The old adage "Write what you know" has some truth to it, but some people take it far too literally. If people only wrote about what they knew at the time there would be no science fiction, no fantasy, no speculation toward the future, no dreaming ... all that would be left would be dry first-person experiences.

I prefer to take the phrase a little differently: Write what you Know. Know, as in Truth, as in the greater Truths that bind us all together. Such a definition doesn't rely on knowledge of particular details. It's more an awareness of the human condition and universal laws than whether you actually know what it feels like to be shot.  -- Read more

A big deal is often made about organization, sometimes too big a deal. However, sometimes without the big O you make your job far more difficult than it should be.

First, you have to look at whether the items you're trying to organize are digital or physical. I'm going to focus on digital here. In part, this means that I don't generally recommend printing out material unless you absolutely need to. Too often, people print out material that they really didn't need to, keep it for a few days, toss it in a pile, and then eventually just recycle or toss it out completely unused. Better to not print it out unless you absolutely need to. (If saying so makes me a tree hugger, I guess I should go outside and start hugging some trees. -- Read more

If you're doing an interview where there's a lot of information about to be shared, and/or you need to make sure you can quote people accurately, you might want to record it. To do so, you'll need equipment. What equipment depends on whether you want to do the interview through a regular phone line or through an Internet phone line. If you want to record through a regular phone line, you'll find the topic far more complex than you might expect for a number of reasons: -- Read more

I went to Seattle for a data visualization seminar with Edward Tufte, who is well known for his ability to bring his data to life. The seminar isn't cheap, though it includes about $200 worth of books in the price. When a friend gushed about this class to me I had to seriously think. Was the cost and time worth it, especially given certain fiscal realities?

When looking at these kinds of decisions, it can be hard to be objective, but you need to do it. Especially if you're unsure you can afford the price. Sometimes the reality is you can't afford not to. But you can't really make this decision unless you have a clear idea of where you're trying to go. -- Read more

Between my blog and my other writing work lately, I seem to be doing a whole lot of interviews. In some cases, the interviews are for information, such as when I'm working on a news article. In that case I'm probably also looking for some quotes. With others, like the ones I post here, the whole point is to share the interview itself.

I used to hate doing interviews. It wasn't the process, unless there's transcription involved. (More on this topic later, transcription is essentially taking the audio or video interview and writing or typing it out into text.) The bigger problem for me was actually coming up with the questions. What the heck do you ask? -- Read more

Whether you're doing technical writing, writing course materials, or even writing some how-to article that doesn't seem at all related to either of these topics, you probably at some point will have to write a series of instructions. Maybe those instructions have to detail how to get somewhere, how to use a particular software feature, or how to do cook that delicious meal you made last night.

Writing good instructions isn't rocket science, unless you're writing something for aerospace engineers, but it does involve practice and a good eye for detail. In particular, you have to: -- Read more

Some people would rather gnaw their own leg off than stand up in front of a group of people and speak. However, if you can pull it off, getting out and speaking can be a great way to raise your profile, build your audience, network with peers, and build your customer base. -- Read more

Time is precious, especially in an age where we don't bother to really appreciate it as it passes. Yet, many of us play fast and loose with both our work and personal time by neglecting one very simple but easily overlooked task: making backups.

The most vivid reminder to me of the need for backups is from the days when I worked a computer help desk whie in university. Many times a semester, someone would come in nearly in tears, holding the floppy disk that contained their one and only copy of, say, their Ph.D. or Masters' thesis. The disk had been damaged. The thesis was due next week. Could we get their data back. -- Read more

I'm blessed of late with clients who pay very promptly. Early, for the most part! But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't keep on top of things. To this end, I made sure and to set up a project management and invoice/billing tool so that I could easily create invoices through it, mark them as paid through it, and more importantly be reminded when the invoice came due.

For the first time yesterday I got a reminder that an invoice was overdue. I looked and sure enough, it hadn't been paid, though it was for a client that tends to be early time after time.  -- Read more

On Thursday March 12, 2009, the New York Times published an article about freelancers turning to the Web for work. The sites in particular they refer to are (why can't they put links in the online version of the articles, isn't that what the Web is about?): -- Read more