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 an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.
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Finally, I want to note a couple of things. I usually write the first drafts of my posts myself and then use AI to improve accuracy, clarity, and detail in places, so my writing is a mix of human and AI. (Hopefully that's not too off-putting.) Also, the opinions I express on my blog are my own perspectives, not those of my employer.