Re: OT: Funny Tech Writing

[Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>]

The story itself isn't familiar, but the situation certainly is. I have 
had many clients who have done exactly that. They reject the first thing 
I give them, we work through various drafts toward a version they're 
finally happy with, and it turns out to be so close to the original it 
isn't funny. The first couple of times that happened, I got pretty 
upset. But I realized that what was really going on was a process of 
educating the client on working with a writer and how the client's 
vision becomes reality. My training and experience let me leap to the 
concrete form of what they wanted, but they couldn't make that leap 
without going through the evolutionary stages.

I learned to build those stages, and the time they took, into my price 
quotes. Even in an employment setting, much of what we do is about 
educating our "clients" about how to turn the idea of documentation into 
a tangible result.

Not so off-topic after all.
--Beth

vrfour -at- verizon -dot- net wrote: