Technically writing

I've been paid to write for over ten years. And I've written thousands of words in that time, much of it out there on the internet. But, aside from a weirdly popular Goodreads review of an Ayn Rand book, you won't find much of it attributed to me. Most of my writing is behind digital lock and key, though. I'm sorry but you will never ever read it. I'm not just a writer: I'm a technical writer.

For most of my life, I had no idea what this meant. A college friend once mentioned that she knew someone who became a technical writer who lived a well-financed globe-trotting life. Like every job aside from a bookstore clerk, this sounded unattainable to me at the time. I didn't know anything about computers– how they worked or how to use them. I majored in English but was far from confident in my writing skills.

Through some circumstances, I ended up getting a chance to work in what, at that time and place, was called "tech pubs". I worked hard, studied, bounced back from some setbacks, and, somehow, in an essentially indescribable way that seemed infuriating to me when I was young, I ended up building a successful career out of it. Somehow.

What I want to share here are some thoughts and ideas that may help others looking to get into the field or already in it.