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Sharon wrote in part:
<I am not entirely sure that tech writing is best thought of as a creative
endeavor. While there is certainly a lot of creativity involved, it is also
a structured process that often is not creative. >
Creative masters use tools, paintbrushes, chisels, typewriters, to convey a
message, whether verbal or visual. Isn't that what we do? Andrew is
right--standards are tools. They're the means to an end not the end itself.
God help me if I ever stop being creative in what I do-trying to look at new
ways to present information, new ways to write it clearly. Somebody tell me
what's not creative about that!