If I had to cliff-note my own “about me,” I would probably give readers something like the following:
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Received my Master of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing and Graduate Certificate Online Writing Instruction from UALR 🧑‍🎓
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+5 yrs of experience as a Technical Writer 🧑‍💻
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+2 yrs of experience as a Product Professional 🦹
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+2 yrs of teaching Writing Software Documentation at UALR 🧑‍🏫
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đź’– my cats
đź“‘ A writer learning to love writing
When I was in high school, and my US Civics teacher had us go through the “in 5yrs… in 10yrs…” exercise (selecting career paths and planning for a successful life), I did not have “writer” on the list. Both professionally and personally, writing does not come easily to me. Especially at a time where most of my exposure to writing was only around book reports, picking this career out of a line-up would never happen.
Through a lot of practice, exposure to standards, and noted help, I’ve found success. I take a lot of time to reflect and think, but once I understand the subject at hand and have a great team to work with, nothing can stop me. None of this would’ve been possible without my Composition 2 instructor and later chair, Dr. Rankins-Robertson, convincing me that I had a knack for it. After nearing the end of the program, getting a taste of various professional writing flavors (genres), technical writing felt right.
My bread and butter lies where everyone cringes - documentation; entering Dante’s inferno by repeating a process over-and-over again only to repeat the process next release. Some engineers I’ve worked with cringe at the idea of reviewing a single process so much while users might think it is difficult to talk with techninal experts, and some days I am in the same boat they are but I always find the same truth - people want to help.
It isn’t the work or complicated technical solutions that get a project to success, it is the people.
🌱 Herbivore looking for a hot stove
After a few years of working in the food industry and for my own health, I decided to become a vegetarian in 2019 and haven’t looked back since. When people learn this, I often receive a confused look or a comment like, “why give up bacon!?” Be it my extroverted side or the dopamine from talking about food, I am always happy to talk about recipes and tons of healthy noms with others.
I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum; I simply hope to share what I have learned - failures, successes, and all. Many recipes I’ve found are full of flavor while lower in oil. Where I find myself racing against time, unable to make a balanced meal, that’s what the Impossible Nuggets or Beyond Brats are for - lil’ something quick and yummy.
You get it: I love spending my time in the kitchen. It helps me workout my thoughts while the final product results in a delicious meal (or dessert).
Probably my go-to cookbook is The Veganomicon. Though there are plenty of eBooks lining my app’s shelves, collecting dust-bytes, it is undoubtedly my favorite. There are tons of recipes to try, but the book is SUPER well organized. (It is one of the best eBooks I’ve had the pleasure of using.) I love using it as an example in my Writing Software Documentation course - highlighting the information design. I call to this masterpiece like Winifred calls for Book:
The pizza and pie dough recipes are probably my go-to with a runner-up being the oatmeal cookies.
đź’ Thank you!
Thank you for reading! I appreciate your time 🙏 and hope you continue to get to know me through my writing. If work around technical documentation seems interesting to you too, or other forms of non-fiction writing, consider taking a look at the UALR Professional and Technical Writing Program.
Also, feel free to reach out on LinkedIn if you want to connect.