American
Literature Scholar Attracted to Technical Writing
By Michael
Abrams
Many of us
know Simrita Dhir as an STC chapter volunteer currently serving
as membership vice president. But there’s much more to her than the
proficiency with which she answers queries about meetings, library privileges,
dues discounts, and other nuts and bolts. A technical writer who has worked
for top biotech and software firms, her roots are deeply planted in literary
soil.
Simrita grew
up in northwest India’s Punjab and came to the United States in 1999
with her husband, a business professional with a leading biotech company.
Though far
from her native land, arriving in California was an intellectual homecoming
for this scholar of American literature. Her PhD thesis is on contemporary
women American authors, and she has taught the subject at the Mira Mesa
campus of the San Diego Community College District.
"I like
American literature for a certain freedom that it embodies," she
says, adding, "Since World War I, America sprang into the forefront
in literature as with other fields of life. It caught the imagination
of people in the Third World and developing countries and is widely taught
in Indian universities.
"I became
keenly interested in the womens’ emancipation movement while in graduate
school, and since then I have enjoyed writers like [Toni] Morrison, Alice
Walker, Anna Quindlen, and Joyce Carol Oates. Their work inspires women
to overreach themselves and, in the process, serve society and fulfill
their own potential."
Once in San
Diego, Simrita was attracted by the opportunity to enter a growing field.
She enrolled in the San Diego State Certificate Program in Technical and
Scientific Writing, finishing in a year and a half.
Her first
job was an entry-level position at a biotech firm. After that, she took
on a contract assignment for a national franchise firm, writing manuals
and marketing slates. Then she landed her current position at a major
retail industry software developer. She writes user manuals, implementation
guides, and Web documents.
Doesn’t
she find the work confining in comparison to literature (written with
a capital L)? No, she says, adding with some soft-spoken though well-spoken
passion, there’s an art to technical communication.
"There
is a great deal of creativity involved in it—in the way you decide
to lay out content, the tools you use to take your screen captures, the
way you evolve templates and use graphics. A technical writer brings to
every document that he or she creates a certain uniqueness that is his
or her hallmark alone."
But is there a novel waiting to be born? Simrita responds, "I want to write a book only when I have a powerful story to tell."
Now I’ve got a hunch that we won’t have to wait long.
