Born into “working poor” surroundings in upstate NY, I acutely felt the injustice, while nurturing my creative passions through the written word. Knowing my future lay outside of Lyons, I attended Christian college, where I met my wife, majored in Writing, and laid the groundwork for a future better than my past.
Moving to the Washington DC area, I worked odd jobs until landing Technical Writing work. This was the marketable means of using that passion for writing, while earning a professional-grade salary.
I’m currently on a quest to ramp the career up yet again, move more fully into Management of documentation-relevant projects, and push my career into the upper stratosphere. All this while supporting a stay-at-home wife and two unbelievable children. Having once been intimidated by my responsibilities, I am shifting to instead take on the challenge, head-on.
Loved you definition of being a technical writer. I am a Houghton English/Ed. alum who loves to write, but mostly children’s stuff. I have to hope that your technical writing might include some for industry. My hubby has been a hydraulic/pneumatic enginneer for 35 years and the people they get to write those manuals need to be upgraded. May you have a blessed Christmas fellow Houghtonian.
By: Aleatha Ziegler on December 17, 2010
at 5:52 pm
Thanks so much for the kind words! Clearly I don’t check this space nearly enough.
Houghton’s curriculum really helped me clean up my diction, get to the point quicker, and smooth the rough places. When I got into the industry, I had to memorize a vocabulary list of industry jargon, but that was a detail. The core was still the strong prose and writing voice.
By: Matthew Owen on October 31, 2011
at 4:18 pm