Re: STC Letter to the Editor

["Karen L. Zorn" <klzorn -at- zorntech -dot- com>]

GRRRRRR!!!!!!

All this arguing! All this tempest in a teapot! All this <whatever>!

I'm currently sitting at my desk with 5 tech pubs entries for the STC
Southwest Regional Publications, Art, and Online (PAO) Competition sponsored
by the Phoenix chapter. There are three chapters involved in this
competition: Phoenix, Kochina (New Mexico), and Southern Arizona-Tucson.
There are judges from each chapter and entries from all and
others--California, Seattle, and Oregon. STC and non-STC members entered.
Doesn't matter to our PAO committee or judges. Our pubs judges come from all
writing disciplines. Our on-line judges have on-line experience. Our art
judges are actively involved in art of all disciplines.  A very determined
effort was made by the PAO committee when assigning entries to judging teams
to resolve any possible conflicts. Judges have recused themselves
fromjudging an entry because they know the authors/artists.

The entries I'm judging are all tech pubs, but in different *categories*:
informational materials, technical reports (2), software guides, and books.
There are many, many pubs categories, not just one huge melting pot.

I know none of the authors, I know very little or nothing about their
companies, and really could care less. All I'm concerned with is how well
each publication stacks up against the judging forms provided by STC
national. If you are interested in the standards, go to www.stc-phoenix.com
> competitions > judging and look at the forms yourself.

Having been involved with many different activities (dog shows, horse shows,
needlework, writing) wherein I've been judged and critiqued, I've taken
lessons learned thru experience and applied them to my judging activities.
I've learned that judging is never "fair" in the eye of the competitor,
unless you win and win big. All judging, whether it be in a competition or a
courtroom is subjective. It can't be helped or avoided, we are only human
beings.

Frankly, having been an entrant in different competitions, it takes guts and
moxie to put yourself forward for someone else, most likely a stranger, to
evaluate. When you spend as much time, energy, and emotion in writing
(knitting, baking, training, etc.) as we do, putting your end result on the
table for all to take a crack at is unnerving and in some cases cause for
high anxiety. I may not have won to honors for most of my projects, but
everytime I get a critique from a judge, I've learned something. Isn't that
the purpose? Learning? If you win an award of some kind, that's just icing
on the cake.

Instead of throwing stones, and in some cases here large boulders, put
yourself on the line. Not everyone who writes, paints, bakes, or whatever
places themself in a position to be judged. It's difficult. Perhaps not as
difficult as putting your work in front of an up-close-and-personal editor,
but difficult. I learned long ago if I wanted to continue in the writing
field, I must learn to grow a thicker skin and not fear red ink.

A contest is a contest. The only one I can think of that is probably the
most fair and non-subjective are the regional and national spelling bees,
but since I never participated, that's just a guess.

Just my 2 cents on a Sunday afternoon.
Karen L. Zorn
Zorn Technologies, Inc.
STC-Phoenix PAO Pubs Manager
Mesa, AZ


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!

All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.