Welcome to the Techwriterly blog. My name is Katy and I’m a technical writer living in the Chicago area.
Next to cooking and baking, technology is the topic I’m nerdiest about (especially computer software and hardware). I tool around with PCs the way some people tinker with their cars. But it’s not because I’m a natural engineer. I’m not. I just figure things out through determination and dumb luck.
Ultimately my curiosity and problem solving skills led me to where I am now in my career: A Technical Content Manager for a software company.
Although I’m not new to blogging per se (my career dates back to the 1990s and the advent of the World Wide Web), I am new to consistent and successful blogging. That is, I’ve never actually done the hard work to build a blog or a community, or attract an audience.
It’s like people who say “I want to write a novel someday.”
I say that about blogging. Also novels.
Why am I blogging?
The tech sector is getting hit with mass layoffs and I may be starting a freelance business soon if my job status changes.
Currently I’m employed full time and very happy, with nothing to promote. However, I know that I’ll be forced to completely reorient my thinking if I lose my job. I’m trying to do that now before a crisis hits (or at least to prevent or mitigate that crisis).
What am I blogging about?
Technical communications (tech comm) is a huge subject. There are many niche roles in this industry. Mine happens to be user documentation for software — more specifically, higher education software apps built on the Salesforce platform.
I plan to cover software user documentation and all it entails from that angle.
Who am I writing for?
Honestly I don’t know yet. Other technical writers? Potential freelance clients? Tech comm newcomers? I’m still giving this some thought. I spend a lot of time on Reddit reading through the threads. Hoping to generate some ideas from there, just for starters, and answer some of the commonly asked questions.
What are my blogging goals?
My goals are fairly mundane: Writing practice, showcasing expertise, and helping others through my posts. I’d like to build my business and attract an audience organically, over time.