Re: Does grant writing fall under technical writing?

[Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>]

Hi Craig,

It is interesting that you raised this issue, today of all days! I just 
returned from a job interview for the position of Grant Writer for a 
non-profit organization.

Before the interview I took the time to look into this field more 
deeply. In addition, I have assisted with grants in the past. I will 
tell you what I told the people who interviewed me.

    The only difference between Grant Writing and technical writing is
    my target audience. What you need to be assured of is that I am
    capable of writing for your target audience, the people who will
    decide whether or not to award you a grant. I must stick to strict
    instructions, meet tight deadlines, interview subject matter
    experts, research and verify information, and then create a document
    that will be persuasive and clear.

I also gave them links to sites where they could view different types of 
writing that I have done in the past, from strict technical writing to 
poetry. I concluded that I believed that I had the background knowledge, 
experience, and capabilities to be a very good grant writer for their 
organization (they also are an organization that I happen to like very 
much, which helps).

I don't know if I will get the position, but they were very impressed. 
Each person who interviewed me had several questions about how I would 
check my work and handle tight deadlines. It was funny, in a way I felt 
like I was being interviewed for a hi-tech job. At one point I told one 
lady this and she laughed.

A key question (I felt) was when she asked what attracted me to Grant 
Righting. I told her, "Because I'd much rather do something that will 
actually help people, than sit and check a software interface and submit 
corrections to the GUI that will never be implemented because of 
deadline issues." She seemed to like that answer as well.

My point, though, is that as others have said on this list, if you look 
at Grand Writing closely, there really is no difference from it and 
technical writing. The real problem? People have a rather finite view of 
just what technical writing is. THAT topic has been discussed on this 
list no end... and will continue to be discussed.

But it seems to me, that if you have the following components, it's 
technical writing:
- Specific target audience
- Specialized information that needs to be communicated
- Specific deliverable
- Need to interview people and research topics

The problem with the word technical, is that most people think of 
numbered lists, engineers, and software, but not the "softer" writing 
that is just as difficult, such as grant writing, or marketing writing.

Can everyone do all of these? No. For example, while I feel comfortable 
doing grant writing, and the related marketing writing needed to sell 
the proposal to a potential donor, I am not at all fond of pure 
sales-oriented marketing writing.

Hope these thoughts contribute to the discussion!

Deborah
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