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Learn to have a Passion for
 Good
Writing
I have always had a natural ability to explain things to people. As a
full-time technical author, I am passionate about good writing, and I
value the quality of good documentation for my clients and their
customers.
At Bath University, where I studied Applied
Physics with Electronics, I won the Year Prize for the best Finals Thesis
- my first award for good documentation.
Across my career, I was often asked to write the
Technical Manuals and Help Guides. I improved my skills by continually asking many customers
for feedback on what they liked to see in a good Manual or Help Guide.
This author is most grateful for all that feedback!
I have studied the best practices of Technical Writing across the
English-speaking countries world-wide. Fortunately, they were all saying
the same things, so I adopted their recommendations into my technical writing
style, and later developed a
Technical Writing Course.
Scientific background
At 4 universities,
I studied Applied Physics, Electronics and Control Engineering, to Masters level. This included a fair bit of
chemistry too.
I have always had wide scientific and technical interests. Before I left
school, I designed and
built radio transmitters / receivers / power supplies / amplifiers, and later I built a complete 2-manual electronic organ
from the individual components. In my early career years, I was a member of the
British
Interplanetary Society, – fascinated by advances in space exploration.
What
did I write about? ... What am I good at?
I find that I can write competently about almost any
technical, industrial or business area. I have helped customers in diverse areas
such as:
- How to operate Leisure Centre Management Systems
- How to run a Lawn Care Franchise
- Technical Specifications for the contract to build the
European
Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which will be the world's largest optical telescope,
having a 39-metre mirror.
- How to use dozens of software applications in diverse fields,
such as the
BP Shipping oil fleet cargo management;
pharmacy dispensing; physiotherapy booking systems...
- How to operate a medical, blood-testing device (e.g. for
diabetes)
- How to operate and maintain
industrial, 3D X-Ray scanning systems
- I edited the database of all the medical equipment used in all
the hospitals and dental practices in India, via Crown Agents
- Operator Manual,
equipment for freeze-drying of nuclear waste for Berkeley
Nuclear Power Station
- Aircraft refuelling procedures for Heathrow Airport.
What do you need to write about?
Blessed with an excellent scientific and technical background, I learned
a lot of writing skills in 17 years of
running my own authoring business.
Now I want to pass on to you the best of what I know.
These skills work even on new subject areas that may be dropped onto
your desk. It happened to me all the time - there was always something
new. For example, when the
Cardiac Research
dept. at the University of Oxford asked me to do a Help Guide for some new software
that predicted the effect of proposed new drugs on heart
cells, I was able to do the job, and they
were well pleased indeed.Ask the Technical Author
If want to learn to be a good technical
author, download and study my Free Course.
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