August/September 2006

Volume 47, Number 1

The Well-fed Writer

by Stephen Wertzbaugher

Welcome to the start of another great year in the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the STC. My name is Stephen Wertzbaugher and I am one of the new editors of your chapter newsletter, Technicalities. Did I say one of your new editors? Yes—there are three of us: Donna Brannan; Dana Dutson; and me. And we have volunteered to shoulder the awesome responsibility of delivering to you, our chapter membership, a better newsletter than ever before. “How can you improve upon perfection?” you ask. We, your loving and hard-working editors, will attempt the impossible. Some might call us insane, others delusional. We may be both with a little masochism stirred in, but we have made the commitment to give you the best possible chapter newsletter. Will it be easy? No. Will everything run smoothly all the time? No. We will sometimes stumble, smack our head against the wall, and ask ourselves, “Why did we volunteer to do this?” But we will never abandon you. And I say that with a glad and light heart.

And speaking of glad and light hearts, when you read this reflect a moment on Ron Arner, our outgoing newsletter editor. For three years, Ron has steered this ship through waters calm and stormy, and published a newsletter second to none. When you see him, give him a slap on the shoulder (not too hard–we don’t want to injure him) and thank him vigorously for his dedication, service, and hard work for our chapter (and by the way his chapter service is not ending). Thank you Ron: we appreciate everything you have done for us. You are an inspiration.

So, how do we propose to improve? One of our goals this year is to improve our showing in the newsletter competition. Last year, Ron and his team won an award for Excellence and Most Improved Newsletter in a chapter of 301 to 600 members. This year, our goal is to win the award for Distinguished Technical Communication, the highest award a newsletter can achieve; and with your help, we can. Our second goal is to give you a more targeted newsletter through themes. Each issue we publish this year will be devoted to a theme related to technical communication in order to help you, our membership, make appropriate career decisions, improve your skills, and choose the tools best suited for your current tasks and careers.

Our themes for this year are Consulting and Independent Contracting; Usability; Tools and Emerging Technologies; Training and Instructional Design and Learning; Careers and Alternative Markets; and Policies and Procedures. Of course, these themes may change. If you have an idea for a newsletter theme, by all means send it to us: news@stcrmc.org. We welcome all comments and opinions.

I am excited about our first theme, Consulting and Independent Contracting, because after almost seven years of working for someone else, I have decided to take the plunge once more into those murky waters of contract writing. I am both frightened and excited about my decision and what it will mean not only for me but for my family as well. It’s a decision I have thought about for some time and one that I do not take lightly—I want to be successful, something all of us want for our careers. So, if like me you have decided to test the waters of independence, or if you are just considering it, please take a few moments to read our inaugural issue. The words within will inspire you as well as give you insight into the world of the contract writer and will, I hope, help you make the best decision for your career.