"Like My Own Personal Brand of Heroin"
The other night Shannon and I saw Twilight. It wasn't my first choice, but it's not bad, especially for a vampire movie. Actually, Edward Cullen's phrase, "You're like my own personal brand of heroin," which he uses to describe Bella (who isn't a vampire), stuck in my mind. Here's the scene:
Today I was thinking of this heroin phrase in relation to a couple of emails people sent me about technical writing. A bank teller tells me he finds his job boring and wants to break into technical writing. Another person with years of experience in technical writing has nearly the opposite feeling. She is "tired of technical writing." She finds it "boring and redundant." Instead she wants to become a freelance writer, even though she hasn't found much work in it.
My advice? If you find your day job boring -- whether you're a bank teller or technical writer -- a blog can be an escape mechanism. For me, it is like my own personal brand of heroin. It fulfills me creatively and provides an avenue for writing, expression, thinking, interacting, and exploring new technology. If you haven't discovered blogging yet, there's an entire dimension of your life it can fill. It can also be time-consuming, addictive, and physically demanding.
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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.