The economy of the ’90s is already obsolete, outsourced, and we find ourselves once again with an abundance of free time. What are we filling it with? Words.
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Category Archives: For Work
Formatting Worksheet (Technical Writing Exercise)
Monday, April 26, 2010
This Technical Writing Exercise calls for paragraph styles: Learn how to style paragraphs and headings in Word or Google Docs using our custom worksheet.
How to Choose Your Writing Software (Part 2)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The most important features for creative and technical writers in word processing software, with a checklist so you can pick just the ones that matter to you.
Side-by-Side Table (Technical Writing Exercise)
Monday, April 19, 2010
This Technical Writing Exercise calls for embedded tables: Learn how to build a table in your writing software of choice, and compare features of various tools.
How to Choose Your Writing Software (Part 1)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tweet Last fall, as I’ve said before, I had the opportunity to teach Technical Writing to a bunch of Computer Science students. It was what we called a “hybrid online course” — a Tuesday/Thursday class, but we only met in the classroom on Tuesdays. Then on Thursdays they would visit the class’s website, get the […]
Blog Schedule (Technical Writing Exercise)
Monday, April 12, 2010
You’ve had most of a week now to get started on your blog posting schedule. If you’ve followed through on that, today’s writing exercise will take you five minutes. If you haven’t, today’s writing exercise is another kick in the pants to get you started.
Take Control of Your Blog Posting Schedule
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
I’ve said before that one of the biggest challenges of blogging is writing to a regular deadline. It wears you down. You want to know the answer? The trick? If you’ve read my updates on the Challenge, you already know. For that matter, if you just read the section headings for this article, you know. The answer is to take control. Take control of your blog posting schedule, instead of drifting helplessly into your deadlines, and your blog will blossom and grow again, both in quality of content and in your affection as well.
Extended Metaphor (Technical Writing Exercise)
Monday, April 5, 2010
This week, I want you to develop an excellent example of an extended metaphor. You’ll have to deal with all the problems I mentioned in last week’s article, but it gets harder because you’ll have to deal with them again and again, every time you go back to that well. You can do it, though. The whole trick is to spend some serious time thinking about your metaphor before you start, pick one that really works, and only talk about the aspects of it that do work.
Manage Your Metaphors
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Every document is, essentially, a phone call — a conversation between you and your readers, and you’ve got to establish a connection before you can start talking. I’ve said that before, haven’t I?
I’ve also said a good first draft is a block of marble, from which to carve that glorious statue known as a final manuscript. Oh, and telling instead of showing is the same thing as playing a game of poker with your cards on the table. Good document structure is a tower of red, yellow, and blue blocks. Poetry is magic, punctuation is alchemy, and so is blogging about your life.
Band Poster (Technical Writing Exercise)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Remember last week’s article about the shape of a document? Remember that hideous image growling out at you halfway down the scroll? Well, this week your assignment is to do one better.
