Re: Sonnet on a Tech Writer [VERY OT]

["Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes (EPA)" <Sean.O'Donoghue-Hayes -at- ericsson -dot- com -dot- au>]

Jenise said:


-----Original Message-----
From: Cook, Jenise [mailto:jenise -dot- cook-crabbe -at- pacificlife -dot- com]
Sent: Thursday, 25 October 2001 2:09 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: 'debray -at- raycomm -dot- com'
Subject: Re: Sonnet on a Tech Writer


Deb: As others have noted, Dan's sonnet is truly a gem! How about making
space on the whirler Web site for permanently posting these creative jewels?
I know it would encourage me, and remind me that tech writing does not
necessarily slay the creative spirits within.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jenise Cook-Crabbe

**********************************************************

And in reply I do say:



Tech writing does slay the creative spirits within - it is a well proven
fact. As modern science has slain magic and all dragons that once did walk
this Earth, so to does Technical Writing - the straitjacketing of
information into structures logical and concise and precise - slay the fey
muse of writing.   

Let me run you through a few examples, presented as dot points, heading,
description, points as per the standard model, in a font recognizable by
your mail tool, and capable of being passed through the techwr-L forum:

Malcolm Shakespeare - know as Mal of Stratford on Avon - was William
Shakespeare's twin brother. At the age of 17 they took seperate paths - with
Will writing sonnets, poems, plays and other literary works, whilst Mal
wrote documentation on how to use the latest crossbow ("doth thou mightily
adjust the twine 'ere, crank back till taut, place bolt, and await till
sight is caught of thine enemy, loose thy bolt for King Harry and for
England!") and various naval requirements ("the poopdeck should be composed
of oak, not cedar. Each Oaken plank being thrice the width of Old Bill's the
shipwright's thumb....").

Now early on in their different careers Malcolm earned the better wage, and
had more stable employment - later William's star rose higher and Malcolm
became despondent.

Thus Malcolm tried to re-activate those creative juices...with such works
as:

"Much ado about the process of two recalcitrant lovers, who despite being of
different temperaments, are in fact cut from the same cloth, and in the end,
after much humorous foolery and larks, and some treachery, most vile, end up
together." Sadly the scenes where he explained the colours of their garments
for more than four pages oft put an audience to sleep! And when he referred
to Tuscany.....as "that place where there is red earth, and this red earth
being composed of many minerals and oxides, makes for beautiful walls, in
fact this place in which they now inhabit was created initially by the
Romans, and after their downfall, and the rise of others,....." at which
point he entered into a concise and exact recounting of the history of this
area of Italy....112 pages later he was finished...and he was finished!

He did another play called "The Play of the treasonous Scottish King".....it
was better, but in describing the following lacked somewhat the temper and
issue of William's work

....and Duncan spake to his followers..."Oh great men of England, Scotland,
New Hebrides, Ireland, and Wales and anywhere here, let us now gather up
these branches, and bushes, and foliage, and carry them to Dunsinane.
 (a) Cut the branches no more than 6 inches from a point at which they
branch from another branch or from the trunk
 (b) Trim the excess foliage away, whilst leaving sufficient to conceal you
and thus our numbers.
 (c) Only cut enough that you can support, no more than 6.6 cubits of weight
should each man bear.
 (d) When we march form in twenty lines....three paces apart to the side,
and two paces distant, or in front of, the person behind you.
 (e) Thus together we shall take Burnham Wood to Dunsinane.
 (f) Await the order from the Grand Marshall before proceeding.
 (h) Hark, the Grand Marshall now doth speak.
 (i) So it is stated that doth be end merrily the procedure."

***********************************

Or Jack Kero vac (writer)  and Bill (Technical Writer).

Jack wrote many pages..... Bill looked, considered, summarised, made more
concise to: "A long journey, in which shallow enlightenment discovered."

**********************************

Or Winston Churchill and his brother Chester.

Winston: "I can only promise you blood, sweat and tears."

Chester: "The only obligations that we can confirm categorically that shall
occur is that the shedding of various types of blood, O, A, O negative, and
the like, shall be required, along with extreme periods of perspiration as
we shall be working so hard, and that our tear ducts may often fill and then
splash down the front of our faces."

  				         
**********************************
  
regards and thanks, 
Sean O'Donoghue-Hayes

**Please note my email address changed on the 28th of September, 2001 to:

Sean.O'Donoghue-Hayes -at- ericsson -dot- com -dot- au

(61) (03) 9301-1695
 
EAA/N,
Melbourne Central, Level 49,
360 Elizabeth Street,
Melbourne 3000


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