Re: Help!!!!! I don't know where to start

["Barnett, Eva" <Eva -dot- Barnett -at- aketontechnologies -dot- com>]

I know that the original post was a couple of weeks ago (I've been busy
with projects and just now catching up) but I thought I'd respond
anyway. (I'm relatively new to tech writing, so I'm excited to have
something to offer!)

Hudspet -at- Nationwide -dot- com wrote, in part:
"I've chosen tech writing as an upcoming profession because of my love
for the written word. But for some reason, I look at all the information
I have stacked in front of me, and my mind begins to draw complete
blanks. What I would really like to know is how intimidated do you get
each time you're confronted with a new project, and how do you handle
it?"

I have noticed, for myself, that the process of writing a large piece of
documentation is very similar to that of writing a college term paper,
with the same exciting, fun parts and the same difficult, scary parts.
Generally, the techniques I developed in college doing term papers seem
to work well for me with documentation projects:

- As Andrew wrote earlier, it works best to jump into learning the info
first. With term papers, that meant starting early enough that I had
time to really enjoy the research and giving myself permission to read
widely, sometimes about only tangentally related things. Of course, in a
job, you are answerable to whoever pays you for the time you spend, but
giving yourself _some_ time to just enjoy learning really helps.

- When I wrote term papers, I would make a huge pile of index cards with
notes from my research, without filtering too much for relevance. When
it came time to start actually writing, it was less intimidating because
I knew I had a lot of pre-digested information at my disposal. Also,
organizing was easier for me with physical cards. As I sorted the cards
by subject, often the structure of the piece I was writing would emerge
almost by itself. A nice thing about this step, too, was that I could
separate free-form learning from trying to organize before I knew enough
about the subject, without forgetting any potentially valuable
information.

- Once it is time to buckle down and write, I always have to force
myself to get started. I gather from other people's posts to this list
that this is not universal, but for me, I have to just be strict with
myself and just log some BIC (bottom in chair) time. Silly as it sounds,
giving myself treats (like a cookie for every hour I spend really
writing) helps me with this.

- I know this is obvious, but securing a quiet place to work where I
won't be interrupted is critical for the above step. At one job, I
resorted to using those earplugs they had in the machine shop. I
probably looked like a dweeb, but I could concentrate and it really
communicated "do not disturb" well.

- Another, perhaps obvious point: concentrate on getting out even a
sh*tty first draft. For my first project I ever did, I was so nervous
about getting it _right_ that I took too long getting anything out at
all.

I hope that these tips are useful to you. Good luck with your first
project! 

--Eva Barnett


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