Re: How fast do I need to be able to write?

[Linnea Dodson <tscribe -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM>]

>From techwr-l -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu Tue Dec  1 13:23:28 1998
>>Writer's block barely exists in technical writing, because we
>>aren't searching for the perfect metaphor or evoking the proper
>>emotion
>
>I often spend a long time looking for the best way to organize the
>information.
>
>I don't know how others manage, but I find that I can't write
>comfortably about something until I'm pretty close to being an
>expert

I think this is a Your Mileage May Vary situation - I find the best way
of learning anything is to document as I go, even if I have to rearrange
and toss a lot of the writing later.  In fact, I expect to rearrange and
toss most of the writing; it takes 3 passes to have what I consider a
draft. (First a raw data dump, second a correction of
mistakes/misapprehensions, third a rearrangement and polish.)

Admittedly, this is when I'm writing about something concrete; a more
abstract concept like developing a learning plan takes longer and
involves more staring at a blank screen while I think it through.  Yet
even then, I tend to write the specific learned tasks first in random
order (this is how to open a file/create a brochure/fill out this answer
on the form) just to get up momentum, then sit back and rearrange the
bits into a logical order.

I've also found that my boss seems to appreciate my waving a stack of
pages at the end of the day, even though we both know that it may be
entirely gutted and redone the next morning.  There's something
reassuring to management at a stack of paper, even if it's covered in
red ink.

This is not to say that I disagree with your way, but to illustrate why
I said what I said.

Nea

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