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Subject:Re: Liberal arts grads can't "grasp" From:Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:40:24 -0400
Bottom line, folks: you're either a writer or you're not. If you're a
writer, you can write anything. Sure, you prefer and probably do better at
some types of writing over others. (I can't write a decent poem to save my
soul.) Some writers know from their earliest years that they must write.
Others finally come to writing after seasoning in other disciplines.
The attributes that make us writers are a degree of skill with language, a
mind that can both separate and combine ideas, an ability and desire to
communicate information and experience, the ability to observe,
investigate, conceptualize, create, evaluate, and/or synthesize, plus the
determination to keep working at it until we get it the way we want it.
The diversity of the technical writing genre NEEDS the eclectic skill sets
brought by its practitioners. The complexity and pace of the world today
demand these variegated backgrounds. *We* are the ones who can help the
rest of the population make sense of the flood of information they are
exposed to daily. Each of us has a slightly different perspective based on
our unique antecedents, and that's what makes us so valuable. And so
infinitely interesting.
There is no right answer. Maybe there's no answer at all. <shrug> Maybe
it's Zen.
--Beth
Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
65 Allstate Parkway, Suite 100
Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 9X1 mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Fax: (905) 513-1419
Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com
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