I've been halfways juggling two blogs for a little while. But truth be told, I haven't been very inspired to write about technical communication lately, so I'm thinking that this will be my last post here.
There are a number of excellent tech comm blogs out there, so you should definitely check them out. A good place to start is White River, "a collaborative site where technical communicators can both read and post links to interesting online content," where a number of more active tech comm bloggers seem to frequent.
In the meantime, I suppose I'll keep this site up and maybe post an occasional bit of interesting news.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Still a little blocked
I wrote another book review in the past week for a relatively new book about content management systems, but this time, I had some trouble getting started on it. This was probably complicated (or perhaps caused) by a number of things:
As a grade-schooler, I can remember being frustrated while writing a personal statement for a summer program to which I was applying and hearing my dad tell me that getting started is the hardest part. Funny how we don't always believe what our parents tell us until we're older. :)
- Increasing work stress due to impending deadlines
- Being over committed with holiday music gigs this past weekend
- Catching a cold last week, which got worse over the weekend
- Having the book review deadline on Sunday
As a grade-schooler, I can remember being frustrated while writing a personal statement for a summer program to which I was applying and hearing my dad tell me that getting started is the hardest part. Funny how we don't always believe what our parents tell us until we're older. :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Nothing whatever
I felt I should post something today since I haven't done so in a month. I've been super busy with work and have been traveling a lot for both work and fun. In the course of two weeks, I traveled to Spokane for work, to Anaheim for BlizzCon, and to Arkansas for my sister's wedding. I'm glad that I won't need to step foot onto a plane until December when we visit family for the holidays.
Between my work and extracurricular activity schedules and the drawing nigh of the end of the year, I feel a little stretched thin at times, but I usually do a good job of managing stress.
I'm also feeling a bit meh about the current theme for this blog. I can't decide what pre-fab one I like best and haven't devoted any time at all to making my own design. This sounds like it may be a good task for when I want to put off doing something else.
Between my work and extracurricular activity schedules and the drawing nigh of the end of the year, I feel a little stretched thin at times, but I usually do a good job of managing stress.
I'm also feeling a bit meh about the current theme for this blog. I can't decide what pre-fab one I like best and haven't devoted any time at all to making my own design. This sounds like it may be a good task for when I want to put off doing something else.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
No words
That's how I'd felt for the past couple of weeks... there were no words. I'd been working on a book review for a trade journal and struggled with a terrible bout of writer's block. I ended up asking for a tiny extension of a couple of days on my deadline (which I've never had to do in the past), and I finally got it done.
I don't recall the last time that I experienced writer's block of this extent. I would sit at my computer in the evening and stare at the blinking cursor. Although I'd enjoyed the book and had great things to say about it, I was unable to formulate cohesive thoughts about the book in my head. It was a surreal experience... like an actual blockage of words. It pained and exhausted me to think about writing, and I would eventually end up going to bed after having made little or no progress.
It began as procrastination, and the procrastination and writer's block played off each other. I put off finishing the book and writing the review because I just didn't feel like doing it. Then as my deadline loomed, I got serious about writing, but that was when I found myself unable to do it. I don't profess to have a cure for writer's block, but I can only describe how I overcame it in this instance.
In my last post, I mentioned a book about writing where the author advises you to write, even if you don't have anything to say. In my case, I had plenty of ideas tumbling around in my head, but they seemed to refuse to take shape on my computer screen. So one technique that I tried was basically to do a brain dump (this technique proved to be a productive one for me when I was writing my Masters thesis). I imagined that I was casually writing to friend about the book and managed to squeeze out several random blurbs this way. There was some duplication in the ideas that I felt were most important, but this gave me something to work with.
Another technique that I tried and have used since I was an undergrad, was to dump the computer and haul out a notebook and pen. This has always been one of the most effective techniques for me. I jotted down even more thoughts on paper, added them to what I'd already written on my computer, and then pulled everything together.
Writing can be tough, even for people who write for a living. The best way to hone any craft, including writing, is to practice. Write... even if you don't feel like it... even if you don't think you have anything to say.
I don't recall the last time that I experienced writer's block of this extent. I would sit at my computer in the evening and stare at the blinking cursor. Although I'd enjoyed the book and had great things to say about it, I was unable to formulate cohesive thoughts about the book in my head. It was a surreal experience... like an actual blockage of words. It pained and exhausted me to think about writing, and I would eventually end up going to bed after having made little or no progress.
It began as procrastination, and the procrastination and writer's block played off each other. I put off finishing the book and writing the review because I just didn't feel like doing it. Then as my deadline loomed, I got serious about writing, but that was when I found myself unable to do it. I don't profess to have a cure for writer's block, but I can only describe how I overcame it in this instance.In my last post, I mentioned a book about writing where the author advises you to write, even if you don't have anything to say. In my case, I had plenty of ideas tumbling around in my head, but they seemed to refuse to take shape on my computer screen. So one technique that I tried was basically to do a brain dump (this technique proved to be a productive one for me when I was writing my Masters thesis). I imagined that I was casually writing to friend about the book and managed to squeeze out several random blurbs this way. There was some duplication in the ideas that I felt were most important, but this gave me something to work with.
Another technique that I tried and have used since I was an undergrad, was to dump the computer and haul out a notebook and pen. This has always been one of the most effective techniques for me. I jotted down even more thoughts on paper, added them to what I'd already written on my computer, and then pulled everything together.Writing can be tough, even for people who write for a living. The best way to hone any craft, including writing, is to practice. Write... even if you don't feel like it... even if you don't think you have anything to say.
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