One American Writer

Basket Case is Corporate Success

It is apparently possible to be a basket case and still be a corporate success.  Take away the corporate success, and you are left with the basket case.  Don't ask me how I know this.

I know writers, artists and other humans are subject to ups and downs, but in the corporate world, the need to function in polite society (admittedly, in many cases, dysfunctional polite society) paints a glossy sheen over the mood dips.

At home, where the only face I see is mine in the mirror, the gloss is gone.  One executive placement pro I talked with said that executives who start solo ventures face the same challenge.

Freelancing while job searching is so much fun.  Not.  Well, it is fun, but when it's not fun, it is REALLY not fun, and there's no one there to tell.

So I'm telling you.  How do you beat the blues when you're alone?

How does a self-employed person get fired?

How does a self-employed person get fired? S/he gets hired.  You work for yourself so ineffectively that you can't earn a living.  So, you find a job.

NOW I know why employers make you sit in an office cubicle eight or more hours a day. 

They hope to get three or more hours of work out of you.

At home, it is possible to work hard seventeen hours a day and still not work effectively (especially when home is a small farm). 

• At the office, your work is in front of you.
• At home, your work is mixed in with the work of living.

How do you focus?  Here's a motivator:

IF YOU DON'T FIND A WAY TO CARVE WRITING TIME OUT OF THE REST OF THE WORK YOU MUST DO, YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF IN AN OFFICE CUBICLE AGAIN.

Make.

it.

work.

Bathrobe at noon confession

Here's how I ended up wearing my robe at -- well, read the sequence:

1. Pre-coffee, 7 am, trek to the barn (the robe part comes later).
2. Feed and water goats, chickens, cats and dogs.
3. Go in for coffee and hot bath.
4. Oops!   Give the dogs Frontline for fleas.
5. On the way back to the house, the dog passes me.  He's long gone for now.
6. Email technical writing client about proof.  Notice footer must be fixed.  Email graphic artist to fix it.
7. Return phone calls to kids' soccer coaches.  Practice starts next week.
8. Dog comes back.  Take Copper back to the pen and secure it more thoroughly.
9. Upstairs for bath, coffee is cold.  Put on robe and go downstairs to reheat it.
10. Email is in from graphic artist. Call about number-sequence typo.
11. Receive final proof and client's email approval.

This is how, when you work for yourself, you can end up in your robe at noon.  OK, it's only 10:30, but to someone who likes to get up at 4 or 5, 10:30 might as well be lunchtime, and I'm still in my robe!  Arghh.

So when a friend says, "I'd love to work for myself -- I can stay in my robe until noon," secretly smile and knowingly nod.  Let her find out the hard way.

The courage to write Ralph Keyes

I am reading the final pages of "The Courage to Write" by Ralph Keyes, and I want to teach a workshop using that book as the text.

Teaching is what I love best.  When my articles have been published on-line or in print, I never get to see the "AHA" or correct the "HUH?" in readers' faces.

So, now that I have the courage to write (I'm writing features and covering town meetings for The Alamance News here in North Carolina, doing some freelance tech writing...does that count?, and working on a book proposal), I need the courage to ask the author and/or his publisher if I can conduct workshops based on that book.

I need the courage to e-mail Ralph Keyes.  Here goes (popping over to do that now).  There.  Not so hard.  Now all I need, all WE need, is the courage to stick with it.  What is IT?  Whatever we are doing to stay encouraged and be brave in the face of our current challenges.

Up one road and down another,
Donna D. Buskirk
One American Writer

How NOT to make money as a technical writer

I just talked my favorite client into updating his own document. 

"You did what?" 

I know you won't find that tip in any book called How To Make Tons of Money Writing Boring Documents (hey, maybe that's my next book!  Nah, you write it).

But in this case, that is best for the client, and for the readers of his documentation.

I did the same thing on software teams.  I would explain to the god-like developer (actually some were VERY nice), "Either you can explain the software to me, and I will document it, or you can write down how it works, and I will confirm it and edit the content."

Ideally, I would get access to every user-level of the software and be trained on it, or be given time to learn and use it, plus have access to actual software users who are willing to take time to tell me/show me how they use the tool, where they get stumped, and what they'd like to see in user documentation.

Ideally, the software developer has done this before in the requirements-gathering stage, before development started. 

Yeah, right.

My point is, when you help your clients help themselves, your job is easier in the end.  I will receive a draft updated by the man who knows the tool inside and out (I HOPE), and I will learn the tool as I prove his instructions are accurate.  Then I will polish the document in ways too complex and mysterious to explain here.

Tada!  I am SO wise.  Uh oh.  I think I stood too close to a software developer.

If you are working independently, check out my updated book, "How to Make Money While You Look for a Job."  The e-book edition is free for folks who join my Seven Steps to Money motivational list. 

Write Away!
Donna 

CNN Top 50 Jobs Lists Technical Writer at 28

CNN reports the median salary for an experienced technical writer is $67,400 with the high range at $99,600.  Technical Writer is listed as #28 on the top 50 jobs in America.

Some readers commenting on the article state that they achieved their positions without formal training or a college degree.

Others comment that the job can be a bit risky because technical writers tend to be the first to go when companies reduce staff.

All true.  The salary is great; if you write clearly and you quickly grasp technical concepts, you can work your way into a job, but you can get laid off before your coworkers.

Project and product managers are both higher on the list, and I know from experience that they, along with trainers, tend to quickly follow their tech-writer coworkers in the lay-off lines.

Technical writing can be lonely work, and some software developers think they are God so you have to work well with all personality types (most are VERY nice).  I recommend this for writers -- it pays much better than freelance work in most cases.  The article lists job openings in each field, so check it out.