Call for Columnists |
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In 1999, after reading an issue of Signature in which the editor (then Mike Wilder) asked for volunteer writers, I offered to write "something funny" about technical writing. I was thinking a one-time article; Mike thought "column." And so the Tech Writing Humor column was born. Now I understood why Mike made the leap to column so quickly. From an editor's standpoint, columns guarantee content. And because columnists by nature are dedicated professionals, that content is usually quality content. Also, columns give the newsletter continuity month to month. For readers, columns anchor the newsletter into their routines. Columns benefit the columnists, too. In the six years I've been writing the Humor column, I've received rewards I could not have predicted. Occasionally I write something that resonates, and then I receive emails from readers telling me what struck them about the piece. When that happens, I carry a little nugget of satisfaction with me all day. Sure, writing a column is hard work. Some months, I wait in vain for the muse. And I never know where exactly the line is between being funny and being caustic. Still, feeling out that line is a lot of fun, and I dare say my paranoid nature usually plants me on the right side of it. Signature has some fabulous columnists now: Deborah Gill-Hesselgrave
("Thinking Independently") and Gail Van Landingham ("A
Word on Word") are proof. We are always looking for more. If you
specialize in a form of technical communication (graphics, for example,
or online help), and you can commit to writing 300-500 words each month
(ten months a year) on that topic, here's your chance to become a published
expert. I think you'll find, like I did, that the rewards for being
a columnist far outreach the burden of coming up with a concept every
month. See you next month,
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