Technical Writer HQ’s Post

We tend to think in incomplete sentences. If there were some way to put our thinking into words and then project those words onto a blank wall in front of us, our thoughts would be illegible. We would not find fully-formed sentences but instead something more akin to sentence fragments. Our thoughts would read like shattered glass. This is why writing is so important. Writing forces us to do the hard work of thinking in complete sentences. If our thinking is sloppy in our heads, it will appear sloppy on the page. And so the practice of clear writing leads to clearer thinking and vice versa. For something deeper 💌👉🏾 https://lnkd.in/gBb8VRjC

There’s nothing quite like discovering someone who articulates a thought you've always had with remarkable clarity. Here’s David Foster Wallace’s take on a word I despise: "utilize". "Utilize  A noxious puff-word. Since it does nothing that good old use doesn’t do, its extra letters and syllables don’t make a writer seem smarter; rather, using utilize makes you seem either like a pompous twit or like someone so insecure that she’ll use pointlessly big words in an attempt to look sophisticated. The same is true for the noun utilization, for vehicle as used for car, for residence as used for house, for presently, at present, at this time, and at the present time as used for now, and so on. What’s worth remembering about puff-words is something that good writing teachers spend a lot of time drumming into undergrads: ‘formal writing’ does not mean gratuitously fancy writing; it means clean, clear, maximally considerate writing.”

Today, we are going live and to talk about overcoming doubts and fears in the writing process. What questions would you like for us to talk about?

The new argumentative writing task is designed to give test takers a clearer, more authentic writing purpose than the former “decision-based” LSAT writing prompt. https://loom.ly/R_SgvHE

There are some rules and exceptions to those rules when it comes to writing out numbers in your…writing. It is generally best to write out numbers from zero to one hundred in nontechnical writing. It is common to write out numbers under ten in scientific and nontechnical writing. The readability of a paragraph can be disrupted by numbers, so it’s best to type out numbers less than 101 as fully spelled out words. One common spelling error when it comes to writing out words is people typing fourty instead of forty when typing numbers between forty and forty-nine. A number should always be spelled out when it begins a sentence (“Four members are part of the Fantastic Four” and “Nineteen eighty was the year I was born”). Jack Kirby drew this gorgeous cover of issue twenty-six of The Fantastic Four!

If good-quality writing takes time; if writing is a process; if the first draft is almost always rubbish; and if the verbs ‘to redraft’ and ‘to edit’ exist—then why do language exams assess writing skills based on a single draft written in under 60 minutes?

Every doctor is trained to diagnose before treating. But when it comes to writing, most of us do both simultaneously. Not only does this lean into our perfectionist tendencies, but it also makes the writing process much more difficult than it needs to be. Here’s a two-step approach to fix that: 1. Just write. Let your thoughts flow. Think of it as writing a letter to a friend. Don’t worry about grammar, structure, or style. You have just one goal; get ideas onto screen or paper. 2. Just edit. This is where you refine your work. Check for repetitive sentences and complicated jargon, and change or remove them as needed. But keep in mind that you will only start this step once you’ve completed your first draft. Why does this work? Because writing is the creative spark, and editing is how you control the fire. One element focuses on volume and freedom, while the other prioritizes efficiency and precision. Give this system a shot. You’ll be surprised at how quickly it dissolves writer’s block and how much better your writing becomes.

I postponed writing documentation and a slightly longer "how-to" for quite a while. I finally convinced myself to commit to doing this, but I'm still quickly jumping to anything else that's not my initial goal. Procrastination at its best 🙃 I Have a feeling that when a deadline I gave myself comes, I'll be like Bruce Almighty, bashing the keyboard to finish as fast as possible instead of doing this in a regular tempo 😂 Is it just me who avoids writing docs? How do you "make" yourself do it? #writing #documentation #procrastination

🚚 Got your report all done? 🚘 Pause!! 🚎 Our brains perform a sort of subconscious auto-correct when we read. 🚕You'll need to pay extra attention to your proofreading. 🚙 Follow the steps in this blog post for a fail-safe document. Better still, 🚀 Sign up for my public Report Writing workshop at Dunedin's beautiful Petridish. 🚁 August 5, 9.30 am - 4.00 pm. OR 🛫 Join me online 🛵 August 6, 7, 8, 9, 🚲 9.00 am - 10.30 am each day #reportwriting #technicalwriting #businesscasewriting