Writing

Posts in my writing category focus in some way on the practice of writing. This could involve techniques for organizing content, coming up with ideas, how to get into states of flow, or other topics related to writing. The writing category is broader than simply technical writing, which is the more specific focus of this blog.

The following content is in the writing category:

Unpacking the issues from AI — thoughts on Alan Porter's post Am I the AI Luddite? and Fabrizio Benedetti's How I'm using AI as a technical writer | Nov 11, 2024

Blogging as personal training? | Jul 26, 2024

Seeing invisible details and avoiding predictable, conditioned thought (ZAMM series) | Jun 26, 2024

[Podcast] Uncovering and communicating the value of your tech comm teams' work, with Keren Brown | May 30, 2024

Updates two years later on my smartphone experiment | May 21, 2024

AI is accelerating my technical writing output, and other observations | Apr 14, 2024

My 2024 technical writing trends and predictions | Jan 1, 2024

Podcast: Notes and themes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig | Dec 15, 2023

30+ ways I’m using AI in everyday writing life as a technical writer, blogger, and curious human | Dec 4, 2023

Podcast: Tech writing and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with Dan Grabski | Nov 18, 2023

Doing research with AI tools -- avoiding the trap of fabricated URLs | Nov 9, 2023

My experience trying to write original, full-length human-sounding articles using Claude AI | Oct 25, 2023

Chatting about AI trends and tech comm with Fabrizio Ferri Benedetti | Oct 20, 2023

What is Diátaxis and should you be using it with your documentation? | Oct 18, 2023

[Podcast] AI and APIs: What works, what doesn't | Oct 14, 2023

Forrester Report, Coding jobs, Hyper-personalization, RFPs, Call center replacement (Oct 9, 2023) | Oct 9, 2023

What I learned in using AI for planning and prioritization: Content strategy might be safe from automation | Oct 6, 2023

Open-source contribution myths, Hiring poets to train LLMs, Problems with 'content', AI agents (Oct 6, 2023) | Oct 5, 2023

Embracing professional redefinition | Oct 3, 2023

New API course topic: Using AI for summaries | Sep 7, 2023

New API doc course topic: Using AI for glossary definitions | Sep 4, 2023

New API doc course topic: Using AI for language advice | Aug 9, 2023

First Look at Oxygen XML's Positron AI Assistant [API doc course] | Jul 4, 2023

How the blog-to-book experiment is going: challenges and thoughts | Jun 15, 2023

Approaching the college personal essay: Tips as a parent helping your student write a compelling essay | Jan 17, 2023

One year later after moving to Seattle | Dec 22, 2021

Broadcasting your meeting notes (API documentation topic) | Dec 11, 2021

Five basketball strategies and how they might apply to tech comm | Jul 7, 2021

Balancing product overviews with getting started tutorials | Jul 6, 2021

Videocast: Micro content and Flare -- Conversation with Kate Schneider | Mar 21, 2021

Write the Docs Podcast episode 33: Simplified user interfaces, with Anton Bollen | Jan 19, 2021

Site analytics for 2020 -- trends, reflections, and thoughts | Jan 18, 2021

Measuring documentation quality -- a rubric for developer docs | Jan 12, 2021

Documentation templates and The Good Docs Project -- guest post by Ankita Tripathi | Nov 17, 2020

The story behind Document360 -- podcast with founder Saravana Kumar | Nov 17, 2020

Process for collecting feedback post-release (new article in API doc course) | Nov 16, 2020

Write the Docs Podcast episode 32: Self-publishing and AsciiDoc, with Mehmed Pasic | Nov 2, 2020

Processes for maintaining existing documentation (new article in API doc course) | Oct 30, 2020

Developer experience (DevX) usability (new article in API doc course) | Oct 12, 2020

