Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Contrary to famous success stories, writing comes one step at a time. The writers most of us know are exceptions. I advise everyone else to take things one step at a time. Write a story (fiction) or an essay (non-fiction). Start to finish. Done. Good. We got that out of the way. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sorry, the title of this post is true. Several years ago, I managed a West Coast project from the East Coast. Every day I would send several faxes to the other coast to ask and answer questions. (I wrote that this was several years ago and faxes were the best means of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips All writers should read. This goes for technical writers, too. Writers should read. Writers should read good material. Writers should read several hours a day. Fine. What about the technical writer? That is all non-fiction. There are plenty of good non-fiction books to read. I recommend the Pulitzer prize winners. I also […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When writing about technical subjects, use the correct nouns and verbs as synonyms don’t work. In various forms of writing about technical subjects, synonyms don’t work. For example, when describing electric current, flow—as in the flow of electrons or current—can’t be replaced by drift or glide, which are otherwise perfectly good synonyms […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Not sure what you want to say? Start writing about the topic, and you will probably learn what it is you want to say. William Zinsser once wrote a book with the same title as this blog post. That book is better than this blog post, and the two have slightly different […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In an attempt to go back to reality, adults are returning to coloring books. Everyone has a smartphone, a tablet, a computer, or all of these. You move the mouse, the cursor moves, and lines and colors and all that appear on the screen. Press control-P and the printer produces the paper […]

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by Dwayne Phillips On the first page of each journal book, I first write a few things to keep me in the desired frame of mind. Journal Writing A tool for self awareness events people things feelings insights questions experiences with ideas dreams and fantasies The Examen Spiritual Exercises Thank God for all gifts Ask […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I learn what a technical writer does (now that I are one). I have been working in a job titled “technical writer” for about a month now. I wasn’t sure what that job title meant or what a technical writer actually does. After an entire month or so, I have concluded that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes the best thing to do as a writer is to skip the difficult parts and only do the easy things. Writers, why kill yourself? Write the easy stuff first. You may learn how to write the difficult stuff in the process. And then best of all, you may decide that the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Contrary to popular belief, length and effort in writing are inversely—not directly—proportional. In writing, length and effort are inversely proportional. Writing short, brief, to-the-point pieces require more effort than writing long, wandering pieces.Of course we know this, but often forget it. I once worked on a career description at work. I worked […]

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