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.
Subject:Re: when a bad manual wins.. From:Win Day <winday -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 1 Nov 1996 06:56:35 -0500
At 03:05 PM 10/31/96 -0500, Bob -dot- Jones -at- PAREXEL -dot- COM wrote:
> I am in the middle of rewriting a numbing set of very bad manuals, and
> I feel like the bad manuals are winning. I feel like I have mono
> whenever I sit down to work on them. They have broken my spirit.
> What do you do to when I project gets you down?
Treat it as a personal challenge.
Set small goals, easily reached, for bits of the work. Reward youself when
you reach a goal: take a walk, work on something else (anything else!) for a
while, defragment you hard drive.
Find particular tasks within the larger body of work that you DO enjoy, and
rejoice when it's time to do them.
Find a sympathetic ear, and bare your soul periodically. This comes under
the heading of "if you listen to me whimper this week, I'll listen to you
when you need it"; make sure you feel comfortable returning the favour, and
hold yourself to it.
If the manuals are truly that bad, can you write them from scratch rather
than rewrite? If you can treat the project as new work, even if only in
your own mind, you might be able to get past the stumbling block.
And good liuck!
Win
--------------
Win Day
Technical Writer/Editor
Email: winday -at- idirect -dot- com