Does working outside with the world as your office actually work? | Oct 8, 2020

New article in API course: Processes for reviewing documentation | Sep 23, 2020

On cultivating a garden while the world is crumbling around you | Sep 18, 2020

Inexpensive media hosting and CLI uploading with Wasabi? | Sep 1, 2020

Playing a product design role as a content designer -- podcast with Jonathon Colman | Aug 24, 2020

When 10X translates into -10X: debunking the myth of the 10X technical coder/writer | Aug 20, 2020

SDK release process article added to API doc course | Aug 19, 2020

DX content strategy article added to API doc course | Aug 19, 2020

Processes for managing large documentation projects and small documentation requests | Aug 13, 2020

A tip for doc reviews -- bring a list of questions | Jul 24, 2020

Write the Docs Podcast episode 30: Documentation templates, with Juan Lara | Jul 20, 2020

Writing productivity tip: Focus sessions | Jul 12, 2020

Treat code like code and prose like prose | Jun 16, 2020

Write the Docs Podcast episode 28: UX writing processes and considerations | Mar 24, 2020

Life on reset -- new dynamics emerging | Mar 23, 2020

Working from home — things I've bought | Mar 22, 2020

How life has changed with the pandemic | Mar 16, 2020

Is there a place for exploratory writing in the workplace? | Mar 10, 2020

*How* you write influences *what* you write — interpreting trends through movements from PDF to web, DITA, wikis, CCMSs, and docs-as-code | Feb 20, 2020

Reflections on my 2019 site analytics | Jan 8, 2020

Long-term strategies for project productivity | Oct 22, 2019

How to avoid inefficiencies even with context switching | Jun 6, 2019

My slide links and presentation descriptions at the 2019 STC Summit | May 4, 2019

First look at Document360 -- an authoring/publishing tool that satisfies both KB and tech pubs needs | Apr 22, 2019

When you're in the business of complexification | Apr 11, 2019

Why I decided not to become a grasshopper expert, or, Not deciding your focus based on where readers are clicking | Apr 9, 2019

A hypothesis on how to exert more influence and visibility inside the corporation | Apr 8, 2019

Master's in technical writing at Mercer — FAQ | Mar 26, 2019

Results from survey about engineers who write documentation | Mar 21, 2019

My documentation takeaways from the Boeing disaster -- two essential doc questions to ask for any project | Mar 20, 2019

Should you get a degree in a tech comm program? Two considerations to keep in mind | Mar 13, 2019

Write the Docs podcast episode 20: Minimum requirements for good tech docs, with Matt Reiner | Mar 3, 2019

Recording and slides for my trends presentation at the Symposium for Communicating Complex Information (SCCI) | Feb 24, 2019

How to become a 10X technical writer in the workplace | Feb 7, 2019

Is Premium Grammarly worth it for identifying style and grammar issues in tech docs? | Dec 28, 2018

Top 10 holiday gifts for technical writers | Dec 18, 2018

How to avoid being a secretary for engineers | Nov 19, 2018

I'd Rather Be Writing is now an Alexa Flash Briefing skill | Nov 5, 2018

Write the Docs Podcast Episode 17: Structured Writing -- reasons and approaches, with Mark Baker | Oct 23, 2018

Brainstorming by transposing patterns from one category to another | Oct 19, 2018

Tech comm trends -- why tech writers will be collaborating more with engineers | Oct 9, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part I) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part II) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part III) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part IV) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part V) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part VI) | Oct 2, 2018

Tech comm trends: Providing value as a generalist in a sea of specialists (Part VII) | Oct 2, 2018

Write the Docs Podcast episode 16: An open-source Grammarly for tech docs? | Sep 6, 2018

How I handled data for about 10 device specifications on the same page -- the advantages of a flexible, customizable web-based framework like Jekyll | Aug 31, 2018

