Top 10 Gag Christmas Gifts for Technical Writers
- Fortune cookies with fortunes rewritten as numbered lists.
- Bobblehead with favorite SME's face pasted on the front.
- Stack of how-to manuals from everything you assembled for Christmas.
- Copy of that House episode with the agoraphobe tech writer and comment "Saw this and thought of you."
- "Certificate" of year's achievements with typos on it.
- Jigsaw puzzle of the current interface the tech writer is documenting, but rearranged.
- Photo calendar of the project team with month-by-month candid shots, mostly in meetings.
- Pen with the inscription, "Hold nothing back" (but remove ink).
- Microsoft Manual of Style with lengthy inscription from Sarah Palin.
- Copy of the author's favorite style sheet written in Japanese calligraphy.
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Thanks to Kirstyt for contributing #4 and #5.
If you have any additional gift ideas, please add them in the comments below.
About Tom Johnson
I'm a technical writer / API doc specialist based in the Seattle area. In this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, visual communication, information architecture, writing techniques, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out simplifying complexity and API documentation for some deep dives into these topics. If you're a technical writer and want to keep on top of the latest trends in the field, be sure to subscribe to email updates. You can also learn more about me or contact me.