How much longer is this semester?

After not taking college classes in quite some time, and then jumping in over the summer with the shortened time frame, I have to say this semester seems to keep going and going.  I'm sure everything that is going on at work and home are adding to the feeling but it seems to be stretching endlessly ahead.  But onward and upward we go.

This post we are thinking about Technical Writing as a whole, new skills learned, old skills sharpened, how our writing has changed, what did we gain and how will this help us in our professional journey.  I think for old skills, the reminder to review, edit and proofread our writing before we publish it is always beneficial.  New skills I've learned is formatting different types of documents and when to use them.  I've gained some more experience creating and using templates, using different programs more like PowerPoint and allowing some creativity out with design and layout.  But I will also say that I'm glad my professional writing needs to be more concise, to the point with basic/standard letter formatting so that you don't have to think about all these aspects when communicating with clients, coworkers and peers.

Now I am off on vacation and will be completely disconnecting from the outside world with very limited wifi and no cell service.  The only things I'm checking off the list this week is to get more sleep, enjoy the sun with lots of sunscreen and no sunburns, eat some good food, especially desserts and enjoy a few adult beverages.  There may be too much to do but this week it will all have to wait.  Happy Thanksgiving, relax and enjoy your time with friends and family.

Public speaking

I'm still in the fight.  That's what life is feeling like right now.  I'm just trying to keep my head up and my eyes forward.  I have a vacation coming up soon - it is much needed and hopefully will go a long way to recharging the batteries, regaining my focus and help me power through the rest of the year. 

The second prompt this week is about public speaking.  My "public" speaking is done in the office at committee and board meetings.  Is this true public speaking?  No, I'm not out giving lengthy speeches or presentations in public.  I don't have to prepare what I am going to say.  But as the only trust administrator, and the secretary for the investment committee, the audit committee and the board of directors, I am involved in all meetings and duties of trust administration.  For the audit and investment committees, I prepare and distribute all meeting materials and take minutes of the meetings.  I have to prepare and present annual administrative reviews for all accounts to the investment committee.  This involves reviewing the assets held in the trust, distributions that are made, the fees that are charged, a risk assessment and any special considerations that are being taken.  In the investment committee I also review new and terminated accounts, new assets for purchase, and general updates about the accounts.  For the audit committee, I help answer questions about current audit and exam findings and provide the schedule and status updates of the various audits.  For the Board meeting, I prepare and distribute all meeting material and take minutes.  The various committees report to the board and I will often provide the review for the investment committee.  If there is other business that needs to be discussed with the board, I will provide input as needed in relation to client matters that need to be reviewed.  I also update all the members and attendees of future meetings, training that may be required and other miscellaneous information.  So do I have any public speaking duties at work?  At least once a month, and often more frequently as needed for special meetings.  Do I want to go into public speaking?  No - I'm more than happy listening to others give formal speeches and presentations and will keep my speaking to the main conference room at work.

It's Friday.  We made it through another work week.  It's going to be cold tonight - hopefully you have taken care of your plants, pets and pipes.  Hopefully you were able to cross off at least one item from your to do list - I'm checking this one off right now.  But when I think about everything, I'm sure another 3 items will take its place because there is always too much to do.

Creativity in Technical Writing

Life is full of ups and downs.  Right now, I'm having a down time.  It's easy to get discouraged and lose focus - my school work has definitely suffered in the last couple of weeks.  I feel like I'm being pulled in several different directions.  When you have those times in life, just stay strong and keep going.  Keep trying, keep your focus, your why in front of you.  Keep doing.  It may take some time but you will hit an up swing and things will work themselves out.  Now onto school.

I watched The Godfather this past weekend for Drama.  Sometimes when I watch a movie, I get hung up on odd details, wondering how did they do that, why did they do that, that can't really happen.  If you've seen the movie, my side thoughts started immediately - he couldn't even enjoy his daughter's wedding day because he was too busy working.  And then the horse's head in the guys bed - how did he kill the horse with nobody hearing, how did he get in the house, upstairs, in the bedroom and get the head in at the foot of the bed with the owner under the sheets - that were tucked in at the foot of the bed - and the owner didn't hear him or feel him, or feel the wetness until the next morning?!?  I had to remind myself that I'm supposed to be looking at camera angles, lighting, music, casting, props, scenery, costumes, etc - not focusing on the impossibility of these odd details in the scenes.  I've seen bits and pieces, and maybe have even seen the entire movie at one time but it had been a while.  This week we move on to Star Wars: A New Hope.  I'm always up for a movie in the Star Wars empire.  Economics - I have got to set aside more time this week that I have been able to the last couple of weeks.  But I will keep working and improve.  

