Great Last-Minute Gifts for Communicators

In keeping with our long-standing (OK, we started it last year) BTL tradition, it’s time for the annual last-minute holiday gift guide for online shoppers. It’s Monday, December 21, and Christmas is THIS FRIDAY

So, here are links to several sites offering a random assortment of uncommon gifts for the really deserving technical communicators who are still on your list…the ones who are so hard to buy for. Here you go!

• STC’s Amazon affiliate link for books your writer friends will love. And your purchase makes a little gift of its own to the STC coffers.
• MoleskineUS (mol-a-skeen’-a US) for your journaling friends who can appreciate the “legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers… [possessing] stylish minimalism and unmatched quality. “
• A subscription to Premium Crosswords from New York Times for your puzzle-loving friends (like me, for example. You might also want to stuff this friend’s stocking with a helpful order of erasable pens.)
• The definitive reference for technical writers, editors, and documentation managers, Read Me First! A Style Guide for the Computer Industry, Third Edition, is an award-winning style guide written by senior editors at Sun Microsystems. Read Me First! has been revised and updated to cover everything from creating screencasts and referencing web sites to writing for wikis. (Unfortunately, this edition will not be published until after the holidays, so this amazing gift will have to be a pre-paid, redeemable card from Amazon. I’ve already ordered mine!)
• Shakespeare’s Den , an online store full of “gifts for intelligent people,” including your as-yet ungifted writing friends.

Rush-shipping orders placed with most of these vendors by noon on Monday, December 22, can be expected to reach their destination before Christmas. {Non-retail items require a little more ingenuity.)

Happy last-minute shopping!

by Karen Rokich

It’s a long way from writing a poem about a little lamb to working as a tech writer. As they say, however, every journey begins with a first step.

Margaret VanWinkle was writing short poems in the third grade. However, her exposure to writing as a career was limited in her small Ohio town (she thought all writers were novelists). Since she viewed writing as a tool, not a vocation, she didn’t take any writing classes at Ohio State. In fact, she graduated with a major in biology.

Unfortunately, the biology degree became outdated while she raised seven children. While she was living in Ontario, Canada, one of her good friends was a newspaper columnist, and Margaret began contributing articles about raising children.

Margaret re-entered the work force as a secretary and eventually worked as an executive assistant for a life insurance company in South Dakota. After her divorce, money was very tight. C. S. Lewis once said that he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia because they were the type of stories he wished he could have read as a child. Following this example, Margaret began writing personal finance columns for the Rapid City Journal—the type of columns that she wished she could have read before her divorce.

Margaret returned to Ohio in 2003 and began working for Assurant Specialty Property, first as a claims representative, and then as an administrative assistant. When a technical writing position opened, her insurance background and a portfolio of newspaper columns proved invaluable in gaining the hiring manager’s attention.

She has been a technical writer for over three years and loves it. She creates and maintains online client manuals, captures new procedures, and documents all aspects of homeowner insurance (from verifying homeowner insurance to paying insurance premiums to processing property damage claims).

She said, “The challenges of this position are common to many of us. I continually strive to maintain tact and respect as I work with managers, and I enjoy learning new software applications such as Adobe RoboHelp and SnagIt. I also strive to improve my writing skills. The STC, and especially the Southwestern Ohio chapter, has provided many opportunities for growth.”

In her free time, Margaret enjoys visiting her children and their families (in six states). She also square dances regularly and is the editor of the quarterly newsletter for the national organization Single Square Dancers USA.

by Clyde Parson

During my recent employment search, those items that I view as important were brought into full view by way of a personality profile that I was asked to complete. It was a very interesting “test” that only required me to choose a series of single words from among twenty-four groups of words. The result was astoundingly accurate. During the interview process, the results were covered and a statement was made that I’ve continued to think about each time the Admin Council’s discussion turns to the topic of membership value.

We don’t often come across technical writers who are as extroverted as you are.

Since I know that I’m recharged by my alone time, I understand that I’m actually an introvert but it is nice to receive the feedback that I do as good a job with my verbal communication as my written. I do genuinely enjoy people and I can see how this combination of factors would influence what I would want from an STC membership.

I also recall an interview with a different company during the same employment search where one former long-term technical communicator turned hiring manager shared with me his preferred work method.

I would love it if they would slide my work under the door in the morning and I could slide out the completed tasks that afternoon.

Differences like those between myself and this hiring manager have given me reasons to seriously consider exactly why I’m a member of STC and what I hope to gain from my membership. With that in mind, here the top reasons why I belong to STC (in no particular order):

• Social interaction
  I used to believe that I preferred the warm glow of a computer monitor but in recent years I’ve found that I would much rather talk to someone face-to-face (never mind the fact that LCD monitors just aren’t as cozy to snuggle up with as CRT’s once were!)
• Status associated with membership
  Several employers during my employment search, including the one that I ultimately selected, seemed quite impressed with the fact that I was a member and the chapter president. I think this speaks to one’s personal commitment to his or her chosen profession. It says that I view this as a career rather than just another job.
• Sense of belonging
  As a “lone writer,” it’s nice to know that there are others who share the same concerns and issues even if they happen to work for a different employer.
• Career related networking opportunities
  I’ve long held the belief that the sales function is significantly influenced by how good the salesperson is at building a relationship with a prospective client. In much the same manner, the hiring process can be significantly eased by the establishment of relationships outside the interview.
• Working toward a common goal
  In my Suncoast leadership position, I’ve been able to experience the synergy that can take place when multiple people are all pulling in the same direction to accomplish the same goals.
• Opportunities to express my creativity
  I tend to think in “big picture” terms but since I’m not running my own business I don’t always have an outlet for my ideas. Serving in a leadership position with our chapter has provided numerous opportunities to let my creative juices flow.

As the time for membership renewal has once again arrived, I would encourage all STC members to take a moment and reflect on exactly why they joined STC in the first place. Perhaps your list may include some of the items I mentioned. Maybe you came from a completely different angle and your list would be very different. Either way, there’s value in revisiting your original decision.

Further, I would encourage you to reaffirm that original decision by renewing your membership if you have not already done so. If you feel that you have not received all from your membership that you would have preferred, I would ask you to consider getting involved with your chapter (your *community*) at a deeper level. Remember, like many things in life, you can only get out as much as you put in.

STC currently offers a new program to help members who have been affected by the unsettled economy:

• Up to 100 Full Recovery Packages. Each package has a $215 value that pays Basic dues
• Up to 300 Subsidy Recovery Packages. Each of these pays the difference between the Basic dues rate of $150 (2009 dues) and $215 (2010)–a $65 value