Name: Deborah J. Miller
Background: Miller, 38, graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a bachelor`s degree in theater, and earned a master`s degree in theater from Northwestern University. She got her first free-lance technical-writing job from Educational Systems in Northbrook and has been doing it ever since. Miller has lived in Evanston for 16 years.
Years as a technical writer: 9
Most people don`t understand what a technical writer does. There are as many different types of technical writing as there are technical writers. I specialize in computer training and documentation. The documentation is the printed material that comes with a piece of software or hardware. It explains everything about the system, while the training teaches you specific procedures for using the system. The training and documentation come with any computer system.
The documentation comes in many forms: a template over the keyboard and a quick and easy reference guide. But most people are familiar with the reference manual. It`s kind of like an encyclopedia. The training can come as standup (classroom), audio or videotapes, self-paced workbooks. What I like best is what I`m beginning to specialize in: computer-based training in which the computer program teaches you how to use the software.
When I started working as a technical writer, I didn`t even own a computer. I wrote my first documentation on a typewriter. Or I`d work on the office system. However, I soon purchased my own personal computer through a friend.
As a self-employed technical writer, I have a variety of duties. For example, I have to bill people, do my own public relations, go out and see clients. Like most free-lance technical writers, I go through times where I travel a lot and times when I stay at home. I could spend two months on the road or six months at home, depending on the project.
My funniest business trip happened five or six years ago. I was traveling with a business partner to see two potential clients and two current clients. We left O`Hare at 6 a.m. on a flight to Dallas. We met with our first potential client. From there we drove to Ft. Worth to visit another potential client. After meeting with them, we drove back to Dallas to catch a late flight to Newark. In Newark we drove an hour and a half to see a current client. We had a lengthy, all-day meeting. Then we caught a late flight to southern Florida to meet with another client. The next day the trip caught up with me. In the middle of an important meeting with two other people, I fell asleep.
How do I get clients? I`m convinced that all of it is networking. My first two years I actively networked. I told everyone I knew that I was looking for work. I joined organizations for writers and technical writers. I sent out resumes, went to conventions. Then my work paid off. I got jobs. People recommended me.
I`m never bored. My work is always challenging. I have to keep up on what`s happening in the computer industry. I read trade magazines.
I also have to be self-disciplined. There`s no one over me telling me to work. Most people don`t understand that I don`t get a regular paycheck. I spent a day off with a friend one day. We came home, and there was a check for $3,000 in my mailbox. She said, ”You`ve got a great job.” What she didn`t know was that I had been waiting for that check for some time. I have to make the money last if I don`t expect another check for a while.
When I write, I focus on the end user, the person who uses the computer. In my meetings with managers and programmers, I have to be an advocate for the end user`s rights. I try to make it simple. I follow the rules of technical writing: Say what you mean, mean what you say, and shut up.
One company I wrote for had a prompt on their system that said: ”Failure to unmount after shared access.” I said, ”You can`t use that. It sounds like a bad translation of an X-rated film.” I said that they should say, ”Another system is in use.”
In a system from another company, a prompt said, ”You have encountered a fatal error; if you do anything, everything you have done will be lost.”
That`s ridiculous. I got them to change it to, ”You have encountered an error; contact your supervisor.”
Once I got a job writing three audio tapes because of my knowledge of the 1959 White Sox. The man who interviewed me disliked my theater background. He told me: ”I hired a guy with a film degree. He was terrible.” As I was leaving the office, I noticed a Comiskey Park 50th Anniversary plate. I said to him, ”I`ll have to get there in the next year or so.” Then he replied,
”They`re doing pretty good.” I said, ”Yeah, but it`s not 1959.” He responded, ”You`re too young to remember 1959.” My response was: ”Nellie Fox. Luis Aparicio. My favorite was Ted Kluszewski. But you`ve gotta love a pitcher named Early Wynn.” He raised his eyebrows and said, ”Let`s sit down and talk.” I got the job.
Most of the time, when I send work off, I never see it again. I feel like I`m in a black hole sometimes because I never know how successful my projects have been. At one computer convention, I saw a piece of training I liked. I asked the man at the booth who had written it. He said, ”Deborah Miller.” I had written it three years ago and forgotten about it.
A lot of people ask me whether I`m lonely working this way. I`m not. I spend a lot of time talking to people when I`m working on a project. And if I run into trouble, I can call another technical writer for advice.
To be a technical writer, I think you have to be a well-rounded person. You must be well-read, with knowledge of lots of subjects. The computer-based training I`m writing now is written around a story line. There my theater background comes into play. Technical writing is a science and an art.
I like my job because I get to meet all types of people from all over the country. You continue learning about computers in this business. If you stop, you might as well kiss the job goodbye.