For Technical Writing this week we are focused on speeches and presentations.  I need to create an event where I will be speaking, and create the advertisement with my bio.  I will have to think about that tomorrow.  The first blog prompt this week is about creativity in Technical Writing.  How does creativity fit, can you be too creative or not creative enough?  Technical Writing covers a wide array of documents from spreadsheets, presentations with graphs and charts, brochures, memos, different types of letters, emails and instruction manuals.  Some of these documents need more creativity than others.  If you were sending an email to a client to confirm a meeting, you wouldn't really be creative - you don't need to adjust the font and color, you don't need pictures and visual aids.  But if you were creating a brochure for an event that you wanted people to attend and contribute to, you would want something that grabs people's attention when they pass by - you need to be creative and add pictures, think about placement, color, font and texture.  Can you be too creative?  Absolutely.  You can get so caught up in the idea of "I need to grab someone" that you add too much - too much color, too many pictures, too much information in a small space and you lose the intent and content of the original message.  On the other side, you can not be creative enough.  You don't add enough visual content and your document gets lost in the volume of what people get, read and act on.  You always have to keep your audience and message in mind when creating any document.  And if in doubt, seek advise from a friend or co-worker to see what they think about your document.  Creativity can be a useful tool when used in the right way.

If you are feeling down, remember, keep fighting, keep going, keep trying, keep doing.  I keep adding things I need to do, calls to make, documents to find, appointments to make.  I get lucky every once in a while and get to mark something off - like right now, I can mark off a blog post from the assignment list.  As always, there is too much to do and not enough time.

Am I using what I've learned?

Things continue to be hectic and crazy right now.  It's been a long week that has felt like a year and it's only Thursday.  But it's almost done and soon we can say we made it through another week.  My measurement of a successful day has changed right now and it's all about finding the positive, finding something, anything that you can say you survived and made it through.  And when you adjust what "normal" is and adapt to the new normal, count it as a success.  Now on to school stuff.  The current module for economics is due Monday - I've not even started on it so I have so a long weekend ahead and hopefully I can pull out a half way decent test score and just make sure I do the assignment and quiz enough times to get a high grade to balance out the test.  For drama, we are watching The Godfather this week.  I know I've seen bits and pieces but I'm not sure I have ever sat down and watched the entire movie so we will see what my thoughts are next week.  I watched The Graduate this past weekend for the first time.  It was good and I'm glad that love won in the end.

For Technical Writing, the prompt for this post is what have I learned in this class that I have used in my professional or collegiate area.  I know the importance of page layout and design, editing, revising and proofreading a document and the benefit of adding visual impact.  Although I am using those things a lot more right now, they are skills and techniques that I have always used.  I am more aware of properly citing references, but after I finish school, that won't be something I will use so I would have to research and relearn again.  I will continue to proofread and edit my documents.  I will continue to get peer review and input when needed.  Although my PowerPoint skills have improved some because I am using it more often, in the last 18 years of my career I have never done a PowerPoint so again that will be a skill that, without practice and use, will fade.  I have learned to create a blog, but again I'm not sure how frequent my posts will be when it's no longer a requirement.  Some of the skills of page layout, formatting, and even editing and revising may be learned and used more for someone that hasn't been in the professional arena for over 20 years.  The class is more practice of the skills and process I already use and that's okay.  

I need to start a new list to get ready for vacation soon.  I need to find the list of what needs to be done at school and work this week to see what might get checked off tomorrow and what will be pushed off until next week.  It's crazy and busy with to do lists about everything.  The lists are growing and multiplying, time is still zipping by and not enough is getting completed.  But I will just keep plugging on and working through everything, because as always, there is too much to do.