Tomorrow I’m giving a four hour workshop on blogging and WordPress at the STC Summit in Sacramento. I thought I’d post my outline in case anyone is interested in how I approach these workshops. In preparing this outline, I realized that my focus on WordPress and blogging has shifted more towards producing content rather than manipulating the technology. Several years ago, you had to be … more »

This podcast interview with a professional organizer is fascinating. In Hebrew, the word “create” is the same as the word “organize.” Organization clears your mind and enables you to be more creative. Listening to this podcast made me want to clean my house and organize my closets.

Sarah O’Keefe at Palimpsest is offering several webinars on DITA and XML. I attended a webinar by Sarah before. It was clear, straightforward, and engaging. I definitely recommend her.

Mary Connor talks about the latest tools for exporting documentation to wikis. She seems to prefer Webworks ePublisher for its ability to export to Confluence, a wiki that supports authoring for future releases.

According to a survey, reading books boosts your optimism more than anything else. Quite a bit more than “blogs,” the survey says.

Ever wondered what the business model is behind Goog 411 (free directory service)? It’s “a test bed for a voice-driven search engine for mobile phones.”

Chris Anderson’s analysis about the economy of free (or “freeconomics”) is about the most fascinating thing I’ve read in a long time. Everything on the web is trending toward free — how are companies turning free into a business model? Anderson explores various reasons for the zero cost trends and lists several strategies companies are using to turn free into a profit.

Mike Hughes explains for the advantages of making content easily accessible and searchable online rather than trapped in a PDF. Very engaging voice and style in this post.

I love this essay. Paul Graham distinguishes between the “maker’s schedule” and the “manager’s schedule” and talks about the dilemma between offending someone or losing half a day’s work. Fits me perfectly, especially since some of my meetings are half a mile away. His point about the difficulty of switching modes is right on: “For someone on the maker’s schedule, having a meeting is like … more »

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Download MP3 (to download, right-click and select Save Target As) Length: 43 min. In this podcast, I talk with Ricardo Amigo, a translator and podcaster in Mexico City and Costa Rica, about the field of technical writing. This podcast is more of a reverse interview. Instead of me asking the questions, Ricardo interviews me. The general topic is … more »

Download in iPod format Jim from Iowa writes: I was doing some career research involving technical writing and stumbled upon your website.  I had a question about that sort of thing, and you seem like a good person to ask. To be frank, I have two main interests–writing and technology.  I love to read and write, but I also love engineering, working with computers, etc.  So, I guess … more »

Today should have been a day of great excitement, almost like a coronation. Having struggled with a 175 page user manual for several months, I finally finished a first draft. Today I met with the client, alongside the senior project manager, the project manager, and a few others to present the sacred document, with the words “Reference Manual” on the front. I say it should … more »

A listener to the Tech Writer Voices podcast suggested I do a podcast on the following: Give ideas to people who are just starting out in technical writing. What is the base of knowledge that every technical writer should have? And so in preparation for the podcast, I offer these five skills or characteristics as absolute musts for the technical writer: