The first few weeks on any job can be trying. There’s so much to learn about the company, the product and your role/team. For an introverted agoraphobe like me, there’s all the stress of meeting new people and orienting myself to the culture of the place. It can be overwhelming, no doubt. At this moment
There is just the hint of autumn on the air this week. It is different here in California from the autumns I remember as a kid. Back then, this time of year brought the smell of dry leaves and apple cider, the cool temperatures that kissed the grass with frost in the early mornings and
There is something to be said about the ways a round of interviews during job hunting can help narrow your focus on what it is you do and why. Sure, I get tired of talking about myself all the time (I’m not really all that interesting to be honest), but as you answer the same
There is something fitting about starting a new job on my birthday. It feels like new beginnings. Today I start as a technical writer with a company called Quantcast. Which means I also start my new job with learning new things. A lot of new things. I already have 52 emails, most of which are
Some days, when I sit down to write, my mind goes blank. Other days my fingers can’t type fast enough to get everything in my head down on paper/screen. Some days words flow freely and they express things beautifully. Other days it’s more like slogging through mud. This last week or so there has been
So, where do the stories come from? What makes a good story? Or…what makes a story good? As with all art, it is up to the Reader to decide whether a story is good or not, and for many they can’t tell you why they feel that way. Some of us like to read dark,
I get asked fairly often how it is that I do what I do. For a long time I didn’t realize that not everyone has an endless loop of stories in their heads or characters that pull up a chair to have a chat. It seems inconceivable to me and I know that in those
As a new writer, one of the hang ups I had was tending to slip between past tense and present, particularly when I was writing action. There’s just something more intense about action in the present tense. It was an accident that I would sometimes catch, and sometimes not. I still do one thorough reading
As a reader, one of the things that can kick me out of a story or make me put a book down is what I call “point of view slips”. You know, you’re reading along in one point of view and there’s that random sentence/paragraph that is written in a completely different point of view.
As I’ve been job hunting these last few weeks, I’ve made a point to look into companies that are doing the kind of work that benefits humanity. Being a tech writer with the ability to explore many different kinds of tech is a wonderful way to learn about new and innovative ways that people are
