TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
If you have a process that works for you, and you get good results,
don't sweat it.
I do the opposite of what you do - I write fast at first, then slow
down towards the end.
When I start work on a new project, I write reams of stuff that I wind
up not using... working in "brain dump" mode, writing as quickly as I
can, as I learn to use a new product or process. But this compulsive
note-taking and (almost) free-writing seems to be necessary to what I
do... priming the pump, if you will.
Then, like you, about halfway through I tend to have my "eureka" or
"aha" moment, and I can develop a sensible structure for the
documentation, cherry-pick carefully from the aforementioned reams of
stuff I've written, and finish fleshing out the documentation.
This often strikes other writers as crazy. "Why don't you work from a
structured outline from the very first day?" The only answer I've
ever been able to come up with is, until I explain to myself what it
is that I'm looking at, I don't know what I'm going to write.
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.