Closing One Chapter, Opening a New One

by Tom Johnson on Aug 14, 2007
categories: technical-writing

I know the title of this post sounds cliche, but it's how I feel. In 4 days, I'll be driving a 17 ft. U-haul towing a trailer minivan with 3 small children 2500 miles from Florida to Utah, moving into a little town, starting a new job, beginning so many things over. But during our three years in Florida, a lot happened in my life. I want to list them here so I remember.

I arrived in Florida from Egypt after having spent 2 yrs teaching writing at the American University in Cairo. Re-entry into the U.S. was a bit harsh -- arriving without job, car, apartment, and my wife being pregnant. Pressure was on to get settled, and we did.

I quickly found a job as a copywriter for a health and nutrition company. It was interesting in part because everyone was a scientologist there except me. Clearwater is the capital of scientology, and that's where we were living. I learned that L. Ron Hubbard even has instructions for writing press releases and marketing copy.

I wrote copiously at that job, but the pay was too little to sustain my family, so I turned to a more lucrative field: technical writing. Because I had done some bio-technical writing describing protein synthesis and other nutrition/health topics, a PhD at Raymond James (my future supervisor) saw clarity and talent in my writing and hired me as a technical writer. I joined a group of about 10 technical writers and learned a lot about technical writing -- online help, how-to guides, RoboHelp, software engineering methodology, large IT departments, style guides, committees, tools, single sourcing, styles, templates, and so much more.

My supervisor introduced me to the STC and encouraged us to attend. I accepted a volunteer position as a webmaster and reworked the Suncoast chapter site into a WordPress blog. Many members loved this and it made me more visible in the chapter because I posted a lot of content. When the old president left (to teach in Arkansas) she invited me to be president, and I served as president for the next year. As president, I learned a lot about competitions, recruiting, befriending people, planning, budgeting, and other STC things.

The same month I become STC president, I was also called to be a counselor in the branch presidency at my church. This was a surprising calling for me, since I'm young (31) and inexperienced in these kinds of things. I initially feared taking two large leadership roles at the same time, but they were opportunities I couldn't pass up. I learned a great deal about leadership serving as counselor -- how to call people, evaluate needs, fill positions. I watched in close view the branch president make decisions and strategically plan to grow the branch.

I'm not sure why, but during this time I also jumped in head over feet into blogging and podcasting. I started this blog separate from the Suncoast blog, and learned as much as I could about WordPress. I became an expert on WordPress and later presented on blog usability and Wordpress at the Vancouver Documentation and Training Conference.

My readers grew and grew, from 50 to 500. My podcast audience also grew. I interviewed experts literally from around the world, publishing audio content more frequently than I had time. I reworked the site several times, experimenting and playing with different WordPress designs. I also wrote three Intercom articles on blogging and podcasting, one of which was the feature story for a month.

I can't forget (and I shouldn't have listed it last here) that we had another baby: Lucy. Our third girl, Lucy looks very much like our first -- redish hair, beautiful eyes, soft complexion. Just last month she learned to crawl and has been going crazy with the newfound mobility. When I pick her up (from a bath or high chair) she makes frog-kicks with her legs trying to find ground -- it's quite funny. Having three young girls has been a lot of fun -- and challenging, of course. But family is central to me.

Florida is where my wife Shannon started blogging. She took off with blogging and has shown me a side of her that reminded me of when we first met and exchanged emails daily. She's so witty and quick -- I wish I were as good a writer as she is. I love reading her blog. Blogging also opened up a new world for her, giving her opportunity to interact with others in a new way, providing a space to express her intellect.

I also developed family relationships, living so closely to my father and sister. I hadn't lived in the same city as my dad for 15 years, and here we practically lived next door. I lived close to my sister as well. We spent quality time together. My sister got married and had a baby (Rachel), who now walks and rides rocking horses like she's trying to win rodeo contests.

A lot has happened in these three years. I've now transferred the chapter presidency reigns to the next guy, I've been released from my calling, the final days of my job are winding down, and we're packing up boxes. I've learned so much, changed so much. The next place I live, I want to stay forever, but I know that I can't predict how everything will happen, what new events will take place in my life. What we learn in one place we use to build up to another level.