The Tyranny of the Urgent

Posted on July 20, 2017 by

I touched on this subject a little over three years ago, and it still remains relevant. Planning and strategizing are as important for the freelancer as they are for any business, but are often neglected while we deal with the tyranny of the urgent everyday tasks that must be done NOW. However, we owe it to ourselves to be proactive and to think about the future and the big picture before we’re caught off-guard, and the important becomes the urgent. Continue reading →

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Reader Response: How Do You Handle Questions You Can’t Answer?

Posted on July 17, 2017 by

Ask and ye shall receive. I got some great questions from readers this past week. Today’s question is from Matt, who’s a regular reader (thank you!). The short version of his question was, how do you handle questions you can’t answer? My short-version answer would be: don’t apologize for not being an engineer or not knowing everything and don’t make stuff up. I have more thoughts below.

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Reader Response: Is There Work You Would Not Do?

Posted on July 13, 2017 by

I’m always open to new topics for Heroic Technical Writing, and I’d like to thank my friend Sarah Across the Pond for today’s question, the short version of which is, is there work you would not do? The short answer is: not if I can help it. Continue reading →

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Do You Need a Diplomacy Filter?

Posted on July 10, 2017 by

Sometime in my twenties, I started realizing that people could get hurt or offended by my choice of words in a business document. I wasn’t insulting people (deliberately) or using vulgar language. I was, however, not always aware of some of the sensitivities people can have toward how I phrased things. From that point on, if I found myself in a situation where I thought I might get into trouble, I made certain to have my writing reviewed by my “diplomacy filter.” Do you have one? Continue reading →

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Writing for Government Agencies in a Partisan Political Environment

Posted on July 6, 2017 by

When political passions get heated in a free society, individuals writing for government agencies can find the mere act of posting information challenging. While I’ll provide examples below, the short version of my advice is: “Write what the party/person in charge says, but don’t alienate the opposition. You need to write for everyone.” Continue reading →

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Taking Advantage of Your Opportunities

Posted on July 3, 2017 by

Every job is an opportunity. I must have heard this or something like this from my immigrant grandmother and her daughter thousands of times while growing up. The thing is, they were right, and I’ve seen that that applies as much to the world of work as it did to household chores. Continue reading →

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Studying What You Fear

Posted on June 29, 2017 by

When I was a kid I was, to put it mildly, a bit on the sensitive or high-strung side. Easily startled or frightened, there was nothing quite like thunderstorms to get my blood pumping. Not wanting to be tense every time the sky opened up, I did what I did best even in my single-digit years: I turned to reading. This approach has served me well, right into adulthood. Continue reading →

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