me tens of thousands of SPAM messages a year. But every…

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Pros and Cons of Working as a Remote Writer

Working as a remote writer might sound like a dream job, but it can also have its downside. One of the main challenges is that you’re not surrounded by coworkers on a day-to-day basis. The following are some of the pros and cons of working remotely: Pros of Working as a Remote Writer: Remote writers…

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10 Things NOT to Say to a Technical Writer

It’s okay—the programmers are writing the user documentation. I’ve scribbled down the specs on these bits of paper, discarded napkins and the back of my hand. Just put it together in a nice document by Friday. If you have any questions, none of the development team will be around so you’ll have to talk to…

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Perseverance vs. Perseveration and the Role of Stress in Writing Life

© Ugur Akinci I have always wondered about the relative merits of hanging in there and keep pushing up against life’s obstacles (perseverance), on the one hand, and continuing to do what clearly does not work and suffering the inevitable consequences of uncontrollable repetition (perseveration), on the other. The dominant market mentality encourages us to…

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Sharing Content – Can It Hurt Your Web Site Traffic?

© 2010 Ugur Akinci Can sharing content “too much” be a problem for your web site traffic? I admit, I had this paranoia about sharing “too much” information with my visitors years ago but not any more. Because the more you share, the more your readers will accept you as an authority in your field,…

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Learning How to Write Well with John Steinbeck

One of the best ways to learn how to write well is to read a master and pay attention to the way he or she is doing it. I still read a lot of books with that kind of awareness since even after 20 years of writing for a living I’m still learning how to…

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How much should you charge as a writer?

The question of “how much to charge” is always up in the air. I personally try not to quote an hourly rate and much rather work for a set fee. That avoids any second guessing on the part of the client as to how many hours any job “should take.” Having said that, here is…

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