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Subject:Re: Damnit Jim, I'm a Writer, not a Programmer From:"Eugene Hopstetter, Jr." <ehopstetterjr -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Jun 2001 06:10:24 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Damnit Jim, I'm a Writer, not a Programmer
> From: Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>
> Strange, but I noticed this too when I was in college. It seemed like
> there were people on a permanent quest to "learn about writing". Its like
> the writers who sit in coffeehouses TALKING about their brilliant works,
> but never sitting down and writing them.
That's exactly why I decided not go get an MFA degree and go out into the Real World and get a
Real Job (no offense to those who have an MFA, of course; I do still dream of doing it). My
professors spent so much time in their ivory towers writing about writing that their poetry and
fiction were sterile. I had to get away from it and Live Some Life so I could have something to
write about.
And getting a nice paycheck as a TW sure made that much easier.
> I think tech-writing gets a lot of these writers. They want to live the
> life of Ernest Hemmingway but with a nice tidy paycheck each week and a
> stable set of benefits. The THOUGHT of writing something and sharing their
> thoughts is more attractive than the tepid-drudgery than actually doing
> it.
I think I've managed to find a balance between a paid job as a TW and a creative writer.
Actually, they both feed off of each other. I am most creative -- I write the most poetry -- when
I am doing the most technical writing.
And, to boot, I honestly think I make more money and have better job security than my old
university professors (that's sad, of course). And the greatest irony? When I interviewed for my
very first TW job -- my first job out of college, wet behind the ears, starry-eyed with a
brand-new BA degree in Poetry -- I had absolutely no TW or computing experience. I had about 10
minutes experience with DOS, as a matter of fact.
Know what got me the job? I name dropped Raymond Carver. The hiring manager happened to be
reading the same short story collection at the same time. He hired me b/c he wanted someone he
could talk about fiction with. Score!
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