I have been a professional technical writer for over 25 years. Back in 1970
it was 14, I was sitting on my stingray bicycle--and complete with scooped
banana seat and easy-rider chopper handlebars, resting in the shade of a huge
spiritual oak tree. Or maybe it was an elm or maple, but that is not the point.
I sat there looking up to the sky and implored the fates, "Please, God,
when I grow up let me be a professional writer.” I should have been more
specific.
Over time, I have honed my craft with moderate success in publications from
local weeklies, regional technical journals and a piece in the New York Times. I
also had the fortune to edit two technical trade paperbacks in the 90's. So, I string
together a few coherent sentences from time to time.
Now I teach professional communications writing skills at Farmingdale State
College, part of the SUNY system. This semester (fall 2014), I have four
classes. One of these is Media in Communications, a class I designed to sharpen
student's skills with Microsoft Office while addressing the importance of media
literacy. Podcasting (to be renamed Writing for the Web) covers skills required
to get an entry-level position for, well, writing for the web. Documentation procedures
is a technical writing course. The fourth class is a mystery
I hope that this blog will be a forum to share and discuss views on
technology, education and--because the next influences everything--politics.
So, let's hope that this blog will expand its scope beyond the audience of this
initial posting.
As they used to say in the movies, "to be continued..."