If writing is no longer a marketable skill, what is? | Aug 9, 2018

The right story for tech writers to tell in a corporate blog post | Aug 2, 2018

Random reflections on the throwaway mentality in our culture | Jul 3, 2018

The reason I always find time to write on this blog | May 18, 2018

Write the Docs Podcast episode 14: Humanizing your documentation | Mar 23, 2018

How to become a voracious reader | Dec 1, 2017

How do you communicate user progress in a course without a Learning Management System (LMS)? | Nov 28, 2017

Intro to API Documentation -- recording of presentation to STC Silicon Valley chapter on 11/20/2017 | Nov 19, 2017

Balancing writing, editing, and learning in equal measures | Nov 18, 2017

SwaggerHub: A collaborative platform for working on OpenAPI/Swagger specification files, and more | Oct 5, 2017

Has plain language deepened or ruined our delight in language? | Sep 20, 2017

Write the Docs Podcast episode 9: Chatbots in Documentation | Sep 19, 2017

Why Stack Overflow's Documentation effort failed -- a few thoughts from a technical writer's perspective | Aug 5, 2017

Why simple language isn't so simple: the struggle to create plain language in documentation | Jul 27, 2017

The problem with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in documentation | Jun 23, 2017

Amazon begins pilot with voice-interactive user manuals | Apr 1, 2017

Simplifying my life and writing | Mar 15, 2017

Guest post -- The effects of terminology consistency on the reader's comprehension and attitude | Mar 10, 2017

Adobe FrameMaker 2017 -- time, tools, and the tech writer’s focus on content | Mar 6, 2017

Are technical writing blogs growing or dying? | Jan 5, 2016

What is the technical writer's role in content marketing? | Jan 4, 2016

Analyzing top posts on my blog during 2015 — Deciding between brand versus readership | Jan 1, 2016

Guest Post: Could Software Perform Technical Writing? by Robert Desprez | Dec 4, 2015

The Author Experience -- Interview with Rick Yagodich | Nov 5, 2014

The Rebirth of My Podcast | Dec 11, 2012

Incorporating Elements of Speech into Writing | Sep 18, 2012

Guest Post: Core Skills for Technical Writers Often Overlooked | Aug 16, 2012

Writing as a Holy Calling | Jul 9, 2012

Is Collaborative Authoring Over-Hyped? | Jun 12, 2012

A Life of Its Own: An Essay About an Article That Was Never Published | Feb 8, 2012

A Reverse Approach to Help Authoring: Writing Documentation Post-Release | Feb 2, 2012

A Lifetime of Reading Versus a Lifetime of Writing | Jan 13, 2012

Writing My Last Chapter | Dec 13, 2011

Why Is Corporate Blogging So Hard? | Jun 21, 2011

What Does It Mean to Be Innovative? | May 24, 2011

Text Matters | Nov 5, 2010

Being Contrarian | Oct 29, 2010

Tiny Tasks and Content Dilution | Jun 29, 2010

Typography for Lawyers | Apr 29, 2010

The Long Tail Applied to Writing | Apr 20, 2010

NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo Start Nov 1 | Nov 1, 2009

Choosing Between Academic and Corporate Life: Did I Make the Wrong Choice? | Oct 10, 2009

"Tell me a story" -- Advice from Writers | Sep 17, 2009

Write When Inspired, Rest When Tired | Aug 10, 2009

Blogging as an Outlet for Technical Writers | Jul 31, 2009

50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills | Developers Toolbox | Smashing Magazine | Jun 28, 2009

Why I Don't Take Freelance Writing Jobs Anymore | Mar 19, 2009

Great Books by Writers Who Aren't Dead Yet | Jan 21, 2009

'Lost the Fire – How to Rekindle It' – A Second Response | Nov 7, 2008

Answering Reader's Questions: 'My Desire to Write Burns in My Heart Daily' | Oct 7, 2008

Interview with Me in TechCraft | Jul 1, 2008

Stoking the Creative Muse: How Finding Ideas to Write About Is Similar to Remembering Your Dreams | Feb 29, 2008

"A self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration" | Oct 25, 2007