Valentine’s Views

November 13, 2008

What makes a good user guide?

Filed under: Technical Writing — edvalentine @ 6:38 pm
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I have freelanced in the past with limited success, never able to do better than earn a bit of secondary spending money.

Right now, I know two things.

  1. In this market, I am going to have to do better than that to make a reasonable living.
  2. It’s a jungle out there.

There are job boards all over the place like Elance, Sologig, Guru and many others offering freelance projects for writers.

Most of those boards offer dozens — if not hundreds — of projects. You will also find hundreds — if not thousands — of writers scouring the boards looking for work. That means rarely, if ever, will you get paid full value for what the work should be worth. There are too many bidders, and almost always someone willing to do work for a ridiculously low price.

Another way to scour up project work is to use various recruiter or head hunters. If you meet a good one, let me know. I have dealt with too many fly-by-night recruiters who get a little of your money, send your resume one or two places and then forget about you. You know one who really, really gets out there and works for you I want to meet them.

So, how to make this work is the question.

All I can figure is keep beating the bushes in all sorts of boards, work whatever contacts I have and play to my strengths.

One of those is building Technical Documentation, specifically User Guides for customers. I am discovering it is a type of work many writers find boring or not creative enough. Not me. It’s a niche I enjoy, and have found I am good at. From what I can see out there it also looks like one that pays decently — provided you can land the work.

So, what is it that makes a good user guide? Here are some of my thoughts.

  • Know your target audience and write to their level. Technical jargon and fancy, long-winded explanations are not important. Helping someone do their job is.
  • You don’t need to be the expert. But, you do need to know who the experts are so you can get the information you need.
  • Keep it lively. Page after page of documentation is boring. Use plenty of screenshots. If you can, use interactive simulations, demos or videos as well to illustrate functionality.

The ultimate test is handing a finished document to someone who has never seen it before, and possibly never seen the application it describes, and having them use the document to do the job. If they can, you have succeeded. That’s the reward.

November 10, 2008

How did I get here?

Filed under: writing — edvalentine @ 6:33 pm
Tags: ,

So, how did I get here anyway?

That is a question I have asked myself many times since I left the newspaper industry in 1998, and I wonder about it even more lately since being laid off two weeks ago.

How did I wind up in this situation, basically starting over — again — at the age of 48?

From the time I was a junior in high school all I ever wanted to be was a sports writer (thank you, Mrs. Hartigan).

That is how things started out for me. In high school as a kid learning how to write, in college as sports editor of my school paper (where I first used ‘Valentine’s Views’ to identify my work) and as a freelancer covering high school events for local papers. My first three full-time newspaper jobs were either as a sports reporter or sports editor at various local newspapers.

I thought that, eventually, I would be a big shot reporter or columnist for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe or one of the other big-time newspapers. I was going to be a big deal.

Then everything went awry. Circumstances took me away from sports (thanks for nothing, Terry Brennan, you arm-twisting son of a bitch!) and eventually led me out of the newspaper business altogether.

I have bounced my way through a variety of small Internet and software companies during the past 10 years, eventually falling into the duties of a Technical Writer.

It isn’t the New York Times, nor is it really journalism, but it does use the skills I have spent a lifetime developing.

Maybe someday I will catch a real break and the sports blogging I do (Big Blue View, Bugs & Cranks) will lead to something more lucrative than a couple of tanks of gas each month. That, for me, is the modified dream scenario.

In the interim, freelance and contract technical writing work is the way to go.

I have been asked several times in recent years whether or not I found technical writing to be satisfying considering that it was not my original chosen career.

The answer is yes, without doubt.

Technical writing is journalism packaged in a different box. All of the skills I have spent a lifetime developing still apply.

  • You have to gather information, which can include research, interviewing and actually testing or using the product.
  • You have to take that information, organize it and boil it down into what you believe is most important for your audience.
  • You have to write in a concise, organized, easy to understand manner so that your target audience gets value from your work.
  • You have to meet deadlines.
  • You have to be accurate, and you have to copy edit.

All of these things are basics of what a reporter or editor does in a news room, and they all apply to the world of Technical Writing.

I may not be using my editing, writing and design skills the way that I thought I would. Those skills, however, are what enable me to satisfy employers and clients as a Technical Writer.

So, maybe ‘How did I get here?’ is not the question I should be asking. Maybe the question I should be asking is ‘Where do I go from here?’ with this varied set of writing skills.

November 6, 2008

When life stinks, blog!

Filed under: writing — edvalentine @ 4:08 pm
Tags: ,

Sometimes life stinks!

For me, this is one of those times. Last week, I became one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans victimized by the drastic downturn in our economy, as I was laid off from my job as a Technical Writer.

For me, that is twice this year. I was fortunate to quickly land a quality full-time job the first time. This time, I doubt I will be that lucky.

In fact, I am not so sure I want to go back to work full time, especially for another small company.

At 48 years of age, I have finally come to the decision that I need to stop depending on small newspapers or start-up software and Internet companies for a living and start depending on myself.

Getting let go four times in 10 years due to bankruptcies and bad decisions made by others — as I have been — will make a person come to that realization.

It is time for me to use these writing skills I have cultivated for the past 30 years — as a journalist, freelancer, blogger and technical writer — to make a living my way.

That, largely, is why I am here. Shoot, when you have nothing else to do, blog!

Actually, I’m here because this is a new beginning for me. For the time being, at least, I will be out on my own seeking project work, freelance assignments and trying to continue building my other blogs (Big Blue View, Yankees writer at Bugs&Cranks) into more than just a time-consuming hobby.

I am still not 100 percent sure what you will find here at Valentine’s Views. I suspect it will be an eclectic mix of my thoughts on a variety of writing topics, some sports mixed in since it is what I love most and a little about life tossed in. Oh, and there will be self-promotion. I am trying to figure out a way to make a living, after all.

At this point, I am not even certain how often I will be here. It might be every day. It might a few times a week. We shall see.

So, let’s just jump on this ride and see where it takes us. My guess is it won’t be boring.

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